Friday was our last day of language school. Having started taking classes almost one year ago, it feels like we’ve just finished a marathon. What a wonderful experience it was to devote ourselves to full-time study of French this year. We have learned much about ourselves, culture, and language and had the opportunity to make friends with fellow students who came from the four corners of the globe. Acquiring a second language is truly a taxing but enriching challenge to see the world through different eyes. Early on we had to stop trying to say what we were used to saying and ask what do they say in such and such situation.

For example, if you ask how to say “you’re welcome” in French, expecting a literal word for word translation that you can use in situations where you would use “you’re welcome,” then you’ll end up looking very strange because you’d be saying something closer to “welcome in!” Instead, when you ask what they say, you find phrases that when translated literally back into English, sound equally strange. They say, “I pray you of it” (je vous en prie) and “Not of what” (pas de quoi).

All that to say that I (Drew), as a linguist, have learned valuable lessons in my year of becoming fluent in French that will easily carry over and positively impact my work as a Bible translator. This year has been such a blessing and we will guard so many pleasant memories. Next? On to Cameroon in less than two weeks where the learning will continue…