Linguaphobia

People in the United States are not the only ones on earth who have an anxiety about learning another language.  It is a common problem all over the world.  Some of it is due to educational attempts that do not work real well to teach foreign languages.  Some of it is due to a strong nationalism and identity with a mother-language.  Anxiety or fear of learning a foreign language is often called “linguaphobia”.

The real problem develops when linguaphobia develops into a linguacentrism; the idea that one particular language should be the only one spoken.  This is becoming more prevalent in the United States in recent years as a result of the rise in immigration and in particular the rise of Spanish-speaking illegal immigrants.  More and more, one hears the angry declaration, “They live in America now.  They should speak English!”  As if, somehow crossing a boarder grants one the magical and immediate power to learn a foreign language.

The cultural tension becomes greater when xenoglossophobia develops among the mother-language speakers – English, in the case of the United States.  This is the fear of foreign language speakers.  It can also be called xenophobia; the fear or dislike of people different than your self.  I believe this is a growing problem in the United States.  It is a problem created more from “group-think” than any actual threat.

The fact of the matter is that the United States has always been an nation of immigrants.  As such, it has always contained within its borders people who speak many different languages.  Early on, it began mainly with European languages – German, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish among many others.  This explain the complexity of the American English language.  It is a compound of many additional foreign words!

Another fact that is often overlooked today is that English language acquisition has often taken immigrants a generation or two to assimilate so that it is no longer a foreign or second language to them.  In the Midwest for example, many community churches retained their ethnic language identities in German and Scandinavian languages up until a few decades ago!  There are still a few who use the original mother-tongue language occasional in their church services.

Indian Heaven Wilderness Stream, Summer 2002 ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)

My Swedish grandfather came from Sweden as a child, struggled to learn English, but still retained and spoke Swedish until his death.  It was not until his children came along that English was the mother-tongue language.  As his grandchild, I know and understand no Swedish.  I suspect that for recent immigrants – legal or illegal – to the United States it will take the same amount of time.  Our own experience as immigrants should make us more tolerant and patient with new arrivals to this land of opportunity.

It is particularly shameful for those within the Church to be intolerant or xenophobic.  Since the Great Commission compels us to be witnesses to every ethnic group on earth, they should see this as a golden opportunity.  Instead of needing to go to foreign lands to the people of the world, the people of the world are coming to our communities and neighborhoods!  This saves the Church thousands of dollars in sending missionaries overseas.  Now the mission field is settling around us in small ethnic conclaves that can be easily reached by many Christians and churches.

The final picture of the Bride of Christ – the Church – we have in The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ should also motivate us to welcome and embrace people of different cultures and languages.  The vision presented to us (7:9) is a multi-ethnic, multi-language celebration gathered around the Lamb’s throne.  They will be singing and dancing – each according to their cultural and language – to the words, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!” (7:10).  I really do not think that at that glorious and holy moment some xenophobe American is going to yell out, “Hey, speak English!”

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)

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Healthy Appetites

I have three brothers.  Even though I am the oldest, I am not the largest of the Almberg boys. My brother, Bruce, who passed away January 15^th, was a couple of inches taller and almost 100 lbs heavier.  My brother Rick is just as large.  These guys aren’t my “little” brothers any more.  They are just younger.  My brother, Vincent, is the closest to me in height and weight.  None of us could be described as tiny.  All of us know how to eat.

We all grew up with hardy, healthy appetites.  When we were in Junior High and High school, my parent’s grocery bill was astronomical.  It wasn’t unusual to see my mom spend $400 at the grocery store – and that was 20 years ago! We rarely had a problem cleaning our plates- and it wasn’t to make way for dessert either; we wanted seconds…and thirds!

I will never forget a specific time at the family farm in South Dakota.  People back there know how to eat!  It is part of homemaker pride to make lots of good food and to keep it comin’ – even after you are full.  On this particular occasion, I was past full, but my two bigger brothers were still going at it.  I will never forget the look on my brother Bruce’s face as he smiled up from his plate with a fourth helping.  And I will never forget the look on faces of my grandmother and her sister as one of them exclaimed, “I sure like to see a man eat!” (This could probably explain the size of their men.)

It does not matter to family back home what time of day or night a person might drop by.  On goes the coffee and out of some magical place comes a plate of goodies (cookies, donuts, pastries, sandwiches vegetables, platters of meat, etc.)  I saw this happen many times when my family, traveling from Washington State, would arrive in Vermillion, South Dakota, to what seemed like a Royal Fork Buffet.

Pink and White Rose, Bush House Gardens, Salem, Oregon, 2009 ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)

For a child of God, the heavenly Father’s house is just like that picture.  There is always a standing invitation and the table is always prepared with a grand feast.  All we have to do is accept His invitation – one that is echoed over and over again in the Bible.  Isaiah 55 is one example, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy, and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost…eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare…Seek the Lord while he may by found; call on him while he is near.”  The apostle John witnessed a feast in the Revelation at the supper held in honor of the Lamb of God.  Everyone is invited.

The question may be one of appetite.  It was almost an insult to refuse food offered in the wee hours of the morning at the farm house in South Dakota.  You had better come with an appetite!  Too many of Christ’s followers come to the Lord’s Table already full of the world’s food.  We have no more room for the spiritual food he offers.  There is no appetite for the feast or fellowship.

If you or I want to become a person with a large spiritual stature, we would do well to create a spiritual appetite that desires the good things of God.  This means coming to the fellowship table hungry and ready to eat.  It means intentionally spending time at his table in fellowship with him.  It means not filling ourselves up with other things on our way to his house for the fellowship meal.  At the Father’s house, the table is always set, the food always ready, and the service offered with a smile.  Are you hungry?

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)

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