As the announcements were being shared in Spanish in my Huánuco, Perú church today, 5-year old Dayana leaned over and kid-whispered to me, "I speak Quechua too!"
"I have a Bible in Quechua, and my mom can speak Quechua!"
And then she flew through some Quechua phrases that were way over my head.
I can't tell you how exciting it is to hear a little kid be so proud of her mother tongue!!!
When I lived here for two years, I experienced many more instances of people telling me they didn't speak ANY Quechua...but would then turn and talk to their other neighbor in Quechua. For generations (and I mean since the Conquistadors in the 1500's), Quechua has been looked down on. Friends of mine were beaten in school if they spoke the Quechua that their parents used in the home. Church services I went to in the Quechua towns, where Quechua was still being used in the markets, would hold church services in Spanish because "God speaks Spanish"...even when they even had the New Testament in their Quechua language (and the Old Testament in process).
Language death and social injustice happens, but there is often no reason for it if there is cultural approval of being bilingual and rejoicing in the culture and language God places us in from birth.
I pray that, here in Huánuco, where there are over a million people who speak 5 different Quechua languages, the feeling of pride for mother tongues will grow like wildfire. And with it the spread of the use of the Bible in those languages. How much more do I get out of reading Scripture in my heart language--English! It speaks to my soul much clearer than even the Spanish Bible I can now understand.
What can YOU do to encourage and bless people who have more languages than you? Especially if you speak a language with more social "weight" and "power", you CAN make a difference by using that supposed "power" for good and affirming the other languages and cultures around you.
Smiling and asking questions about a person's culture and mother tongue can be good starting point (as long as it's culturally appropriate to do so). Usually learning "hello", "goodbye" and "thank you" will show people you really care.
Next time you run into someone who has a mother tongue they're not speaking with you, ask them about it!
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I was volunteering last year in Eliana's public school classroom. I was asked to work with a sweet young Latino boy. On our way to the library he stepped closer to me and looked up with his big, brown eyes. "Can I tell you something?" He asked. "I've never told anybody before."
"Sure!" I replied, surprised to be entrusted with a secret so early in our relationship.
"I'm Spanish." He told me. I was bemused. He truly thought that he could hide his ethnicity.
"Really?" I responded with delight. "What country are you from?"
He was matter-of-fact. "El Salvador. That's where Spanish people come from." :)
What fun! (And no, they don't teach much geography these days!)
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