Studying Languages

More Complicated than it Looks!

Dear All,

It’s amazing how much you can learn about a country's history and culture just by studying its language. I have been taking Thai lessons for the past three weeks and have found it pretty amusing being able to see exactly wasn’t originally part of Thai culture. For instance, the Thai word for furniture is pronounced “funichu” (which, in case you didn’t notice, is the same word). The language doesn’t have a word for furniture. Why? Because Thai people don’t use it! You walk into a house of an average Thai person and they have a bare living room and a simple mat either in the middle of the room for company or off to the side as their bed at night. Americans brought furniture into the country a century or so ago and the idea was so foreign to them they just decided to use the same word! 

Until recently, when I started studying languages, I never realized how much they borrow from one another. My dad says that this is true of nearly all languages except Chinese and one other. Those two refuse to use the same words as other countries, but even that makes sense with their culture.

As I said before I have been taking Thai lessons now for the past three weeks. Tomorrow I have my final writing lesson and from there will move on to reading and translating Scripture. I am truly excited to begin diving into God’s word in Thai. For me the spiritual side of the Thai language has always been the most difficult to understand, so I really hope that getting to read the Bible will help me comprehend it better. 

I started thinking the other day about how disappointed I was at the amount of Thai I know now. I really wish I would have learned more when I had the chance, but now I realize that God grew me up in that way to develop my love for languages. I don’t know much Thai, but the little I do know has helped me greatly in my studies. 

I’m excited to see what the rest of the summer holds, and even more excited to see my sister graduate tomorrow! Thank you all for your support of both her and me these past couple weeks. Your prayers for us have not gone unheard! We are both growing and excited to begin life’s next adventure.

In Him,
Becky Derbyshire

Prayer Requests:

Pray that I will be able to transition into the Biblical Thai language smoothly next week.

Next week I begin working on my Dad’s clinic website. I have no experience working with websites so pray that I can smoothly fix the problems.

My sister and Mom are headed to Europe for my sister’s senior trip/a business trip for my mom. Pray that the business transactions will go smoothly and that my sister will have a blast experiencing the amazing sights there. Pray for safety in their travels.

Pray that my preparations for English Camp in June will succeed, and that we will receive enough funds for the things we would like to have for the kids.

Pray that God would prepare the hearts of those who are going to hear God’s gospel message this summer. Both on mobile clinics and in the English Camp.