A few years ago, I was in Atlanta and had the opportunity to tour the Martin Luther King Memorial and National Center for Civil Rights Museum. They had recordings of speeches that Dr. King had given. To hear the elegances of his words and the profound messages spoke; he was a brilliant orator and pastor. The words would flow with the rhythm of a fine-tuned symphony, and you waited with great anticipation for the next sentence. Few men or women have that ability to speak so elegantly and profound, but when you hear one, they do stand out. I have been fortunate over the years to listen to some outstanding speakers, and now with YouTube, the opportunities to listen to those speakers are endless.
Most of us are not in the above category as being a great orator, in fact, most of us coward at the thought of public speaking. The American language can be tricky; words spelled the same can mean something entirely different.
Such as…….
Do you write with your left hand or right?
Has everyone left the room?
Where does the dust on my desk come from?
Why do they need to dust the crops?
How about this one?
She is a very fast runner.
Cuban’s fast much more than Americans?
We would be better off if we came with an automatic translating switch on your mouth. When you said something in question it would stop your brain automatically and ask, “Are you sure you want to say that?” It would give you time to think before the words came out of your mouth, so when they did, they had been translated and were exactly what you wanted to say. Hmmm, some people would not change their words, but it would give you a second chance. This should be a required option when you get married!
When I am in Cuba I have my personal translator with me always; I am sorry even after years of going to Cuba that I still do not speak Spanish. I trust her one hundred percent, and I am sure there are times she has corrected words I have spoken. I have been in meetings with government officials where one wrong word would change the entire conversation. I watch the intensity on my translator’s face, and I know how carefully she is listening and interrupting what is being discussed. I know not to use American slang. She has told me slang does not translate so take that out of your vocabulary. That’s good because it makes me think to use the correct verbiage.
1 Kings 8: 56 Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises He gave through His servant Moses.
Help; means assist, unless you can’t help doing something, when it means, “prevent.”
I kind of like the automatic translating switch on your mouth!
Dan Christopherson
Southwest District Mission Program, Inc.