Dan Coker

Dan Coker, a vetern missionary to Latain America has recently served as the director of ILEB, the Latianamerican Bible Study Institute located in Toluca, Mexico. Dan and his wife Elise receiently moved to the Dallas / Fort Worth area were he is working with the Richland Hills Church of Christ to further develop the Toluca Bible Institute's extension program.

Dan will be providing a monthly news letter which you will be able to read here.

LEARNING ABOUT LATIN AMERICA (4)     (posted 12/1/04)

Muddled Messages

To the outsider, any language invariably appears to be spoken with an incomprehensible rapidity by its native sons, a situation that is extremely frustrating to the foreigner attempting to capture and distinguish the appropriate sounds. Even Texans are accused of “fast-talking” by those who are in the first stages of English acquisition. The truth of the matter is that most native speakers are not al all rapid of speech, they simply tend to be lazy in enunciation, thus running words together, dropping syllables, and generally distorting an otherwise perfectly logical and comprehensible language. Those wishing to learn English must become accustomed to phrases like “Jeet jet?” for “Did you eat yet?” “Ez gweet” for “Let’s go eat” and “Dyonna go?” for “Do you want to go?” In Spanish it is no different. “Vamo pa ya” is often heard for “Vamos para allá” (Let’s go over there). Cubans are notorious for dropping the letter “s” or an equivalent sound (“Etado Unido” for “Estados Unidos”), while the people of southern Guatemala enjoy catching all those dropped S’s and adding them to words that have an initial or a final “r” (“Sroberto” for “Roberto” and “El Salvadors” for “El Salvador”).

To the foreigner, even correct speech forms appear to be muddled; this is because each language has its own unique design and logic. The placing of nouns and adjectives is just as confusing to the foreigner studying English as it is to the English-speaker acquiring a new language. Special problems arise out of the conceptual constructs peculiar to the language studied. That’s one reason why so many students have major problems with dictionary translations. For example, both ser and estar, Spanish verbs with quite different meanings, are translated “to be” in English. And to further compound the confusion, sometimes the verb tener (usually “to have”) is used with concepts that employ “to be” in English. So when an Hispanic asks, “How many years do you have?” he is simply utilizing a literal translation of the appropriate Spanish verb. A major problem with ser and estar is the difference between essential and existential being; if it is confusing to the Anglo that Spanish has two verbs of being, think how puzzling one verb of being must be to the Hispanic. Observe the following usages and the transfer from the essential to the existential: I am a man; I am a Texan; I am a professor; I am thinking; I am hungry. Which language is confused? Neither! Which language is confusing? Both!

Understanding the structural peculiarities of a certain language should clarify why some things are said the way they are by non-native speakers. Varying vowel and consonant pronunciations carried from one language to another produce declarations like the one made at a bilingual program sponsored by the University of New Mexico. An Hispanic first-grader approached one of the professors, caught his attention, and explained, “Teesher, teesher, mai modtheirhe told to me, I told to jew, mai seester, he do not come todaye, yes.” (In case you are not familiar with Hispanic pronunciation, let me explain that the lad was saying, “Teacher, teacher, my mother he told to me, I told to you, my sister, he do not come today, yes.”) A parting tongue-in-cheek remark to the New Mexican colleague was: “We should not be spending money to promote bilingual education here; that child speaks better English than do my relatives in Texas.

Vaya con Dios ,

Dan Coker

Language Learning is a Great Leveler (Posted 10/1/04)

   The wisdom of Christ’s exhortation t become as little children finds a most practical—and necessary—application when an adult Anglo-American tackles the sometimes humiliating task of learning Spanish. Unfortunately, very few Anglos do so; that is why they have earned the following description, often-repeated by the international community: “A person who speaks three languages is trilingual, a person who speaks two languages is bilingual, and a person who speaks only one language is an Anglo-American.” Anecdotal tales relating to the mirth of misuse abound and serve as an effective reminder of the special humor found only in the process of foreign language learning: The tourist who ordered two “written Thursdays” (jueves escritos) instead of fried eggs (huevos fritos). The shy guy who avoided all verbal pitfalls by pencil-sketching his order of beefsteak and mushrooms but received two tickets to the bullfight and an umbrella. The overweight matron who relied on her dictionary to translate the question “how much?” Not knowing that one word “¿Cuánto?” expresses that idea in Spanish, she came up with “¿cómo mucho?” which translates “do I eat a lot?” The puzzled waiter could only answer, “Sí, señora, se le nota” (“Yes ma’am, and it shows!”). The missionary who left out the “t” in his call to worship (the proper word is culto) and ended up affirming that the congregation should present their derrière to the Lord. A fellow-worker who emphatically stated the “Biblical” reasons why a house built upon a foundation of diarrhea (de arena is “of sand;” di-arrea is what it looks like in English) could not possibly endure. The evangelist that reminded a crowd that God looks not upon the outer man (hombre exterior) but upon his ropa interior (underwear). The deacon who testified of having left the viuda vieja (old widow) instead of the vida vieja (former life) behind. And the list goes on! While experimenting with a new language, no one is exempt from engaging in entertaining and enlightening errors!

   Jack Walker, a colleague in our work in Uruguay, used to say: “If we haven’t done anything else down here, we have at least provided a great deal of entertainment for the Uruguayans.” Truth of the matter is, he did considerably more! Not only were many Uruguayans brought to the Lord by his efforts, he also married a beautiful Uruguayan girl and they have reared four children. It’s hard to accomplish that if all you do is “entertain.”

   Enjoy the wonderful world of speaking another major language. Hispanics are the number one minority in the USA today. Study Spanish; study culture; but above all, get involved with some of the most caring people on this planet. When asked how to characterize the Hispanic culture, my thoughts always go to one word: Hospitality!!! They are the masters of that wonderful art!

Vaya con Dios,

Dan Coker

LEARNING ABOUT LATIN AMERICA (2) (posted 9/1/04)

“My friend Romulo introduced me to la inglesa [Englishwoman]” was the proud announcement of the norteamericano who had recently moved to Uruguay, and now wished to impress his new acquaintances with as many Spanish words as he could muster. “Oh, is your wife of British ancestry?” was the immediate response. Unexpectedly, that seemingly logical question appeared to annoy my new friend. Visibly unsettled by the query, he replied, “My wife is Uruguayan, but I was talking about la inglesa!”

Now the context for questioning changed from curiosity to mild concern; in a land where husbands often consort with la otra (another woman), could this mild-mannered former postal service worker have already found a girl friend, and was it possible that Romulo had contributed to such an unholy arrangement? The improbability of either situation was so compelling that further dialogue was attempted:

“Let’s talk about this, does your wife know about la inglesa?”
“Of course she does; she goes with me every time I go to la inglesa.”
“You take your wife with you when you go to la inglesa?”
“You know I do, you see us there every Sunday.”
“Oh, you mean la iglesia [church].”
“That’s what I said, ‘la inglesa.’”

Many years later, he still calls the church “la inglesa,” but now I know what he means. It was a relief to clear up the little misunderstanding regarding Romulo’s introduction, and it also served to stimulate my thinking about the thousands of miscommunications, both minor and major, that are never adequately sorted out nor explained to the satisfaction of the parties involved. When this happens, that which was intended to build relationships and clarify events becomes an unwitting contributor to disillusion, bewilderment, and even hostility. I know this, because I have personally victimized others, been victimized by others, and arbitrated between victims in similar incidents.

It would be wonderful if all misunderstandings could be corrected as effortlessly and as happily as was the inglesa/iglesia confusion. But that wistful ideal, however beneficial it might be for encouraging a positive attitude toward pursuing intercultural harmony, only accentuates the fact that most such undertakings are far more complex than simply learning the correct pronunciation of foreign words. Nonetheless, there are certain factors involved in cross-cultural contact that can effectively lessen tensions and promote confidence, if applied at the appropriate time. But please remember that the sustaining or destroying quality of each is irrevocably rooted in the participants’ attitudes.

As a rule, linguistic and behavioral blunders by foreigners are patiently tolerated by the host culture, and often they are even appreciated! These predictable misnomers provide both amusement and a clear purpose for the local folk—that of helping their potential friends master an unfamiliar language and its corresponding customs. This is an extremely important concept since, especially in U.S.-sponsored governmental, altruistic, commercial or religious projects abroad, it is the foreign guest who assumes the role of advisor. Generally, the national citizen is expected to content himself with the prospect of learning something useful, and for that privilege he must come to terms with the teaching methods and biases of an outsider.

Conforming to the peculiarities of an unfamiliar system is not necessarily bad; in fact, it can be very positive if dignity is maintained and personal interchange takes place in an egalitarian way. That means that all parties involved will contribute to as well as learn from their relationship. The foreigner might share his knowledge in technology, diplomacy, business, or whatever is appropriate for complementing local preparation and development. In like manner, the host would provide not only the established contexts into which these skills will be incorporated, but also the cultural dynamics that assure their adoption and effective usage. In order to be successful, any such project must be a joint venture of equal partners. Both should be ready to listen as well as speak, learn as well as teach, mourn as well as rejoice, and fail as well as triumph!

Success is worthy of the name only when all parties involved have contributed meaningfully and feel the satisfaction that comes with its attainment. An in those projects that are built on cooperative efforts, mutual understanding is frequently the most important outcome of the process. Even failure can be converted into a positive experience if it is the result of joint consensus and planning; then, in place of the usual tendency to assign blame, there will be a common desire to evaluate, modify, and energetically correct the mistake. Effective intercultural relationships are born of a willingness by each person to learn from all others. In that type of environment, innocent mistakes such as grammatical errors, mispronunciation, misuse of words, miscues in behavior, and inadvertent rudeness will become occasions in which folk from different cultural backgrounds will laugh with one another, not at one another. It’s a great feeling and a rewarding accomplishment, although it is also the product of one of the most ostensibly undesirable aspects of a “self-made” man’s existence—dependency on others!

He went to teach others and discovered that he had much to learn;
He went to help others and realized it was he who would benefit the most;
He went to serve others and was rewarded beyond measure;
He went to change others and was himself changed forever.

Vaya con Dios ,

LEARNING ABOUT LATIN AMERICA - 7/16/2004

     The greatest joy in foreign language learning comes from the ability to communicate a life-changing message.  Eternal life is the best news of all, but the abundant life also produces rewards that are observable in the here and now.  It is so refreshing to witness changes that are dramatically obvious and astoundingly productive.  One of the best examples of this phenomenon took place in a remote township in the Republic of Honduras.

     Dr. L.A. Berry, educational advisor for USAID in Guatemala and then in Honduras, was a friend, an associate in an educational reform project, and a frequent companion on hunting and fishing trips.  He had a knack for finding remote, unspoiled fishing sites and delighted in providing fresh fish for his family and friends.  But this was not the best of his many skills; he was, and is, a people person par excellence.  Among other qualities, he had the wisdom to use his Spanish, not to impress others with mastery of pronunciation and sentence structure, but to encourage native speakers to bring out the best in themselves.  He knew not to speak above them, below them, to one side of them, or even directly toward them in an attacking sort of way.  The key to successful communication is not lecture but meaningful dialogue.  This means that the tendency to sustain two monologues will be replaced by listening as well as speaking.

     Excitedly, Dr. Berry planned a wilderness trek to a spring-fed pond in mountainous retgion, near a small township that marked the end of a torturous road.  Dusty and somewhat weary, we fishermen sought accommodations for our two-day stay.  There was but one hotel, so we decided to stay there.  It was Spartan and simple, yet clean and pleasant.  We settled in, washed up, then went to the town square to ask the local folk for pointers about baits, tactics, and times conducive to successful fishing.  Many showed great surprise that foreigners knew about their “secret” fishing place, but willingly cooperated with valuable information and tips about how to land the big ones.

     Among the crowd of the curious was one eight-year-old who singled out Dr. Berry as a possible source of needed revenues.  He made his appeal with a predictable spiel, but also with a most unpredictable and annoying falsetto shriek—“Un cinquito, por favor; por la misericordia de Dios, un cinquito, por favor.” (“Give me a five-cent piece, please; by the mercy of God, give me five cents.”)

     There is a great temptation to ignore such onslaughts as the attempted deception of people who are too lazy to work.  A revered Texas teaching affirms, “anyone who has gumption and is honest can get a job.”  Also, the lad’s ragged, filthy, presence brought to mind another ancestral “truth—“It’s not a shame to be poor, but it is a shame to be dirty.”  Did God really want decent human beings to become involved with the likes of this boy?  In such encounters, man’s habitual self-serving reluctance to become involved with “outsiders” is seriously challenged by undeniable human distress.  However, momentary guilt usually produces no more that a cop-out, piously expressed thusly: “really, there’s nothing I can do about it,” or “it’s better this way for all concerned.”  Truth of the matter is, if all were concerned, such regrettable conditions would be steadily improved.

     Realizing that the lad was not a shirker, but just a shrieker, Dr. Berry engaged himself in conversation with the young beggar—“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” was the first exhortation.  “Can you speak Spanish?” he continued.  But his question went unheeded and the boy persisted in repeating his offensive high-pitched monotone.

     “Wait a minute!” Dr. Berry commanded, “Can’t you speak in a normal voice?  Listen to me!  I want to teach you how t talk to people.  You scare me to death with that unseemly shrieking.  I don’t know whether to run and hide or plead for mercy!”

     This brought a broad grin to the boy’s generous mouth which was flanked by mud-smeared cheeks and crowned by a runny nose.

     Dr. Berry further instructed him:  “Now clear your throat and speak to me in a normal voice.  Treat me like an intelligent being, and I’ll do the same for you.”

     The incredulous street urchin produced an admirable “ahem,” then began his petition in a more intelligible tone, with just a few relapses that were quickly corrected.

     Dr. Berry then helped him assess the problems that characterized his single-parent, poverty-stricken home, and offered a sound solution:  “First, you need to clean up so you won’t scare the townsfolk.  Then you need to get a steady job so you can make a significant contribution to your family’s needs.  Let’s get this project going!”

     He placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder, led him into the hotel room, and initiated the “do-over” process.  Stripped to his waist, the puzzled youth stood in awesome silence as L.A. washed him thoroughly.  He even removed the boy’s nasal mucus and the grime matting his thick black hair.  With his personal comb, the benefactor groomed the head of his new friend who was beginning to enjoy this unexpected attention.  “Now go to the mirror and see if you recognize yourself,” was Dr. Berry’s instructive conclusion.

     But that was not the end of it!  They went to a store where the rags could be discarded, making way for new underwear, shirts, trousers, and shoes.  The child was ecstatic as he set out to fulfill the following commission, pronounced by his newly-found father figure:  “Go to the different business establishments here and tell them, ‘I am a poor but honest boy.  I’ll do whatever work you assign and will gladly receive whatever pay you think is just.’”  On the third delivery of that radically new petition, he was hired!  Then we fishermen went about our original business.  However, although we caught a tubful of fish, we didn’t land anything that brought such satisfaction as did this adventure is “fishing for men”—in this case a very small one!

     During the following years, it has come to mind that it would be very interesting to return to those environs to do a follow-up story.  Whatever has happened from then until now, one thing is certain—the young man has met few folk, if any, the stripe of Dr. L.A. Berry.  Language properly used brings out the best in both the speaker and the hearer, for it binds them together in a symbiotic and productive purpose.  Equality is not established in the distribution of goods and services, but in mutually sharing good will.  When each participant understands that his needs as well as his contributions are the ingredients of abundant living, the significance and beauty of interdependence become very real.  This is the way all peoples are placed on the same level, although they may perform different functions while there.

   Vaya con Dios!

                                                                                                                        -Dan C. Coker

LEARNING ABOUT LATIN AMERICA - 6/10/2004

Introduction

Since the time of the colonial presence of Spain and England in the Americas, heirs of these two great civilizations have lived side-by-side, cooperating somewhat, fighting at times, often resenting one another’s proximity and influence, and rarely taking the time to get to know one another. I’ve participated in all the above, and in one way or another have been affected significantly by each representative attitude, emotion, and incident. However, getting to know the latinoamericano and, therefore, getting to know myself better, has been an extremely positive experience and one I wish to share. Of course, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish opinions from fact, and even harder to separate the valid from the invalid or doubtful, while interpreting the significance of one’s own involvement. Nonetheless, dedicating more than forty years of my life to intercultural pursuits should, at the very least, produce a definitive statement about the process and product of those activities.

Growing up in the Southwest provided certain perspectives that both helped and hindered the quest for mutual understanding during my residences in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Uruguay. At first, my attitudes were by no means the results of objective analyses, but the consequences of unilaterally programmed standards and values of the environment in which I had lived. From childhood to adulthood there was a constant inculcation of the virtues of proper religious, family, school, and community alliances. The underpinnings of that socialization process were the unwritten, rarely verbalized—but nonetheless omnipresent—subtleties that established the hierarchy of race, class, and culture. Once, while discussing this phenomenon with an acquaintance in Arizona, I was told, “But that depends on each person’s point of view.” Exactly! That’s the whole point! The trick is to develop an understanding of the other person’s way of looking at life. And the best way to accomplish that illusive task is not through long-distance observation, but through long-term, close-up, un-programmed involvement.

Gathering and reporting the procedures and results of spontaneous intercultural contacts appear to be worthwhile for at least two reasons: (1) They are totally unplanned and, therefore, resist somewhat the pitfalls of a predetermined thesis; and (2) their logic, while not always squaring with what more objective and impersonal research demands, has the privileged distinction of being a reflection of that which really happened, interpreted from the perspective of a participant, not just an observer. That is to say, probably there will be a difference between the reaction of one who is totally involved and the educated guess of one who “thinks he sees something.” This last statement should not be interpreted as anti-educational or anti-intellectual. As a matter of fact, day-by-day personal interaction cannot be properly interpreted without an understanding of basic sociological dynamics—whether in the formal terminology of academia, or the down-to-earth approach of folk philosophy. I simply wish to highlight the value of getting involved, because it seems that for similar times and circumstances such experiences have great instructive value, although they may fall short of being the proverbial “best teacher.”

Vaya con Dios!