Lost in Translation

Learning another language is a huge challenge. Lately we've been studying the subjunctive mode in Spanish, which involves the realm of desire, possibility, influence , etc. In English we just use the word "would" . . . I pray that you "would" do something Lord. Or, I wish I "were" a millionaire (only an example). But in Spanish we use a whole different verb conjugation for this kind of thing. It's actually pretty cool.

The only problem lies in the fact that the most useful things for a missionary to say (counseling, preaching, etc.) use a lot of the subjunctive mode. This can get interesting. Like the other day I was trying to counsel a guy named Alfonso, but my Spanish gave out (as one of my teachers says, "a linguistic collapse"). Or in conversation class we got into a great discussion of eternal security and election. I had to admit that my Spanish didn't quite reach far enough to finish my thought.

Hmmm . . . one other tidbit. Your English suffers when you're learning another language. I guess I'll never be a novelist in either English or Spanish.