THE TOWER OF BABEL....................................

Many international workers who go to other countries face their first language learning once they land in their country of ministry.  Not so in the Pierce family - we speak a variety of languages in our home and in doing ministry.  That is one BIG thing I miss in retirement - living in a boring country where everyone speaks one language, English. (We manage  understanding  "Southern" most of the time!)

We do speak English in our family - all of us. But we also speak (among us) French, Jula, Bobo, Spanish, Baoulé, Wolof, Arabic, Kurdish, Dafing, another dialect of Arabic and Mooré.  Some say that when the Tower of Babel fell, its top fell into West Africa.  And it is true that there are abundant languages there. Many of those languages still do not have a word of translated Scripture. The Bible Society and SIL are working to alleviate that situation and make God's Word available for more people in their own tongue. 

In addition to English, I had always spoken French and Jula, then as an adult learned Bobo Madare. Dad, on the other hand, was totally mono-lingual.  He had to work hard to learn French, then a year later start studying the Bobo Madare language. But today he preaches in any of the three languages he knows and does very well.  You girls, Cheryl and Debbi, learned a little French in France to add to your English. You were both early talkers also. In Africa it did not take you long to pick up the Bobo language, including some of the bad words, which Yusufu  quickly took out of your vocabulary!  Elin, you learned Bobo and English at the same time, as well as hearing smatterings of Jula and French around you every day.

Then there was John, born in Bobo, who ignored the English - our family at-home language - and chose to be completely Bobo, including the idea that he was also black like his friends!  Mark was not an early talker and he spoke a mixture of languages as he heard English, Bobo, French, Jula, Dogoso and Dafing every day and could understand the basics of what was being said to him in all those languages by the age of two or three. 

Our dear daughter-in-law, Jennie, spoke fluent Spanish in addition to English. John learned much Spanish from her and from living in Puerto Rico. John also speaks fluent Bobo and French as well as English now!  Our Katy, Mark's wife, knew some French from living in Africa and perhaps some Ivoirian language as well. Joel and Elin learned French and studied Baoulé, then moved to Senegal where Wolof is spoken. Darrell chose one of the world's hardest languages, Arabic, for his first language to add to his Pennsylvania English. And now he is also studying French to be able to minister in his new country.  Cheryl added fluent Arabic to her four other languages she speaks, then tried her hand at Kurdish and now is studying yet another dialect of Arabic.  Steve and Debbi spent a year in France and learned French, in addition to Debbi's Bobo and a bit of Jula. Then they went to an unwritten language, Dafing, and learned that well as they worked among the Dafing tribal people group. They now live among the Mossi people of Ouagadougou and so have added some Mooré to their other languages.  No wonder we might sound like the Tower of Babel to someone visiting in our family. The grandchildren all speak other languages too.

Cheryl's and Darrell's three children were all surrounded by Arabic as they were toddlers and learning to speak and Arabic was their language of choice!  They all speak beautiful Arabic. I remember visiting them in Lebanon when the kids were small and we needed a translator to talk with those grandchildren!  The same was true with the Clouser girls, their English was pretty sparse at first!  Daniel had learned French in France - but he also spoke English. And then he learned Dafing in Safane.  He even wrote a little tract in Dafing with some pictures to explain salvation to his older friend, Yaku, and Yaku says Daniel led him to the Lord with that paper! The Bubna grandchildren are also fluent in French as well as English. I remember visiting Josiah when he was very young in Abidjan and I conversed with him in French! 
The four Pierce grandchildren are all English speakers, but I think Katy tries to teach them some French or Spanish as well. 

So there you have it - a multi-lingual family - but we all speak English when we get together , as that is our common denominator language.  We still receive many phone calls, letters and Facebook messages in French which continues to enrich our boring English lives in the United States.