"Gracias a Dios"

Today I was reading an article that defined culture shock as “An abrupt loss of the familiar that produces feelings of isolation and frustration. “ When I travel to other countries I spend a lot of time marveling at things that are very unfamiliar, and at some point I always find myself captivated by the idea that “this is normal to them!” It is humbling to realize that the way that I live is not the obvious best, but just one way to exist out of many. Living in a foreign language further magnifies these differences, because language shapes the way we see and interpret the world. It is very common here in Chile to begin sentences with “Gracias a Dios…” (which means thanks to God). Whereas we might say, “It’s nice that…” or “I’m lucky because…” Spanish speakers commonly attribute the good and enjoyable things in life to God. This has blessed me enormously as I now find myself giving praise to God for things I am excited about or thankful for. James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift is from above, and the Spanish way of speaking reminds me daily that this is true.

I don’t think you can ever completely understand how much language shapes our thinking until you spend time living in another language. A friend once told me about how when she changes from her native English to speaking her second language, she feels her personality changes a little bit. That is, there are certain feelings and ideas that are not provided for in every language. For example, my Spanish-speaking self is never sarcastic (this is kind of a bad example because I’m sure there are plenty of sarcastic Spanish-speakers, but I just don’t know how to make my sarcasm properly understood). I am marveling every day at the way that my thinking is being changed and expanded by the lexicon and grammatical rules of Spanish. I also now have trouble translating things. When I learn a new word, I write the definition in Spanish because English translations are never enough to fully describe the full meanings of Spanish words. I feel you can’t really understand the richness and color in a culture until you start thinking like them (that is, in their language).

Earlier today I was speaking Spanish when a friend interrupted and asked me a question in English. My response was a sentence with English words in the order one would say them in Spanish. A look of complete shock passed over my face as I realized what I had done. It has not yet been a week but already Spanish is becoming part of the way I think, and I feel that English alone will never again be enough to express myself completely. With every day I spend here I realize more and more how much I don’t know and will never understand. However, gracias a Dios my heart is overflowing with wonder at the wide world he has made for us to explore—we can never run out of new and interesting things to experience! Oh how he loves us!