Communication Barriers

by Dr. John David Smith

By calling and by necessity, missionaries are communicators. The ability to communicate in a culture that is not one’s birth culture requires much patience and practice as relationships are built. Most people automatically think of learning a new language – and in many cases multiple new languages – in order to communicate well. 

Certainly, language proficiency in a missionary’s new culture is a must or he or she will always be limited in what can be accomplished. However, there is much more to missionary communication than just linguistics. Other major issues in communication include worldview, literacy, non-verbal language etc. One area that missionaries must understand is how the local people process information and how they learn. 

Most people in the west, i.e. the United States, have been taught and conditioned in a culture to be very concept-based learners. But most people in other cultures are more oral and visual in their learning. Some western forms of teaching/preaching are not highly effective in those cultures. Lecture would often not be the best way to teach a lesson. Expository preaching may not be the best way to preach a sermon if the culture’s learning structure is much more oral and narrative. 

In a missionary’s effort to adapt culturally, the communication process – which includes more than just language learning – takes much humility, skill, and patience.