Why I suggest learning another language.

World flags representing various languages.

Languages open up a world of possibilities, such as: sharing the Gospel with people in another language, reading the Bible in another language. For example, I studied Russian in high school and college, never thinking I would every use the Russian I had learned. However, I have had the opportunity to use Russian almost daily. My wife is from Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia and speaks Russian as a second language. My children are growing up bilingual with English and Russian. "Я говорю по-русски - I speak Russian."

In addition to Russian, I also understand some Dutch and Spanish. However, since I do not speak them on a regular basis, I am still a novice but I can understand many written texts.

I also speak and use several constructed languages: Esperanto, Interlingua and Occidental. Constructed languages are exactly as they sound. I own an Esperanto Bible which I actually read from! Esperanto was designed to be very easy to learn due to its simple structure. For example: All nouns end in -o, adjectives end in -a so: bela floro = Beautiful flower. However, some aspects of Esperanto are too artificial such as plurals which are -j but pronounced as "y". So: Belaj floroj (Pronounced as bell-eye floor-oy) and adjectives must agree with the noun so they both get the plural ending.

Interlingua and Occidental are more naturalistic constructed languages and very similar to each other.

Occidental below:

Occidental es li max facil e simplic forme de Lingue International. It es immediatmen comprensibil a omni hom occidental, pro to usabil por omni relationes anc sin studie anterior. Anuncias e reclames in Occidental es comprensibil a milliones de Europanes, Americanes, e Sud-Americanes. Scientic articules atina omni scientistes.

Esperanto below:

Occidental estas la plej facila formo de lingvo internacia. Ĝi estas tuj komprenebla por ĉiuj okcidentanoj, utila por ĉia komuniko eĉ sen antaŭa studo. Occidentalaj anoncoj kaj reklamoj estas kompreneblaj por milionoj da europanoj, usonanoj kaj sud-amerikanoj. Sciencaj artikoloj estas atingeblaj por ĉiuj sciencistoj.

English below:

Occidental is the easiest form of international language. It's going to be understandable for all the West, useful for any communication even without previous study. Western announcements and advertisements are understandable for millions of Europeans, Americans and South Americans. Scientific articles are accessible to all scientists.

Learning a new language opens up a world with new friends who will appreciate your willingness to learn their languages. You can make new friends and experience new cultures with a better understanding. Learning a new language might seem like a daunting task but it can be fun and actually easy! I highly recommend the blog: Fluent in 3 Months by Benny Lewis. He is an Irish Polyglot who has mastered the art of learning a language in the shortest time possible.

So now you might be thinking: "Why would I learn an artificial language that no one speaks? What good will that do?"

Esperanto has a complete Bible in its own language and the language is used by approximately 5 million people around the world!

La Esperanto-Biblio.

Interlingua has an incomplete Bible but can be accessed online here. Occidental, sadly, does not have a Bible yet but needs one. Maybe if you learn it, you could help translate?!

If you follow the ideas of a Monastic Order such as the Knights of Prayer... you could make it your mission to help with translating the Bible into Occidental. Just a thought.