some people have asked me whether i can preach in mandarin. (i have done it twice). these are the things that i think about to answer the question:
while my language skill has improved (after all, i speak mandarin every day to my wife), there a few things that i can't do;
* my theological education has been received in english (implication; i tend to exegete the bible in english)
what's wrong with that, you may ask? it means that my sermon preparation is done in english, and i structure main ideas, and translate it into chinese
the problem with that is that i dont' interact with the language as well (some problems in the chinese is that the logic is not as clear because conjucntions are less well set out(well, at least to my febble mind).
hence for example, i present a prefectly cogent argument from a passage in romans, while what is required is an interaction with the chinese language.
why is that important?
chinese people really do have a respect for the beauty of their langauge (a lot of preachers introduces their sermons with a chinese poem), and interact with the language closely.
You can see the implication of this in terms of some people's reaction to a clearer translation to the chinese bible replacing the union version, e.g. New chinese version
some people would still prefer the union (just like some ppl hold onto the KJV), because of them holding onto the langauge (which is a core value for them)
hence while i can speak to the chinese people, i wonder whether i can preach truly to their hearts
(besdies language, there are many more factors , like how chiense prefer to talk around the issue into order for the listener to infer the core issue as against teh english way of expositing and directly speaking at in issue, with the potential to cause offence (e.g. lose face)... ) but that's for another day...
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