Funny Missionary Stories

I laughed out loud, Spinach! :laugh: :laugh: Missionary kids are wonderful. I love them! But sometimes they create their own culture from the two languages and cultures they live in daily.

I won't say who, but a certain mission executive and his wife once came over to Japan to visit us all. While they were at one house, a little MK boy said proudly to Mrs. Guess Who, "We have three benjos (potties) in our house!" The Mrs. then innocently said, "That's nice. Do you know how to play them?" (Thought they were banjos! After all, the Dad is very musical!)

 

Interpretation errors

Interpreting for a visiting speaker is very difficult--and loaded with possibilities for funny stories!

I was once interpreting in Bible institute chapel for a seminary professor from the homeland who, being a cross-cultural beginner, used an illustration about a spittoon. Well the Japanese, being more intelligent than many Americans, simply do not chew tobacco. I had no idea how to interpret spittoon, but they told me later I said, "a utensil to throw up into." :laugh:

Missionary R., a friend of mine who is a very good linguist, was interpreting at our institute Bible conference for American evangelist Fred Brown. We had just finished a banquet meal and were seated in a conference room around a huge rectangular table when Brother Brown said, "We're like round knights at a square table!"

Of course this translates very poorly into Japanese, as with any pun. Furthermore, in history the Japanese had no knights. They had samurai warriors, a very different dude indeed! (No samurai ever opened a door for a lady. He was more likely to knock her over!)

Bro. R. panicked and said to us other missionaries, "Anyone know the word for 'knight'?" We were all laughing too hard to come up with it, but my son knew the word from his "Gundam" robots, and bailed the poor guy out. :thumbsup: