at the beginning of the year i decided that this year i would read the bible. i've read it, and i read it on a fairly regular basis, but i thought maybe i should make a conscious decision to do the whole thing. not straight through - i think that would bore me - but the whole thing. inayear.
in spanish.
there's something incredible about reading the bible in a different language. amazing. especially when you know dialectic spanish and not really formal spanish. latin american spanish is like american english. everywhere you go the accent is different, some words have different meanings, and intonation can make or take it.
and on top of all that, i'm not really thatgood at reading comprehension in spanish. part of my -dare i call it a resolution? - was based on that. i've been here three years and i can write spanish well. and i can read it quite nicely, but the understanding that comes so easily in my mothertongue is just lost sometimes. in the last few months, amalio has been helping me with that. almost as patiently as i help him with english. needless to say, amalio still struggles with english and i was still struggling with comprehension.
i had some setbacks. the first spanish biblia i got my hands on was the equivalent to the king james version. it was easier to understand than king james, but i needed something more up to date. then, someone lent me the equivalent of the message which i couldn't ever get into in english, either. old white people writing in slang never appealed to me. and finally, after some investigation i decided i wanted the latinamerican bible -- the one that was banned for a really long time. apparently, eventhough it's legal now, it's still sold on the downlow.
but i got it. and i'm proud to say, i just finished the gospel of john.
amazing. glorious and eye-opening. i've read it a thousand times in english, it was getting old and boring. but in spanish... wow. things i never noticed before. word choice, sentence structure.
i mean it's the same, but different.
i imagine its akin to reading the bible in greek or latin.
maybe seminary will know our family one day.
2 comments:
i actually think you may enjoy the seminary. you really do get a lot out of it. North Park has a lot to offer. :)
Good for you Mel. And in Spanish on top of it!
I start...stop...start...stop and just can't seem to get all the way through the Bible. The Gospels and Paul's letters are easier for me. Those are the "starting" points. I try to mix Old Testament reading with the New Testament, but the Old Testament tends to result in the "stopping" points.
Any recommendation for "staying with the program" is appreciated...the Sunday School lesson preparation just does not cover the more obscure books seldom referenced.
Blessings.
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