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Do emissaries learn the local language?



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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 7:04 am
Do sluchim and their families make an effort to learn the language(s) of the countries where they live?

If you are/were one, did you study or pick up the local language?
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amother
Copper


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 7:18 am
Yes they do. I'm not one but my friends either actively studied it or were able to pick it up. Their children speak the local language too.
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 7:40 am
I live in a non-english speaking country (in western europe) with english-speaking shluchim, and they made the effort of learning the local language (with various degrees of success). The chabad rabbi makes droshes, gives shiurim, holds speeches in the local language. He has been here for over 30 years, but he made efforts to speak the local language from the beginning. His children grew up here and are fluent in the local language... Some stayed as a second generation... some moved on to places where other languages are spoken...

I think most children of shluchim grow up bilingual, with the local language as functional mother-tongue... except, perhaps, when they are in a place where they don't go to school... and are completely home-schooled... But they also interact with the local children in the framework of activities their parents organise...
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amother
Amethyst


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 7:56 am
Yes, of course. They move to serve the community, and need to speak their language.

Since not everyone is good with languages, some do better than others! (I remember a shlucha once said that people would sometimes come to her classes just to hear her latest gaffes...)

The kids tend to be bi- or trilingual (or more).

My nieces and nephews in France, for example, speak French, Yiddish, Hebrew, and a bit of English.

My American friends in Ukraine speak Russian and to a more limited degree Ukrainian. (They tell me Ukrainian is harder than Russian, and all the Ukrainians speak Russian too?)

My children's international classmates all speak their local language, in addition to English (and sometimes Hebrew).
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 8:07 am
amother [ Amethyst ] wrote:
Yes, of course. They move to serve the community, and need to speak their language.

Since not everyone is good with languages, some do better than others! (I remember a shlucha once said that people would sometimes come to her classes just to hear her latest gaffes...)

The kids tend to be bi- or trilingual (or more).

My nieces and nephews in France, for example, speak French, Yiddish, Hebrew, and a bit of English.

My American friends in Ukraine speak Russian and to a more limited degree Ukrainian. (They tell me Ukrainian is harder than Russian, and all the Ukrainians speak Russian too?)

My children's international classmates all speak their local language, in addition to English (and sometimes Hebrew).

Classmates in virtual school?
Or shluchim who moved to your place?
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amother
Tan


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 8:52 am
Obviously, why would you think not?
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amother
Amethyst


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 9:07 am
amother [ Seagreen ] wrote:
Classmates in virtual school?
Or shluchim who moved to your place?

Virtual school. We're in the USA Smile
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 9:45 am
amother [ Amethyst ] wrote:

My American friends in Ukraine speak Russian and to a more limited degree Ukrainian. (They tell me Ukrainian is harder than Russian, and all the Ukrainians speak Russian too?)

.


I wrote a long post and then my phone died Sad

Ukrainian is actually easier for English speakers since it’s much more similar to English than Russian. For example, хата is hut.

Not all Ukrainians speak Russian, although almost all understand. I haven’t made an effort to learn Ukrainian in the year I’ve been here. Tbh I should, since it IS the national language, but at least in Kyiv most people do respond in the language you address them.

I started this thread because this morning I was thinking how the chief rabbis of so many cities here are from the US or Israel. Maybe in Kharkiv or Kherson Russian is enough, but in Chernovtsi Ukrainian would be a good idea, too. It’s in the west of the country.

Chernovtsi seems like a really special community; I’d love to visit if things ever get back to normal and Shabbat hosting becomes a thing again. Of course it won’t because covid has taken that from us forever.
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amother
Blue


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 10:36 am
We r on shluchos in a place where english is not the language. My husband is from here so that helped me to learn the language. I learnt just from listening. We have been here 10+ years.
My kids r almost fluent in english the language of where we live and know Hebrew too.
I speak with the kids english, my husband the language from here and in school they learn in hebrew...
When my kids know that someone doesnt speak their language they speak english.
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amother
Red


 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 12:30 pm
of course they do. How could they engage with the local populace if they didn't?
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Frumme




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jun 19 2020, 1:43 pm
Most people do, yes. I know two American women who married Argentines and moved there for their shlichus and picked up Spanish quite well. They both speak English to their kids, although the kids are much more fluent in Spanish than in English. One even often asks her kids if the grammar is correct before she sends out messages to community members (reading and writing proficiency is different than speaking and listening proficiency).

The shluchim in Chengdu, China definitely make an attempt at Mandarin, although the kids are much more fluent, from what I understand.

That being said. I've heard of shluchim where it's an issue. I'm not sure if it's due to an unwillingness to learn, or just because the local language is difficult for them to grasp.
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