Languages Without the Pain

Language barriers are no longer what they used to be. Discover practical, immediate ways to use translation apps and simple study methods to support preaching efforts worldwide.

Introduction: “Don’t skip this article.”

Those words may be too late, as many readers may skip this article with the response, “I’m no good at languages; I learned that much at school.” And fair enough, traditional school languages do too often teach students that languages are hard work that doesn’t yield results.

We get that. Languages can be disheartening. There’s nothing worse than when someone says something to you slowly and clearly in a language you’ve tried to learn, and the only thing that you can come up with is “Sorry. ¿English, por favor?”

But give this article a chance. We’re going to talk about methods that yield immediate results and technology tools that enable translation, using four “Christadelphian” languages as examples.

Persian

If there is one language that has proved that Christadelphians can use languages, then it is Persian. Almost every ecclesia in the UK has experienced an Acts 2-type situation, thanks to translation tools such as PowerPoint automatically translated subtitles and Google Translate in ecclesial WhatsApp groups.

There are at least 800 Christadelphians in the UK who do not know “five words” (1 Corinthians 14:19) of schoolboy French, but who attend classes in Persian using translation apps on their phones. Those same Christadelphians may also have sat at a shared meal table using the SayHi app to hear and speak each other’s language.

The language purist could argue that none of those UK brothers and sisters are learning more than a few words of Persian. But that’s the whole point. Every interaction you want to have, whether as an ecclesia or individually, is possible using technology already installed and largely unused, or downloadable for free on most laptops and smartphones.

Swahili

Swahili provides one of the clearest examples of how learning even a modest amount of a language can have an immediate and lasting impact on ecclesial life and preaching. Unlike many world languages, Swahili is not confined to one nation. It is spoken across East and Central Africa and functions as a bridge language between people of many different tribal and linguistic backgrounds. For Christadelphians, this makes Swahili uniquely valuable.

In recent years, several ecclesias in Windsor, ON, Des Moines, IA, Green Bay, WI, and Montreal, QC have been involved in regular classes and meetings with brothers and sisters in Kenya. These connections are not occasional or symbolic; they are active, relational, and ongoing. Zoom classes allow joint Bible study, exhortations, and discussions, often with participants speaking different first languages. Swahili plays a key role in making this possible.

Swahili classes are particularly effective because the language is structured, phonetic, and logical. Words are pronounced as they are written, which removes a major obstacle faced by adult learners. Even beginners can quickly learn greetings, basic sentences, and key Bible vocabulary. When combined with translation tools, subtitles, and shared texts, students can participate meaningfully far sooner than they expect.

The importance of learning Swahili extends beyond communication alone. Making the effort to speak Swahili, however imperfectly, communicates humility, respect, and fellowship. Brothers and sisters who speak Swahili consistently express appreciation when others try to speak it. The barrier between “teacher” and “learner,” or between “sending” and “receiving” ecclesias, is softened. Fellowship becomes mutual rather than one-sided.

This is already being seen in practice. Students attending Swahili classes are not learning the language as an academic exercise; they are using it. Some are now able to greet Swahili-speaking brothers and sisters confidently, read short Bible passages, and ask simple questions during classes. Others assist with translation during Zoom meetings, clarify questions in WhatsApp groups, or help newcomers feel included by explaining discussions in Swahili.

Short Swahili teaching videos reinforce this learning. Videos allow students to hear natural speech, observe correct pronunciation, and revisit lessons as often as needed. When combined with live interaction in classes and discussions, this approach supports steady progress even for students with limited study time.

Perhaps most encouraging is that Swahili learners are already becoming helpers. Students who once felt hesitant now support brothers and sisters who are less confident in English. In doing so, they are not only using Swahili but living out its purpose: building up the body of Christ. The language becomes a tool of service rather than an end in itself.

Swahili shows us that language learning does not require perfection, fluency, or years of study. What it requires is willingness. With today’s tools and a clear purpose, even small steps in Swahili can strengthen ecclesias, deepen fellowship, and open doors for preaching that might otherwise remain closed.

Portuguese

Something that regular readers of Tidings will already know is that Portuguese is a big Christadelphian language in Africa. By God’s grace, in 2026, Mozambique now has over 969 ecclesias and over 25,000 active brothers and sisters, more than twice the number of neighbouring Malawi, and the national language is Portuguese. Although in practice only a minority in the country can read in Portuguese, from a small base, the percentage of those with Portuguese and access to WhatsApp and other tools is growing.

In August 2025, CBMMedia.org uploaded a complete 30-lesson first principles course in Portuguese (as well as in a dozen other languages), along with ten additional video lessons designed for local elders and teachers. Within a week of uploading the videos and promoting them on Portuguese-language Facebook groups, responses started to come back from new contacts who had downloaded and watched the entire 30-lesson course as if it were a box set. Then came a small flood of questions about the lessons.

Fact: we do not have the resources to harvest the seeds that we have sown. So it’s at this point that we usually quote Matthew 9:38 and pray for God to provide harvesters. But let’s be honest, God is not going to suddenly parachute a dozen Christadelphians with Portuguese down from the sky. Even though Portuguese is a Category I language (600 hours to functional use), not a Category III like Swahili (900 hours), or Category IV (Persian, 1100), what Christadelphian has 600 hours to suddenly conjure up from nowhere? Even if 40 Christadelphians were to take a solemn vow to swear off watching TV in 2026, would that yield two hours a day of vibrantly active best-brain time?

It might be more realistic to pray to God for the humility to “cheat.” A combination of the methods described above from Swahili and Persian could yield quick results, which would horrify the language perfectionist, but would get part of the job done.

Let’s address some of the objections:

“I don’t have the technology skills”—Ok, some of us genuinely cannot use any communication app more modern than email. But equally, some contacts are still using email. If a tutor can use email on a PC, then they can also use Google Translate when answering an email.

“Google Translate is no good”—Says who? One of the most basic rules of software is “garbage in, garbage out.” Presenters in the UK have all learned that the key to a good Persian-translated Bible class is to write or speak in clear, short English sentences. Likewise, careful editing before translation can actually make an exhortation written in KJV English more comprehensible than the original.

“I don’t do social media”—This sounds fine, but is a little like being asked to work in a vineyard and saying, “I don’t drink wine.” No one is asking us to indulge our own amusements. Much initial tutoring of contacts is done logged into Christadelphian social media accounts, where the temptation to be distracted by our personal “friends” feed won’t arise, because while logged in (as, for example, Cristadelfianos Angola), we won’t see those distractions. Work is work, play is play, and most witness and teaching on social media is work, even hard work, but immensely rewarding, like any privilege in Christ’s service.

“I’ll get confused with schoolboy Spanish”—Actually not. Portuguese is a classic example of a language where there are immediate quick gains from over 50% of the vocabulary and grammar being familiar from Spanish, and these easy learns outweigh the small number of “false friends,” when words amusingly turn out to mean something similar but different. Linguistic circumstance (or God’s favor) has provided us with, for once, an easy route to quick advancement. Would we prefer that contacts were responding who spoke Sanskrit?

Haitian

Kreyol, the creole of French used in Haiti, is an example of a non-major language where many of the tools and resources of major languages are not available. For example, there is no Routledge grammar, no Teach Yourself series course (though a book by Yeral E. Ogando provides a surprisingly good alternative), no standard Lonely Planet phrasebook or audio downloads, and so on. From the standpoint of preaching and teaching, the Colossyan software used by the CBM cannot (yet) reproduce the 30-Lesson “Bible Based Christianity” video course at the flick of a switch; functions on YouTube, and WhatsApp for translation are basic; Google Translate works well enough to produce basic exhortations and booklets, but does not have advanced functions.

But, as with the other languages, what is the Christadelphian user’s objective? If the objective is to get the gist of a question during a Zoom class, this is achievable. Training the ear is particularly important when dealing with minor variants of more major languages. Anyone with a grain of French can demonstrate this to themselves by a simple variant on a standard linguistic exercise:

1. Select the 1998 Haitian Bible text of Mark https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/1957/MRK.1?parallel=59
2. Cut and paste Mark 1:1-13 into Google Translate, breaking up the sentences to see word-for-word what the words mean
3. Listen repeatedly to the same version in the LUMO Bible youtube.com/watch?v=q2LJoI_BPog
4. Keep doing this until you can understand the audio without looking at the text.

This is only a passage of 13 verses, but it breaks the barrier of “I will never understand what they are saying.” Conventional language teachers might prefer to teach students a song, but for our purposes, a Bible passage is more familiar and also feeds directly into our learning and using objectives.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we quoted earlier, “Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Matthew 9:38 NLT). That is a red-letter instruction from our Lord, and those workers are needed urgently now in a time when technology (or providence) has provided the tools—sickle, flail and winnowing basket—on our phones. The verse is not there so that we can pray for God to send other Christadelphians, but not ourselves. If UK brothers and sisters can use these tools for Persian, then anyone can, and can therefore help harvest that field overflowing with people who want to hear the gospel.

We each need to respond to the urgency of English-speaking brothers and sisters contributing to the future of our global community. We already know that it is no longer all about us but about supporting the growing majority of our family in Christ who do not speak our language. These tools have already made it possible for every single one of us to contribute in ways that missionaries in past Christadelphian generations would have rejoiced to see. Since God has given us these tools now, it would be a shame not to take advantage of what He has provided to assist in the gospel. The “season” (Proverbs 15:23) has come. The time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7) is now.

Alphonce Kyallo
Likona Ecclesia, Kenya
and
Steven Cox
Leicester Westleigh Ecclesia, UK

Note: Alphonce teaches Swahili Zoom classes through the Heritage School in Los Angeles. You can register at heritageschoolcalifornia.com. Steven leads training in basic navigation of language apps in Portuguese and Haitian for North American Christadelphians, and is also open to adjusting the timing of his Asian and European language training for anyone interested. Contact editor@tidings.org for more information.