Foreign Language

Foreign Language CurriculumForeign Language Resources

When God confused the languages at Babel, He effectively ended the world's first great building project. Some have doubtless deduced from this that dialects are a God-ordained partition between people and cultures, but that would directly contradict Christ's later command to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel."

This is of course the most obvious reason for learning a foreign language: to share the truth of Christ's redemption with every tribe and nation. Whether you intend to actually go overseas, translate Scripture, or simply to witness to a local community, the first step toward communication is to learn the language of the group you intend to impact.

Obviously, acquiring skills in the local speech is necessary just to talk to people and be understood, but it's also important for learning about the community. The ideas and attitudes of a culture are embedded in its dominant tongue, and to effectively communicate the Gospel (or any message) with a foreign society one needs to "get" where its members are coming from.

This is as true of past cultures as present ones. While you certainly don't need to be proficient in biblical languages to study the Bible, a knowledge of Hebrew and Koine Greek will deepen your understanding of God's Word and the cultural and religious contexts in which it was written. To properly and accurately translate the Bible, knowing the original languages thoroughly is crucial.

It's easy to think of all these uses for language in Anglo-centric terms. English is the most widely spoken language in the world today, and the universal language for business; we tend to think of translation purely in terms of our own language, communication in terms of our Western understanding.

Such a truncated view is harmful both to our work as Christians and to our personal outlook. English may be dominant now, but it wasn't always so, and won't maintain that position forever. The language of Heaven isn't English, and God never set the English-speaking world apart for special treatment or honor.

Ironically, English isn't even the official language of the United States. It's the de facto (most prevalent) language, but there is no "official language" in our nation. There are several reasons for this, but in the end such an omission on the part of the Federal government underscores a very American idea: all people are created equal.

Which, in a way, is also a very biblical concept. All mankind is born in sin, unable to communicate directly with God until Christ's redeeming grace and love bring us to reconciliation with Him. This is the message that ought to motivate all our attempts at communication, and the sharing of which should drive us to study foreign languages of every kind.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur.Read more of his reviews here.

 

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501 Arabic Verbs
by Raymond P. Scheindlin, Ph.D.
from Barron's
for 9th-Adult
in Foreign Language (Location: FL-GEN)
$18.99
501 English Verbs
by Thomas R. Beyer, Jr., Ph.D.
2nd edition from Barron's
for 9th-Adult
in Grammar Reference (Location: REF-GRA)
501 French Verbs
by Christopher & Theodore Kendris
7th edition from Barron's
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501 German Verbs
by Henry Strutz
4th edition from Barron's
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501 Hebrew Verbs
by Shmuel Bolozky, Ph.D.
2nd edition from Barron's
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501 Italian Verbs
by John Colaneri & Vincent Luciani
3rd edition from Barron's
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501 Latin Verbs
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American Sign Language Dictionary
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Arabic in 10 Minutes a Day
by Kristine Kershul
2nd edition from Bilingual Books
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Athenaze Book I
by Maurice Balme, Gilbert Lawall, and revised by James Morwood
Third Edition from Oxford University
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Basics of Biblical Greek - Grammar
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3rd edition from Zondervan
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$30.00 $16.00 (1 in stock)
Basics of Biblical Greek - Workbook
by William D. Mounce
4th edition from Zondervan
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by William D. Mounce
3rd edition from Zondervan
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Basics of Biblical Hebrew - Workbook
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2nd edition from Zondervan
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Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar
by Gary D. Pratico, Miles V. Van Pelt
2nd edition from Zondervan
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Bilingual Family
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2nd edition from Cambridge University
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Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day
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Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms
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Easy English Step-By-Step for ESL Learners
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El Espanol Facil
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Elementary Greek Year One - Audio Companion CD
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Elementary Greek Year One - Bundle
by Christine Gatchell
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Elementary Greek Year One - Flashcards
by Christine Gatchell
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$14.20
Elementary Greek Year One - Teacher Key
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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$17.35
Elementary Greek Year One - Tests
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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$6.00
Elementary Greek Year One - Textbook
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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$15.75
Elementary Greek Year One - Workbook
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$17.35
Elementary Greek Year Three - Audio Companion CD
by Christine Gatchell
from Memoria Press
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Elementary Greek Year Three - Bundle
by Christine Gatchell
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Elementary Greek Year Three - Flashcards
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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$14.20
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by Christine Gatchell
from Memoria Press
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Elementary Greek Year Three - Tests
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$6.00
Elementary Greek Year Three - Textbook
by Christine Gatchell
from Memoria Press
for 6th-Adult
in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$19.90
Elementary Greek Year Three - Workbook
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
for 6th-Adult
in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$17.35
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by Christine Gatchell
from Memoria Press
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Elementary Greek Year Two - Bundle
by Christine Gatchell
from Memoria Press
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in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
Elementary Greek Year Two - Flashcards
by Christine Gatchell
from Memoria Press
for 5th-Adult
in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$14.20
Elementary Greek Year Two - Teacher Key
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
for 5th-Adult
in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$17.35
Elementary Greek Year Two - Tests
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
for 5th-Adult
in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$6.00
Elementary Greek Year Two - Textbook
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
for 5th-Adult
in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$15.75
Elementary Greek Year Two - Workbook
by Christine Gatchell
2nd edition from Memoria Press
for 5th-Adult
in Elementary Greek (Location: FL-GREELE)
$17.35
Essential Arabic
Com/Pap Bl from Living Language
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Essentials of New Testament Greek
by Ray Summers
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
French in 10 Minutes a Day
by Kristine Kershul
7th edition from Bilingual Books
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GCSE Greek Bundle
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Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament
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Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics
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$28.00 (1 in stock)
Hebrew in 10 Minutes a Day
by Kristine Kershul
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Hebrew Word Pictures
from Hebrew Heart Media
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$34.95
Inglés en ten minutos al día
by Kristine Kershul
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$26.95
Italian in 10 Minutes a Day
by Kristine Kershul
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Japanese in 10 Minutes a Day
by Kristine Kershul
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Joy of Signing
by Lottie Riekehof
2nd edition from Gospel Publishing
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Joy of Signing
by Lottie Riekehof
3rd edition from Gospel Publishing
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Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language
for 9th-Adult
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$45.00 (1 in stock)
Learn to Read New Testament Greek - Set
by David Alan Black (Textbook); Ben Gutierrez, Cara L. Murphy (Workbook)
3rd edition from Broadman & Holman
for 9th-Adult
in Greek Resources (Location: FL-GRE)
$41.00 (1 in stock)
Les Ravageurs
by Jean-Henri Fabre
from Benj. H. Sandbourn & Co.
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Living Language Spanish - Complete Course
2nd edition from Random House
for 9th-Adult
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Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish
by Margarita Madrigal
from Three Rivers Press
for 8th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
N'Heures Souris Rames: The Coucy Castle Manuscript
from St. Martin's Press
for Adult
in French (Location: FL-FRE)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece
by Eberhard Nestle, Erwin Nestle, Kurt Aland
27th edition from American Bible Society
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: Foreign Language (Location: ZCLE-FL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
New College Latin & English Dictionary
by John Traupman
3 Rev Upd from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in Latin Resources & Reference (Location: FL-LATREF)
$7.99
New Testament Greek for Beginners
by J. Gresham Machen
from Macmillan
for 11th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Norwegian in 10 Minutes a Day
by Kristine Kershul
from Bilingual Books
for 6th-Adult
in Foreign Language (Location: FL-GEN)
Perigee Visual Dictionary of Signing
by Rod R. Butterworth and Mickey Flodin
3rd edition from Perigee Books
for 3rd-Adult
in Deafness & Sign Language (Location: FL-SIGN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Reader's Greek New Testament
by Richard Goodrich & Albert Lukaszewski
2nd edition from Zondervan
for 10th-Adult
in Greek Resources (Location: FL-GRE)
$34.99
Rudiments of Anglo-Saxon
by Douglas Wilson
from Canon Press
for 8th-Adult
in Foreign Language (Location: FL-GEN)
$22.00
Rudiments of Anglo-Saxon - Answer Key
from Canon Press
for 8th-Adult
in Foreign Language (Location: FL-GEN)
$12.00
Russian in 10 Minutes a Day
by Kristine Kershul
from Bilingual Books
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in Russian (Location: FL-GEN)
Signing Made Easy
by Rod Butterworth & Mickey Flodin
from Penguin Putnam
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$19.00
Song of the Cid
by Anonymous
Dual Language from Penguin Classics
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Spanish Grammar 1 Flipper
from Christopher Lee Publications
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Spanish Grammar 2 Flipper
from Christopher Lee Publications
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Under The Fig Tree
by Patrick Gabriel Lumbroso
from Xulon Press
for 10th-Adult
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