In His Own Language

On October 10, 1975, President Spencer W. Kimball gave his landmark address at BYU titled “The Second Century of Brigham Young University.” In it he laid out his vision for what the university was to become over the next century. One part of that vision was related to language acquisition. He said, “One peak of educational excellence that is highly relevant to the needs of the Church is the realm of language. BYU should become the acknowledged language capital of the world in terms of our academic competency and through the marvelous ‘laboratory’ that sends young men and women forth to service in the mission field. I refer, of course, to the Language Training Mission. There is no reason why this university could not become the place where, perhaps more than anywhere else, the concern for literacy and the teaching of English as a second language is firmly headquartered in terms of unarguable competency as well as deep concern.” The “Language Training Mission” of course became what is now the MTC, and a news article recently suggested that BYU has indeed been fulfilling that mission. It said, “More than 60% of BYU students speak a second language. The student body speaks at least 121 languages. BYU is No. 1 in the nation in the number of language courses it offers. BYU ranked first in the country in the number of advanced language enrollments, too, the last time they were counted.” In that last category BYU’s value was 4578 and more than double the next closest at 2034. In the number of languages taught, BYU is at 84 with the next closest, Harvard, at 78. This video shows students speaking many of those languages and highlights the fact that BYU is indeed “The Language University.” Most importantly, BYU is helping to fulfill the prophecy of the Lord: “For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, by the administration of the Comforter, shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:11). The Lord needs His children to learn other languages so that every man and woman can hear the gospel in their own tongue.

               I appreciated the references to people in several different countries in the talk by Elder William K. Jackson in the most recent general conference. He spoke of how he lived away from the United States for 26 years. He referenced attending “a branch council meeting in Lahore, Pakistan. He spoke of a family from the United States who moved to a church unit in Africa and served as leaders there. Elder Jackson was also a mission president in India and spoke of the faithful service of a branch president there. All of those places needed missionaries to learn their languages so they could initially receive the gospel His message was that “Christ is the Good Shepherd. Each one of the flock is precious to Him.” Those of course include the members of the Church who may be spiritually lost, but it is also all of God’s children across the globe whom He wants to return to Him. He summarized, “To God, who created the universe and rules over all, this work—His work and glory—is very personal. And so it should be for each of us, as instruments in His hands in His amazing work of salvation and exaltation.” Part of making that work personal is for members of the Church to learn the languages of others so they can teach them the principles of the gospel.

Alma put it this way, “For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true” (Alma 29:8). The Lord will grant to every nation to hear the gospel in their own tongue, and the Church and its universities are seeking to fill that mission through language instruction. A recent news report from BYU summarizes, “BYU, as the premier language university, aligns with continuing prophetic direction. Fifty years after President Kimball declared BYU ‘the language capital of the world,’ President Dallin H. Oaks (eighteenth president of the Church) issued a call for worldwide service — a call that relies on cultural and linguistic proficiencies. ‘Our ministry is a ministry of all the children of God on the face of the earth,’ President Oaks said. ‘We pray for all. We seek to serve all. And we invoke the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ upon all who seek to serve Him, to do so in worthiness and commitment and optimism. We do not have the answers to all the world’s problems. They have not been revealed. But what we do know is that we are all children of heavenly parents, and that we are called to serve all of the children of God.’”