Tone Of Voice

on April 26, 2011 by Walt Dilg

On our Holy Land Trip we had the most interesting experience.  One of the owners of the store we were about to enter was a friend of the guide, so upon the guide’s request, he had agreed to talk to us as we sat on the bus awaiting our time to enter his store.  He told us about his family and his products, and then he said, “let me give you this gift, at your guides request.”  We all wondered what was going on.  Then he started to speak in Syriac, the most ancient language closest to Jesus’ Aramian.  To our American ears it sounded harsh, almost angry, and we tried to hold in our thoughts that this sounded the way Jesus sounded.

We didn’t know what he was saying.  We all wondered about this “gift.”  He sounded like he was balling us out, yelling at us.  The tone of voice just sounded aggressive, harsh to our ears.  Yet actually, he was saying the Lord’s Prayer – the Lord’s Prayer – who would have thought!  When we learned that, we were simply amazed.  Imagine. Those harsh sounding words were actually the Lord’s Prayer, in Syriac.

It made all of us think, that we need to be sensitive as we cross the boundaries of language and culture, because what we think might be happening, might not really be happening at all.  None of us had guessed he was praying from his tone of voice.  It was just that the tonal quality of Syriac is emotionally very different to our Western ears.

Cross-cultural encounters are harder than initially imagined.  They might be well-intentioned, but end up layered with confusion.  Same language or not, we need to listen to one another and then make sure we understand each other.  Take the time.  Make the effort.  It’s important.  I look back on that encounter and think about what a blessing that was, whether we realized it or not.

Lord have mercy.