Spiritual Translation

For people settling into a new country, finding a faith community could well be a top priority.

It can help establish a sense of identity in a new setting, surrounded by people who understand the importance of faith. Sounds perfect, unless you don’t share a language with the people at your local place of worship.

Finding a place in a new community

Temitope Adebayo is 20 and has recently arrived in Dundee from Ibadan, Nigeria, to study Games Design. She is excited about her course and about living in Scotland, but moving to a new country also means finding her feet in a completely different environment.

There are new places to discover, new people to meet and all the little things that come with making somewhere unfamiliar feel like home. For Temitope, her Christian faith is an important part of her life.

Once she has settled into her new neighbourhood, one of the first things she does is look for a local church. The welcome is warm, and Temitope enjoys the service. She can pray, join in with the worship and take in the atmosphere. There is something comforting about being among other Christians, even though she is thousands of miles from home.

Then the sermon begins. Temitope speaks English, but finds following the sermon more difficult than expected. The pastor speaks quickly and uses expressions, references and turns of phrase that aren’t familiar to her.

She doesn’t want to interrupt or draw attention to herself, so she listens carefully and does her best to follow. After the service, everyone gathers for coffee and a chat. This should be the easy part, but it isn’t quite as straightforward as she had hoped.

Conversations move quickly. Several people are talking at once. There are unfamiliar Scottish expressions, local references and the kind of casual conversation that can be difficult to follow unless you already know the people and the context.

People are friendly and genuinely interested in meeting her, but Temitope sometimes finds herself smiling and nodding because she hasn’t quite caught what was said.

She leaves feeling that the church is welcoming, but also aware that being welcomed isn’t necessarily the same as being able to participate fully.

A little help with the conversation

This is where a tool such as InMyWords could potentially make a difference.

Using the app, Temitope could chat with her new friends, speaking or typing in the language she is most comfortable with while the other person communicates in English.

It isn’t about assuming she can’t speak English. She can. It’s about recognising that communication involves much more than knowing the words. Speed, accents, unfamiliar expressions, group conversations and cultural context can all make it harder to take part.

With a little help, a conversation after the service might become something more. Someone with similar interests might discover that Temitope is studying Games Design.

Another person might invite her to a church social event, or to join a local volunteering or community project. Perhaps she finds a group of people she enjoys spending time with and gradually becomes more involved in the life of the church.

InMyWords isn’t the relationship. It simply helps remove one of the barriers to starting one.

For someone like Temitope, that could mean moving from being a young woman who attends a church service to someone who feels able to take part in the wider life of her congregation and her new community.