I was surprised to hear that my parents were going to watch a Chinese movie in the theaters: What Chinese movie could possibly be playing on the big screen? It turns out they watched Back to 1942, a movie about the Henan famine that takes place while China was at war with Japan. My mom returned noticeably saddened and solemn as she worried about any extreme sufferings that could take place in our lifetimes.
But she and my dad also made sure to point out a little detail. They were saddened that the large room had fewer than ten people. Worse, after the first few minutes of the Mandarin introduction, two more people left the audience. My parents guessed these patrons must have expected and English-speaking movie, as the trailer shows the clips of English speakers, yet the international movie is spoken in mainly Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles.
It's was almost like a personal hurt or minor offense, like they were saddened that they left, unwilling to need to read the subtitles for the movie.
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Darrell and I are talking to his parents about Chinese American churches. They tell us about when they first searched for a church in the area, where most of the congregations were overseas born, and you would show up at a service where the main service was spoken in Chinese and translated to English (or vice versa). Worse, his dad says, at one church, the translation was given through headphones for the audience members. While they grew up in a church with a translated main service, it wasn't till years later that they realized the time and engagement lost through the translation.
In this conversation, I realized a position that I never had to take. In a congregation where simultaneous translation is offered, I am so used to the fair-sized pocket of people who can understand both languages. These are the people who help the translator when he or she is stuck, and on a rare occasion, I am proud to be one of them. I may not be able to fully understand a Chinese teaching, yet I am fortunate enough to weave my way around churches and Chinese adults and know what they are saying. Though my vocabulary is minimal, I get automatic bonus points for being able to speak relatively competently.
It's a "duh" point for that for some people translation is necessary. But I didn't think till today of those who need to rely on translation. Translations in a Chinese church to me helped me fill in the blanks and connected dots because I missed definitions, not because I would be lost without it. In some ways, if I am interested enough (unfortunately, majority of the time I am not), it keeps me on my toes as I listen carefully to match the Chinese words I don't know to the English translation. But for others, translations are, in a sense, unwelcoming and inefficient compared to a English-speaking congregation.
(Too tired to think of a better conclusion for this)
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