LDS Treasures

I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese. It’s no easy task considering I’m on chapter one of my Portuguese textbook, but all my friends who have come to the United States from elsewhere have assured me it’s the very best way to learn a new language. The reason? God has promised us help understanding the scriptures when we read them, and we can pray for the gift of tongues. As a result, we’ll learn faster reading the Book of Mormon than we will studying a textbook.

This is proving to be true. It takes me forever to learn the vocabulary in my textbook. (I’m not taking a class. I’m teaching myself with the help of Brazilian friends.) However, I am picking up a great many words as I read. True…some of them aren’t terribly useful in every day conversation. For instance, I can read “And it came to pass” without any thought at all, and I know rather an alarming number of violent words. But there are ordinary words as well.

Here’s my method: First I listen to the chapter using the audio Portuguese Book of Mormon on LDS.org. This gets my mind wrapped around the sound of Portuguese. Then I read the verse aloud in Portuguese, even though I don’t understand much of it. This lets me practice speaking.

Now I start to translate the verse. I don’t really try to get every word. I have the Portuguese Book of Mormon on my desk, and the English version on my computer. I go back and forth between them. First I figure out how many words I know and then try to guess the remaining words. I check it against the English, sometimes every phrase if it’s a long chapter or I don’t know many of the words.

I also have Google translate open and my Portuguese/ English dictionary. Periodically I stop to look up a word, but I don’t look them all up. I focus on words that reappear often.

I am not memorizing every word using this method, but I’m picking up words that are frequently repeated. When I finish, I’ll start over, and expect I’ll learn many more by then, since I’ll be further along in my course.

I’ ve discovered one special advantage to doing this. Reading so slowly, just a few verses a day, I am seeing things I never noticed before. Also, sometimes the translation startles me and I find myself considering the verse in a new way. It’s a brand new way for me to ponder the scriptures.

Try it.