Language Learning Comes Alive

Carol Brinneman, a writer at the museum, wants to spell out her dream. The short-term goal is to educate.

“This was the classical Greek alphabet, which the New Testament was written in. We have a copy of that here,” said Brinneman, who began her instruction by talking about interesting languages and how they were used.

Each room takes visitors into the history of a different language, like Arabic, which can look more like art than letters.

“It’s the second-most used alphabet in the world,” she said.

There are also plenty of interactive displays to interest kids. For example, they can spell their own name in Egyptian hieroglyphics. And to get of a grasp of the Chinese language, children can find a symbol, match it to the English translation and then find the appropriate picture.

“It widens their view on the world, definitely,” Brinneman said. “Most of them come in and say they didn’t realize how many languages there are in the world.”

There are about 7,000 languages in the world, but nearly half do not have a written form.

Brinneman helped a tribe in the Ivory Coast develop its own alphabet. Her long-term dream is to give an alphabet to every language group in the world, so that everyone can enjoy the written word.

The museum is a part of JAARS, which is a technical center for Bible translation. Together with other groups, it is working on Vision 2025, which intends to begin developing an alphabet for every language in the world by the year 2025.

The museum is funded by donations, and parking is free.