1. At first the use of interpreters will be necessary, but this is risky and definitely inferior to speaking the language itself.
1) Even the well-educated interpreter, while able to handle secular words, may confuse religious terms which are not a part of ordinary conversation.
2) Many interpreters will have been educated in various religious schools and will interpret religious terms according to the understanding they have received in their training. For example, one missionary used the term “baptism” in his lessons, meaning immersion in water, but later found that for months his Oriental interpreter had been interpreting “baptism” as “sprinkling,” thinking that was what the missionary meant. Without knowing it, the missionary was teaching contrary to the belief and practice of his church.
3) An interpreter may be tempted to guess at meaning when he is not sure of a word, and to “embroider” your teaching or statements with some of his own thoughts. Even if he doesn’t do so consciously, his own theological and spiritual conditioning may determine how he hears and passes on your thoughts.
4) It is difficult for the missionary to avoid colloquialisms and out-of-the-way English usages that throw the interpreter off. Even if the interpreter accurately gives a literal translation of a colloquialism or figure of speech, it will be nonsense to an audience who is unfamiliar with that figure of speech.
5) With the very best interpreter, the listener probably receives only 85% of what the missionary puts out. And the emotional power of preaching is cut to a minimum.