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PROVO — What goes on in the MTC is no secret to the 80,000 people currently serving as full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But for those on the outside, it’s a mysterious place.
With hundreds of missionaries entering as nervous 18- and 19-year-olds and exiting as language masters who take their message around the world, the national media has taken note of their transformation.
NPR’s Arun Rath took a look at the inner workings of the MTC on Saturday’s “All Things Considered.” His experience put him in contact with the teen students of the intensive language programs.
“Instructor (Bracken) Hodges says the secret is in the unofficial motto of the training center: ‘Speak your language,’ ” Rath said. “Rather than memorizing a list of words, students learn through trying to speak their assigned language in various scenarios. When they stumble in saying a phrase, that's when they find new words to learn, Hodges says.”
Rath notes that the U.S. military has also been interested in the quick-learning methods of students at the Missionary Training Center.
“But there's a difference between training soldiers and training missionaries,” Rath said. “To study Mandarin at the Defense Language Institute takes 64 weeks; missionaries leave the training center after just nine.”
For the full story, go to NPR's All Things Considered.
