Break Through the Language Barrier, Establish Communication -- Experiences Working Together with Western Dafa Practitioners in Calling China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Using the telephone to clarify the truth to Chinese people in China is something of which all Chinese Dafa practitioners are capable. Because of the language barrier, Western Dafa practitioners have considerable difficulty calling China. However, many Western Dafa practitioners have the wish to do so. In China, many college students can speak foreign languages. They enjoy the opportunity to talk to Westerners very much. Based on these circumstances, we recently established a telephone team in our area, which consists of both Chinese and Western Dafa practitioners. The following, for your reference, are some of our experiences with calling China.

Chinese Dafa practitioner establishes the conversation

We found some college students' phone numbers on the web. If our call gets connected to the students' dormitory, our introduction is usually the following:

"Hello, do you speak English? I'm calling from Canada; I have several Western friends, who like traditional Chinese cultural very much. They hope that they can go visit China in the future, and they also hope for the opportunity to study in China. They want to exchange some ideas and thoughts with college students in China. Therefore, I helped them search for some dormitory phone numbers. My friends are next to me right now, would you like to talk to them?"

Western Dafa practitioner uses personal experiences to introduce the beauty of Dafa

Western Dafa practitioners' conversation can start with topics like greetings. Usually Western Dafa practitioners direct the conversation to the topic of Falun Gong by the following: "I love traditional Chinese Qigong. There is a kind of Qigong that's very popular in Canada, it's called Falun Gong. However, my Chinese friend told me that I cannot practice Falun Gong if I study or teach in China, otherwise I will get in trouble. I don't understand this, how come such a good thing that's welcomed all over the world is not allowed in China. I want to ask you, would practicing Falun Gong in China really get me in trouble? Why are foreigners allowed to practice?

This type of questioning lets college students and Western Dafa practitioners' conversations continue naturally. Many Chinese students were pleasantly surprised by receiving phone calls from Westerners. At the end of the conversation, some students left their mailing and email addresses with us, and they hoped for more opportunities to communicate in the future. We then prepare the truth-clarifying materials and mail them at a later time.

Western Dafa practitioners introduce the beauty of Falun Gong directly. They talk about their personal benefits from practicing Falun Gong, they talk about how Dafa is practiced in more than 60 countries, and how Dafa has gained a lot of recognition.

Chinese Dafa practitioners should not lose the chance to add more information during the introduction.

Sometimes we contact students whose English is not very good. In those situations, nearby Chinese Dafa practitioners need to catch the chance to do the translation well. In addition to briefly translating Western Dafa practitioner's conversations, Chinese Dafa practitioners can use an American Chinese person's view on China, tell the other side about the prosecution of Jiang, the truth about the self-immolation in Tiananmen, the cases of torture, and so on. The tone of our voices should be peaceful and natural, so that the other side will not feel that we are forcing those things upon them.

There are two important points to pay attention to. One is that Western Dafa practitioners should try not to speak too fast, and do not use words that are hard to understand. Two is that when Chinese Dafa practitioners are carrying on with the conversation, it is helpful to translate the important words to the Western Dafa practitioners simultaneously, words like self-immolation, recognition, prosecution of Jiang, and so on. Western Dafa practitioners can guess the content of the Chinese Dafa practitioners' conversation through simple words, and this way they can continue the conversation and carry on with the same topic.

Calling Chinese people who do not understand English

The above is targeted at students who understand English, how do we deal with Chinese people who do not understand English?

We tried to make phone calls to correctional facilities. Before we made the phone call, we wondered about who should start the conversation? I remember once calling a correctional facility. When I said I was calling from overseas, the opposite side said, "You can speak English." It seems like many people still don't believe there are many Westerners practicing Falun Gong overseas. Therefore, we decided to let Western Dafa practitioners start the conversation this time. It doesn't matter if the other side doesn't understand English, at least they know the phone call is from a Westerner, they can understand the words "Falun Gong." They will know this phone call is about Falun Gong. Hopefully this will result is touching the other side's heart.

After we are connected with a phone call, before the other side says anything and once they hear a Westerner's voice, there is silence immediately. We know the other side is still listening. Once, after introducing himself a Western Dafa practitioner said that he was calling from Canada and told them not to damage Falun Gong. After he finished, I used Chinese to tell the other side not to get involved in activities that damage Falun Gong, and tell them the news about prosecution of Jiang. During the conversation our tone of voice was truthful, and from our hearts we told them that damaging Falun Gong is not good for their futures. We did not hear the sound of the phone disconnecting through out the whole conversation, and we just continued telling them the truth.

When Western Dafa practitioners make phone calls to the facilities and individuals whom are directly involved in the persecution, it is better to learn some simple Chinese in advance. For instance: "I love China, I like Chinese culture, Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is good, Falun Dafa is good, Falun Gong practitioners are good people, do not torture good people," and so on. Even though their pronunciations might not be precise, and even though the Chinese is not perfect, when these words are said with a sincere heart, it can still move people's hearts.

Some of my understandings

• The attitude of the other side doesn't matter, it should not affect our truth clarification, because what we say is the truth. We are cultivating our hearts.
• There are many Western Dafa practitioners in the world, they speak all different kinds of languages. This is a very good reason for Chinese and Westerners to combine efforts.
• Language barriers are superficial; the true barrier is in our minds. When we have the wish to clarify the truth to the precious Chinese people, this barrier can be turned into our advantage.
• I previously did not have much communication with Western Dafa practitioners. This time during the process of calling China, we had a lot of communication. I feel we broke through the barrier between Western Dafa practitioners and myself. At this moment during the Fa-rectification's progress, the Fa's requirements demand that we better coordinate our group efforts.

The reason that I wrote this experience is with the hope of more telephone calling teams forming between Chinese and Western Dafa practitioners, and to encourage more Westerner Dafa practitioners to participate in the efforts of calling the precious Chinese people in China.

This is my personal understanding, if there is anything that needs to be corrected, please kindly point it out.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/9/6/56878.html

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