I am in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I just enjoyed three nights at the Renaissance Hotel, which is owned by Marriott. I usually read scriptures on-line when traveling, but I was very pleased to find a Book of Mormon in English when I arrived at my hotel room. This of course raises all kinds of interesting questions for me.
1)Why wasn’t the Book of Mormon in Portuguese?
Even though Renaissance is a business hotel often used by foreigners, the majority of the guests there were Brazilians. The chances that they will read a Book of Mormon in English are very small. I’m hoping it’s just an oversight. The message is not a good one for a country like Brazil with a million members.
2)This story on an increasing interest in religious material in hotel rooms is pretty interesting. It includes the following nugget:
Researchers for the American Hotel & Lodging Association have found an increasing percentage of hotels providing religious materials in their rooms. In 1998, 79 percent of hotels surveyed said they carried such materials; that figured jumped to 95 percent in 2006.
3)On the other hand, there is a hotel chain in Europe that has pulled the Bible because one person was offended. It’s nice to know that religious tolerance is alive and well in the land of Luther and Guttenberg.
By way of answer to your first question, I would imagine the folks at the Marriott would have a better answer than those on the web. Ask them and let us know.
I would imagine that English covers most the bases and simplifies distribution. But then we are told that every nation will hear (read) the gospel in their own tongue.
In response to number 3: Scandic hotels is based in Sweden, which I’m sure you know is the land of neither Luther nor Gutenberg.
That’s crazy. I don’t know how many Marriot’s there are in Sao Paulo, but I drove by it not this past Sunday, but the Sunday before. 😛
Strange story, I wonder why they’d ever ever think to put it in English. I think that even putting it there in English and Portuguese would be… stupid. I think it reflects on the church as being stereotypical Americans, inward-looking as a country, self-centered in a way.
Obvious statement here, but the church is bigger outside the North America than in. Probably a very small percentage of their clients are members there and like you say, mostly Brazilian.
I wonder…
Jonathan: Putting both translations of the BoM, Portuguese and English, in a Brazilian Hotel would be a GREAT idea! What a cool way to promote bilingualism. What a cool way to promote interest in the BoM.
I know for a fact, and through literally HUNDREDS of experiences that bilingual copies of the BoM (we have to use 2 separate books for now, but some day I hope there are bilingual-all-in-one-book) really DO generate interest!
Geoff: Maybe they customized your room for you, by knowing you were coming from the US because of your reservation, and therefore put an English copy in your room in advance.
Geoff: have you been trying the bilingual aspect placement offer (of the BoM) in Brazil? Are people there hungry to learn English, or do most already know English?
Jungleface, all I can say is: “oh, brother.”. You’ll note that the hotels in Germany took the same action. Last time I checked Lutherans were pretty big once in Scandanavia, and a lot of them read the Guttenberg Bible. Sheesh!
Ja, Lutherans are still big in Scandinavia. But they read translations of Luther’s Bible, not Gutenberg’s.
For example, during my mission in Norway, I used a Norwegian translation of Luther’s German translation.
More on the Gutenberg Bible (1455): First of all it’s in Latin, not German and is based on the Latin Vulgate. The first German printed Bible appeared in 1466 (called the Mentel Bible, it was a literal tranlation of the Latin Vulgate into German).
Luther Bible (New Testament, 1522; Old Testament, 1534). German translation from the original Hebrew and Greek. Luther’s German Bible became the source for other northern European versions in Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian.
@Bookslinger – Sure, I agree bilingualism is a good thing, a great thing. But I still thing it’s a bit of the same opposing thing to go to another country and assume English would be their 2nd language of choice. Seems to be along the same lines of assuming everybody wants to learn English and get into the US somehow.
I acknowledge that English can be a very attractive aspect of the church to foreigners. I’ve seen it in Russia as in many branch the missionaries give free English lessons followed by a spiritual thought.
I can give my spin on the question you asked Geoff about English in Brazil. In Sao Paulo, like any city near them in size, there is a lot of English present and in my experience many people have at least some knowledge of English, little as it may be. It is true though that many people have a desire to learn English there. As far as I know though the general options for foreign language study, which is required in school, are English, Spanish, and French.
I’d just like to point out that Brazilians are pretty proud of and nationalistic regarding the use of Portuguese. Yes, many of the educated speak English. Yes, many people aspire to speak English. But even your average upper-middle class Brazilian who speaks English well does not like to read English. His reaction upon seeing a Book of Mormon in English will likely be, “why is this English book here?” He will then ignore it. It will not be, “wow, an English book, let me try to practice.”
In contrast, if there were “O Livro de Mormon” he may pick it up and take a look.
I’ve been traveling to Brazil and lived there for many years, and that’s my impression. I’d welcome the opinions of others who have different impressions.
Guttenberg is that actor who was in the Police Academy movies.
Gutenberg was the moveable type guy.
Geoff: what if there was one Book of Mormon, that had both English and Portuguese in it, with the Portuguese verses in the left column, and the corresponding English verses lined up to match in the right column?
Kind of like this Spanish/English Bible.
Bookslinger,
Where do you find all the bilingual bibles?
I wonder if Marriott had a free donation of English bibles, and so he put in those drawers what he had. I think with his money, he could afford to purchase ones in the correct language, however.
What would be great, is if Marriott made sure every hotel in his chain had the BYU channel and maybe some pass-along cards or literature. Or would that be too over-bearing?