In the last few months before I returned to Canada, I was meeting regularly with a good friend who was also my language tutor. Since she is a Christian, I asked her to teach me to pray in my new language.
The primary way she did that was by example. We would discuss a few things we could pray about, and then I would attempt to pray out loud, very haltingly, and then she would pray for the same requests in a much more natural way. I made audio recordings of her prayers so I could listen to them again later. After we prayed, we would talk about how I could pray more naturally. Some of these ideas were things that would be applicable in any form of speech (word choice, word order, and so on), but some were more specific to praying.
We use certain words & phrases sometimes in prayer that we don't necessarily use in everyday life, and it turns out that English is not the only language where this happens. :) My favourite 'prayer' expression is that people request God to "mix His hand in the situation" that's being addressed. What a good visual image! Since that day, I've heard other people use that expression as well (in prayer), and I've worked it into several of my prayers too. I'm starting to make it my own, and it's exciting.
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