Strehlow's missionary work was closely bound up with his study of languages, which derived from his role as teacher using, and later translating, material into the local language, which was then printed. This meant he had to work closely with the older generation who were the best speakers of the language, putting him in an unusual relationship with them, since usually they were not interested in Christianity at all. In practice this meant that Strehlow's teaching of Christianity became strongly influenced by them and their knowledge. He concluded that their language ‘has passed its flowering and is now falling into decay’ and felt he had to investigate their culture to understand why.