I Got a Kick out of Languages

King and Me.
Today a little about me - and languages.

Sue Atkins asked to see my calligraphy since we both had taken Chinese language courses at one time.  Working on the Mar Wee family tree I wanted to included the Chinese names for those who had them.   You can see what I have so far at: www.myheritage.com.  I can make out typeset or written Chinese calligraphy but have trouble with other people's handwriting - same as deciphering some people's writing in English.

I took Chinese at KU after I finished my undergraduate degree (B.A. in French) during my graduate school years. Flunked the first course because I didn't complete the course because I was too busy according to my instructor Grace Wan "making protests instead of studying."  Those were the protest years on college campuses.  Then an opportunity came to take an intensive summer course in Chinese to really immerse myself in the language.  The East Asian Languages and Cultures Department offered intensive summer courses in Chinese and Japanese.  After that summer, I took more courses and practiced writing Chinese.   Eventually wrote a few letters to Mom and Dad who were pleased I tried to learn.

So, here's a sample of my calligraphy from a lesson in 1971.  I can't read this anymore.  Use it or lose it.

King was adept in using the traditional calligraphy brush held upright instead of angled when writing with a fountain pen.  His penmanship in both languages was very good.  In fact, I asked him to write the Chinese for the wedding invitation for Dee and me.

Our friend Alynn Jackson designed the cover artwork and I wrote the English calligraphy.  I used the AB Dick office printer so you can see the invitation wasn't the usual Hallmark quality.
 
I became interested in calligraphy and practiced enough to also pen a retirement certificate for Frank Burge, the former Kansas Union director.

I also took Norwegian after quitting Chinese because I discovered the sport of orienteering.  Skogssports was the Swedish magazine I wanted to read (mostly their maps and photos).  KU didn't offer Swedish at the time, so I took Norwegian. It was close but no cigar, but I got better at reading maps.

To better train myself in the sport, I also took cartography courses and made maps.  The training involved not only the physical running and strengthening workouts but also map reading skills. Making maps is really good since you have to slow down to walk around the woods to draw in the details.

So, this map is a combination of my cartography (an early two-color work) and calligraphy (not my best job) and a little fun labeling the map in Norwegian.

My academic college career veered off course from high school plans to go in math or a science.  My freshman year I decided I wanted to work on my weakest strength and ended up majoring in French.  It led to a summer in Paris and a year in Bordeaux. I do not have a knack for language learning as my overall undergraduate grade point average was higher than the GPA in my major.  But, I liked language learning.  Before going to Bordeaux I had also taken a course in German and Italian, partly in hopes I would get degrees in linguistics and French.  It helped to get around when I traveled.   

I had a bad experience hitchhiking (hey children, as a parent I would NOT suggest hitchhiking.  Oh boy, one of those do as I say and not what I did.) in Portugal I asked the driver to let me out in a small town before my destination that day.  I felt the situation wasn't right. My hitchhiking partner and I went into a bar where we got out, I paid the driver just to get rid of him - the guys sitting outside the bar had noticed that and wondered why.  I didn't know Portuguese but some older man spoke German, so I explained in German what had happened.

When I took Chinese I was sharing an apartment with Mike Sheahon and Eddie Wong.  Both were the owners and instructors for the Lawrence Karate Institute.  I was busy with my bicycling (touring and racing) at the time, so I didn't learn karate.  But, sometimes while studying the next day's Chinese lesson, they would practice kicks to my head.  They were good and never knocked me out or even touched me.

Here's the two of them having fun before retiring for the night.

Antes de ir a Cuba en 2017, pensé que aprender español sería útil. Así que ahora estoy en mi cuarto año estudiando español de la Iglesia Congregacional de Plymouth y en Duolingo. Nunca aprenderé el idioma, pero es divertido aprender y salgo de casa.
Google translate

Hasta de luego.