Interviews
1. Why did you pick this topic? I picked this topic because it combined a couple of long-time interests and experiences that I've had. I'm a historian with a background on our presidents and have written presidential trivia books before. I also was a professional linguist (Chinese-Mandarin) for many years (technically I still am). I've never seen a trivia book about our presidents and their linguistic skills and experiences. I thought I was uniquely qualified to write one.
2. What is your language background? I am a rarity, a fellow who became a professional linguist who never studied any foreign languages in school until college. My first language (and really my only language), Chinese-Mandarin, was studied in Taiwan in college. But I really became good in the language in the Army. I was a linguist, translator, interpreter and instructor in the Army and Department of Defense for 30+ years. I even give occasional tours in Chinese (two so far in 2016) at the National Cryptologic Museum at Ft. Meade, MD. Lately I have been learning Spanish—mostly on my own but with occasional assistance from my wife, Kelly—it is quite different than Chinese.
3. How did you get involved in the National Museum of Language? An acquaintance of mine, then a Museum officer, got me interested. That was in 2008 and I have held almost every position at the Museum imaginable since. Right now I am the Vice President but I also run programs and do some publicity. Probably the thing that I am most known for though at the Museum is the international Flag of Language, created by the Museum to represent languages in general. Although I did not design the flag, I envisioned it and saw the project through to its conclusion. Now it is the Museum's most recognizable symbol.
4. What can you tell us about our presidents based on your research of their language skills and experience? Not all presidents were good in foreign languages (some had no interest in them) and those that were good in languages were not necessarily good presidents and/or leaders. I don't see much of a correlation between foreign language skills and leadership skills.
5. Why should people read the book? Outside of family, relatives, friends, etc, the people who will read it are those who are interested in our presidents and in languages. The main selling point is that you will read things in this book that you are not likely to read elsewhere about our presidents. But I don't think the book will have much appeal to people not interested in these two topics. I can't and won't predict any book sale figures.
6. Do you think this book will bring more exposure to the National Museum of Language? I hope so! This was not the reason I wrote the book though. What might happen is that people reading my biography in the book will want to know more about the National Museum of Language. This might lead to a visit to our website, etc. This is good for our Museum.
7. What is your favorite anecdote from the book? I have several. Here are two of them. I like the one about future president Richard Nixon (1969-1974) campaigning in Chinatown in Los Angeles, unaware that there were signs written in Chinese in the background denouncing him. I also like the story about future president Ulysses Grant (1869-1877), as a Civil War commander, receiving an attack order in Hungarian. Assuming it said "attack," Grant did just that—and it turns out that his assumption was correct when the orders were finally translated.
8. Is it coincidental that your book has come out right before a presidential election? No—I wanted to get it out before we had a new president, which would delay the book further. The book took 2-3 years to write. If I delayed it any further, it would mean more work for me since I would have to add anecdotes for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
9. Why did you pick a trivia format? I thought it was the easiest way to handle the topic. I will acknowledge though that people may not take the book seriously because it is trivia book. Unlike most trivia books out there, this one provides sourcing. Every entry has at least one footnote, with most of them having several.
10. Which languages are cited the most in your book? The backgrounds and experiences of the presidents determine the languages. As you can guess, the classical languages of Greek and Latin, especially the latter, dominate. There is also a lot of French, Spanish and German. I talk quite a bit about how presidents have affected our English language. People might be surprised to hear how often Chinese shows up in the text. One major language, i.e., Japanese, isn't mentioned at all. Actually, I'd be hard pressed to pronounce some of the foreign language words which show up in my book!
