Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Linguist-Violonist Teaches China Survival

In an exciting lead-up to the China Survival Guide booksigning at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 21, The Grand Rapids Press ran a feature on full-time violinist and full-time language professor (and full-time China Survival Guide co-author) Larry Herzberg on Sunday. The article's full of gems from the multi-talented instructor, especially this one:

"Music, of course, is the universal language. And every language, spoken well, is music."

Herzberg, who speaks eight languages (Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, French, and...English), is a big fan of felines. From the article:

He's cat crazy. He started a newsletter for symphony members called COMA -- Cats of Musicians Association. "I once spent a three-hour train ride with him just talking about his cats," says Aaron Lester, a Calvin College student who went on one of Herzberg's China trips. "He can talk about his cats for hours."

Larry's wife Qin, co-author of the China Survival Guide, comments in the article on Larry's splendid sense of humor (something which comes across bright and clear in the travel guide!):

"It's impossible for him not to make a humorous comment every few minutes," says Qin, who teaches upper-level Chinese at Calvin. "If you see a group of people standing together laughing, there's a good chance Larry is in there making jokes for them."
(read more!)