Chapter 16 Zhao Yuanren: Many "fun" languages ​​(1)

Zhao Yuanren (1892-1982), born in Wujin, Jiangsu, is an internationally renowned master of linguistics and one of the founders of modern Chinese linguistics. The greatest joy in Zhao Yuanren's life is that the local people recognize him as a "fellow villager" wherever he goes in the world. After World War II, he went to France to attend conferences.At the Paris station, he spoke Parisian dialect to the porter, and the other party thought he was a native Parisian, so he sighed: "You are back, now it is not as good as before, Paris is poor." Later, he went to Berlin, Germany, and chatted with locals in German with a Berlin accent.An old man in the neighbor said to him: "God bless you, you escaped this disaster and came back safely."

In 1920, the British philosopher Russell came to China to give lectures, and Zhao Yuan served as an interpreter.Everywhere he went, he used the local dialect to translate.On the way, he learned Changsha dialect from Hunan people, and when he arrived in Changsha, he was already able to translate in the local dialect.After the speech was over, someone actually came to chat with him. Zhao Yuanren once performed a ventriloquist "National Travel": from Beijing to the south along Jinghan Road, through Hebei to Shanxi and Shaanxi, out of Tongguan, from Henan to Lianghu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, and then from Guangdong to Guangxi around Jiangxi and Fujian to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui , from Shandong to the three eastern provinces across the Bohai Bay, and finally into Shanhaiguan to return to Beijing.This "travel", he talked for nearly an hour at a stretch, "traveling" over half of China, and every time he "arrived" at a place, he used the local dialect to introduce places of interest and local products and specialties.

Known as the "Father of Chinese Linguistics", this genius can speak 33 Chinese dialects and is proficient in multiple languages.According to the researchers, Mr. Zhao's ability to master language is amazing, because he can quickly penetrate the sound and rhythm system of a language, and summarize the laws of a dialect or even a foreign language. He has also been called a rare generalist, a "Renaissance wise man".As one of the "Four Mentors" of Tsinghua Academy of Chinese Studies, who is also known as Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, and Chen Yinke, Linguistics is the field he focuses on the most. However, he also teaches courses such as physics and logic.

He has a good taste in music, once specialized in harmony and composition, can play with many kinds of musical instruments, and has been with the piano all his life.He composed more than one hundred pieces of music in his life, including vocal music and instrumental music.Whenever he and his daughters got together, they formed a family choir and practiced singing his new or old compositions in separate parts.No wonder people say that music is an integral part of his life. Zhao Yuanren told his daughter that he studied linguistics for "fun".In the eyes of today's people, there is a lot of deep meaning hidden behind the simple sentence "fun".When many great scholars in the world study a certain phenomenon or theory, they often do it for fun. "Fun people are not utilitarianism, not trying to gain fame, not to mention grandstanding, not making a lot of money."