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Gordon Hannington Luce (1889 - 1979) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6705 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes  Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 2 02 November 2011 at 1:57am | IP Logged |
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Have you ever wondered who the people are who devote their life to reading old inscriptions in old languages and informing the rest of us about their content? In Bagan in Myanmar I bought the book "Pagan - Art and Architecture of old Burma" by Paul Strachan (2. ed, 1996), and among other references there is herein a mini-portrait of one of these quiet erudites, a certain G.H. Luce, who along with some friends came to Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1912.
Quote: Though neither an archeologist, nor expert in oriental languages by training (he read classics and English at Cambridge), Luce was quick to master not only the Old Burmese and Mon epigraphic sources, but also the Chinese sources relating to Burma. A poet by calling, compassionate by nature, he took a Burmese wife and had little love for the club society of the colonials. (...) (..) and as professor Tinker said: The erudition he now employed was quite amazing. He ranges over so many texts that the reader not so well equipped linguistically is left breathless. If his main sources are Chinese, he also demonstrates his mastery of Greek and Latin texts as well as considerable familiarity with Pali, Sanskrit, and even of the Tamil, Malay, Arabic and Persian languages. Languages which other men require a lifetime to master became his linguistic tool within a few years." Edited by Fasulye on 19 November 2011 at 8:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5849 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 2 19 November 2011 at 8:58pm | IP Logged |
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From my Wikipedia source it's not clear, whether Luce was a polyglot or not. Regarding this point Iversen's source is more specific.
But anyway, people may want to read the Wikipedia link in English as well: Wikipedia: Biography of Gordon Hannington Luce Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 19 November 2011 at 8:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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