News-Letter

Media Credit: Conor Kevit Lievens talks about teaching her husband to speak Chinese.

A world traveler and Excellence in Teaching Award nominee, versed in six languages, Professor Liman Lievens settled at Hopkins to follow in her father's footsteps: to teach Mandarin Chinese.
The News-Letter spoke with Lievens about her travel experiences, her family life and her experience transitioning from Chinese to American culture.

News-Letter: Where were you born and where did you grow up?
Liman Lievens: I grew up in Taiwan, but my parents were from Beijing. They went to Taiwan and then couldn't go back because the civil war broke out. My father was originally assigned there to train Chinese language teachers because, under 15 years of Japanese occupation, most Chinese didn't speak Chinese anymore. Most people spoke Japanese, so they needed Chinese teachers. My father came out of the Sino-Japanese War, and instead of being sent home, he was sent to Taiwan. They said it was only for two years, but it turned out to be 40 years, because the civil war broke and he couldn't go back any more.

N-L: What was your family life like there? Did you grow up with any brothers or sisters?
LL: I have two brothers, one sister, but now I don't have any family in Taiwan. In my own family now I have two sons and my husband. My husband used to work in foreign affairs for Belgium. He was a diplomat. We have traveled to many different places. So my sons were educated in many different places. They are very good at languages.

N-L: Where did you travel?
LL: Wherever my husband was stationed. We have been to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and around Europe. My oldest son repeated first grade three times: The first time was in Chinese, the second times was in Dutch and the third time was in French. When they reached university age, we decided to send them here for undergraduate and then they stayed here.
When my husband was assigned back to Belgium - he was going to retire - we decided to come here and join our children.
When we were stationed in Asia and the other countries, every summer I'd come here to teach one Chinese language course at SAIS. Then they asked me, "There's a position here at Homewood. Would you consider teaching here?" I said, "Of course," and that's how we ended up moving here.

Continued...

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