A New Language. A New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year! “How many languages do you speak?”  When I met Charles Novacek he spoke seven languages fluently and was working on number eight – Chinese. He said China was becoming a major economy and over a billion people spoke the language. Learning Mandarin would give him intellectual stimulation and would be advantageous to be able to communicate with the Chinese people.  I think the engineer and artist in Charles gave him enjoyment learning the Chinese writing system. He found the system learning and understanding the design of the characters both beautiful and challenging.  The knowledge Charles’ acquired of Mandarin enriched his life immensely through enjoyable travel experiences and friendships made.  Celebrating the Chinese New Year with friends was among those experiences.   新年快