by Ellen Butterfield | May 14, 2015 | News Slider
Nearly 400 letters from a German prisoner of war camp near Chattanooga have been donated to the Beaman Library, where a Lipscomb professor is working to translate them in time for a program in the autumn to observe the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The letters were donated by Curtis Peters, who discovered the letters, drawings and photos jammed in a Cornflakes box while cleaning out the house of his wife’s great aunt after she died. The road to Lipscomb for the letters began when Dr. Tim Johnson was in Chattanooga doing historical research into the Mexican War. A woman in a local cafe recognized the Lipscomb professor’s passion for history and introduced him to Peters, who said he hoped the letters could be translated, giving him more insight into his family’s history. That’s when Lipscomb foreign language professor Charlie McVey was contacted, due to his extensive training in German, and the library received the grant that will enable him to translate the letters. Working on these letters shifted his perspective of POW camps in general, McVey said. “I was just flabbergasted that these people were writing these letters back and were so effusively thankful and grateful,” McVey said. “Of course, also in these letters they’re asking for things,” McVey said. “One guy even puts his foot down on the paper and outlined his shoe saying ‘This is the size shoe I need.'” Going from being treated well by the Stribling family, who extended Christian character to their prisoners, to going back to a Germany in shambles was a shock, according to what McVey has...
by Carly Bergthold | Feb 16, 2015 | News Slider
Hola, bonjour, hallo! Students who have taken a language course at Lipscomb have most likely heard at least one of these ways to say ‘hello.’ Any Lipscomb student pursuing a bachelor of arts or music degree is required to take eight hours of a foreign language. The university offers three core language options – Spanish, French and German. Some Russian is also offered. German professor Charlie McVey said he finds these languages valuable for work and beyond. “The four languages that we have offered fairly regularly are very important in today’s world,” McVey said. “As minors or double majors, [Spanish, French, German and Russian] really enhance anybody’s career choices and personal opportunities for service.” Although Chinese and Russian classes are listed in the academic catalog, no Chinese classes have been offered for several years. One Russian class was offered last fall, but not during the spring 2015 semester. McVey said it is not for lack of teachers or funds. “The language department would love to add classes, but unless they’re required by other departments and other programs, students generally won’t take a lot of languages,” McVey said. “So until programs strongly encourage or even require some language, it would be difficult to add other languages. If the demand comes, the supply can certainly come.” Some students said they wish languages like Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic or Hindi were offered. Mandarin Chinese is the most common language in the world, and there are more speakers of Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese and Japanese than either German or French. “I really wanted to take a Chinese class, but they didn’t have it,” said...
by Lana Sydenstricker | Feb 7, 2015 | News Slider
Jan. 21, 2015 kicked off the trip of a lifetime for students traveling to Vienna, Austria through Lipscomb’s Global Learning program. In the first week of the program students participated in a weekend retreat. The group stayed in a monastery nestled in the mountains of Schlägl and quickly learned about the simple life of the priests who live there. After returning from the retreat, the students settled in to start classes in Vienna. German, Psalms, Cross Cultural Experience, Foundations of Western Civilization since 1600 and International Business are the courses offered on this trip. The students said it is neat to see the connection between what they learn in class and on the weekend trips. “The other night there were riots in the city and it was really interesting to see the political side of everything that happened,” Janie Lynn Lankford said. “It was really cool to see people so passionate about something because sometimes when you travel you just see the light and fluffy side of things and in reality there’s dispute.” During the week, the students also go on walking tours throughout the city to see historical palaces and locations. One of the walking tours included visiting the Schönbrunn Palace. “The view we saw from the Schönbrunn Palace was beautiful and you can see all of Vienna,” sophomore Sarah Wagner said. “It was really mesmerizing.” The students also have the opportunity to visit art galleries and museums. “We went to an art museum and it was so cool because it is unlike any art museum in America,” sophomore Shelby Jordan said. “There is so much history behind the art, and...
by Tim Ghianni | May 18, 2011 | News Slider, Opinion
Sitting in Intermediate French Grammar class trying to translate English into French, I browse through the French vocabulary stored in my head searching for the right noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and preposition to correctly get my point across. What to say? How to say it? Time is running out. If I do not put something together to say, humiliation will appear across my face. So, French blurts out of my mouth. Of course, immediately my professor corrects me because I used the wrong form of the verb. The past tense of the verb was used instead of the necessary subjective form. Wait. What is a subjective verb? I would guess the majority of people could not classify all the parts of speech and how we use them. Why? Because speaking English is second nature to us. We learned the names of all the different types of speech starting in elementary school. We were like sponges absorbing everything taught to us without hesitation. Now, we use what we learned without thinking about it. However, if we try to break down a sentence now, it is nearly impossible to get everything right. If it is so easy for children to learn and absorb learning the English language at a young age, why is it that schools are not taking advantage of the vital state of mind of these children by teaching them a second language? Most schools in the United States start teaching foreign languages to students once they reach the high school level. Whereas, children in other countries are almost fluent in two other languages plus their own as...
by Ashlan Williams | Feb 7, 2011 | News Slider, Sports
A complete transformation of the men’s tennis team could surprise those who put the Bisons at the bottom in the preseason poll – based on last year’s 4-14 record – into A-Sun contenders. “This team is certainly the deepest team we have had here at Lipscomb, and we are expecting some great things from this group,” head coach Andrew Harris said. “The challenge for this group of guys will be mixing in the new players as well as the returning players.” It’s a welcome challenge for the team that was bolstered with five top players in recent months. Over Christmas break, the Bisons strengthened their lineup with the addition of three new players to their roster. Combined with their two freshman recruits acquired in the fall, the Bisons now have a deeper roster and hopes of surprising foes with a seemingly brand-new team. One of the Bisons’ transfers is actually a familiar face to Lipscomb. Sophomore Colby Shaw came to Lipscomb for his freshman year but transferred to the University of Kentucky for the fall semester of his sophomore year. Shaw had an impressive freshman season with the Bisons, posting a 9-3 singles record. However, for five months of his freshman year, he sat out of tennis while recovering from mononucleosis. Shaw attributes much of his decision to transfer to UK to the impact the illness had on his experience at Lipscomb. After spending a semester at UK, Shaw says it was easy to reverse course and return to Lipscomb. “As soon as I decided to leave and stop playing tennis, I realized I was going to regret it,”...
