Our rector Fred MacAulay is joining in the UK wide competition 'Languages Challenge' by learning to tell some of his jokes in Chinese and in Gaelic.
Fred was approached by the Centre for Applied Language Studies earlier in the year and agreed with enthusiasm to being taught a new language and register this as his Language Challenge, collecting sponsor money for the Ninewells Maggie Centre at the same time.
Asked about his reasons for choosing these two languages, Fred had some interesting revelations. Some of his relatives had Gaelic as their mother tongue and Fred himself learned Gaelic at a young age; and the Chinese may come in useful on his next trip to the Great Wall of China which he will walk as part of a sponsored walk collecting money for a Glasgow hospital.
Fred will start his studies on the 26th July and will later demonstrate his new skills during the European Languages Day on 26th September.
We wish Fred "Hao yun " (good luck in mandarin) in his Language Learning!