Ha Jin makes Nug have thoughts

Colgate has a lot of great classes, but hands down one of the coolest has to be Living Writers. You read books written by people who are actually alive, and then those living, breathing people come talk to you. In the flesh. It makes me want to roll around on the floor and giggle, overcome with English major/book-nerd glee.

This year's theme is international writers, and they have a really great lineup of people (Salman Rushdie is coming, people. Salman FREAKING Rushdie!). This week's author was Ha Jin, the author of Waiting.


First of all, he's excessively adorable. You know how adorable Bruce Banner is in The Avengers with his whole rumpled, slightly confused brilliant person routine? Ha Jin is like that.

One of these things ... is exactly like the other. (No, seriously, LOOK AT THEIR CLOTHES.)

Both of these things ... belong in my life.

Besides being eminently huggable, Ha Jin is an interesting, thought-provoking speaker. What I found most interesting were his thoughts on language. When students asked him to speak about his decision to switch from writing in Chinese to English, he said very plainly that he wouldn't suggest that anyone learn a second language and try to make a name for themselves writing in it. To do so, he said, was insanity.

The thing to do, Jin said, was to write in your first language and only your first language. But your first language doesn't have to be your mother tongue. Here first means primary, or first in your heart, rather than earliest. Jin thinks, rightly, in my opinion, that writing in a language is more than just putting words from a certain communication system down on a page. It immerses you in the culture, philosophy, and manner of thinking that comes with that language. So it's important that you express yourself in the language you are most comfortable with as a total package. Intriguing, no?