Kenneth and Margaret on His Remarkable Language Skills

Kenneth and Margaret on His Remarkable Language Skills

Kenneth left the OCI for the BEW in part because the Harvard folks couldn't get along with him about the Chinese he spoke. Margaret points out that Kenneth spoke the Swatow dialect, Taichu, that was commonly spoken among the diaspora of Chinese in Southeast Asia. Kenneth had this dialect down so perfectly that the Chinese would marvel at him. They hadn't known any foreigners had lived in Po Leng, where his brand of the dialect came from. The Landons explain Kenneth's first hand experience learning Chinese and Thai languages by literally living with the native speakers.

Landon, Margaret (1903-1993) Landon, Kenneth (1903-1993)

January 1, 1942

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LC64-18

Over a course of 13 years Kip Landon (Kenneth Landon Jr.) began recording stories from his parents, Margaret and Kenneth Landon, resulting in 95 hours of recordings. Beginning on July 20, 1976, recording finished in June, 1978. The project resumed again in 1982 for a few months. After a long break, the third recording period began in 1988 and concluded in March 1989.

Kenneth and Margaret Landon

7:39

Margaret and Kenneth P. Landon Papers, 1824-2000

Hour 64, clip 18

Sub-Series 8: Audio and Video

Series 1: Biographical