US expat translates love of Mandarin into teaching post
If you speak to Benjamin K. Hammer on the phone, you would think you were talking to a person who had lived in a Chinese-language environment since childhood, as he uses Mandarin's four tones correctly.
But Hammer started learning Mandarin when he was a high school senior in San Jose, California. Since there were no Chinese-related courses at his high school in the 1990s, Hammer studied Mandarin at a community school's night classes.
"In the United States, people are curious about Oriental culture and history, such as the culture embodied in religions, kung fu and traditional Chinese medicine," Hammer said.
Hammer is one of the US citizens who show great interest in Chinese culture. In addition to Mandarin, he learned kung fu from a Chinese teacher when he was a student at American University in Washington. He got his Chinese name, Meng Weilong, from his kung fu teacher.
"I use the same family name with my kung fu teacher, as there is a saying in China that the teacher is like your father," Hammer said.
At American University, Hammer majored in international relations, and selected Chinese as his foreign language without any hesitation. Since then, Hammer spent more time and effort on learning Chinese than he did on his major.
"Chinese and English belong to different language families. Learning Chinese is a great challenge, but I do like the language.
"It's rare that a Western foreigner can speak very good Chinese. I believe Chinese, rather than Spanish, can make me stand out among my peers," he said.
Hammer received his master's degree in Chinese classical philology at Shandong University and spent four years getting his doctorate in the same major from Peking University.
Now the 37-year-old works as a teacher at the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University in Jinan. He is also the assistant editor of the English version of the Journal of Chinese Humanities, an English-language offshoot of the well-known culture and sociology journal Wen Shi Zhe, created in 1951.
Hammer spends hours each day enriching his knowledge.
His desk is covered with piles of books and paper. Two bookshelves besides his desk are stuffed with dictionaries and Chinese classical works such as The Four Books. The wall to the left of his desk is covered by a picture that shows the history of China.
"Being a teacher, you have to know your major very well, and then you have to have the ability to educate students," Hammer said.
In his classes, Hammer discusses with students in Mandarin the translation of Chinese classical works into English.
《中国日报》9月30日电，在电话上听本杰明·K·哈默（Benjamin K. Hammer）说话，你大概会认为那是个自小在汉语环境下长大的人，因为他把普通话的四种声调读得太准了。
其实，哈默是高三才开始学习普通话，那时他在加州圣约瑟一所高中上学。20世纪90年代，那所中学还没有开设汉语相关课程，哈默只好在一所社区学校上夜课来学习普通话。
“美国人对东方文化和历史非常感兴趣，比如宗教、功夫以及中药所体现的文化。”哈默说。
哈默是对中国文化有浓厚兴趣的美国人中的一个。除了学习普通话，他在华盛顿的美利坚大学上学时还向一位中国老师学习了功夫。他从他的功夫老师那里得到了他的中文名字——孟巍隆。
“我跟我的功夫老师用同一个姓，因为中国有句俗语‘一日为师，终身为父’。”哈默解释道。
哈默在美利坚大学主修国际关系，辅修科目毫不犹豫地选了汉语。自那以后，哈默在学习汉语上花费的时间和精力比在本专业上还要多。
“英汉两种语言属于不同的语系。汉语学起来很难，但我就是喜欢汉语。”
“西方人很少有汉语说得非常好的。我觉得汉语能让我在同辈中脱颖而出，而不是西班牙语。”他说。
哈默在山东大学获得了中国古典文献学专业硕士学位，又花了四年在北京大学攻读这一专业，获得了博士学位。
今年37岁的哈默在济南的山东大学儒学高等研究院任教。他还是《中国人文杂志》英文版的副编辑，这是1951年创刊的著名人文社会科学类学术期刊《文史哲》的英文副刊。
哈默每天都会花好几个小时丰富自己的知识。
他书桌上堆满了书本和纸张。书桌旁的两个书架上摆满了各类字典以及《四书》等中国古典作品。书桌左边的墙上挂着一幅图，那幅图展示了中国的历史。
“作为一个老师，必须要对专业了如指掌，才能把学生教好。”哈默说。
课堂上，哈默还会用普通话与学生讨论将中国古典作品翻译成英语。
