Johan Vandewalle

Johan Vandewalle (born 15 February 1960)[1] is a Belgian linguist. He teaches at Ghent University and specializes in Turkic languages.[2]

Johan Vandewalle
Born (1960-02-15) 15 February 1960
Bruges, Belgium
NationalityBelgian
Spouse(s)Linda Gezels
Children2
Academic background
Alma materGhent University
ThesisDe Turkse en Oezbeekse weergave van de semantiek van Russische prefixwerkwoorden die een verplaatsing uitdrukken (2013)
Doctoral advisorRaymond Detrez
Academic work
DisciplineLinguist
InstitutionsGhent University
Main interestsTurkic languages
WebsiteOrientaal vzw

Life

He first became interested in Turkish at the age of thirteen, during a family holiday to Turkey.[3][4]

He initially studied civil engineering and architecture, before deciding to focus on languages.[2][4]

In 1987, at the age of twenty-six, he won the Polyglot of Flanders/Babel Prize, after demonstrating communicative competence in nineteen languages (Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Kyrgyz, Persian, Russian, Swahili, Tajik, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvan, Uyghur, and Uzbek).[5] Seven old languages that he had studied (such as Latin and Old Church Slavonic) were not tested,[3] and he has since gone on to study many more languages.[6]

In 1993, together with his wife, Linda Gezels, he founded Orientaal vzw, a centre dedicated to the teaching of Oriental languages and cultures.[7]

He has been awarded several prizes for his work in relation to the Turkish language, including the Türkçe Öğretiminde Başarı Ödülü in 1990 and the Ali Şir Nevai Türk Diline Hizmet Ödülü in 2005.[2][4]

References
  1. Centrum voor Islam in Europa.
  2. Dr. Johan Vandewalle, Ghent University.
  3. Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press.
  4. Over de oprichter van Orientaal vzw, Johan Vandewalle.
  5. Polyglot of Flanders/Babel Prize certificate, 23 January 1987.
  6. "Creating and Using Bilingual Texts for Learning a Diversity of Languages" on YouTube
  7. Orientaal vzw, Centrum voor Oosterse Talen en Culturen.
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