Viking Magazine - September 2013 - 24

Rossi worked through the
chapters, and even hunted
down a native speaker with
whom she could check her
work. She also enrolled in
CLV and is now a regular at
the adult spring session.
Rossi just returned from
her ninth trip to Norway, and
she relishes being able to join
in on family conversations.
LOIS
Rediscovering Her Roots
When Lois Egelhof's brother
started fi rst grade in a
two-room school house in
Manitowish Waters, Wis.,
he answered a question in
Norwegian; another student
answered in Finnish, and
a third in Ojibwe. " The
teacher sent home a scathing
note to all families saying
only English is to be spoken
in the home, " says Egelhof,
62. " If that had not happened,
I would have learned
Norwegian as a child. "
Egelhof's ancestors on both
sides of the family emigrated
from Norway, but as time
went by, some of the old traditions
were lost. In 1999 Egelhof,
who now lives in Bemidji,
began working for CLV.
That same year she attended
her fi rst weekend retreat at
Skogfjorden and
took up language
study in earnest.
" Learning Norwegian,
more than anything, has
helped me to understand who
I am and why I am the way
I am, " she says. " With each
new bit of knowledge, I understand
my family's history
much better. "
Egelhof now attends a
weekly Norwegian conversation
group. She also studies
French, Spanish and Italian.
" Most of all, I'm having
fun challenging myself and
learning more about myself
along the way, " she says.
IAN
Broadening His Horizons
Ian Pate, a native of rural
Florida, doesn't have a trace
of Norwegian in his bloodline,
but that didn't deter the
38-year-old from learning the
language. " I always had this
interest in wanting to learn a
foreign language and be part
of the bigger world, " he says.
Before taking up Norwegian,
Pate majored in German
at Florida State. " I got a lot of
use out of my German, but after
awhile I wanted something
BOOST YOUR BRAIN
Learning a second language has real benefi ts to the health of
your brain. Here are just a few of the ways language keeps your
mind fi t:
DELAYS DISEASE. Researchers at York University in Toronto
found that learning a language at any age can delay the onset of
Alzheimer's symptoms by up to fi ve years.
IMPROVES CONCENTRATION. Researchers from
Northwestern University found that students' brains performed
similarly under quiet conditions, but when noise was introduced,
bilingual students were better able to tune out the distraction
than English-only peers.
GROWS EXPONENTIALLY. According to a 2011 study
conducted by the Center for Health Studies from the Public
Research Center for Health in Luxembourg, men and women who
spoke three languages were three times less likely to develop
cognitive problems than bilinguals.
different, " he says. " Around
the same time, I coincidentally
found out about the local
Sons of Norway Lodge. "
Pate connected with Tove
Manuel, a Gulf Coast Lodge
member who agreed to tutor
him in Norwegian. Pate
now attends CLV each year
to maintain his Norwegian
skills, and in 2011, he passed
the Sons of Norway
profi ciency test
from the Norwegian
language unit of the
Cultural Skills Program.
While Pate didn't have
a real " reason " to learn
Norwegian, his study has
opened doors he couldn't
have imagined-including
a 2012 trip aboard Hurtigruten,
won through a
District 3 fundraiser.
" Sometimes you feel like
you have to have a practical
reason for doing something.
You don't, " he says.
" Language is by defi nition
communication with other
people, and it's nice to feel a
part of a bigger world. "
Left: Lois Egelhof, Lisa Whannel and Becky Distad-Rossi at a
Norwegian Adult Weekend at Skogfjorden. Right: Ian Pate on an
excursion during his Hurtigruten trip in Norway.
24 VIKING SEPTEMBER 2013
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http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - September 2013

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