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I spent yesterday afternoon at the Memorial Service for Victor Mair , where many of his relatives, friends, students, and colleagues told stories about Victor and his influence on their lives.

Because Grace Wu was not able to attend, she sent me a tribute to read on her behalf, which I've reprinted below.

I have always been deeply grateful to Professor Mair and to his extraordinary contributions to Taiwanese language education. In fact, Penn’s Taiwanese language program, which began in 1993, would not have existed without his advocacy. More than 30 years ago, at a time when there were not yet any Taiwanese language courses being offered even in Taiwan, he had the vision to establish Taiwanese at Penn. I often think about what a remarkable idea and commitment that was.

Over the years, Professor Mair also wrote extensively about Taiwanese in Language Log.…