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Academics

Well Said: An unlikely reason to learn German

Priscilla Layne can trace her career all the way back to a simple decision she made when she was just 10 years old.

Priscilla Layne.As a 10-year-old in Chicago, Priscilla Layne was obsessed with Indiana Jones.

She knew the movies forward and backward — except for a few parts in “The Raiders of the Lost Arc” and “The Last Crusade” when characters spoke German without accompanying subtitles. So Layne decided she would learn German to understand what they were saying.

“It became a hobby of mine,” said Layne, now an assistant professor of German in the College of Arts & Sciences. “Everyone knew my thing was German.”

On this week’s episode, Layne explains how a simple hobby developed into an academic career.

Read a transcript of the episode.

Listen to the episode on SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Join us every Wednesday for Well Said to hear from students, faculty, staff and alumni. Each week, you’ll learn what’s going on in classrooms, labs and around campus, and how it pertains to the local, national and international headlines.