Vietnamese language helps popularise country’s culture: scholar

The Vietnamese language has become a bridge to connect overseas Vietnamese with the homeland while serving as a messenger to popularise the country’s culture among US people, who previously only knew Vietnam as a war-torn land, according to a scholar in the US.

Nguyen Phuong Chung, Director of the Vietnamese Language Program under Columbia University’s Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, told reporters that Vietnamese has garnered greater attention among US students, with Vietnamese-US students desiring to get a better insight into their origin, and US ones hoping to explore Vietnam’s culture, people and history.

The students said they feel closer to Vietnam each day as they gradually know more about the cultural traits of the country, including family culture and cultural behaviour which are quite different from those in the US, Chung highlighted.

The program of Vietnamese language study, which has been run for almost five years, is designed to serve the needs of Columbia University’s undergraduates and graduates in Vietnamese studies, Chung said, adding extra-curricular activities have been arranged to introduce Vietnam’s traditional culture, people and land such as performance of “ca tru” singing (a traditional ceremonial art form in the northern region) and screening of the film “Once Upon a Bridge in Vietnam”.

She shared that many US students, who went to Vietnam to study the language, travel around and explore the Vietnamese culture, said they love Vietnam and wish to have an opportunity to live and work there.

Johnathan Formella, a student from Columbia University who spent nearly one year in Vietnam, said the Southeast Asian country impressed him with its dynamic development, people’s hospitability and diverse culture.

He hoped that he could use Vietnamese to help more US people have a better understanding about the S-shaped nation.

Donning in Ao dai (traditional long dress), Sophie Arnstein from Boston University said she initially started to learn Vietnamese just because she wanted to understand more about her best friend – a woman with Vietnamese origin.

The more she studies, the more she loves Vietnamese and the country, she said, stressing the language has opened the door to a unique culture.

Having visited Vietnam’s renowned destinations such as Hoi An ancient city, Hoan Kiem Lake and Ha Long Bay, she said she wishes to live and work in Vietnam in the near future.

Meanwhile, Luu Thi Tuong Vi, born into a Vietnamese family in San Diego city, said she learns Vietnamese to better communicate with her family members.

Vi held that Vietnamese-US people should preserve their mother tongue so as to maintain a strong link to their origin while contributing to popularising the Vietnamese culture and people among foreigners.

TB (according to VNA)