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.
Sophie Arnstein from the Boston University. (Photo: VNA)
NewYork (VNA) – The Vietnamese language has become a bridge to connectoverseas Vietnamese with the homeland while serving as a messenger to popularisethe country’s culture among US people, who previously only knew Vietnam as awar-torn land, according to a scholar in the US.
Nguyen Phuong Chung, Director of the Vietnamese Language Programme under ColumbiaUniversity’s Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, told the VietnamNews Agency that Vietnamese has garnered greater attention among US students,with Vietnamese-US students desiring to get a better insight into theirorigin, 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 culturaltraits of the country, including family culture and cultural behaviour whichare quite different from those in the US, Chung highlighted.
The programme of Vietnamese language study, which has been run for almostfive years, is designed to serve the needs of Columbia University’sundergraduates and graduates in Vietnamese studies, Chung said, addingextra-curricular activities have been arranged to introduce Vietnam’straditional culture, people and land such as performance of “ca tru” singing (atraditional ceremonial art form in the northern region) and screening of thefilm “Once Upon Bridge Vietnam”.
She shared that many US students, who went to Vietnam to study the language, travel around andexplore the Vietnamese culture, said they love Vietnam and wish to have anopportunity to live and work there.
Johnathan Formella, a student from Columbia University who spent nearly oneyear in Vietnam, said the Southeast Asian country impressed him with itsdynamic development, people’s hospitability and diverse culture.
He hoped that he could use Vietnamese to help more US people have a betterunderstanding about the S-shaped nation.
Donning in Ao dai (traditional long dress), Sophie Arnstein from Boston Universitysaid she initially started to learn Vietnamese just because she wanted to understand more about her best friend – a womanwith 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 Vietnamin 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 maintaina strong link to their origin while contributing to popularising the Vietnameseculture and people among foreigners./.
VNA
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Sophie Arnstein from the Boston University. (Photo: VNA)