Preserving national cultural identity from preserving Vietnamese language

The Vietnamese Language Honor Day 2025 was solemnly launched by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in Hanoi. Implemented since 2023, Vietnamese Language Honor Day has become an important annual milestone in the cultural and spiritual life of the community. Despite many difficulties and challenges, Vietnamese language movements in the community are increasingly spreading and achieving many encouraging achievements.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the Vietnamese Language Honor Day and the Contest "Searching for Vietnamese Ambassadors Abroad" in 2025, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang emphasized the importance of preserving and spreading the Vietnamese language, affirming that Vietnamese is not only a means of communication but also the soul of the nation, the crystallization of Vietnamese cultural identity through thousands of years of history. This is the thread connecting the Vietnamese community abroad with the national origin".

The launching ceremony of the Vietnamese Language Honor Day and the 2025 “Search for Vietnamese Ambassadors Abroad” Contest has strongly affirmed the determination to preserve and spread the Vietnamese language in the Vietnamese community around the world. With the joint efforts of agencies, organizations and overseas Vietnamese, the Vietnamese language will certainly continue to be preserved and developed sustainably, becoming the common pride of the Vietnamese people.

In recent times, activities in response to Vietnamese Language Honor Day in the overseas Vietnamese community have taken place enthusiastically in many diverse forms, with the active participation of domestic and local agencies and a large number of overseas Vietnamese around the world. A 2021 report by the financial website InsiderMonkey said that Vietnamese is the 21st most spoken language in the world, with more than 77 million speakers worldwide.

In addition, the ceremony also announced a number of activities in response to the Vietnamese Language Honor Day 2025 to spread love for the mother tongue and encourage overseas Vietnamese to preserve and promote the national language identity. Specifically, the Foreign Television Department, Vietnam Television (VTV4) introduced the programs "Vietnamese is not difficult" and "Happy with Vietnamese". These will be programs to help Vietnamese people living far away from home, especially the younger generation, learn and use Vietnamese more easily and vividly.

The Center for Vietnamese Studies and Cay Tre Vietnamese Language School (Japan) launched the “Vietnamese Speech Contest, Painting, Learning about the Homeland of Vietnam” and launched the Vietnamese Bookshelf built by the community. This is a useful playground, helping the Vietnamese community in Japan, especially the younger generation, to connect more with the culture and language of their homeland, while creating conditions for them to naturally improve their Vietnamese.

“Looking for Vietnamese ambassadors abroad”

The contest was launched by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of Vietnamese Language Honor Day, targeting overseas Vietnamese individuals and foreigners who love Vietnamese and have effective activities and initiatives in teaching and spreading Vietnamese.

A teacher writes a poem in Vietnamese in a calligraphy contest at Trung Vuong School (Quang Tri province) in 2018. (Photo: Trung Vuong School/VNE)

Overseas Vietnamese representative, Ms. Tran Hong Van, Vietnamese Language Ambassador 2023 emphasized: “Maintaining the language and culture for the young generation of Vietnamese in Australia and other countries around the world requires the efforts of all parties involved”. She shared that helping overseas Vietnamese children speak Vietnamese, love Vietnamese culture and help them connect with their national roots will help them build a solid foundation to shine anywhere in the world.

In the 2024 "Search for Vietnamese Ambassadors Abroad" Contest, surpassing many candidates from all over the world, Ms. Lanny Phetnion, a Lao university lecturer, became the first foreigner to excel in the list of 5 candidates winning the Vietnamese Ambassador award. Ms. Lanny said: "I want to improve my Vietnamese and contribute to teaching Vietnamese to Lao people as well as contributing to the solidarity and friendship of the two brotherly countries". Not stopping at the above work, Ms. Lanny also created Tiktok, Youtube channels... to share and introduce ways to learn Vietnamese and Lao in the most convenient and easy-to-understand way. She has also personally compiled Vietnamese and Lao language learning books with many levels from easy to advanced.

According to NBC News, in June 2024, the San Francisco City Council (USA) also unanimously proposed making Vietnamese an official language in San Francisco, along with Spanish, Chinese and Filipino. More than 6,000 residents here use Vietnamese as their main language of communication. Thus, public services in San Francisco must be translated into Vietnamese before being provided to the people. Announcements on websites, documents, etc. are also supplemented with Vietnamese translations. The decision was issued after the San Francisco Language Access Ordinance was amended and Vietnamese met the population requirement to become one of the city's official languages.

Previously, in 2022, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced that September 8 would be designated as Vietnamese Language Honor Day to honor the Vietnamese language to overseas communities, to encourage and honor individuals and organizations that contribute to the maintenance and dissemination of the Vietnamese language abroad, including the use of Vietnamese in families abroad.

In addition, Vietnamese Language Appreciation Day also aims to encourage local authorities to include Vietnamese in the curriculum of educational institutions accepting Vietnamese students, as well as support universities and research institutes with Vietnamese language courses, making Vietnamese an official language in certain areas.

On the occasion of the annual Vietnamese Language Honor Day, a Vietnamese Language Appreciation Rally will be held to connect Vietnamese representative units both at home and abroad. At the same time, a contest will be held to find “Vietnamese Language Ambassadors Abroad”, a meaningful playground to seek and honor individuals with outstanding contributions to preserving and promoting the Vietnamese language globally.

According to a VNA correspondent in Seoul, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety of Korea (MOIS) announced that emergency alerts sent via the “Emergency Ready” application are available in five different languages, including Vietnamese. Previously, the application sent official emergency alerts in English and Chinese. From August 26, 2024, the application began sending additional alerts in Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese. Emergency Ready is an application managed by MOIS, providing multilingual support for 36 emergency services, including emergency alerts, safety instructions, information on embassies, fire stations and police stations, as well as the location of civil defense shelters. With Emergency Ready available in five different languages, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety of Korea expects more than 1.7 million people to benefit from the new service. In addition, in 2013, Vietnamese was included as the second compulsory foreign language in the university entrance exam in Korea. Many universities in Korea such as Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Youngsan University, etc. also opened Vietnamese and Vietnamese Studies departments, attracting a large number of Korean students to study. Many Korean vloggers study and communicate fluently in Vietnamese. In addition, some restaurants in Korea even print Vietnamese on their menus and signs.

According to lexigo, more than 300,000 people (1.3% of the Australian population) use Vietnamese to communicate. This number makes Vietnamese the 4th most widely used language among the 25 most popular languages ​​in Australia in 2024, after English, Mandarin and Arabic. Vietnamese is most commonly used in Victoria and New South Wales, where there are large Vietnamese communities.

Huy Anh (synthesis)

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/gin-giu-ban-sac-van-hoa-dan-toc-tu-giu-gin-tieng-viet-post545159.html