After 16 years of teaching Vietnamese at National Taiwan University, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong has helped make Vietnamese one of the foreign languages that many students register to study here.
PROPAGATE THE VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE AND LOVE FOR HOMELAND
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong graduated from the Faculty of History, Hanoi National University, studied Chinese language at Beijing Language and Culture University, before obtaining a master's degree in Southeast Asian studies from Chi Nan University (Taiwan). She was a researcher at the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) for nearly 10 years. In 2008, she transferred to teach Vietnamese language and culture at National Taiwan University (NTU).
On the 1 million square meter main campus in Taipei of NTU, Ms. Lien Huong guided us to visit the Vietnamese language classes in the world-ranked university. Arriving at the lecturers' room, Ms. Lien Huong started the story happily: "Talking about teaching Vietnamese, I can talk all day." Because in each of her stories, there seems to be a love for Vietnamese, a passion for teaching and spreading the love of Vietnam to friends around the world.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong participated in compiling and editing many Vietnamese language textbooks and books about Vietnamese culture.
The female lecturer shared: "If there is one more person who loves Vietnam and has good feelings for Vietnam, for me that is a success. Therefore, the work at the university here is not only teaching language but also more than that. Teaching a foreign language is like giving learners a key so that they can open the door to the culture, country and people who speak that language."
Starting her work in February 2008, Ms. Lien Huong has now spent 16 years teaching Vietnamese at NTU, of which the 15th year she has been awarded the award for outstanding teaching achievements. This is even more special for a Vietnamese language teacher among thousands of lecturers at a school with Nobel Prize-winning professors.
" TEACHING VIETNAMESE AS... A MISSION"
At NTU, Vietnamese is an elective subject. Undergraduate and graduate students can choose to study it as a second language. In recent years, most students have Vietnamese parents, but in the past, students chose Vietnamese for other reasons, such as wanting to have the opportunity to work in Vietnam, or learning about the culinary culture and Vietnamese community here. Not only at university level, since 2019, Vietnamese has become a compulsory language in elementary schools and one of the optional foreign languages in Taiwan's secondary schools.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong in Vietnamese class at NTU
Looking back on her 16 years of teaching Vietnamese, the female lecturer said she has seen many changes in the number of foreign students choosing to learn this language. Ms. Lien Huong recalls:
"16 years ago, the whole school had only one Vietnamese class with less than 10 students. Now the number has gradually increased to hundreds of students each year and Vietnamese has become one of the most registered languages here." Notably, students studying Vietnamese are not only from Taiwan but also from many other countries such as Germany, the US, Japan, Korea, etc. "Although it cannot be compared to some other major foreign languages, a Southeast Asian language having such a position in a world-ranked university is truly a source of great pride," the Vietnamese female lecturer expressed.
Not only increasing in quantity, the position of Vietnamese language courses is also seen through the change in the target learners. If in the past, many Taiwanese and other international students registered to study, in the past 5-7 years, more and more overseas Vietnamese (with Vietnamese parents) want to return to study Vietnamese. "After only 1-2 years of studying, many students can text and write letters to me in Vietnamese. There were times when I was moved to tears when I heard them use the phrase: "I want to return to Vietnam" instead of saying "I want to go to Vietnam". It was touching not only because the students understood the difference in meaning between the two words "go" and "return" but also because of their feelings towards their homeland", Ms. Lien Huong expressed her emotions.
With all her heart, the female lecturer added: "Not only promoting Vietnamese, I hope that through this work, I will help the young F2 generations of overseas Vietnamese understand more deeply about their homeland Vietnam. They can name, write reports and introduce their homeland. Those are very small bricks that contribute to building an invisible bridge to the homeland of more than 5 million overseas Vietnamese around the world. For those reasons, the Vietnamese language teachers here, including me, do not see this as a simple job, but as a mission."
Her childhood dream of becoming an architect did not come true, but lecturer Nguyen Thi Lien Huong may not have known that she had accidentally become an architect of language and culture.
Author of best-selling Vietnamese books
Not only participating in teaching, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong is also known as the author of many Vietnamese textbooks published in Taiwan and the US. Sharing about these two jobs, Ms. Lien Huong said: "If teaching Vietnamese only affects a certain number of students, then writing books can convey much more."
The female author believes: "Language and culture are two intertwined categories. When you interact with another language, it means you are also interacting with the culture of language use, so in her books, she has included many cultural elements. For example, introducing the cuisine of the 3 regions, the use of honorifics in family meals - the first connection in every Vietnamese family...".
Perhaps writing with that mindset, Hello Vietnam has become the best-selling Vietnamese book in Taiwan and was ranked second among newly published foreign language books when it was released in 2016. In 2021, she and Tuttle Publishing House first published the Vietnamese Picture Dictionary in the US. This is the next edition in the Vietnamese teaching and learning book series that she created while in Taiwan. Through this book, the author has received many messages and affirmations from readers via mail.
To date, Ms. Lien Huong has participated in compiling and editing more than 16 textbooks on Vietnamese language and books on Vietnamese culture. In addition to writing books, she is also a co-translator of many classic Vietnamese literary works (which have been adapted into comic books) into Chinese such as: Adventures of a Cricket, The Flag Embroidered with 6 Golden Words...
With her interdisciplinary experience and expressive voice, the female lecturer was also invited to host the Vietnamese news program of the Taiwan Immigration Bureau NIA and Taiwan PTS TV. Every Friday, the audience of this TV channel knows her as a news editor.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguoi-dua-tieng-viet-vao-top-cac-ngoai-ngu-duoc-chon-hoc-nhieu-nhat-185250103201113712.htm
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