Deaf university students must pay 20 million VND for "interpretation" fees

According to Mr. Hiep, Deaf/Hearing Impaired children in Vietnam today have very few opportunities to develop comprehensively. They lack schools, classes, and teachers who know sign language. Especially, there is a lack of high schools.

As for Deaf/Hearing Impaired students studying in College or University, they are still not supported with interpretation costs. They and their families have to pay for this cost themselves. For a student that Mr. Hiep's group is supporting with interpretation, despite the discount for each lesson, the interpretation fee for a Deaf student in the university costs about 20 million VND for the first year of study, while normal hearing students do not have to spend this amount.

Hearing and Deaf students perform the dance "This is me" together at a fundraising concert for the Deaf/Hearing Impaired community. Photo: TTH

Therefore, sign language needs to be focused on for the Deaf/Hearing Impaired community in Vietnam. In the country, Vietnamese sign language is not known by many people. The reason may be that learning this language does not promise a bright future such as high salary, good treatment like other languages. People learn sign language partly out of curiosity, partly because they want to help the Deaf.

"However, there is an extremely difficult point for learners, which is that Vietnamese sign language still does not have a common language set for nationwide use, like the national language, Vietnamese. Currently, there are 3 sign language sets according to the 3 regions: North, Central, and South. The grammar may be the same, but the vocabulary is very different. And currently there are only 3 centers teaching sign language in Vietnam," said Mr. Tran Trung Hiep.

Mr. Hiep said that since learning sign language, many Deaf people have asked him to explain Vietnamese sentences and words, including slang, figurative words, Sino-Vietnamese words, etc. "Therefore, since December 2024, my translators and I have created a group dedicated to this question and answer, hoping to best support you to understand the full meaning of Vietnamese. Up to now, the group has grown to nearly 200 members, proving that the Deaf community is very interested in learning Vietnamese and developing themselves. They hope that more and more people will know sign language to communicate with Deaf/Hearing Impaired people. They also hope to be accepted by many places to work and take the A1, A2, B1, B2 driver's license exam".

* The International Sign Language Workshop will take place on the afternoon of March 29, 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City, organized by Hear Us Now. The program is not only for the Deaf/Hearing Impaired community but also for many people interested in sign language.

* Hear Us Now was established in 2014 as a non-profit organization, later registered as a Social Enterprise to operate more effectively. Hear Us Now supports Deaf/Hearing Impaired children in Vietnam to have closer access to comprehensive education. Since its establishment, the organization has provided educational opportunities to more than 1,000 Deaf/Hearing Impaired children; dozens of free English courses for Deaf/Hearing Impaired children.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/sinh-vien-khiem-thinh-hoc-dai-hoc-phai-tra-20-trieu-dong-phi-phien-dich-20250328193808348.htm