Vietnamese Language, Culture Promoted in Russia

Younger generations of Vietnam and Russia are expected to further nurture the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

Russian students ask for Vietnamese calligraphy. Photo: NDO

The Vietnamese Language Festival in Russia was held by the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia on May 21 with the aim to promote cooperation while strengthening cultural and educational exchange activities between Vietnam and Russia, reported NDO.

The delegates expect that with the participation of a large number of Russian institutions providing Vietnamese language training, the programme will create a new impetus for the Vietnamese language teaching movement in Russia.

Within the framework of the festival, a seminar on Vietnamese in Vietnam-Russia exchange and cooperation was held both in-person and online forms.

Speaking at the opening of the seminar, Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi said that the Vietnamese Language Festival in Russia is not only for Russian teachers and students to learn Vietnamese, but also for the Vietnamese community in Russia.

Currently, many Vietnamese language training institutions in Russia have a team of good teachers with many students who are passionate about the Vietnamese, he noted.

Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi speaks the event. Photo: NDO

Affirming that language is the bridge connecting countries, Ambassador Khoi proposed the organization of a Vietnamese Language Festival in Russia every year. This would provide an opportunity to connect Russian and Vietnamese students, as well as Vietnamese teachers of the two countries.

Within the framework of Vietnamese Language Festival in Russia, the organizers also displayed images of the country and people of Vietnam, introduced the art of calligraphy to a large number of Russian friends, and awarded prizes for the wall newspaper design contest about Vietnam for Russian students and children in the community.

A dance performance at the Vietnam Day programme. Photo: VNA

Meanwhile, on May 20, the Moscow State Linguistic University (MSLU), formerly known as Maurice Thorez Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages, organized its first Vietnam Day to mark the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership as well as on the 132nd birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh, VOV reported.

Speaking at the event, MGLU rector Irina Kraeva said that MGLU has been training Vietnamese students since the 1960s, with 300 Vietnamese students having graduated, many of which have held positions in the government, universities and colleges, many now are ambassadors and businessmen of Vietnam. The school has also started teaching Vietnamese to Russian students since 2017.

Kraeva also said that “Vietnam Day” event at MGLU will become the school's annual event.

Currently, about 70 Vietnamese students is studying at MGLU.

Elena Zubtsova, Associate Professor at the Oriental Languages Department, said that the university is training a total of 27 Russian students to learn Vietnamese, the largest number of students among universities teaching Vietnamese to Russian in Moscow.

This summer, the first class will graduate, of which five in eight students will graduate with excellent honors. All Russian students studying Vietnamese are eager to come to Vietnam to experience first-hand the culture and interact with Vietnamese people.

In her speech, Head of Economic-Scientific-Education Department, Vietnamese Embassy in Russia Le Thi Huyen Minh appreciated the initiative to organize such event at the university, saying that it not only contribute to advancing the Russia and Vietnam ties in the field of education and training further, but also promote Vietnamese language and culture in Russia.

The activities included seminars on Vietnam and bilateral relations, cooperation in the field of education and training, as well as the traditional cultural relationship between the two countries. Dances and songs performed at the programme praised the land and people of Vietnam.

The most outstanding performance was a play based on the epic Vietnamese love story between My Chau and Trong Thuy.

My Chau-Trong Thuy love story takes to the stage. Photo: VNA

According to the legend, An Duong Vuong, the King of Au Lac state, received help to build Co Loa citadel from the Holy Turtle, who offered the King his claw to make a magic cross-bow which could kill thousands in one shot, saving the country from aggressive invaders from the North.

At the time, Trieu Da was the Lord of the rival state Nam Hai that bordered Au Lac in the North. After failing to invade his neighbours on numerous occasions, he sent his son, Prince Trong Thuy, to negotiate a peace treaty and ask for the hand of Princess My Chau, An Duong Vuong’s daughter, in marriage.

My Chau carelessly told her new husband about the cross-bow, who then stole it and replaced it with a fake one, leading to a devastating defeat against Nam Hai.

Fleeing his enemies, King An Duong spotted his daughter leaving a trail of goose feathers for Trong Thuy to follow. The King pulled out his sword and beheaded My Chau.

Trong Thuy found My Chau shortly after and, overwhelmed with grief, drowned himself in a well.

The tale about the love story between members of rival dynasties, was directed and organized in Vietnamese by Russian students learning Vietnamese.

At the end of the program, delegates also enjoyed traditional Vietnamese dishes prepared by the Vietnamese students themselves.

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