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Learning the language
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Students and teachers of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in the Republic of Korea during their performance of a play in Vietnamese late last month.
More foreigners are speaking Vietnamese fluently than ever before - for reasons both educational and economic.


In just over a year, Park Ki Young from the South Korea has learnt to speak Vietnamese fluently.

Park’s motivation for taking the four-year Vietnamese studies course at the Ho Chi Minh City-based University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) is simple.

“In Rok it is very hard to get a job, so I study Vietnamese in the hope that I can find a job here,” Park says. “Maybe I will live for a long time in Vietnam.”

Park has 149 other foreign students for company in his bachelor degree course at the USSH.

For short-term courses, there are more than 600 foreign students, says USSH’s Vietnamese Studies Department Head Nguyen Van Hue.

More than 4,000 people have registered for the courses annually in recent years, double that of 2005, Hue says, adding that more than half of them are Korean, followed by Japanese and Americans.

This school year, the USSH opened its first postgraduate Vietnamese Studies program with 20 students.

The HCMC University of Education, meanwhile, has been offering graduate and postgraduate programs in Vietnamese for about 10 foreign students every year, says Associate Professor Du Ngoc Ngan.

The number of students for short-term courses is from 20-60, she says, adding that the figure has increased sharply compared to the last 10 years.

While some like Park learn Vietnamese for working and living in Vietnam, others learn the language for the purpose of researching and understanding Vietnamese culture, people and the country.

Thibaut Nguyen, an overseas Vietnamese from France, for example, learns Vietnamese for research purposes.

The sociology major says he will learn Vietnamese in HCMC for around four months before continuing his trip to other places like Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hanoi and Sa Pa.

Some take very short courses just for touring, like David and his friend from the US. During their five-day trip to HCMC, they registered for a one-hour course in Vietnamese to learn all the greetings, the names of main food dishes, and correct ways to pronounce the different places they wanted to visit.

Overseas classes

The number of students learning Vietnamese has also increased at overseas colleges.

A Vietnamese instructor in the South Korea says about 100 people are studying

Vietnamese at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and every year, around 30 apply for the course.

The Pusan University of Foreign Studies, meanwhile, admits 50 students for its Vietnamese program annually, says its instructor who wishes to be unnamed.

“Korean students study Vietnamese very hard,” says one instructor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. “They compete to score high marks which is very important for them to look for a job after graduating.”

Although the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies admits only 20 students to its annual Vietnamese course, their entrance score is now the highest amongst those opting for Southeast Asian language courses, says Hue, who has taught Vietnamese for five years in Japan.

In 1991, the score was lower than that of those choosing to study Thai, he adds.

The Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Fukuoka City can teach six Vietnamese classes with a total of 130 students, according to Hue.

Japanese students who graduate from universities with Vietnamese as their major have opportunities to work for corporate giants like Toyota, Honda and Yamaha, Hue says.

“So they invest much into their studies. During holidays, they often visit Vietnam for seeing the country and practicing their Vietnamese.”

Even to prepare for a festival week at home, they come to Vietnam to buy clothes, food and other necessary things to perform plays, recite poems, sing, make wallpapers, and set up food stalls, he adds.