Overseas Vietnamese children in a Vietnamese class in Prague, the Czech Republic. (Photo: VOV)

This is the first year the project has been implemented both inside and outside Vietnam. Various activities have been held including the building of Vietnamese bookshelves in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Japan; a contest “Searching for Ambassadors of Vietnamese Abroad in 2023”; art performances; training courses on Vietnamese language teaching for Overseas Vietnamese; and a summer camp. Many forums and workshops on renovating Vietnamese teaching and learning methods have been held by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (SCOV), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies.

In the Czech Republic, Vietnamese teaching and learning have been promoted for a long time. Nguyen Duy Nhien, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic said, “The Vietnamese community here considers maintaining the Vietnamese language and culture an important task."

"We have organized a wide range of activities, including a summer camp, Vietnamese language contests, celebrations of the Lunar New Year, and the Mid-Autumn Festival where overseas Vietnamese have a chance to speak Vietnamese in public.”

Nguyen Duy Nhien, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic. (Photo: VOV)

In Thailand, generations of Vietnamese have made a sincere effort to preserve their use of the Vietnamese language and their cultural identities.

“After many overseas Vietnamese returned to the homeland in 1962, I stayed in Thailand and was encouraged to stop working as a tailor and teach Vietnamese for overseas Vietnamese children. I spent lots of time teaching myself Vietnamese. Teaching and learning Vietnamese soon became popular in Thailand,” said 103-year-old Pham Van Tuan, who has lots of experience teaching Vietnamese. 

The Vietnamese language has served as a useful means to connect overseas Vietnamese with their homeland.