A: Welcome to VOV’s Letter Box. This feature airs every Wednesday. Most of the letters and emails we received last week expressed how they are interested in listening to the Letter Box segment every week, especially if they hear their names or the answers to their questions.
B: We’re so happy to know this, as this greatly encourages us to do our best. This week, we would like to begin with letters from Fumito Hokamura, one of our most loyal foreign listeners to the English program on the Voice of Vietnam in Japan. Fumito wants to know whether or not Vietnamese students and pupils have summer holidays. In Japan, many schools are still busy studying.
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| Summer is coming and Hanoi is spruced up in flamboyant trees in blossom and Bang Lang-Giant crepe-myrtle trees with purple flowers. The two kinds of flowers signal the end of an academic year. |
A: Dear Fumito, before answering your question, we’d like to say thanks to you for tuning into VOV regularly. As in Japan, Vietnamese students and pupils are also busy learning and taking final tests at the moment. More precisely, they are in the most important period of the academic year. Primary school pupils are doing their final tests, and the results are written in their academic records and used as one of the criteria for enrolment to secondary schools.
B: Meanwhile, for high school students, this is the hardest time as they have to make final preparation in terms of knowledge and administrative procedures before tertiary entrance exams in early July. In Vietnam the exams are said to be a turning point for every person’s life, determining which direction they will continue in the future. As a result, both future students and their parents are very anxious and pay the highest attention to them in time, effort, and money.
'Bang Lang' flowers, known as Giant Crepe-myrtle
(Photo: qdnd.vn)
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A: Fumito, I hope you feel satisfied with our answer. Another listener from Japan is Mitsunori Kawazoe of Tsu-shi, MIE reported on his tuning on May 3rd at 11.30 to 12.00 UTC on the frequency of 12020 kHz. Despite some interference from the Voice of Korea, on 12015 kHz, basically, Mitsunori could receive that broadcast clearly. He added that among the features aired that day, New Rural Landscape, talking about the building of new rural areas in Cu Chi district was the most useful for him. The feature helped Mitsunori ‘know what the rural areas in Vietnam are’ while ‘such topics are like hardly reported in Japan’.
B: We’re so glad to hear that you like our programs and speak highly of your comments in both the technical and professional aspects. We hope to receive more feedback from you. Next is Toshiya Nishimura also of Hinode fukui-shi Fukui, Japan. He listened to a broadcast on May 1st on the frequency of 12020 kHz at 13.30 to 13.57 UTC. He said that the reception was relatively good.
A: All listeners from Japan reported their tuning on the frequency of 12020 kHz is generally good. It’s really good news to us and we hope that the technical conditions will always be like this, so that shortwave listening can become a real way for VOV overseas listeners to relax along with.
B: This week we received a number of emails from Ian Cattermole of Blenheim, New Zealand, who tuned in to our English programs on the frequency of 5955 kHz on January 29th, and February 3rd, and Jack Wachtershauser of Western Australia, who reported listening to programs on Aril 10th, 12th, 14th, 18th, 21st, and 23rd on the frequencies of 9840 and 12020. Ian and Jack, you’re so great! We admire you for your archives which are very detailed!
A: We don’t know what words should be used to express our happiness at receiving such emails and letters and we look forward to getting more from you in the future. With such excellent reports, we’ll surely send you confirmation cards as this is a good way to show our love to the listeners. So don’t worry! The only question is how long you’ll have to wait to receive them, as it depends so much on the post office. So in case, you haven’t got what you are waiting for in a couple of weeks, please be patient!
B: This week, we would like to welcome a new listener, S.Bhattacharyya, President of Chaitak Listeners Club of Paschim Medinipur, India. He listened to a Sunday broadcast on April 28th from 16.00 to 16.30 UTC on the frequency of 9730 kHz. The English program on every Sunday is a special program in which apart from a daily news bulletin and culture and sports round-up, we feature items of interest about Vietnam, its land, people, and the hot issues in the country. It means the topics for the Sunday show are diverse and up to date, all overseas listeners like this segment.
A: We believe you’ll not be an exception. We also welcome your comments or suggestions for this feature in your letters and emails. Like you, S.Bhattacharyya, Wahid Laskar Muhtadi Snacks of Zindabazar, Sylhet, Bangladesh was also interested in the Sunday show broadcast on April 28th about the Viet people’s culture, including our wedding customs. Wahid found similarities in the wedding customs of the Viet people and those in his own country.
B: We believe one of the reasons why many foreign listeners like our Sunday shows is that they can find similarities in the culture and lifestyle of Vietnam and their own nations. Or at least, they can compare the two cultures to find the differences and finally reach a simple conclusion about how nice a custom is or why it can take place in this part of the world but not another.
A: For VOV, Wahid Laskar Muhtadi Snacks of Bangladesh seems rather special. He is a shortwave listener and VOV is a known radio station to him. The last VOV QSL card he got was on April 30th, 1988 which coincided with the time he began to re-write letters to us on April 30th 2013. It’s a nice return! Welcome back to VOV, Wahid.
B: However, it’s a bit of a pity as SW reception was not satisfactory and he had to find more information about VOV on our website. We have many listeners from Bangladesh. Generally, they rarely complain about the reception quality. So we hope you’ll be luckier next time. Wahid also wants to know what the word ‘commune’ means as he hears it quite frequently. Commune is the common name for the lowest administrative level in the rural and outlying areas of Vietnam.
B: Every week we salute listeners like Sami Niemelainen of Joensuu, Finland, Jayanta Chakrabarty of New Delhi, India and his family who all ‘find the programs of VOVWorld very informative and educative’. Jayanta continued ‘….shortwave radio broadcasts are of excellent audio quality in this part of the world. Your programs are interesting and enjoyable. We can gain a lot of knowledge about modern day Vietnam and the various developments taking place in the economic, social, and political spheres. The latest world happenings are also timely and accurately reported.’
A: On behalf of the family members, Jayanta wrote that the Vietnamese folk and popular music occupies a special place in their hearts for its rhythm and melody. Your comments are a great source of encouragement for us to take great care over our programs…... They’re just a few of the listeners who sent us postal or emails this week.
B: All these listeners sent reports about the English programs they heard and commented about technical issues and program content. We greatly appreciate this feedback. Dear listeners, your reception reports were all complete enough for us to send you letters of confirmation. If your name wasn’t mentioned this week, don’t feel left out. We’ll try to mention you next time.
A: The clock is running down here on VOV’s Letter Box. Before we go, we’d like to remind you of our address:
The English program,
Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam,
45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
B: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. If you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by logging onto our website at: www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live broadcasts and previously recorded programs.
Bao Tram