B: I love the letters, too. Letters are like gifts. Interesting content decorated with beautiful stamps. Here’s a letter from Roger Roussel of Canada. The stamps are typical of Canada: a stamp for Christmas with a picture of a polar bear, a stamp of the Winter Olympics hosted by Canada, and one for Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights in Canada.

A: This stamp tells me Canada has hosted two Olympic Winter Games in 1988 and 2010. And Hanukkah is a joyful holiday that commemorates a great Jewish victory over foreign forces. Thank you, Roger, for sending us letters with great postage stamps. We’ve checked your reception report for a program on March 2, on 7315khz. SINPO was all 5s. We’ll verify your report by sending you a QSL card soon.

B: This letter from Peter Ng of Malaysia has some interesting stamps about the Perayaan di or Mid-autumn Festival in Malaysia, with pictures of a dragon dance and people wearing traditional costumes. One stamp shows wildlife on the verge of extinction. A stamp issued this year honors guide dogs for the blind. Peter Ng listened to VOV on March 1 on the frequency of 9840khz and rated the overall quality 4.

A: Thank you for your regular feedback, Peter. We’ll send a QSL card to verify your report soon. Most Japanese listeners send us letters. Lucky me. I have a small collection of Japanese stamps with themes of flowers, animals, and butterflies. Toda Takeshi of Kochi City listened to VOV on 9840khz on March 3. SINPO rating was at 35333. He wrote: “I’m listening to this broadcast for English study. There are many things I still can’t catch, but I keep on listening.”

An old stamp collection to mark the Liberation of South Vietnam and National Reunification in 1975-1985

B: Thank you so much for choosing VOV to improve your English proficiency. We’re looking forward to receiving more feedback from you. Fumito Hokamura of Fukuoka reported that the reception quality on the frequency 9840khz in March was rather good, with SINPO rating 43333.

A: He said he likes Vietnamese coffee very much. It’s delicious. Do you drink Vietnamese instant coffee or make your coffee in a pots. Many of our listeners have said they love Vietnamese coffee. Michael Cunningham of Australia said that in Brisbane they can buy many varieties of Vietnamese coffee, vacuum packed and ready to make at home. He makes his coffee in a Vietnamese pot that he got in Brisbane. Very nice with condensed milk to start the day.

B: Joao Bonatto of Brazil told us that after a trip to Vietnam in 2014, he opened a coffee shop in Brazil that serves coffee like in Vietnam.  They love Vietnamese coffee!

A: We’re eager to read more listeners’ stories about Vietnamese coffee. According to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, Vietnam’s coffee exports totaled 1.42 million tons, earning 3.2 billion USD last year. Germany and the US are Vietnam’s two biggest coffee markets with market shares of 15% and 13%. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee in the world behind Brazil.

B: Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands is the coffee growing hub of Vietnam. Though the acreage has shrunk to around 200,000ha, Dak Lak's coffee output keeps rising, thanks to intensive farming methods. Vietnam exports around 60,000 tons of Arabica coffee each year, including 50,000 tons from the south and 10,000 tons from the north.

A: Advanced processing technologies, have been widely applied to produce instant coffee brands in Vietnam like Olam, Trung Nguyen, Nestle, and Vinacafe. These brands have made Vietnamese coffee products better known internationally.

B: This week we got an email from new listener Niels Lashbrook of the US. He listened to our program on April 17 on the frequency of 7315khz. Mr. Lashbrook wrote: “I was tuning around tonight and I stumbled upon this station. I waited until after a song that was in Vietnamese, I am assuming, and heard the Voice of Vietnam's call signal. If possible I would really like a QSL card sent to me.”

A: Welcome to VOV’s Dx’ing community. We’ll send you a frequency list and program guide to make it easier for you to tune in to our channel. We hope to receive more reception reports from you soon. Once again, thank you for listening to VOV.

B: Ullmar Qvick of Sweden wrote in an email on April 5: “These days I’m remembering the Swedish youth protests that began exactly 50 years ago, with the so-called FNL-Movement conducting demonstrations and other actions against the US war in Vietnam. This movement grew steadily with Vietnam’s heroic resistance.”

A: The United National Liberation Front Groups, abbreviated in Swedish as DFFG, was a Swedish popular movement that sought to mobilize support for the struggle of the Vietnam National Liberation Front, known by its French acronym FNL. DFFG was able to mobilize thousands of young people for demonstrations, street sales of Vietnambulletinen, leaflets, and fund collections to support the people of Vietnam. It came to dominate Swedish public debate about the Vietnam war for several years.

B: Ullmar has recalled an important year in Vietnam’s history, The Mau Than General Offensive and Uprising or Tet Offensive of 1968 launched by North Vietnam and the Vietnam National Liberation Front on January 30, 1968. The name of the offensive comes from the Tet holiday, Vietnam’s Lunar New Year, when the first major attacks took place.

A: Vietnamese people and army launched offensives in 4 cities and 37 townships attacking central and local offices of the US and the Vietnam puppet regime. The Tet Offensive was an important event in Vietnam’s revolution, a step closer to forcing the US government to withdraw from South Vietnam and ending the war.

B: Ullmar, your reception report for a program on April 15 on the frequency of 7280khz was sufficient for us to verify. A QSL card will be sent to you soon. In Indonesia, Eddy Prabowo listened to VOV on April 16 on 7315khz. He rated SINPO at 4s and noted “strong signal strength, the broadcast heard relatively stable and clear, with minor noise and minor QRM buzzing.”

A: Bhaikan Hazarika of India wrote in a report on April 11: “First of all I want to say thank you for your amazing fantastic program. I really appreciate your program. I listened to the Letter Box program today. You acknowledged letters from listenters in India, the UK, the US, Japan, and Indonesia. The songs “You in my eyes” and “Hanoi-twelve seasons of flowers” which you played in today’s show were fantastic. I found today’s program entertaining and informative”.

B: Time is up for VOV’s Letter Box. You can send your feedback to English Section, VOV5, Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Our email address is englishsection@vov.org.vn. We’ll verify your report and send it together with a latest frequency list and program guide.

B: Thank you for listening. Please join us again next Wednesday for another edition of the Letter Box. Goodbye.