Tag: Vietnam

LEARN A LANGUAGE — Part 8 — VIETNAMESE

- Jill Leave a comment

The Vietnamese language has been shaped not only by Chinese rule, but also by periods of independence as well as periods of French colonization. Closely affiliated with Cantonese, Vietnamese is a “tonal language” having six different tones. While it used to rely on the Chinese script, in the 20th century that was replaced with the Latin alphabet, making Vietnamese look more similar to English but with several diacritical marks. In its modern form, Vietnamese is now spoken by approximately 86 million people worldwide which makes it the 21st most spoken language globally (babbel.com). While it is the official language of Vietnam, there are about 4.5 million Vietnamese speakers living outside Vietnam. These speakers contribute to a vibrant diaspora in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and France.

In France, where over half of the Vietnamese population of Europe resides, there are approximately 400,000 people of Vietnamese descent. Another notable population of Vietnamese speakers in Europe is in Germany which has about 111,000 speakers of the language. In the Czech Republic, Vietnamese is recognized as an official language even though the population of speakers is roughly half that found in Germany. Australia, on the other hand, has a significant Vietnamese community with around 321,000 people speaking the language and another 281,810 claiming Vietnamese heritage (2021 Australia Census). In Canada, Vietnamese speakers total roughly 240,000 and reside mostly in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. But the largest population of Vietnamese speakers outside of Vietnam is in the United States.

After the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, large numbers of Vietnamese people migrated to the United States. In the U.S. today, there are an estimated 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent. And, with over 1.5 million speakers, Vietnamese is the sixth most spoken language in the United States (census.gov). The Vietnamese-speaking population is predominantly concentrated in California and Texas, which together account for more than half of all Vietnamese speakers in the country. In fact, San Francisco recently made Vietnamese one of the official languages of the city. With nearly 6,800 speakers, it is the fourth largest language population (after English, Chinese and Spanish). Other states with significant Vietnamese-speaking communities include Washington, Florida, and Virginia.

In Iowa, there are approximately 8,500 speakers of Vietnamese, making up about .3% of the population. Almost half of the Vietnamese speakers in the state reside in and around the capitol of Des Moines. In Scott County, there are about 1,300 speakers, which is the second most spoken foreign language in the county after Spanish (4,700) and more than twice as many as the number of German speakers, which is just 600 (MLA Language Map). Just over 800 Vietnamese speakers reside in Davenport.

Acquiring a new language like Vietnamese can improve cognitive abilities, such as memory and problem-solving skills, and increase cultural awareness and empathy. Learning a new language can be a rewarding endeavor, offering insights into a rich cultural heritage and enhancing communication within diverse communities. And, unlike some other foreign languages, you don’t need to learn a new alphabet when learning Vietnamese. However, the grammar and sentence structure do differ significantly from English and you will need to factor in learning the six different tones.

If you are interested in learning the Vietnamese language, check out some of the FREE resources available to you at The Library. See our online catalog or ask a Librarian for more resources.

 

FOR A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO THE LANGUAGE:

Learn Vietnamese vocabulary

 

FOR A MORE LAID-BACK APPROACH:

Vietnamese stories for language learners

69 more short Vietnamese stories for intermediate learners

 

IF YOU ARE A VISUAL LEARNER:

Vietnamese picture dictionary

The Oxford picture dictionary. English/Vietnamese

 

MORE COMPREHENSIVE LANGUAGE COURSES:

 

 

Beginner’s Vietnamese : with online audio

Elementary Vietnamese

Teach yourself Vietnamese

Essential Vietnamese : speak Vietnamese with confidence!

Essential Vietnamese grammar : speak and write Vietnamese like a native!

And, as a Davenport Public Library cardholder, you have FREE access to the language learning program, Mango Languages.

 

FOR THOSE WHO PLAN TO TRAVEL:

Vietnamese phrase book & dictionary – Berlitz

Vietnamese phrasebook & dictionary – Lonely Planet

Essential Vietnamese phrasebook & dictionary

Tuttle pocket Vietnamese dictionary

 

NEXT MONTH…  LEARN A LANGUAGE — Part 9 — CHINESE

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Kent State : Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf

- Stephanie 1 Comment

My high school librarian always told me that past history has to be witnessed by those who didn’t live it in order to live on in our memories and to prevent it from happening again. I have taken that to heart in the years since by reading and watching nonfiction about events that happened before I was born.

My latest nonfiction read was Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf. This is a graphic nonfiction account of the Kent State shootings that happened on May 4, 1970. On that date, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Ohio. Four students were killed and nine were wounded in a deadly fusillade of 67 bullets.

This story is told from the perspective of the four students who were killed, as well as other students on campus and the writer himself. Ten days prior to the shooting, 10-year-old Derf Backderf was riding in the car with his mother when he saw the same National Guardsman patrolling his nearby hometown, having been brought in by the governor to hopefully squash a trucker strike. Backderf spent years doing interviews and conducting research into the lives of the people affected by the Kent State shootings. What he has created brought me to tears. Reading about their lives before the shooting, how the area was affected afterwards, and the coverup that occured had my emotions running ragged. I found this story to be troubling and concerning, and also incredibly relevant to today as dissent and protesting happens across the world.

A book I can read inside out and back again

- Ann Leave a comment

Two things I usually do not like to read about: war and hot places. And yet I found myself picking up Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai everytime I walked past the New J Fiction shelf. I could tell by the description on the back of the book that the story was about a young girl living in South Vietnam right before the fall of Saigon, thus, it was about war in a hot place. Yet, the praise on the back cover also demanded that I “read it slowly to savor the delicious language” and cheer on “a protagonist so strong, so loving, and vivid [that fellow author] longed to hand her a wedge of freshly cut papaya.” I asked myself one question: Have I ever eaten a papaya? I don’t think so, but after reading this book I am convinced that papaya is now my favorite fruit, and that Inside Out & Back Again has my vote for the Newbery Award this year.

This story, told in verse, spends one year with ten-year-old Hà as her family undergoes the transition from their war-torn, unsettled home in South Vietnam to the the unknown and sometimes cruel world of being refugees in the United States. Ha’s environment is something I have never experienced, but her spirit and humor remind me of many of my kindred fictional friends from Ramona Quimby to Allie Finkle. Thus, she enabled me to live a piece of our world’s history that, until now, had really only been presented to me through dry history books or masculine, heated war literature.

Hà’s story in heartbreaking, but not without hope and smiles. An excerpt from Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai:

Quiet Decision

Dinnertime
I help Mother
peel sweet potatoes
to stretch the rice.

I start to chop off
a potato’s end
as wide as
a thumbnail,
then decide
to slice off
only a sliver.

I am proud
of my ability
to save
until I see
tears
in Mother’s
deep eyes.

You deserve to grow up
where you don’t worry about
saving half a bite
of sweet potato.

April 19

Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

- Ann Leave a comment

In the searing debut novel The Lotus Eaters, author Tatjana Soli captures the devastation of war-torn Vietnam from 1963-1975, but also beautifully balances it with complex relationships and passionate romance.

Helen Adams has dropped out of college to come to Vietnam to work as a freelance photographer and to find answers about her brother’s death.  She soon falls in love with a charismatic Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer, who takes her under his wing.  As a female covering combat in this age of new-found womens liberation, Helen’s gender draws as much attention as does her cover-quality work.  But Helen,  just like the lotus eaters in Homer’s Odyssey, finds herself unwilling or unable to leave, even in the final chaotic days of the U.S. military’s evacuation from the conflict.

There’s romance (with two very different men) —  there’s danger (with every mine-filled step) and there’s that anxious tension that keeps you hoping for their survival right up to the very end.  The book is thoroughly researched (it includes a lengthy bibliography) with a perspective that only 40 plus years of history could provide.

Koto : a Culinary Journey Through Vietnam by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl

- Ann Leave a comment

Part travel guide, part cookbook, the best word to describe this gorgeous book is “stunning”. Koto: a Culinary Journey Through Vietnam is filled with beautiful photography, mouth-watering  recipes and an eye-opening look into this complex and distant land.

Beginning with a thoughtful overview of the long history and diverse cultures of this beautiful nation, the authors then bring us to contemporary Vietnam where they lived and taught for two years. Divided into seven main food regions, the book provides a dish by dish journey through the long, skinny country. Recipes are relatively simple – very few take up more than a page – and where necessary have been adapted to the Western kitchen with ingredients that are available in most Asian supermarkets.

To page through this book is to immerse yourself in another culture on a delightful – and delicious! – journey of discovery.