How the Mong people of Nghe An preserve their ethnic writing

(Baonghean.vn) - While some other ethnic minorities do not have their own writing or have lost it, the Mong people of Nghe An have preserved and promoted their own language and writing.

Nowadays, in the Mong villages of Nghe An, children from grade 5 and above almost all know the writing of their ethnic group. This is a proof that the Mong writing will never disappear in the life of this community.

Going back to history, according to village elder Lau Xai Phia in Nam Khien village (Nam Can commune - Ky Son), during the migration to the highlands of Nghe An, the Mong people also lost their writing for a period of time due to difficult conditions and lack of schools. Children born had to follow their parents to the fields to grow opium, so they could not go to school as much as they do now.

In their free time, Mong students often practice writing their ethnic script. Photo: Dao Tho

Mr. Xai Phia recalls: Around 1960-1961, a teacher from the North came to teach Mong language in Na Ngoi commune and taught the Mong people how to write. Perhaps because of the awareness of preserving their mother tongue, after a short time, most of the Mong people who participated in the study were able to write this script fluently. This type of script uses Latin letters to record speech and the tones are also symbolized by letters.

Since then, without anyone telling anyone, people have learned from each other and they often write letters and exchange work in this type of script. "It was not until recent years that the Education sector had a policy to introduce Mong language into teaching for primary school students and cadres on a large scale. However, before that, Mong language was already widely used by Mong people" - said village elder Lau Xai Phia.

The Mong scripts are written neatly on the paper by the children. Photo: Dao Tho

At Nam Can Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Ky Son), we saw in the students' notebooks many songs in the Mong language, which were carefully written in Mong script.

“We recorded the Mong song in Mong script so that it sounded good, but translating it into Kinh script is both difficult and not good,” a 7th grade student confided. When asked, we learned that some students learned this script in primary school, while others learned it themselves from friends.

A song in the Mong language in the student handbook. Photo: Dao Tho

Not only that, on social networking sites like Facebook, young Mong people also use their ethnic language to post articles, photos, clips or write comments.

Mr. Va Ba Lau in Lien Son village (Nam Can commune) said that he did not understand much about social networks, but after asking his son to create a nickname for him in Mong script, he found it "interesting". Every time he talked to people in his ethnic language, he felt much more confident.

On social networking sites, Mong people also use their own writing to communicate with each other. Photo taken from a phone screen.

Only then can we know that, for the Mong people, although life is still difficult, in their hearts they always have a high awareness of preserving and conserving the culture left by their ancestors.

Dao Tho