Ambassador for over 37 years passionate about the 'magic' of Vietnamese

The Palestinian Ambassador to Vietnam has continued to search for unique features of the Vietnamese language, even though he has been pursuing it for more than 37 years.

"Hello, I am very happy to welcome you to the Embassy," Mr. Saadi Salama, Palestinian Ambassador to Vietnam, enthusiastically welcomed VnExpress reporters at the headquarters in Trung Tu Diplomatic Compound on an early winter morning.

For the Vietnamese media, Mr. Salama is a familiar face. However, when talking to him, anyone will be attracted by his deep eyes, typical of Middle Eastern people. It seems that there are still many things he has not revealed.

"Unfortunately for people who just met me, while they try to speak English, I prefer to use Vietnamese," Mr. Salama humorously said, changing the way he addressed people at the beginning of the interview.

He said he loves this language because it is very expressive, clearly showing the level of emotion and circumstances of people when communicating. Usually, after a few polite sentences, Mr. Salama will ask the age of the person he is talking to to know whether to address him as anh, em or ngang. Through that, the exchange becomes closer and more intimate.

Compared to English, Vietnamese is much richer, for example, for a correct answer, a person can say "Yes, Right or Yes", showing politeness if the person being asked is younger.

Ambassador Salama revealed that he can tell which region of Vietnam the person he is talking to is from, whether they are from Thai Binh, Nghe An, Quang Nam or the Western region.

"If people in the North pronounce the words Giao, Dao and Rao the same, people in the Central and Southern regions distinguish them very clearly. There are many cases like this, causing many foreigners to wonder whether they should continue learning or not," said Mr. Salama, referring to the complexity of the Vietnamese language.

Recalling the early days of arriving in Vietnam in the 1980s, the Ambassador and his friends had to learn Vietnamese using handwritten textbooks, without dictionaries. Life was also difficult, food was scarce, and electricity was only available for 6 hours a day.

"It took me three months to get used to the smell of fish sauce. Many times I told myself: just go back to my country. But thinking back, I felt like I was accepting failure. Then I could accept it a second or third time, and could become a negative person in society. That's why I stayed to pursue my dream," said Mr. Salama.

The dream of the young Palestinian man at that time was to learn Vietnamese well, learn about Vietnamese culture and history, and from there find lessons and experiences, contributing to help Palestine win the fight for national independence. Although he had many opportunities to study in European countries, he came to Vietnam because he realized that the circumstances of Vietnam and Palestine were very similar, he admired and respected the Vietnamese people. And until now, the Ambassador always feels proud of his decision.

Thanks to his perseverance and persistence in practicing pronunciation and not being afraid to practice when going out or going to the market, Mr. Salama's Vietnamese vocabulary becomes richer every day.

"Do you know why I am passionate about Vietnamese? There are words that have no equivalent meaning in English or French, but they exist in our Arabic language. For example, the word "duyen van" (relationship), Mr. Salama said, unable to hide his admiration.

The Ambassador was also fascinated by the wordplay of Vietnamese, such as using the words "change - change", "loyalty - loyalty", showing the "wonderfulness" of the language.

During the conversation, Mr. Salama made reporters and his assistants laugh many times when he told funny stories about the misuse of Vietnamese. Among them was the story of a foreign guy who had to eat porridge all day because he had only learned one word, "Hello", when he came to Vietnam.

Ambassador Salama told many funny stories about the misuse of words in Vietnamese. Photo: Giang Huy.

Revealing the secret to learning Vietnamese well, the Ambassador said that this is a very complicated journey, learners need to love and have a rich mother tongue. Thanks to diligently listening to Voice of Vietnam, he gradually distinguished words and sentences, and had standard pronunciation. Once he passed the first 6 months, learning would become easier.

"Vietnamese has given me what very few people have, which is a deep understanding of the people and country of Vietnam. When I meet anyone, I can build a clear impression of that person through communication, giving me an advantage in daily life, giving me the strength to be confident," the Ambassador shared.

In the context of Vietnam expanding international relations, Ambassador Salama hopes that the Vietnamese language will also develop at the same pace. He suggested that Vietnam should have a main agency in charge of unifying the pronunciation nationwide, for example using the words Moscow or Mac Tu Khoa to refer to the capital of Russia.

In addition, that agency also helps to popularize Vietnamese in the world. The characteristic of this language is that it has many accents, so when foreigners speak Vietnamese, they need to pronounce it correctly, most commonly the word "ao dai" or the name of the late leader "Le Duan".

Mr. Salama believes that both Vietnamese and Palestinian people are Asians, valuing emotions, the heart comes first, reason comes later. Therefore, using Vietnamese fluently helps him have many friends, and is so attached that he feels like a Vietnamese.

Suddenly becoming thoughtful, the Ambassador said that his "fate" with Vietnam has not ended, he is always grateful to the Government and people of Vietnam for supporting resolutions in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, supporting the establishment of a sustainable and just peace for the Palestinian people. Vietnam's support has special significance for Palestine in the current situation.

What he is most interested in is promoting relations between Vietnam and Palestine as well as with the Arab world and the Middle East. The Ambassador believes that Palestine will be a dynamic partner of Vietnam in the Middle East.

Mr. Salama's face brightened when asked if he was satisfied with his Vietnamese. The Ambassador said that the way he addressed people still confused him, for example, when there were people older than him who still called him "uncle" or "boy", it turned out that they were calling him "uncle" instead of "child" to show closeness.

"Although many people are jealous of me because I speak fluently, to be honest, Vietnamese is still a big challenge," Mr. Salama shared.

According to VNE