Proposal to honor the person who contributed greatly to the creation of the national language

Professor Nguyen Dang Hung (Director of the Institute for Honoring the National Language and Preserving the Vietnamese Language) said he is campaigning to organize an international scientific conference on the national language.

The conference is scheduled to take place on December 28 in Da Nang, on the occasion of the anniversary of King Khai Dinh's decree to abolish Chinese characters and use the national language (December 28, 1918). Hundreds of scholars from the country and the world will be invited to attend to clearly analyze issues with different opinions on the history of the formation of the national language. "This is also an opportunity to honor the priest Alexandre de Rhodes, who had great merit in creating the national language," Professor Hung expressed.

After that, the group of researchers led by Professor Hung will build a space to honor the national language, expected to be located in Thanh Chiem (Quang Nam) - the first place where Portuguese missionaries set foot in Vietnam in the 17th century, and began writing Vietnamese in Latin characters.

There will be a statue of Alexandre de Rhodes; a library displaying documents about the formation and development of the national language; a space for traditional art performances... "Coming here, everyone will understand the history of the national language and the people who contributed greatly to forming the country's language as it is today," Mr. Hung hopes.

Sharing this idea, director Tran Van Thuy said he has always been concerned about making a film about Alexandre de Rhodes and the national language. "In the past, there were people who studied Chinese characters for ten years but still could not read or write. But with the national language, children can read and write fluently in just a few months, so preserving and honoring this language is the responsibility of every Vietnamese person," the director shared.

However, Dr. Dao Tien Thi, a linguistics doctor, is concerned about the time when the national language was considered the official language of the country. He analyzed that this writing system was born in the 17th century but was mainly used in the church system. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the pioneering intellectual class of Vietnam ignited a movement to promote the use of the national language. Only then was this writing system recognized.

Therefore, the time when King Khai Dinh issued the edict to abandon Chinese characters and use the national language at the end of 1918 "did not have much meaning". Because at that time, the Nguyen Dynasty only controlled the Central region. The North and South, under French protection, had long used the national language.

Professor Nguyen Dang Hung at the memorial stele erection ceremony for priest Alexandre de Rhodes. Photo: Nguyen Dinh Toan

Dr. Thi stated that choosing the time frame for the national language to be considered the official language of our country requires scientific and serious research. He did not draw any conclusions but suggested: The birth of Gia Dinh Newspaper in 1865 was the first national language newspaper in Vietnam; Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc (1907), the first school to teach the national language; Dai Nam Dong Van Daily Newspaper (1892); Dong Duong Magazine (1913)...

In response, Professor Hung said that the national language was born during a period of national turmoil, so it is necessary to look at the issue in a way that is beneficial to the country to find a common voice.

At the seminar, delegates watched a short documentary about the event of erecting a memorial stele in honor of Alexandre de Rhodes at the Armenian cemetery, Isfahan city, Iran in late 2018..In the film, two stone tablets were made by a group of Vietnamese intellectuals in Quang Nam, engraved with the following words in Vietnamese, English, French, and Iranian: "In gratitude to Father Alexandre de Rhodes for his great contribution in creating the Quoc Ngu script - Vietnamese written in Latin characters".

At that ceremony, Professor Hung said the birth and popularization of the national language was the result of the efforts of many generations, from Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish missionaries, Vietnamese collaborators to scholars Truong Vinh Ky, Luong Dinh Cua, Pham Quynh, Phan Ke Binh, Phan Chau Trinh, Phan Boi Chau, Huynh Thuc Khang, Hoang Xuan Han, Huu Dang...

"But the first credit belongs to Father Alexandre de Rhodes. In 1651, based on the work of previous Portuguese missionaries, he supplemented and perfected, publishing in Rome the Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin dictionary, the first scientific publication of the national language, using Latin characters to record Vietnamese sounds. This was his rare personal effort," Professor Hung said in front of Alexandre de Rhodes' tomb.