Scholar Phan Ngoc has passed away.
(Baonghean.vn) - Scholar Phan Ngoc, born in 1925, is considered the last polymath of the Vietnamese intellectual generation remaining from the French colonial era, and is the "teacher of teachers" in the field of linguistics.
Cultural figure Phan Ngọc passed away last night (August 26).
He was originally from Nhan Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, Nghe An province. He was brought to Viet Bac to work by Professor Dao Duy Anh in 1950, and later brought to Hanoi Pedagogical University and Hanoi University in 1955 by Professor Tran Duc Thao.
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| Phan Ngoc Cultural Center. |
From 1980, he worked at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies until his retirement.
Linguist Phan Ngoc was the most multilingual person in Vietnam in the 20th century, fluent in five languages: Latin, Chinese, French, English, and Italian. In addition, he was proficient in Russian, German, Japanese, Thai, and Cambodian. Linguist Phan Ngoc believed: “Among many languages, learners should choose a few that are widely spoken globally to enable broad communication. These languages should be studied thoroughly before moving on to learning others.”
He translated Hegel's Philosophy from German into Vietnamese. In addition, he translated *War and Peace* from the original Russian (co-translated with Cao Xuan Huy, Cao Xuan Hao, and Thieu Son); *Records of the Grand Historian* by Sima Qian, *Poems of Du Fu*... from the original Chinese; and *Shakespeare* from the original English. He also published an English-Vietnamese dictionary with over 100,000 words and later compiled a Vietnamese-English dictionary with a similar number of words.
He is also the author of numerous research works. His work, "Understanding Nguyen Du's Style in The Tale of Kieu and Vietnamese Culture: A New Approach," was awarded the State Prize in the first round in 2001. He also has other research works such as: "Vietnamese Cultural Identity," "Vietnamese Culture in Contact with France," "Understanding Vietnamese Culture," "The Poet Saint Du Fu and One Thousand Poems," etc.
Linguist Phan Ngoc is considered the "teacher of teachers" in the field of linguistics.
Regarding him, Associate Professor Dr. Do Lai Thuy once wrote: “Phan Ngoc was a scientist and also a thinker. And perhaps, he was more eager to become a thinker, even a theorist… Phan Ngoc was someone who wanted to assemble (or integrate) the scientific achievements of the West and Eastern philosophy, mainly Confucianism and Marxism.”
