Part 3: Relearning your mother tongue
Despite their small population, the O Du people have their own language. However, due to experiencing many ups and downs and living interspersed with other ethnic groups for hundreds of years, most O Du people have switched to speaking the Khmu and Thai languages.
Content:Tien Hung - My Ha;Technique: Nam Phong • September 1, 2025
Despite their small population, the O Du ethnic group has its own language. However, due to experiencing many ups and downs and living interspersed with other ethnic groups for hundreds of years, most O Du people switched to speaking the Khmu and Thai languages. In recent years, they have begun to relearn their mother tongue, not only for communication but also to rediscover their roots.
In Van Mon village (Nga My commune), Mr. Lo Thanh Binh (77 years old) has long been considered the teacher of the O Du language for the entire village. He is one of the few O Du people who can still communicate in his mother tongue, even if only in simple sentences. “I only know less than half of it. But because I want the younger generation not to forget it, I still use it every day. I'm not a teacher or anything, I just teach the villagers what I know, all for the purpose of preserving it,” Mr. Binh said with a smile.
Before moving to Van Mon village, Mr. Binh lived in Xop Pot village (formerly Kim Da commune). This was one of the villages with the largest O Du population before Van Mon village was established, but according to Mr. Binh, it only had a mere 7 households. In Xop Pot village, the majority of the population were Thai, so these 7 households often used the Thai language to communicate. Because of this, the O Du language was gradually forgotten by the O Du people themselves.
“Unlike many other O Du people, both my parents were O Du, so even though we spoke Thai outside, we communicated in O Du at home. That's why I knew even more. But after my parents passed away, the O Du language was used less and less in the family, so over time I gradually forgot it,” Mr. Binh recounted.
However, 20 years ago, when the vast majority of the O Du people were relocated to Van Mon village to live together, Mr. Binh was one of only five people who could still speak the O Du language. Among them, Mr. Binh was considered to have the most extensive vocabulary. Once the O Du community was united in one village, living together, the elders began to think about restoring their language. Since then, Mr. Binh's house has been frequently visited by relatives, simply to learn a few more O Du phrases.
Responding to the wishes of the local people, Nghe An province established a project to revive the O Du language. In 2010, Nghe An province even sent a delegation to Laos to study the language in an O Du village. In 2017, the former Tuong Duong district also formed a delegation, bringing along many O Du people with good communication skills to Laos to learn the O Du language. “There is a village over there where only O Du people live. Their ancestors migrated from the former Tuong Duong district, upstream along the Nam Mo River, several hundred years ago. Because they live together in one village, they have preserved the O Du language quite well,” recounted Mr. Lo Van Tinh, one of the people who participated in the delegation to Laos. Mr. Tinh then offered to invite those with good communication skills to Vang Mon to teach the language. The village chief and the elders there nodded in agreement and were very happy with the proposal.
Not long after, O Du language classes were opened right in Van Mon village. Many villagers eagerly attended, and according to local authorities, 210 people participated in these classes for 14 days. After organizing these classes, many elderly people like Mr. Tinh and Mr. Binh often used the O Du language to communicate. However, according to Mr. Binh, because the vocabulary is limited and not easy to remember, new learners easily forget it and find it difficult to use it for regular communication.
"Because of our age, learning is difficult, and the learning time is short, so we haven't learned much. We hope to have more classes like this opened, or to organize for O Du people who are good at communication to go to Laos to learn and then come back to teach our community," said Mr. Lo Thanh Binh.
Along with learning their mother tongue, after being reunited in Van Mon village, the older O Du people also began to yearn to rediscover their traditional ethnic costumes. However, by then, decades had passed, and the O Du people were accustomed to wearing the clothes of the Thai and Khmu ethnic groups; in fact, no one could clearly remember what their traditional costumes looked like.
The person credited with rediscovering the traditional clothing of the O Du people is Ms. Vi Thi Dung (81 years old). Ms. Dung said that her father was Thai, her mother was O Du, and she later married an O Du man. From the age of 10, she learned weaving and sewing. "Life was hard and difficult in the past. When we came to Van Mon, the O Du people gathered together in one village. Other communities all have traditional clothing, but the O Du people no longer have any, and I felt sad," Ms. Dung recounted. When she didn't know where to begin the restoration of the clothing, a woman in the village brought Ms. Dung a traditional dress and blouse of O Du women, left behind by her husband's grandmother, which had been kept in a chest for over half a century.
From this outfit, Ms. Dung began to explore patterns and embroidery details to restore traditional shirts and skirts. She gathered several skilled women in the village who loved weaving to teach them weaving and embroidery techniques, creating traditional clothing sets including shirts, skirts, and scarves for the O Du people. Nghe An province later provided the villagers with 20 looms. Many O Du women who learned to weave shirts and skirts were very enthusiastic about the work. "The women were very happy; some even brought their finished weaving and embroidery to me to have it cut and sewn more securely. Now, almost every family has traditional clothing to wear," Ms. Dung happily recounted.
Similarly to Ms. Dung, Ms. Lo Thi Nga is also of Thai ethnicity and has been married into the O Du ethnic group for over 30 years. As a child, Ms. Nga was taught weaving and sewing by her mother, so she developed a passion for this craft. After successfully restoring traditional women's clothing with Ms. Dung, Ms. Nga conceived the idea of restoring traditional men's attire. Fortunately, she found a set of O Du men's clothing among her father-in-law's old belongings. She took the garment out to study the stitches and seams.
Compared to women's clothing, the traditional attire of O Du men is simpler, but requires specific dyeing techniques and sturdy stitching. After many days of research and consulting with elders in the village, Mrs. Nga discovered the secret and began sewing shirts. The shirt she made was exactly like her father-in-law's old shirt, drawing admiration from everyone. It had a round collar, button closure, and a serious, dignified appearance. From the style of this shirt, Mrs. Nga successfully recreated the traditional men's trousers.
After successfully restoring the traditional men's clothing, Ms. Nga passed on her skills to many women in the village, and many were then able to sew it themselves. Today, this traditional attire has become popular among the O Du people. The image of women embroidering and chatting, which had previously disappeared, has reappeared in the O Du village. Currently, O Du families all have traditional clothing to wear during holidays, festivals, weddings, etc. Children also have a set to wear on flag-raising ceremonies or other major holidays.
"Nowadays, traditional clothing is not only sold to the O Du people, but many tourists also come to buy it. Besides shirts and pants, there are also scarves," said Ms. Luong Thi Lan, Secretary of the Party Branch of Van Mon village.
To preserve the O Du culture, the People's Committee of Nga My commune recently established the O Du Folk Song and Dance Club. The club has nearly 30 members, including village elders and elderly O Du people. The elderly members are responsible for guiding the remaining traditional O Du dances. The club meets regularly every month and also participates in cultural performances at festivals, competitions, and exchanges. Furthermore, in recent years, Nga My Ethnic Boarding Secondary School has dedicated many lessons in its local education program to teaching O Du culture to its students...
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