International Partners' Week in St Petersburg Strengthens Cooperation between Russia and Vietnam
HSE University-St Petersburg hosted an open lesson on the Vietnamese language for students of 'Asian and African Studies' in the framework of the International Partners' Week and the V Festival of the Vietnamese language.
It is the first time that St Petersburg has hosted the annual Festival of the Vietnamese language. The event coincided with HSE International Partners' Week, so the open lesson for students of 'Asian and African Studies' was attended by the Vietnamese delegation and employees of the state Vietnamese television.
During the lesson, the students managed not only to practice their speaking skills with a native speaker—Nguyen Thi Thao Anh, Professor of HSE University-St Petersburg—but also discuss the peculiarities of the culture and language dialects, which are so important for future experts in South-East Asia. The students actively participated in dialogues and answered questions about the culture of Vietnam, its peculiarities and their experience of studying this language.
'I was truly impressed by the level of students' training. They demonstrate great proficiency in the Vietnamese language, and it is clear that the university and professors thoroughly approach the training', shares professor Le Trung Thanh, participant of the International Partners' Week, rector of VNU University of Economics and Business in Hanoi.
At HSE University-St Petersburg, Vietnamese is taught as a second Eastern language for students of 'Asian and African Studies'. They study it for two years with six academic hours per week.
'We develop students' speaking and reading skills. An additional opportunity to improve language proficiency is provided by an internship: after two years of training, students can go to Vietnam via an intergovernmental quota, and they actively use it. The knowledge of Vietnamese has become more sought-after: large world companies place their manufactures in Vietnam, the country is developing, and the demand for specialists is growing. Each year, the popularity of the language is increasing—and we see the examples when our graduates build their careers precisely due to Vietnamese, including the work in economic and international structures', highlights Nina Grigoreva, head of the Department for Chinese, South and Southeast Asian Studies.
The reporter of the Vietnamese television underscored that the pronunciation of HSE University-St Petersburg students was better than that of many students of Moscow universities where Vietnamese is studied as the first language.
Fang Lin, reporter of the Vietnamese television in Russia
For me, it was a surprise that so many students are learning the Vietnamese language in St Petersburg. There is the Festival of the Vietnamese Language going on now, and St Petersburg is becoming one of the centres for studying our language in Russia. Your students took part in the contest in Moscow—I was pleasantly surprised by how well they speak Vietnamese and even sing without any accent. It's amazing that in two years, students reach such a high level. We have been studying Russian for many years, and so, such results are especially valuable for us. I would like to make a report about how students of your university learn the Vietnamese language.
Valeria Mamai, student of HSE University-St Petersburg, spent ten months on an internship in the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. She explained why she chose Vietnamese as her second language: 'As a child, I went to Vietnam with my parents and fell in love with this country—that's why I decided to study not only the language but also the culture to understand better the Vietnamese who seem very friendly to me. The hardest thing was to master tones—there are a lot of them, and they are not easy to pronounce. What I like the most about Vietnam is its culture and cuisine, and studying in this country is especially valuable: I could see everything with my own eyes—from nature to architecture and traditions. This experience definitely helped me to move forward'.
'Valeria and I went on the same programme and studied in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. I chose Vietnamese almost accidentally: I have a friend from Vietnam and an acquaintance who studies that language at Lomonosov Moscow State University—so I decided to try. Before that, I learnt Chinese, and it was interesting to find similarities and differences. The most unexpected thing for me was tones—I did not expect the language to be that hard in terms of phonetics. But thanks to the experience of studying Chinese, I was familiar with many grammatical structures and words. That's why it was easier to master the basics. The biggest difficulty is the correct pronunciation. It's nice that our professor is a native speaker. During the internship, I had a chance to immerse myself in natural speech and face regional dialects. Sometimes, even Vietnamese themselves do not understand each other on the first try', shares Maria Kurochkina, student of the bachelor's programme 'Asian and African Studies'.
The International Partners' Week at HSE University-St Petersburg united delegations from different countries. Vietnam is represented by three universities: VNU University of Economics and Business, National Economics University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance.
Le Trung Thanh, rector of VNU University of Economics and Business in Hanoi
We have an ongoing cooperation agreement with HSE University-St Petersburg. Based on the agreement, we annually organise the student exchange between the two universities and also hold joint seminars and other events in the framework of the signed Memorandum of Understanding between our universities. This programme is interesting for students of both countries. They can get credits and integrate them into their curriculum at their home university, and participate in lots of extracurricular events.