Vietnamese-owned business in Australia supports community amid pandemic

Amid the busy pace of life abroad, preserving the Vietnamese language for children remains a concern for many overseas Vietnamese families. Drawing from her own parenting experience, Dr. Tra My, President of the Vietnamese Business Association in China, has shared practical lessons on how her daughter, CiCi (SIMONA Tu Mac), has mastered Vietnamese despite being born and raised in China. According to her, the core secret lies in creating a fully Vietnamese-speaking environment at home from the moment the child is born, combined with bringing the child back to Vietnam during long holidays to interact with the extended family.

In Udon Thani Province (Thailand), a community of Thai people of Vietnamese origin has steadfastly preserved their mother tongue for nearly a century. Udon Thani is not only where Vietnamese settled to build their livelihoods as early as the 1940s, but also the birthplace of a Vietnamese-language learning movement that has since spread widely across Northeast Thailand.

With just a mobile phone and artificial intelligence (AI) software, children can practice pronunciation, engage in conversation, and access Vietnamese in a more flexible and dynamic way than ever before. This is the new learning method adopted by many Vietnamese families in Australia as digital technology takes center stage.

In a small classroom in Osaka, there was once a child who declared, “I can’t speak Vietnamese anymore.” Yet after only a short time attending the class of Ngo Thi Dan (born 1986), the child not only regained the ability to speak Vietnamese but also learned to write beautifully, developed an interest in the subject, and proactively communicated with their grandparents in Vietnam. This story is a testament to teacher Dan’s tireless efforts - a volunteer teacher who is devoted each day to preserving the Vietnamese language in the land of cherry blossoms.