At the beginning of 2020 Bulgaria and Vietnam marked 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Bulgaria is among the first countries, after China and the USSR, to have officially recognized the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on 8 February, 1950. That marked the start of the cooperation between the two countries.

Many people in this country still remember that before 1989 there were many Vietnamese studying and working in Bulgaria. They started learning Bulgarian language while still in Vietnam, and there, were taught by Bulgarian lecturers. Over dozens of years more than 30,000 Vietnamese students studied at higher establishments of learning in Bulgaria, and they have not forgotten the Bulgarian language or their fondness of the country. One of them is Assoc. Prof. Dr Tran Thi Minh Hoa, now Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi.

“My most vivid memories are of good teachers and good friends,” says Assoc. Prof. Hoa for the BNR. “It was a bit difficult to learn Bulgarian at the start but I graduated cum laude and went on to do a PhD. Most people in Vietnam who have studied and graduated in Bulgaria are very good in their chosen sphere. Some have significant achievements in science, others occupy senior posts in the government, in the administration, in various organizations. In us Bulgaria has a powerful lobby in Vietnam.”

According to Assoc. Prof. Hoa Bulgaria and Vietnam can promote their cooperation in many spheres such as tourism, science, culture, education. Specifically in the sphere of higher education joint masters and doctoral programmes can be developed, as well as specializations and exchange of lecturers.

“The two countries could reach agreement on establishing resident post-graduate students in the Bulgarian language at different universities in Vietnam, and in Vietnamese in Bulgaria,” says Vice Rector Tran Thi Minh Hoa. “Our latest endeavor is a revised edition of a Bulgarian-Vietnamese dictionary in two volumes, published by St. Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia, in 1983-1984. The dictionary is part of a project called “Improving the quality of foreign languages...” financed by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.”

Prof. Stoyan Burov, one of the lecturers in the Bulgarian language who tutored applicants to Bulgarian universities in Vietnam in the early 1980s, is now on the team working on the new edition of the dictionary:

“The dictionary will be a great help to all people who want to brush up on their Bulgarian language skills. There are many people in Vietnam working in science, culture. The dictionary will be helpful in the sphere of trade, economy, business, and especially tourism. Vietnam is a very interesting tourist destination, with a very long coastal strip and a never-ending summer. The Vietnamese are very pragmatic people, and the idea of having resident Bulgarian language lectureships in Vietnam and Vietnamese language lectureships in Bulgaria is a very good one. It means more than learning the Bulgarian language, it means coming into contact with the culture and human relationships.”

Compiled by Gergana Mancheva

Photos: BGNES and library