B: Christer Brunström of Sweden wrote: “Thanks for the New Year's greeting card. I used it in my March column – World Radio Listener – in the QTC magazine as it featured a beautiful picture of springtime in Vietnam. In Sweden the month of March marks the beginning of spring, although March so far has been extremely cold with lots of snow in some parts of the country.”

A: Thank you Mr. Brunstrom for promoting VOV on the QTC magazine. We’re eager to know more about the magazine and your article because we cannot find it online. It’s spring in Hanoi, which is a short season often from the last days of January to the end of March or first days of April. Spring begins a New Year and is a season of festivals.

People visit flower farm to take photos.

B: The weather in spring is much warmer, humid and features drizzling rains. This kind of weather is suitable for the plants to grow and flowers to blossom. The green buds appear on the trees and flowers seem to be more beautiful in the spring. Beautiful nature!

A: But the humidity and gentle rains often cause respiratory diseases and skin allergy. Damp can cause mould on walls and furniture and make wood furniture rot. Regardless of the uncomfortable condition, spring is the season of festivals, when people enjoy their achievements in the old year and begin new projects.

B: We’re glad to inform you of VOV’s new project this year. VOV will debut a Korean language program on our website on March 15. A radio program will go on air later. It will be the first Korean radio and online program in Vietnam.

A flower market in Hanoi.

A: Currently VOV has a cooperative program with ROK’s Gyeonggi province to enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples. Under the program, VOV and Gyeonggi province’s radio station exchanged radio programs to the other’s land, people, culture, and tourism potential. The first show produced by Gyeonggi province’s KFM radio station was aired on VOV24/7 English Channel in October last year.

B: Cultural exchanges between Vietnam and South Korea has been enhanced particularly through education training programs. The Hanoi University of Culture has received 96 Korean students to attend a Vietnamese language and culture course at the university. The course is part of the Global Young Business Manager, designed by Daewoo Global.

Spring the season of festival.

A: Launched in Vietnam in 2013, the course provides students with fundamental knowledge of Vietnamese language, history and culture, especially for young Koreans wishing to launch startups in Vietnam.

B: An agreement on a pilot Korean language program at schools in Vietnam from 2016 to 2023 was signed between the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam to teach Korean as the second foreign language at high schools throughout the country.

A: The Ministry of Education and Training sees the development of the Korean language as necessary to provide human resources to serve Korean businesses in Vietnam and Vietnamese students and workers in South Korea. Since 1993, the Korean language has flourished in Vietnam with 14 universities with a Korean Faculty, 10 organizations offering Korean teaching classes, and hundreds of thousands of learners.

B: Now let’s continue to read letters from other listeners. Richard Nowak of the US wrote: “I enjoyed the show on 7315 kHz listening with an Icom IC-R75 hooked up to an outdoor active loop mounted at 6 meters high. Reception SINPO was 44344 which meant very good reception.”

A: After the news in Vietnam and the world, Richard was interested in the Sunday Show: “The great Sunday Show featured ritual singing and celebrating the first lunar month of the year. Worship of mother goddess was discussed and requiring artists to have interactive skills to perform ritual singing. An interview with an artist who performed ritual singing for years mentioned an artist must have 2-3 different songs in succession. Worship singing was discussed and ritual singing is recognized as a cultural heritage of humanity. I enjoyed the Sunday Show. It was educational and fun to learn about ritual singing at the beginning of the year. Thanks for the show and your support of shortwave!”

B: Mr. Bhaikan Hazarika of India said in a reception report for March 3^rd program: “First of all I want to thank you for your amazing and fantastic program. I really appreciate your program and your co-operation. In today's “Weekend Music show”, you played some classic Vietnamese songs. The first tune about the capital city Hanoi was so nice. The classic songs played in today's show were absolutely melodious. I found the program both entertaining and enjoyable.”

A: Another Indian listener, R. Karthikeyan, told us: “Dear VOV5. I listened and viewed your letter box column on Feb 7^th. You briefly talked about the wealth and treasure of your sea and islands and its vital role on national economy as well as it is giving employment opportunity to the people. The compilation of statistics and information are appreciable. Your letter box column promotes a good and kind rapport between VOV and listeners.”

B: Here I have greetings from Simon-Peter Liehr of Germany. He wrote: “It is great to have this direct link via shortwave to your country!  Always good to get direct information about Vietnam this way.”

A: Daniele Giaccari of Italy told us that he tuned in to our program on March 5 on the frequency of 7280 kHz. The SINPO rating was 45333 on a Degen DE-1103 receiver with a 9 meters length wire. He attached an audio file of our program to show us the reception quality at his location.

B: Hugo Matten of Belgium emailed us to say: “As my hobby is listening to remote broadcasting stations on the medium wave band. I have much pleasure to inform you that I heard here in Belgium Voice of Vietnam on 675 khz on February 15. Signal strength was poor with moderate interference from other stations.”

A: Your description of what you heard on the frequency of 675 khz, including the 12 o’clock battle sounds followed by the National Anthem of Vietnam, showed that it’s a VOV domestic broadcast. We’re sorry that VOV’s overseas service is not authorized to verify it. We’ll send you our latest frequency list and hope to receive your reception report of our English program soon.

B: Thank you all for listening to VOV and sending us your feedback. We welcome your letters at English Section, VOVWorld, Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Our email address is englishsection@vov.org.vn. Thank you for listening. Please join us again next Wednesday for another edition of the Letter Box. Goodbye.