People’s Teacher Nguyen Lan is not only a teacher, but also a linguist with aspiration to protect the Vietnamese language. He is the author or co-author of dozens of dictionaries including a 2,000-page dictionary of Vietnamese words and phrases published in 2000. Director of the Authority of Publication, Printing, and Distribution Chu Van Hoa said: “The re-print of Professor Nguyen Lan’s dictionaries is necessary. It is a State award and Ho Chi Minh award winning project, a cultural, and scientific treasure of the nation. It is also a masterpiece that lives in the national history. Re-printing the dictionaries preserves a work of national spiritual value and national science history to serve future research.”

Mr. Hoa stressed the importance of re-printing the dictionaries: “Some old words have disappeared and some new words have been added. The meanings of some words have changed and are now understood in a more in-depth way thanks to more information and greater intellectuality. We need to approach the dictionary in a more scientific way.”

According to Mr. Hoa, if necessary, a National Council on Compiling a Standard Dictionary based on Nguyen Lan’s dictionaries will be set up.