A: Welcome to VOV’s Letter Box. This feature airs every Wednesday. This week, we’ve received a lot of emails and letters from Indian listeners. One is Dr. Siddhartha Bhattacharyya who is President of the Chaitak Listeners Club in Paschim Medinipur district. Bhattacharyya wanted to know about dialects in Vietnam and how the younger generation is now?
B: Regarding your first question, we affirm that yes. There are different dialects in the Vietnamese language depending on various regions. Basically, Vietnamese has been divided into three dialect regions: North, Central, and South but experts say it’s necessary to consider a north-central region separate from central. These dialect regions differ mostly in their sound systems, but also in vocabulary and grammar.
A: There is less internal variation within the Southern region than the other regions due to its relatively late settlement by Vietnamese speakers. The North-central region is particularly conservative. The North-central varieties are often felt to be "difficult to understand" by speakers of other dialects.
B: Dear Bhattacharyya, there’re many things to talk about Vietnamese dialects and we can’t mention all in one program. But one more thing we want to note that the large movements of people between North and South beginning in the mid-20th century and continuing to this day have resulted in a significant number of Southern residents speaking in the Northern accent/dialect and, to a lesser extent, Northern residents speaking in the Southern accent/dialect.
A: These movements have resulted in some small blending of the dialects but, more significantly, have made the Northern dialect more easily understood in the South and vice versa. It is also interesting to note that most Southerners, when singing modern/popular Vietnamese songs, would do so in the Northern accent. This is true in Vietnam as well as in the overseas Vietnamese communities.
B: Bhattacharyya still wants to know about Vietnamese younger generation who were born in 1980s or 1990s. We usually call them ‘Generation 8X or 9X’. They are those who grew up in a country that was fully unified and at peace, enjoying strong economic growth and widening regional and international interactions. Their Vietnam is far different from that of their parents, who grew up in a time of war and when life was tightly organized.
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| Learning remains top priority of Vietnamese young people. (Photo: chinhphu.vn) |
A: “Generation 8X” is really the first generation to benefit fully from 1986′s Doi moi or renewal policy, although the hardship and privation endured by their parents’ generation is barely in the past. This generation is part of Vietnam's new generation of modern and successful entrepreneurs.
B: Regarding Bhattacharyya’s request to have our program schedule, I would like to repeat that in recent broadcasts, we have announced the latest changes in frequency list for winter. Today, we’ll repeat it again and hope you can write it down.
A: From Mossbrunn, Dhabayya and Woofferton relay stations to the west of Europe, English broadcasts will be at from 18.00 to 18.30 UTC on 5955 KHz. From Woofferton and Cypress Creek relay stations, English programs will now be broadcast on 9640 KHz from 01.00 to 01.30 UTC and from 03.30 to 04.00 UTC to eastern USA, and from 02.300 to 03.00 UTC to central USA and the Caribbean.
B: Dear all listeners, any changes of the English program will be informed you as soon as possible. We promise to send every of you our changes in frequency lists by post but before you can get it in hands, spend some time to log onto our website at www.vovworld.vn and click on ‘About us’ to check.
B: This answer is hoped to satisfy Richard Lemke from Alberta province of Canada. We do hope that these changes will help you easily tune to VOV programs. Another listener, Miss Karobi Hazarika is from Golaghat, Assam, India and reported that she listened to the English program on October 22nd on a frequency of 9550 KHz at 16.18 UTC. She said she’d love that day’s program especially the Weekend music session featuring songs about mothers.
A: You’re right when saying that that topic has inspired many generations worldwide and any song about parents is very melodious as it praises one of the most sacred sentiments in this life. Here comes a song entitled ‘Mother’s diary’ by Hien Thuc and specifically dedicated to Miss Karobi Hazarika.
B: You’re listening to VOV’s Letter Box, broadcast every Wednesday. The song you just heard was about a mother’s feeling and thoughts about her child since when he was born until grown up and becomes firm in the life……..I hope you like that tune which has recently been a hit in Vietnam.
A: Last week, we still got many more letters from Indian listeners such as Prithwiraj Purkayastha also from JOrhat, north east of India who reported to listen to an October broadcast on 7220 KHz at 16.03 to 16.28 UTC with good signal strength and no interference; Pramod Maheshwari from Rajasthan who asked for ‘the program schedule and some literature about Vietnam and oblige’; or Mohammad Shamin from Thiruvananthapuram, Keralam State reporting his late October reception of the Voice of Vietnam, English service on 12020 KHz from 10.00 to 10.30 UTC
A: Juan Carlos Gil of Zaragoza, Spain sent us a detailed email describing a broadcast he heard on late October at 19.00 UTC. He wrote that he received his answer to his recent letter because he could listen to our programs to Europe very well. He expressed his enjoyment of the program featuring history, tradition, and culture, mentioning the signal on 7280 Khz ……..
B. Thank you, Juan, for your regular listening and be sure that we always try to send our listeners verification cards as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Rafiqul Islam, President of Source Online DX Club in Naogaon district, Bangladesh spent the best congratulations for all staff in the English section for making programs that he called ‘knowledge dictionary’ and these programs have been maximized in their total judgments.
A: We’re also happy to know that Rafiqul and his club members are trying to help their local people be able to listen to our ‘nice program’. That’s great news for us and encourages us a lot. Rafiqul, please remember to keep informed us the process you carry out this plan.
B: Junichi Chiba from Japan began his reception report in a very professional way by attaching the audio file that was part of opening broadcast on November 10th at 11.30 UTC on 12020 KHz. Junichi commented that he received the transmission on 12020 KHz better than on the frequency of 9840 KHz.
A: That’s it for today’s Letter Box. If your names weren’t mentioned this week, don’t feel bad. We promise to acknowledge you next time. Please keep in touch with us. We look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions. Our contact address is:
The English program,
Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam,
45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
B: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. And if you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by logging onto our website at: www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live broadcasts and previously recorded programs.
A&B: Bye!!!!!!
Bao Tram