B: Thanks to all of you, dear friends. Among last week’s letters was one from Alan Anderson of Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA. He wrote a letter full of worries about the decline of shortwave radio services around the world. He’s calling for a worldwide effort to set up a ‘worldwide association to make a difference in the active existence of shortwave radio by providing financial support to individual shortwave services or transmitter sites.

A: Dear Alan, we share your thinking and concerns and we know it’s hard for radio stations like RCI in Canada, the BBC, or Radio Netherlands to obtain sufficient funding for all their services. It’s particularly difficult right now with a global recession squeezing every nation, company, and household.

B: Of course, the closure of the Sackville transmitter site in Canada was a great loss for us, as many VOV listeners are now unable to receive our programs as usual. But, VOV is doing its best to bring the highest quality broadcasts to all our listeners.

A: This week we welcome David Ansell of Sussex, England, who listened to the English program on September 22 at 17.00 UTC on the frequency of 9625 kHz. David said that although there was slight splatter interference caused by an adjacent station, the program was good and interesting. We’re glad to know that despite the problems, you kept listening to the end of the show at 17.30 and enjoyed us.

B: Hello also to Paul Hayes of Parkview House, Joseph Street, Limerick, Ireland. Paul told us that he got frequent station interference on the same frequency and station interference from a higher frequency while listening to a VOV program on September 21 on a frequency of 9624 kHz at 16.00 UTC.

A: I don’t know why but many letters received last week mentioned technical issues, specifically interference, maybe because of weather. Or was it something else? Anyway, what a pity! Here’s a letter from Claude Wangen of Mertert, Luxembourg, who, although he was able to catch our Letter Box, mentioned intermittent strong fading that rendered us momentarily inaudible. John Bradford of Wilmington Delaware, USA, also said that he could not receive Voice of Vietnam without a lot of static. Regarding these technical problems, we will forward your comments to our technical department. Thank you, Claude, Paul, John, and others.

A: The staff of the English section, especially those in charge of the Letter Box, any week we don’t receive a letter from loyal listener Fumito Hokamura, we feel something is missing. His letters, his handwriting, and the volume of letters he sends us each week have become familiar to us. We often ask each other what he wants to know this time or how much his Vietnamese has improved, and whether or not he can express his thoughts in full sentences in Vietnamese.

B: Sometimes, his mistakes in writing Vietnamese make us laugh. This time, Fumito wants to know about the dry season in Vietnam, about winter in the north, and about hot food. A year in Vietnam has two seasons – the dry season from October to April, and the rainy season from May to September. The two seasons' temperature and rainfall differ considerably. The rainy season and the dry season are hot and cold, respectively. Rainfall in the rainy season is a lot  - about 3000mm each year, while it is only about 1200mm in the dry season. Moreover, the temperature in the rainy season is higher - about 33 or 34 degrees and it's likely to increase. The dry season, in contrast, has temperature’s around 17-18 degrees. 

A: There are also differences between the two seasons in terms of how they affect people’s behavior. Both give people a long holiday to relax. There is the summer holiday in the rainy season, while the dry season has Tet holiday. But in the dry season people feel better than in the rainy season.

B: Vietnamese people’s food preferences depend on the season. They prefer dishes that cool the body during the rainy season and something hotter during the dry season. Hot pot is a favorite dish in the winter, not just for local people but also for the tourists.

A: It's generally made in a cast iron pot filled with vegetables, chicken, beef, whatever you want. The broth that it comes with is amazing but not all Vietnamese places serve this as I've come across only maybe half a dozen. In general, Vietnamese food is less spicy, and not as hot as Thai or Indian dishes.

A: On every Letter Box, we try to mention as many listeners as possible, so welcome to Peter Ng from the Medical Speicalist Center in Wisma Maria, Malaysia, Hannu Kiiski from Finland, Ralph W. Smith in Bradford Ontario, Canada, and all you others out there.

 B: All these listeners either sent us letters or emails with detailed reports on the English programs that they heard and comments both on technical aspects and content. We highly appreciate these. Dear listeners, your reception reports were all complete enough for us to send you letters of confirmation. If your name wasn’t mentioned this week, don’t feel too left out. We’ll try to acknowledge you next time.

A: That’s it for today’s Letter Box. Please keep in touch. We really 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 and recorded programs. Good bye until next time