Dear Vietnamese
In the contest "Searching for Vietnamese Ambassadors Abroad in 2024" organized by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lecturer of the Faculty of Vietnamese, National University of Laos Lanny Phetnion is the first foreigner to be honored.
For more than 10 years standing on the podium, the "100% Laotian" teacher, as Lanny often affirms with her fluent Vietnamese when people are surprised by her rich vocabulary, has become a bridge to preserve and spread the thousand-year-old beauty of Vietnamese culture to the Land of a Million Elephants. The Vietnamese students of "Ms. Lan", as students in the Vietnamese Language Department of the National University of Laos often call them, are not only students in the department but also of all ages, from her 4-year-old adopted daughter Malina to students from all over Laos.
Ms. Lanny shared: “As the first foreign Vietnamese ambassador, I am happy and proud. I am also a bit worried and pressured because the Vietnamese community in Laos is very large and speaks Vietnamese very well. In addition, there are many of my compatriots who speak Vietnamese very well. With this title, my responsibility must certainly be greater, I must try to make my Vietnamese better and better." Lanny also believes that as an "Overseas Vietnamese Ambassador", the connection between her and Vietnam, the homeland of the beloved and familiar language that she has been speaking every day for more than 10 years, will become deeper and deeper.
Multiplying the love of Vietnamese
The Laotian teacher, born in 1989, admitted that learning Vietnamese was truly a turning point in her life. At that time, the student grew up in a working-class family in Houaphan province - where the familiar place name Sam Neua in the poem Tay Tien is located, never thought that fate would lead her to Vietnamese. For the Laotian girl at that time, Vietnamese was the language of the neighboring country she had heard through books, and the strange sounds she sometimes heard from Vietnamese vendors when following her mother to the district market.
In the final exam, Lanny got the second highest score in the district, and received a scholarship from the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports to study at the Vietnamese Language Department, National University of Laos. “I feel really lucky to study Vietnamese. Vietnamese helps me step into the lecture hall of my dream university. Without the second place in the class, without the state scholarship, I would not have had the opportunity to study,” Lanny recalled.
"I am 100% Laotian, but since I started learning Vietnamese, my heart, my life, the things I have done, am doing and will do have made me more attached to Vietnam. Sometimes, I also feel like a true Vietnamese and I am also surprised to see that I have a Vietnamese way of thinking" - Lanny shared.
"Oh Vietnamese, dear Vietnamese"
For Lanny, Vietnamese is the language that brings the young student from Laos out into the world, step by step bringing her to many of her dream jobs: teaching, MC, writing books... Vietnamese makes her life extremely rich, meeting good relationships, having achievements in both her career and personal life.
The honest Lao teacher is a "runner" and has "many jobs", but she still loves the moments standing on the podium, imparting knowledge to her students. That's why, after graduating from university, she worked for a year for a Vietnamese company but she was willing to return to the Vietnamese Department as a volunteer teacher, teaching without pay and working as a tutor to make ends meet.
“I am most proud of having taught and motivated students to love Vietnamese and achieve success in their careers. I remember most a student at the Vietnamese Language Department, National University of Laos, who I directly taught Vietnamese and guided in her work and life in Vientiane. She got a good job in a Vietnamese company and even became a manager," she said.
Lanny still strives every day, every hour to do meaningful work towards the language and the country, contributing to the achievements she has today. Lanny also shared her plan to learn English and Chinese to continue opening new chapters in her life, confidently stepping out into the world. The "Vietnamese Ambassador Abroad" in 2024 believes that in the future, there will continue to be more opportunities to contribute to fostering the Laos - Vietnam relationship.
(Posted on the special edition of Lao Dong Xuan At Ty)
