Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Hoang Trong Phien: the one who laid the foundation for teaching Vietnamese to foreigners in Vietnam

  Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Hoang Trong Phien was born on January 2, 1932 (his civil servant record states that he was born in 1934) in a small family in Khue Bac village (now Bac My An ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city). Born in a poor suburban area, the people's lives depended mainly on fishing and farming, but being intelligent and eager to learn, from a young age, Phien was favored by his father and uncles to participate in writing funeral orations during village festivals. His love for the national language grew silently within him.
In the final years of the resistance war against France, student Hoang Trong Phien left his family to go to Trung Man war zone (Hoa Vang district) to both study and participate in the resistance work. Le Khiet High School, where he studied, was a famous school at that time, from here many great teachers, scientists, and cultural figures contributed to the country such as professors: Le Dinh Ky, Le Tri Vien, Pham Duy Hien, Hoang Tuy, Nguyen Ngoc...
After the Geneva Agreement was signed (1954), like many of his classmates, young Hoang Trong Phien gathered in the North and completed his high school education at the Central Campus (Nanning, China). Returning to Vietnam in 1956, he became a member of the first class (K1) of the Faculty of Literature (Hanoi University). During his student years, he was both a very good student and actively participated in movement and union activities: he became the first Secretary of the Youth Union and then the Secretary of the Youth Union of Hanoi University.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Literature in 1959, Mr. Hoang Trong Phien was retained at the School as a lecturer in Linguistics, a relatively new social science major. His love for literary works was a natural basis for him to confidently follow a “new path”, easily “accept” a “new subject” and not long after, he devoted all his love to this subject.
Mr. Hoang Trong Phien belongs to the first generation of scientists who received systematic and systematic training in linguistics. In 1964, he went to Moscow State University to do research, with the desire to absorb and learn new schools of language research in the world. Following the example of many senior scholars who became famous through self-study such as Nguyen Tai Can, Cao Xuan Hao, Phan Ngoc, Nguyen Kim Than... he spent 4 years diligently researching and studying in the neighboring country. His doctoral thesis written in Russian was evaluated as excellent by the Council of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1968. After that, he was the one who initiated the research in Vietnam on semi-affixes, word structure, stylistics, syntax... in the Oriental linguistics genre, organized and participated in translating from Russian 2 works "Basics of general linguistics” (1984) and “Semantics and language structure” (1996). Generations of students still remember Mr. Phien with his unique and attractive teaching style in many specialized subjects such as: Vietnamese learning style, General linguistics, Vietnamese syntax, Journalistic language. Many textbooks, reports, scientific works by him or edited by him have long become valuable reference materials for linguistic researchers and students in majors related to this field such as:Vietnamese grammar theory(1976),Modern Vietnamese learning style(1976),Vietnamese syntax(1980),Linguistics and Vietnamese(editor - 1990),Basic linguistics exercises(1994),Vietnamese language books for foreigners, Japanese place names(2001),Vietnamese function word dictionary(2003) and more than 100 scientific reports... In 3 years, from 1996 to 1999, Professor Hoang Trong Phien also chaired 2 state-level branch topics on Southwestern border place names and Vietnamese sea and island place names...
90 years old, more than 70 years of Party membership, more than half a century of tireless contributions to science and teaching activities, Professor Hoang Trong Phien has also made significant contributions to the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language (formerly the Vietnamese Language Group of Hanoi National University), and to the University as a manager. From 1971 to 1973, he was Head of the Department of Linguistics (Faculty of Literature) and from 1973 to 1984, he held the position of Head of the Faculty of Vietnamese Language (Hanoi National University). After that, he moved to work at the Faculty of Linguistics (University of Social Sciences and Humanities). He was also a professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Japan) from 1989 to 1992. In any position, he always completed his duties in an exemplary manner and the reward for him, higher than all the medals, awards, and certificates of merit, is the love and admiration of his relatives, friends, colleagues, and students. In a certain aspect, he is like a talented craftsman who is always skillful in rowing and steering the boat loaded with knowledge through the "most rugged and stormy rivers". Many foreign scholars said that, even though they only met him for the first time, they still kept a good impression of a simple Linguistics professor with flowing artist hair, a warm and lovely Quang accent, and especially his profound knowledge expressed in a youthful, comfortable, generous, and tolerant style; foreign students often affectionately call him "Our Professor Hoang".  
The Vietnamese Department has developed strongly, becoming a prestigious center for Vietnamese language research, today called the Department of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language. It is not simply a change of name but an expanded connotation. Through Vietnamese, foreigners approach Vietnamese civilization and culture. Understanding the history, customs, festivals, lifestyle, and way of thinking of Vietnamese people, Professor Hoang Trong Phien is a great contributor, building the subject of teaching Vietnamese to foreigners. And through language, he brings to international friends a diverse, profound, and sympathetic image of Vietnam; spreading Vietnamese cultural identity to international friends. Professor Hoang Trong Phien once shared: “Everyone who enters the Faculty of Literature dreams of reading novels, enjoying and discovering the monumental works of H.Balzac, Ch.Dicken, L.Tolstoi, A. Sekhov, J.London, W. Shakespeare, Lu Xun, Ba Kim, Tagor… but in the end I went into Linguistics, a dry and difficult to understand field. Looking back now, it turns out that I have lived fully with what I initially thought was a challenge. Being able to live and work with talented and dedicated professors like Nguyen Tai Can, Cao Xuan Hao… is a great fortune. My seniors not only gave me linguistic knowledge, but above all, passion. Following the path of the professors, I began to concentrate, find my own direction and interests.” And in turn, he left behind for generations of students not only a huge treasure of knowledge but also an exemplary teacher and above all, a burning passion and dedication to science.
I respectfully bow to bid farewell to you, Master.
Professor, Doctor, People's Teacher Hoang Trong Phien has passed away, but in the hearts of his students, there will forever remain the image and memories of a very respectable teacher who loved his students very much!