A teacher with a kind and selfless heart.

Professor Nguyen Cao Dam was born on October 24, 1930, in Bac Giang town (now Bac Giang city, Bac Giang province). He was an early participant in the revolution. In 1950, he was an officer in the Military Medical Department of the Ministry of National Defense. However, due to his affinity for education, he switched to teaching until his retirement. In 1953, Nguyen Cao Dam was transferred to work as a specialist in the Professional Education Department of the Ministry of Education. Two years later (1955), he was sent to study at Lomonosov University in Moscow, Soviet Union. As a Party member and an experienced administrator, he was appointed by the Vietnamese Embassy in the Soviet Union to be in charge of the student body. There, he had the opportunity to meet two future colleagues, Professor Nguyen Ham Duong and Professor Hoang Thi Chau, who also went to study at Lomonosov University a year later. This fortuitous encounter forged a rare professional bond between three senior professors of Linguistics. All three grew up in a socialist country and returned to Vietnam to work in the same department: the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University. When discussing the history of linguistics, no one can forget the contributions of these three professors from the very beginnings of the field.

Professor, Doctor, Distinguished Teacher Nguyen Cao Dam (1930-2013)/Photo: Thanh Long

One distinctive quality that generations of students, graduate students, and researchers have noticed in Professor Nguyen Cao Dam is the benevolent, open, and carefree demeanor that radiates from his face. It seems that from his smile and eyes to his words and gestures, everyone who meets him for the first time feels a sense of warmth and approachability. Throughout the years of war and destruction, he and his colleagues evacuated students to various locations. Sometimes in Ha Tay, sometimes in Ha Bac, sometimes in Dai Tu (Thai Nguyen)... wherever they went, he and his team always applied the principle of teaching and learning closely linked to practical experience, overcoming all difficulties and hardships to successfully complete their professional work. Thanks to this, during those difficult years, despite the fierce attacks by the American invaders, the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University, was still able to complete elaborate and substantial collective research projects, most notably the research on the Tay-Nung language. Through these field trips, linguistics students not only had the opportunity to immerse themselves in real life but also learned to apply their specialized knowledge to serve life and society.

As an educator and researcher, Professor Nguyen Cao Dam always demonstrated a passionate dedication to teaching and scientific research. Naturally humble, he quietly devoted all his abilities and passion to science. In the study of Vietnamese grammar, he held a unique perspective alongside other viewpoints and perspectives. His differing opinions and academic debates could lead to minor consequences for himself and his students. Pham Duc Duong – a leading Vietnamese linguistics professor and a student supervised by Professor Nguyen Cao Dam – received a grade of 3- (three minus) on a 5-point scale at the time. Recalling this incident, Professor Nguyen Cao Dam said:

- It's true that during his thesis defense, Pham Duc Duong almost failed. The issue is scientific viewpoint! It's very complex and difficult to clarify. But the most important thing is that reality later confirmed it. Pham Duc Duong has become a professor with many valuable and recognized works.

Professor Nguyen Cao Dam's qualities were such that he was gentle and mild-mannered in life, and in his scientific work, he was also gentle but steadfast and consistent. Throughout his decades of research, he published numerous articles focusing on sentence patterns in Vietnamese, examining both structural and semantic aspects from a unique perspective. Besides his in-depth research in his field (Vietnamese grammar), he also focused on developing reference books for teaching Vietnamese and learning foreign languages. These included books such as...Practical Vietnamese,Practical Vietnamese for Foreigners,Vietnamese-Japanese-English vocabulary analysis dictionary(Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan, 1975). In addition, he also published several monographs such asThe Theory of Mandate of Heaven and The Tale of Kieu(published in Japanese by Dong Minh Hoi Publishing House 1978-1980), a comparative study of Vietnamese and Japanese culture…

With his numerous contributions, Professor Nguyen Cao Dam received many prestigious titles: Professor, Doctor of Science, Meritorious Teacher, Third-Class Victory Medal, Second-Class Resistance Medal, Third-Class Labor Medal, Medal for the Cause of Education, Medal for the Cause of Science and Technology, Medal for the Cause of Scientific and Technical Associations, and Badge for International Service.

Now that Professor has passed away, his colleagues, friends, and future generations will always remember him as a handsome, gentle professor who silently and steadfastly dedicated his life to science and to his students.