Palestinian Ambassador Saadi Salama: Love Vietnamese as mother tongue

Palestinian Ambassador Saadi Salama - student of the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Language 1980-1984

You will see Saadi using all the good words like: "near the earth, far from the sky", "fate", running for office, running for power, "son of a boss, nephew of a father", people's hearts are "fading"... Through his story of learning and using Vietnamese, people are attracted by a clear personality. That is, when learning something, he always goes to the end, understands thoroughly and always compares and contrasts Vietnamese with other languages ​​such as English or Arabic. For example, he said: the word "fate" is very difficult to translate into English or Arabic; or the word "thank you" is not often used by Vietnamese because it is polite and diplomatic... Not only aiming to use Vietnamese correctly, Saadi also wants to use Vietnamese that is "deep" and expressive. He opposes speaking Vietnamese "like a machine" without emotion. It must be an interesting Vietnamese, not only in semantics but also in pronunciation and storytelling. Therefore, if only hearing his voice over the phone, few people can recognize that this is a foreigner speaking Vietnamese because of the fluency and charming ups and downs in his voice.

He carefully asked us about the purpose of the interview and the main content that needed to be answered. He said that it was to prepare himself to speak concisely, impressively and “on point”, because he knew that the screen time for each person was certainly not much. And during the more than 10 minutes of the recorded interview, he performed a perfect performance in fluent Vietnamese and did not even have the “uh ah” pauses that Vietnamese people often make when interviewing. There was no need for any retakes. Everything was neat and professional. Besides his excellent language ability, it must be admitted that he has a very good mind, making the ideas he presents always clear and distinct. On that foundation, his ability to master the Vietnamese language had the opportunity to show off.

Saadi once caused a stir in the media with his understanding of Vietnamese and impressive knowledge of Vietnamese culture, history, and geography when he competed in the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” on the evening of the 4th day of Tet 2017 and immediately won a prize worth 40 million VND. A series of difficult questions related to cuisine such as Cao Lau, Banh Giay, Ginger Cake…; geography related to Dong Xuan Market, Lo River; or history related to revolutionary Tran Phu were all answered clearly and easily by him. The most interesting detail was when Saadi encountered the question “What is Bu?”, he asked the studio audience and the most chosen answer was “A song”. But then he immediately chose the answer “Mother” and passed the challenge to the thunderous applause of the audience.

Palestinian Ambassador Saadi Salama and Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thien Nam (Head of the Department of Vietnamese Studies and Language) at the Ambassador's Office during the recording of an interview with the Ambassador to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Department of Vietnamese Studies and Language.

Learning Vietnamese in depth requires understanding Vietnamese culture; being persistent and not giving up when facing difficulties - these are Saadi Salama's secrets. But we also discovered another secret of his: his Vietnamese wife whom he married at a very young age in Vietnam - a country he first visited when he was only 19 years old.

“I am proud to be one of the few foreigners who can speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue,” he said. Another source of pride for him is that all four children are successful, useful to society and especially know many languages: Vietnamese - Arabic - French - English - Spanish.

“I am a Palestinian boy who is lucky to come and study in Vietnam, at the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language”. He kept giving his opinion, analyzing, and “showing off” how lucky and happy he was - the confidence, always showing that he was valuable, understood himself, that he had a firm grasp of the issues that needed to be expressed and that no one could fool him. Added to that was the sweet elegance of a diplomat with a face and smile that was always bright. That is why our photographer had no difficulty at all in “capturing” his best expression in the photo shoots.

With an excellent alumni like him, it is not difficult to understand why the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Language, after 50 years, is still at the top of the country in training Vietnamese language and Vietnamese studies.