An energetic teacher, always accompanying the young generation

Starting his career as a translator in the 2-year Russian language university program (1958-1960), Associate Professor Nguyen Xuan Hoa had a connection with the teaching profession. Therefore, after 2 years working at Tay Hieu farm (Nghe An), he was transferred to the education sector, working at Thanh Xuan Foreign Language School in Hanoi (now Hanoi University), as a Russian language lecturer from 1962 to 1978. Despite his busy work, he still attended advanced courses to receive a 4-year Russian language university degree (1977). In 1978, the Ministry of Education transferred him to work at Hanoi National University, where he was assigned to be in charge and then Head of the Russian Literature Department at the Foreign Languages ​​Department of the University, and from 1995 he became a lecturer at the International Studies Department, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU. From here, his research and teaching career began to have the opportunity to develop.

Associate Professor, Doctor, Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Xuan Hoa

It is no exaggeration to say that he is one of the people who has contributed to spreading Russian culture to Vietnam. That is not purely because he is a true Russian speaker but because of his soul, his love for the brotherly people on the other side of the hemisphere. Literally speaking, his soul has been imbued with Russian culture for some time. This makes him not only passionately participate in many research topics related to learning and studying Russian culture but also actively participate as a co-author in building a Vietnamese-Russian textbook dictionary (over 1,400 pages) which received the Silver Prize "Good Book" of the Vietnam Publishing Association in 2008, translating a number of valuable Russian literary works. Readers will find it hard to forget Nguyen Xuan Hoa's very own translation style through his works.Tarat Septrenko(Translated story), Rainbow Publishing House, Moscow, 1988;Lyric poetry A. Blok(translation selection), Hanoi National University Publishing House. 2007... Nguyen Xuan Hoa's unique feature in translation is that when translating, whether poetry or stories, he sticks closely to the original author's style, without transforming the original's way of speaking or expressing into his own way of speaking or expressing. This is not an easy thing for many translators to do. Because we know that there are many translators who are very good at foreign languages, but when translating literary works, they have blurred the style of the translated poetry. For example, when reading their translations, we see that Lermontov's style is similar to Pushkin's style, Blok's style is similar to Esenin's style... Translator Nguyen Xuan Hoa is not like that. He sticks closely to the meaning of the text, but does not translate every word but pays attention to the cultural context to translate the important image that the artist wants to convey. Therefore, his translations of poetry are often accurate but still soaring, free and still not far from the original. Generally speaking, when translating, he never turns other people's poems into his own. To do this, perhaps he has accumulated a lot of linguistic knowledge in the process of both teaching and researching. This is also the reason that helped him later successfully complete his PhD thesis in the direction of linguistics and gradually transform into the status of a true linguist.

Professors of Linguistics: Top row: Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat, Professor, Dr. Tran Tri Doi, Professor, Dr. People's Teacher Le Quang Thiem, Professor, Dr. People's Teacher Dinh Van Duc, Associate Professor, Dr. Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Xuan Hoa, late Professor, Dr. Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Cao Dam, late Professor, Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Tai Can

The highlight of Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa's scientific career is that he always motivates himself to improve in all circumstances. Therefore, although he studied foreign languages ​​in the country, he is a person with the ability to communicate in Russian very flexibly thanks to his rich vocabulary and grammar combined with his keen ear for phonetics. Not only has he been trusted for many years to be invited to be an examiner to assess the Russian proficiency of many candidates for professorship and associate professorship of the Literature Specialization Council, but he has also been invited by the State to interpret many important documents: From December 1981 to May 1982, he was assigned by the Party Central Committee's Foreign Affairs Committee to translate documents of the 5th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi, then from March 1982 to May 1982, he continued to be invited to translate documents of the 3rd Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party in Vientiane. After this translation trip, he attended an advanced Russian language course at the AS Pushkin Russian Language Institute, Moscow for 1 year (1982-1983) and continuously worked as a scientific collaborator at the Faculty of Philology, Lomonosov Moscow State University for 3 months each year in 1984, 1986 and 1988. Due to his passion for language research, since 1998, after retiring, he continued to work as a part-time lecturer and guest lecturer for the Faculty of Linguistics, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (1998-2003).

In science, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa is a serious, careful person, sometimes showing silence, but in life he is an enthusiastic and even very lively person. That is why he is always present at scientific research conferences and thesis defense ceremonies for masters, doctors and even graduation thesis defenses of students as an advisor, reviewer or Council member, although he has enjoyed retirement since 1998. In the postgraduate training of the Faculty of Linguistics and the Academy of Social Sciences, he has successfully guided 5 Master's theses in linguistics, 2 PhD theses in Russian literature, 1 PhD thesis in linguistics. He is currently guiding 2 PhD students in linguistics. Moreover, he was also an active participant in the activities of the Hanoi Linguistics Association, and also held the position of President of the Association for 6 years from 2008 to 2014. This was the time when he showed his strengths in organizational and diplomatic abilities. Thanks to his personal reputation as well as the direction of the Hanoi Linguistics Association's activities, he received support from many businesses and created an operating fund for the Association of up to tens of millions of VND. Although the amount of money is not large, for a professional Association, it is a rare achievement. I still remember, recently in the 4th Congress, term 2015-2019 of the Hanoi Linguistics Association held in January 2015 at the Institute of Linguistics, Prof. Dr. Tran Ngoc Them from Ho Chi Minh City attended the Congress and was very moved when he said: “Indeed, I was very surprised because normally, when attending a professional association like this, we also have to pay donations. Coming here, not only did we not have to contribute, but we also received more. That shows that the Hanoi Linguistics Association is indeed a very strong association…”.

Currently, due to his age limit, he is no longer the Chairman of the Association, but he is still trusted by everyone to be elected as Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Association. Although he is busy with many professional and Association tasks, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa still devotes a corner of his life to literature, participating in the Hanoi Writers Association. Occasionally, we still see his critical or translated articles published in books and newspapers with a youthful and energetic style. Reading those articles, we do not see any trace of old age hovering over the tip of his pen, but only see a soul full of vitality, enthusiasm and devotion. It seems that heaven and earth have bestowed upon him a special favor, so that even though he is approaching the age of 80, he is still as quick and bright as a middle-aged person. Both in his professional activities and in his life, he always blends in with the younger generations, staying close to them. Is that the reason why he stays forever young? Until now, he is still an active teacher, accompanying the young generation. Due to his many contributions in his professional and social activities, he has received many noble awards: Third Class Anti-American Resistance Medal (1985), Excellent Teacher (2008). Certificate of Merit from the Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee for achievements in activities celebrating the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi (2011).