A short song about my teacher

Professor, Doctor, People's Teacher Nguyen Tai Can (1926-2011)

This year (1996), my teacher, Professor Nguyen Tai Can, turns seventy. I want to write a few lines as a student's gratitude to him. But it's too difficult!

My teacher was well-educated and talented, but his small paper could only express a few ideas. Moreover, he was very heroic, Confucianism "permeated deep into his bones" (Professor Phan Ngoc's words), he did not want others to talk about him and he himself did not want to talk about the word "I".

When I was in high school, one of my teachers at that time - Professor Vu Ngoc Khanh - once criticized me for not knowing how to present on the board and said: "I have a friend named Nguyen Tai Can, a talented person with beautiful handwriting and writing on the board that no one can compare to. If you could learn from him, you would learn a lot.”. Another time, Mr. Dang Van Dai, who taught me in secondary school, told my father: “Mr. Nguyen Tai Can just passed the Associate Doctorate (later called Associate Doctor) in the Soviet Union with Mr. Nguyen Canh Toan”.

My father was happy and explained to me: “Uncle Can was the head of my father's old library department at the Department of Education of Inter-zone 4 a few days ago. He was a very good person.".

Then a few years later I entered the Faculty of Literature at Hanoi University. At the end of the summer of my second year (1962), along the road lined with royal poinciana trees in the Faculty of Language and Literature dormitory in Lang village, I saw a man wearing a fedora, sunglasses, and a suit leading a motorbike into the faculty.

The students whispered to each other:That's Mr. Nguyen Tai Can.!”. My memory awakened, combined with youthful curiosity, I approached him, but did not learn anything more.

A few days later, I was extremely surprised to see him in a very simple outfit sitting smoking tobacco at a tea shop next to the school gate, his demeanor very relaxed, and his upperclassmen gathered around him, laughing and talking happily with him... then, after that, luck gave me, for the past 35 years, to live and work with him, he guided many generations, including me, to grow up with Vietnamese Linguistics.

The scientific personality of Professor Nguyen Tai Can can be summarized in 8 words: "Profound - Wise - Talented - Strict”. Each word only needs to be given an example. By successfully describing Vietnamese noun phrases, going so far as to consider “word class” as the center, he reset the entire system of describing Vietnamese grammatical structures (1960). By placing the correct linguistic position of “sound one"In our language, he affirmed the comprehensive influence of this "isolated" characteristic on Vietnamese (1960). Those thoughts are very profound, and today have become the basic contents of scientific discussions on Vietnamese.

As a wise man, he thoroughly understood Linguistics, Sino-Nom, historical linguistics, and the fields of Vietnamese linguistics. The appearance of his work was very broad and each field was very profound. He understood the past and the present, quickly grasped the problems of modern linguistics while being able to discuss and propose very unique opinions on ancient linguistics.

Mr. Can was also a talented person, he was rich in poetry, wrote poems very quickly and well, especially Chinese poems. In his poetry collection, he is certainly considered one of the last Chinese poets of this century. In the lecture hall of the Vietnamese Studies Department at the University of Paris 7, there is a pair of Nom parallel sentences on faded red paper, the handwriting is very beautiful, advising students to study hard. That was the parallel sentence given by Professor Nguyen Tai Can to the department, the first time I saw it, I suddenly remembered an old poem by Yen Lan:

“My teacher when he first came,

An old bookcase, brown curtain

Pair of dragon and butterfly paper couplets

"Long sips following the ink strokes".

Professor Vu Duc Nghieu, in my department, told me that in the Southeast Asia department, Cornell University in the United States, there is also another Nom parallel sentence of the teacher with the content of advice to students that he gave when he came there to lecture.

Speaking of his talent, we must also mention a teacher with an extremely good teaching method. He conveyed extremely abstract things to his students in a very concrete and lively way of speaking, sometimes mixed with witty and folk colors, which after learning, can never be forgotten.

There are many stories about the teacher's strictness in science. When I was close to him, he scolded me a lot and gave me sincere advice. A funny story: once a student wrote a thesis with him, but because he did not do as he was told, he ran away. Not long after, worrying about the graduation exam, the student had to come see the teacher. He brought tea and medicine to thank the teacher. The teacher accepted him immediately, but then forced the student to stay at his house, cook, eat, and write until the thesis was finished.

There are many anecdotes about him, but above all is his heart in building the Vietnamese Linguistics industry. Throughout his life, he only focused on one goal: training and building academia, building a team, building in a formal, modern direction but not far from the reality of Vietnam. He was very sad about the professional work he could not do. Professor Hoang Trong Phien said: "Professor Nguyen Tai Can has breathed new life into our industry, has trained many students for our country's linguistics, he deserves the noble titles of science".

My teacher lived a simple life all his life, simple to the point of being frugal, although he lacked nothing. At home as well as when traveling abroad, he always maintained a unique style that he often said was that of a “Nghe An native”.

On the occasion of my teacher's 70th birthday, far away from home, I remembered him and on a cold, snowy winter night I wrote some clumsy ancient verses to send to him in his hometown:

“Time flies, my teacher is seventy years old.

Miles of years of joy and sadness,

A life of teaching a pure mind

Three steps of hardship, the heart is not calm.

Students generation after generation respect,

Friends near and far are welcome.

Tea pouring, sad story of a new year²

Binh Dan's faithfulness is not diluted".

(Québec, 1995)

Since his retirement, he has written and published three books. All of them are books that have taken a lifetime of thought, and the names are difficult to hear: “Historical Phonetics of Vietnamese”, “Han Literature of Ly - Tran”, etc. Now he is almost finished writing the book “Ancient Han - Vietnamese”, and also intends to continue writing about Chinese in regional countries, and to make a Vietnamese Etymological Dictionary (finished up to the C letter). It started from a literary suggestion by scholar Hoang Xuan Han more than ten years ago that it was possible to rely on the taboo words in the text of the Tale of Kieu to learn about the origin of the original Kieu through its developments. My teacher struggled, agonized, and decided to tackle a problem that no one had done before: using the method of Historical Linguistics to study the text. He started with the Kieu Duy Minh Thi (1872). A massive documentary research has been published. Then came the big book researching the 19th-century Kieu Nom texts. By continuing to research the taboo words in the story, he boldly became the first person to make a new proposal about the time Nguyen Du composed the Kieu story when the poet was just over thirty years old (1787 - 1790). His recent groundbreaking articles have stirred up public opinion in the field of ancient studies with new, bold ideas that have a scientific basis.

When you were 70, I respectfully wrote you some verses from afar. Now you are 80 (2006), also from afar, I would like to send you some more verses:

                                    Just then our teacher was eighty,

The mind has no rest day by day.

Ten years and six books to make a name,

A thousand pages is no joke.

He set a good example for young people,

The student studied the teacher until he was exhausted,

Teacher, I'm healthy, I'm happy, I'm so happy,

Friends and disciples everywhere.

                                                                        Seoul, May 2005

After writing it in Seoul, I sent it to him on his birthday. A few days later, I received a very touching letter from him, along with his reply:

“Eighty is not even a hundred,

Happy birthday, year after year.

Still trying Yoga: according to Taoism,

Always relax: meditate.

Still like Trang Tu: happy butterfly life,

Still learning Ngu Cong: Pulling out silkworm intestines

Live in, die in fate,

That is the response to thank the soul mate"

                                                              Moscow, June 2005

My teacher's continued academic success is due to his very modern and correct way of thinking. He has a very solid grasp of linguistic theoretical sources in different historical contexts. Boldly but carefully, he has successfully applied linguistic theories to vernacular materials, both modern and historical, opening up very new ideas.

On this occasion I remembered two stories about him.

Professor Keith Taylor is a famous Vietnamese scholar in the US, an expert in Literature and Ly - Tran history. He asked to study with the teacher in a Nom script course. After the course, he recounted that he was very surprised to meet a Vietnamese scholar who was knowledgeable, friendly but very strict, with a very unique teaching method, very linguistic but highly practical, with obvious effectiveness. He learned with the teacher nearly 500 of the most popular Nom scripts and even knew how to use them to read texts, after only a short time of diligent study.

Another time, a professor at Hanoi Pedagogical University who taught Vietnamese literature introduced an American student to him to learn about Vietnamese folk song language. This student was good at Vietnamese, so he thought the teacher would let him listen to some lectures and illustrations, take notes, and bring them home. Unexpectedly, the teacher did not do that. The teacher tested his Vietnamese, talked about the linguistic principles of folk songs, introduced some folk song writing techniques, then gave him homework to practice writing folk songs, and then brought them back to the teacher after a week to correct. At first, it was very difficult, but he had to practice hard, and then he could do it. The teacher praised and corrected him, until he understood the basics through practice, then he explained the theory. The teacher said that once the student practiced writing a few sentences:

                                                “I have been in Hanoi for a long time,

Know Hoan Kiem Lake, know Chuong Duong Bridge,

Visit the thirty-six streets,

It feels like I've found my second home again."

The teacher said that although it was not good, it was in accordance with the law, so it was good and very respectable.

Not long ago, there was good news. This year (2000), the State considered awarding the Ho Chi Minh Science Prize, round 2, to outstanding scientific works of our country. The group of works: "Issues of Vietnamese Grammar and History" by Professor Nguyen Tai Can is one of the very few scientific works of the Language - Literature group that passed four rounds of strict voting by the country's scientific community before being presented to the State. The teacher was abroad, I sent an email to inform him of the news. A few days later, I received his letter. He was happy because his colleagues trusted him, but immediately told me that he had to focus on his work before thinking about being praised. Two years ago, the State awarded him the First Class Labor Medal, at that time he was away from home, when he returned, he emotionally told his brothers in the Party cell: "I have followed the Party for more than 50 years, always trying to be an honest and consistent Communist".

Knowing that he was such a serious and profound researcher, in 1985 when Professor Nguyen Dong Chi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Han Nom, passed away, Professor Nguyen Khanh Toan intended to invite him to become the Director of the Institute, but he considered and refused. At the same time, he introduced a student to join the Institute's leadership. He confided to me: “I don’t dare to criticize the good intentions of my superiors, but after thinking it over, I can’t accept it, Duc. Experience has shown that I am passionate about science and professionalizing activities. When I accept a job in scientific management, I immediately think about proposing new ideas, finding ways to make international contacts to find information, improve working methods, and standardize activities. But doing so in our country is not good because it will affect the personnel and interests of this person and that person, and then cause trouble. We are inherently perfectionists, so we are often afraid of change. If we try to innovate, it will easily cause conflicts and sometimes even bring trouble, so I think, let’s just try to do science well according to our strengths. From now until the end of my life, God will give me as much life as I can, so I will try to follow that direction, it will be more peaceful and more reasonable.” Those were the heartfelt words he confided right before the Renovation.

Spring 2009. After Tet, Le Quang Thiem and I visited the teacher and said goodbye to him so he could go to Russia with his family. Teacher and I talked to each other all day, drank tea and talked about many things. The teacher was happy. At the end of the day, the teacher kept us for dinner, but Thiem and I asked to leave so the teacher could rest. The teacher saw us off to the yard. Spring came, and the teacher's yard had a peach tree that was blooming beautifully. Teacher and I stood under the shade of the tree, not knowing what premonition, for the first time, the teacher suddenly hugged each of us and kissed us very intimately. We were very moved. We also did not expect that it would be the last time the teacher hugged us before going far away.

This year, on the first anniversary of my teacher's death, I brought a bottle of corn wine from Moc Chau to burn incense to pay respect to him. We stood under the shade of the peach tree from last year. The peach tree was in full bloom again. On the twenty-third day of the first lunar month, after Tet, I stood absentmindedly under the tree, my heart filled with nostalgia for my teacher, leaning on a verse by Vu Dinh Lien:

This year the peach blossoms bloom again,

Not seeing the old scholar,

The people of old

Where is the soul now?

My teacher has gone far away, but his spirit is still here now, still beside us, the students who are not very good or smart, but thanks to his guidance and care for half a century, we have achieved some maturity.

                                                     Quebec, 1995 - Hanoi 2012