The versatile valedictorian of the School of Humanities

The first impression of Quang Minh is a multi-talented young man with many interesting stories. Born in 2000, from Thai Nguyen, Minh studied Biology at high school, studied Law abroad but had to drop out due to the pandemic. Returning to Vietnam, he re-entered the university entrance exam and was valedictorian in Linguistics, took the opportunity to learn to play an instrument, practice singing, participate in choir, teach and do social projects.
During that time, Minh won several more scientific research awards and the title of valedictorian of the Linguistics major at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-USSH).

In early September, just over a month after representing the new graduates in their speech at the USSH graduation ceremony, Minh eagerly attended the opening ceremony of the new school year, beginning his journey as a master's student in Shanghai.
In China, the two highest-ranked universities for Linguistics according to QS Rankings are Peking University (Peking University) and Fudan University, ranked 2nd and 12th in the world, respectively. Minh has successfully won full scholarships from both universities.

Join the Vietnamese Student Page, Tien Phong Newspaper to listen to Minh share about his destiny in Linguistics, from his initial questions in a multilingual environment to his research on Vietnamese dialects. Interwoven in there are pieces of his personal passion, where Minh finds the harmony between science and art.
The Beginning of a Language Journey
Hi Minh, what sparked your love for languages ​​and inspired you to pursue Linguistics?
Linguistics is an academic, theoretical and little-known field. In high school, I only knew that I liked languages ​​but was never oriented towards this field.
When I was studying at university in China, I tutored Chinese and Vietnamese. That job sparked my love for Linguistics. To teach better, I had to compare and contrast Vietnamese and Chinese, which gave rise to many questions, such as “Why is Sino-Vietnamese more similar to Cantonese than Mandarin?”
Chongqing offers a multilingual environment as the locals here speak Mandarin instead of standard Northern Mandarin. Chinese friends come from many regions, speaking Han dialects and minority languages. International friends come from all over, speaking Russian, French, Korean, Tajikistan, Indonesian…
I had the opportunity to observe, compare, and reflect on languages. I also taught myself classical Chinese (Wenyan), a little Latin, and learned more about the virtual languages ​​in Lord of the Rings and Avatar, and also started to pay more attention to the differences in Vietnamese dialects.
Through reading books and talking with people who have the same interests, I learned that there is a major that studies these issues called Linguistics. When I went back to college, I chose Linguistics instead of applied linguistics because I wanted to learn about specific subjects such as Phonetics, Phonology, Dialects, Historical Linguistics or Syntax.

Minh included his memories of Chongqing University during his first time studying abroad in his essay.apply for master's scholarship

What is the research direction of Linguistics that you are interested in? What is it about this field that makes you want to stick with it for a long time?
I love listening, observing and learning about the sounds of languages, so I am particularly passionate about phonetics and dialects. My graduation thesis researched the pronunciation of Hanoian by young people and the change in phonetics over a century.
The more I study, the more I realize the value of language variations. Differences in pronunciation or vocabulary, sometimes considered “non-standard” such as l/n confusion, or flat vowels like mee, iem, are actually “fossils” of language, valuable documents to find the origin and history of Vietnamese.
What attracts me is that change, which helps me appreciate diversity and difference more. Therefore, I want to continue researching Vietnamese phonetics and dialects. This is also an area that still has a lot of room to explore.
Currently, I am still involved in several research projects from my university days with my supervisors, focusing on Vietnamese dialects and Vietic ethnic minority languages. The vision of the project is to document and preserve endangered languages ​​and contribute to the restoration of ancient Vietnamese.

You have a passion for musicals and were a member of the Green Wind Choir - the first community choir in Vietnam. What brought you to this artistic activity?
I was introduced to musicals when I was 7-8 years old through Disney movies. When I was in 7th grade, I was impressed by Huong Thao’s musical performance at Vietnam’s Got Talent. Since then, I have been “falling” into the world of musicals for 13 years. To me, musicals are like the “green light” in The Great Gatsby, not only for entertainment but also to open up new meanings of life.
Musicals helped me learn foreign languages, especially English. When I studied languages, I found it even more interesting: plays that used dialects and jargon to portray characters, or comparing translations opened the door for me to comparative linguistics, sociolinguistics and translation theory.
Musicals were also a stepping stone for me to classical music, because they were more accessible and provided me with a foundation for deeper appreciation. During the time I was stuck in Vietnam during the pandemic, I saved up to learn piano, making my childhood dream come true. Practicing the piano and singing was fun, honing my ears, and supplementing my phonetic knowledge.
In early 2021, through a few friends, I had the opportunity to audition and work with the Green Wind Choir for nearly two years. There, I sang, performed, lived in a dynamic group and had unforgettable moments on the stage of the Hanoi Opera House. Even though I do not pursue art professionally, I still want to become an “accomplished” fan and Green Wind has helped me achieve that.

You have also participated in many cultural and educational projects. Have there been any experiences that left a deep impression on you, even changed your perspective on life?
I am a typical Taurus, so all changes come slowly through accumulated experiences. But if I were to mention an experience that surprised me and made me remember it forever, it was when I participated in the construction of the Pen and Ink Afterimage course at the Temple of Literature.
In the process of compiling learning materials for students in grades 5-8, I tried to arrange the content to be suitable, avoiding dryness. However, after only two sessions, the students received it very positively, some even asked in-depth questions and shared their personal observations. That completely surprised me.
After the course, many parents said that their children actively sought to learn more about the topics in the course such as ethics, civil service examinations or traditional culture. That makes me believe that no matter how academic knowledge is, if prepared carefully and communicated properly, it will touch the heart and arouse curiosity even at a young age.

Must go to Fudan to study Linguistics
When did you start planning to apply for a master's scholarship in China? How did the process go from submitting your application to receiving the results?
Ever since I started university again, I have been planning to prepare the foundation to continue my master's degree in China. The actual time to prepare the documents is only from September 2024 to January 2025, but the preparation has been going on for four years.
In September 2024, I retook HSK 6; from October to December, I completed the procedures and applied to only two schools: Beijing and Fudan. I sent my application at the end of December, interviewed in Fudan in February 2025, and in March in Beijing, and got the results just a week after the interview.
Having won scholarships from two of China's top universities for Linguistics, what made you choose Fudan?
When choosing a school, I set clear criteria: training in Linguistics, having experts in phonetics, dialects, historical linguistics, having a strong research tradition and adequate facilities. Based on that and after consulting friends, the two best choices were Fudan and Peking University. I chose Fudan because it met all the criteria.
Shanghai is also my favorite city because of its dynamism, internationality, and rich dialect identity. Shanghainese belongs to the Wu dialect group of Chinese, which is very different from Mandarin, creating a special strength for dialectal research at Fudan.
During the interview, I was impressed by the professors’ interest in Southeast Asian languages ​​other than the Sino-Tibetan language family, which was quite suitable for my research direction. Afterwards, one professor even proactively sent an email expressing his desire to accept me as a “disciple”, which made my decision lean towards Fudan.

Which part of your application do you like the most? What do you think is the highlight that helped your application convince the schools?
My application includes personal documents, academic CV, HSK Chinese certificate, study plan, recommendation letters from two Linguistics experts who are my lecturers at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. During the preparation process, I also regularly discussed and consulted with two very close friends, one is doing a PhD in Linguistics in the US and the other is studying for a bachelor's degree in Korea.
What I appreciate is not in any single part of the application, but in proving “real people, real jobs”. Every detail in the CV or recommendation letter comes from personal experience. In addition, I try to show continuity in the essay, connecting study, research and extracurricular activities. I believe that consistency has shown the committee clearly my passion and serious long-term orientation.