With a GPA of 3.77/4.0, Tran Thi Khanh Vi (22 years old) is one of the top graduates with excellent grades in 2023 from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. She was a student in the K64 Southeast Asian Studies class, Faculty of Oriental Studies.
Tran Thi Khanh Vi received a certificate of merit for graduating as the valedictorian of the Southeast Asian Studies program at the graduation ceremony in August 2023.
The girl from Hanoi said that a few months before the national high school graduation exam, she still hadn't decided which major or university to apply to. Coincidentally, at a college admissions counseling program, she heard about Southeast Asian Studies and learned that it was a new major separated from the previous Oriental Studies major.
“At the time, I simply thought that a new field of study would offer many opportunities and not too much job competition. Moreover, the program had many credits taught in English and offered the chance to learn a native language, which I found very interesting. So I decided to choose it,” she recalled.
In the Southeast Asian Studies program, students can choose to study either Thai or Indonesian. Khanh Vi initially intended to study Thai because of its popularity in Vietnam and because she had never heard of Indonesian. However, during the summer before starting university, she tried learning Thai and was defeated by the Thai alphabet, so she decided to study Indonesian instead.
Indonesian uses the Latin alphabet and has many words similar to English, so she found it easier to learn. After researching, she saw the potential in Indonesian, the official language of the world's fourth most populous country, and became even more determined to pursue it.
Khanh Vi in traditional Indonesian attire.
She often watches Indonesian YouTube channels and listens to music to maintain her interest in studying. Her house is quite close to the Indonesian Embassy in Hanoi, so she can conveniently attend many events there.
"I find this language very romantic, so Indonesian love songs are always on my playlist," she shared.
In 2021, Khanh Vi won second prize in an Indonesian singing competition for students of the BIPA Indonesian language course, organized by the Umah Indo Promotion Center in Hanoi. In 2022, she won first prize in a writing competition commemorating Kartini Day (a holiday celebrating the inner, intellectual, and physical beauty of Indonesian women) organized by the Indonesian Embassy.
Thanks to this, she was sponsored for a two-week study trip to Gresik, a beautiful city located in eastern Java, Indonesia. This was a reward from the "Short Indonesian Culture & Language Program For Foreign Speakers Indonesia 2022" of Universitas Muhammadiyah Gresik (UMG).
Khanh Vi (bottom row, third from the right) and her international friends during her trip to Gresik.
Besides visiting famous landmarks, she learned to play the traditional gamelan orchestra, tried making fruit salads like rujak and nagasari, danced the Damar Kurung, and painted Damar Kurung. These are all distinctive cultural aspects of Indonesia.
In the city of Gresik, she was particularly impressed by the many colorful and neatly planned houses. She also really liked the mosques there, because of the overwhelming feeling of beauty and sacredness that the mosques exuded.
Khanh Vi in a mosque in Gresik
“The food in Gresik is both amazing and affordable. One phrase I still remember is 'tidak pedas' - not spicy. If you forget to say that, the spicy dishes can make you spit fire,” she revealed.
At the closing ceremony of the program, Khanh Vi had the honor of reciting the poem "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" (Unity in Diversity - the national motto of Indonesia) before the entire audience. Two weeks in Gresik helped her gain a clearer picture of the beautiful and friendly country of Indonesia, and further strengthened her resolve to learn Indonesian.
Her graduation thesis, written in English, was titled "Feminism in the novel Tarian Bumi by Oka Rusmini." Tarian Bumi is a famous novel in Indonesian literature, and her thesis received a score of 9.5/10.
Khanh Vi defended her university graduation thesis.
Before starting her thesis one semester, Khanh Vi met her supervisor through the course "Literature and Art in Southeast Asian Countries". Thanks to this course, she became very interested in the literature of the region, especially that of Indonesia. Later, thanks to her homeroom teacher's suggestion, she contacted the lecturer teaching that course and asked her to be her thesis supervisor.
When analyzing the work in Indonesian, she aspired to translate the original novel from Indonesian into English herself, despite her limited Indonesian language skills. With the help of tools and by comparing it with other translations, she attempted to translate the entire work before beginning her analysis.
According to Khanh Vi, Indonesian is very flexible and ambiguous, so finding the right English words to describe it accurately required considerable effort. Although translation was not the main focus of her thesis, she was satisfied that she had provided a translation good enough for readers to understand the work she was analyzing.
After graduating, Khanh Vi decided to pursue a master's degree at the same university and is anxiously awaiting the admission results. Besides her studies, she is continuing to improve her Indonesian language skills and is pursuing a job that aligns with both her expertise and language abilities.
"I'm really looking forward to the future with so many plans ahead," the top-scoring student expressed.
