The international webinar "culture exchange" held by STEKOM University on the second day continues. Speakers from various universities around the world take turns giving interesting explanations about the popuper traditions of their respective countries. Various interesting things continue to be presented from various speakers who get the opportunity. The next interesting speaker was Nguyen Huu Nhat Tan from the University of Foreign Language in Vietnam. But before getting to know more about Vietnamese popular culture, it helps us to get to know the University of Languages and International Studies commonly abbreviated as VNU in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The University of Languages and International Studies commonly abbreviated as VNU in Hanoi, Vietnam, is one of the six colleges that comprise the National University of Vietnam, Hanoi. The school offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in pedagogical and linguistic studies in Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Thai. The college is located on the VNU Cau Giay campus.
Recently ULIS ("University of Languages and International Studies") was rated as one of the top universities in Southeast Asia for Languages and language studies at undergraduate level. ULIS also has many exchanges with universities around the world and offers Vietnamese language studies for guest exchange students. ULIS was originally known as the School of Foreign Languages until the 1950s. In 1958, the School of Foreign Languages was merged into Hanoi University of Education, forming the Faculty of Foreign Languages. As one of the first three members of the National University of Vietnam, Hanoi University of Foreign Language Education since 1993 has been widely recognized as the University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi (ULIS - VNU). Its international and national staff have increased since 2012 and now include from many countries including Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Taiwan, Korea and the United States.
In 2014, VNU-ULIS offered bachelor's degrees in Translation, Interpreting and Teacher Education in English, Japanese, Korean, German, Russian, French, Chinese, and Arabic. Students can also take dual major programs with many other VNU universities such as 'International Business' or 'English-Finance and Banking', and 'Economics and Business' just to name a few.
Postgraduate programs are offered in English linguistics, as well as French, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian Linguistics. There are also graduate programs where students can receive a master's degree in Theory and Methodology in Teaching, whether for English, French, Russian, or Chinese. Master's level courses in English are also offered in partnership with Walkato University in New Zealand. Doctorates are offered in English Linguistics, Russian Linguistics, and French.
The first Nguyen about Vietnamese popular culture was about New Year's Presentation in Vietnam. There are two kinds of New Year's events in Vietnam, namely the Lunar New Year event and the Gregorian New Year event. The original Vietnamese tradition is the use of the Lunar calendar. However, starting in 1954, Vietnam's administrative offices officially used the Gregorian calendar, while the civilian population continued to use various local calendars derived from French, Chinese, and Japanese sources, including the Hiep Ky calendar. On August 8, 1967, the North Vietnamese government issued a decree changing the Vietnamese standard from UTC+8 to UTC+7, as well as making the Gregorian calendar the only official calendar, restricting the use of the lunisolar calendar for holidays and anniversaries. South Vietnam later joined this change at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Lunar Calendar has a fixed number of twelve months with 30 days each, and a leap year will have all leap months instead of February 29. The Lunar Calendar new year will usually start in late January or early February according to the Gregorian calendar. That explains why the day of Tet varies from year to year: it's because a leap month may fall or be longer creating a smaller or larger one between the two calendars.
The next presentation from Nguyen was about a famous singer in Vietnam named Son Tung MTP. The singer's real name is Nguyen Thanh Tung who was born in Thai Binh city, July 5, 1994). He is a famous Vietnamese pop singer.
His famous song is “Give It to Me” ft. Snoop Dogg (#1 Billboard LyricFind Global Chart), “It's Too Late” (#126 Billboard Global 200 Excl. U.S.), “We Are Now” (#1 Billboard LyricFind Global Chart) and “Run Now”. Other notable songs include “Are you sure this is love”, “You are here”, “Lost”, and others.
Nguyen's presentation continued on Vietnamese football. Vietnam knew the world of sports from France in the 19th century. However, due to various conflicts that occurred throughout the 20th century, the development of football in Vietnam was very hampered at that time. When Vietnam split into North Vietnam and South Vietnam, there were two national teams controlled by two different organizations. The North Vietnam national team was not very active, and relatively only competed against fellow communist countries in the span of 1956 to 1966. Meanwhile, South Vietnam qualified for the finals of the first two editions of the AFC Asian Cup, and won fourth place in both editions. South Vietnam played their last game in 1975. After the two countries united in 1976, the separate governing bodies were merged and renamed the Vietnam Football Federation.
Since the 1990s, Vietnam has re-entered global football, and football has become an integral part of Vietnamese society, and a soft power that is able to counter the negative stigma of the country after the Vietnam War and several other international conflicts. This made the Vietnam national team a part of Vietnamese nationalism, thus gaining support from all over the country. Vietnam fans are called one of the most passionate fans, known for their big celebrations for the team's success, for both the senior team and age category teams.
In Nguyen's explanation, Vietnamese people's enthusiasm for football is very high. Both during matches between football teams in Vietnam, or when the national team matches against other countries, football fans in Vietnam are always present. When celebrating the victory of the supported football team, it was also very lively.
Another popular tradition in Vietnam that Nguyen introduced is drinking iced tea on the side of the road. Seen from the photos displayed by Nguyen, Vietnamese people look very relaxed while chatting and laughing while drinking iced tea on the side of the streets of Vietnam.
A popular tradition that is similar to drinking iced tea on the side of the road is the tradition of drinking coffee beside the railroad tracks. In the photo shown by Nguyen, many tourists, both young and old, are relaxing drinking coffee beside the train tracks. They seemed to really enjoy the activity. Sometimes they are accompanied by someone who drinks coffee in the middle of the tracks when there are no trains passing by.
Next, Nguyen told about Mua Quat or Fun dancing which is currently popular among young Vietnamese children. The dance is like twirling both hands in a fan-like motion. The hand movements look quite complicated, but that is precisely what makes it easy for children to show their ability to do the dance.