President Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam's Greatest Linguist


By Site Admin | Nov 8, 2021
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Freelensia is pleased to present one of the most comprehensive videos of President Ho Chi Minh speaking foreign languages, including English, French, and Russian. You will also get the chance to hear his native Vietnamese accent. Subtitles are available in several languages, please click [CC] to turn them on.

https://youtu.be/F7Tt2rOYsVM

President Ho Chi Minh (original name Nguyen Sinh Cung, also called Nguyen Tat Thanh, Nguyen Ai Quoc or Uncle Ho) is one of the most respected leaders of Vietnam. His outstanding diplomatic skills are largely attributed to his language skills, which will be demonstrated in this article.

In the bio of delegates to the 7th World Congress of the Communist International, Ho Chi Minh wrote: 'Knowing French, English, Chinese, Italian, German, Russian.' Based on the times he visited other countries, as well as the times he welcomed diplomatic missions in Vietnam, we know that he was also fluent in many other foreign languages, such as Thai, Spanish, Arabic, languages of many ethnic minorities in Vietnam, etc. That language ability is attributed to his admirable determination and will.

In 1911, Ho Chi Minh worked as a kitchen helper on the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville, finding a way to go to France. After every day of hard work, he learned to read and write French late at night. Not long after that, in Marseille, he was hired to work on a cargo ship and had the chance to travel to French colonies and continue improving his French language. From 1917 to 1923, he returned to France and started writing newspapers. He also went to the library to read books, attended meetings, established close relationships with high-profile people, ordinary people in France as well as in colonial countries. He wrote two major works in French, namely Dong Duong (1923-1924) and French Colonialism on Trial (1925).

When he first came to England in 1914, he had to work hard, saving money to buy books and newspapers to learn English. He often spent some morning and afternoon times going to Hyde Park, sitting outside in the cold to be wide awake for study. Ho Chi Minh used English to read books, research, write a lot of articles. During the time he was detained by the Hong Kong government, thanks to his English skills, Ho Chi Minh formed close relations with many British progressives and revolutionaries. Returning to Vietnam, in the early years in Viet Bac, he used English to communicate with the Allies. When the August Revolution was successful, Ho Chi Minh wrote many English letters to the US, asking them to recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

When arriving in the Soviet Union, in 1923, President Ho Chi Minh began to learn Russian. At the Astoria International Hotel in Leningrad, he learned from his comrades. After that, he was admitted to the Communist University of the Toilers of the East and learned the language more methodically. From 1934-1938, he also studied at The International Lenin School, worked as a Ph.D. student at the Scientific Institute for the Study of National and Colonial Problems, and worked on a thesis on the Land Revolution in Southeast Asian countries. He used Russian a lot in communication, writing articles, essays, scientific reports, translating Russian contents into Vietnamese and Chinese. Returning to Vietnam to lead Vietnam revolutionary, when receiving Russian guests or visiting the Soviet Union, Ho Chi Minh still used Russian fluently, even corrected the interpreters many times.

When he was young, he learned basic Chinese characters, later he went to Hue to study and continued to learn Chinese. He arrived in Canton in 1924, working in Borodin's delegation as a personal advisor and interpreter. Ho Chi Minh used Chinese to communicate, network, discuss, give speeches and lectures. He wrote newspapers in Chinese reflecting the political situation in China, wrote speeches and essays, translated Russian, French, English documents into Chinese and vice versa. When he was detained by Chiang Kai-shek for more than a year in Guangxi, Ho Chi Minh wrote 134 poems in Chinese, recorded in the very famous and highly regarded Prison Diary which was and translated into many languages.

 

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