VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

This is one of the free choice courses of the curricula China, Korea and Japan of the Corso di Laurea "Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa".
Its formative objectives are within the area of language, cultural and humanistic skills learning.
The course aims to offer an introduction to Vietnamese language and a critical overview on key issues related to culture, history, society and international relations in contemporary Vietnam.

Knowledge and understanding:
- to know and understand basic-level Vietnamese language
- to acquire knowledge of key issues related to culture, society, history and international relations of Vietnam

Applying knowledge and understanding:
- to know how to identify basic properties of Vietnamese language
- to critically apply knowledge and understanding of culture, society, history and international relations of Vietnam to key issues of contemporary globalization

It is warmly recommended that students take also the course on Vietnamese Language 1. Both courses work together to provide students with a strong foundation in culture and history prior and as integration to formal language study.

This course is intended to introduce students to practical linguistics skills in Vietnamese and to fundamental knowledge on culture, history society and international relations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRVN). Through the knowledge and competences acquired during this course, students will be able to further Vietnamese studies either in Venice or abroad: Overseas programme sponsored by Ca’ Foscari with Hanoi University; Erasmus programme at SOAS-London, Hamburg University, Paris-INALCO.

The course is divided into two sections so as to cover the following approved topics: A) History and culture of Vietnam (6 h); B) Viêtnamese language (24 h)

Part A) History and culture of Vietnam (6 h)
1. Concepts and components: Vietnam and the Diaspora
2. The conception of the world: the cultural identity between tradition/folklore, nationalism/universalism, universalization/regionalization
3. The influence of foreign cultures (Chinese, Indian, Western, Japanese, Soviet Marxism, American, etc.)
4. The Vietnamese "seoul"

Part B) Viêtnamese language (20h)
This part includes six lessons of gradual introduction to the specific pronunciation, divided in three phases, in addition to a lesson of revision and the finale examination.
The introductory part will preset the basic aspects of every day language, problems of pronunciation, general structure of the language, in addition to the socio-cultural context.
Every lesson includes:
- progressione presentation
- notes on pronuciation
- list of new phonetic elements of the lesson
- vietnamese text of the lesson
- two translations: "normal" and "word by word"
- list of new terms with translation
- iconography and additional information
- grammar notes
- exercises
- registration to be listened to in the laboratory or through a MP3 file

Part A) History and culture of Vietnam
- “A story of Viêtnam”, Truong Buu Lâm, Outskirts Press Denver Colordo 2010
- “Vietnam, un secolo di storia”, Francesco Montessoro, Temi di storia, FrancoAngeli 2002
- “Vivre avec les vietnamiens”, Philippe Papin & Laurent Passicousset, Collection “des homes et des pays” L’Archipel 2010
- « A history of the Vietnamese » K.W. Taylor , Cambridge university press 2013
- «The Two Viet-Nams: A Political and Military Analysis” Bernard B. Fall, 2 ed., revised, Frederick A. Praeger, 1967
- “Hanoi's Road to the Vietnam War, 1954-1965” (From Indochina to Vietnam: Revolution and War in a Global Perspective) Paperback – August 18, 2015 by Pierre Asselin
- Vietnam: A New History Christopher Goscha, Basic Books, Sep 13, 2016 - History - 592 pages
-“Vietnam’s Women in Transition” edited by Kathleen Barry Springer, 1996, Political Science,332 pages
- “International Politico-Cultural Influences on Vietnam in the 20Th Century” David Lan Pham Xlibris Corporation, 2004 - Political Science - 252 pages
- “Fragile come un raggio di sole, raconti dal Vietnam », Lê Minh Khue, traduzione G. Valent, « in Asia », Obarrao 2010.
- “Il messaggero celeste” Pham Thi Hoai – “romanzo del nuovo Vietnam” - Marietti 2003
- “Dalla terra di nessuno” Duong Thu Huong – romanzo –Garzanti 2007
- “Viet Nam, miti e raconti” a cura di A. Chiricosta e M. Gatti ,« in Asia », Obarrao 2014
- “VIAGGIATORI ITALIANI IN VIETNAM” , Mario SICA, bilingue italiano/vietnamita. Nha Nam, Hanoi 2013
« Dizionario vietnamita. Italiano-vietnamita, vietnamita-italiano » Le Thi Phuong Mai Vallardi (collana Dizionari plus) 2009, -512 p

See also :
www.consolatovietnam.it/
http://www.ambhanoi.esteri.it

Related to the specific topic of Biển đông / South China sea :
- “Asian waters The Struggle over the Asia-Pacific and the Strategy of Chinese Expansion”, Humphrey Hawksley, Duckworth, 2018.
- “The South China Sea, the Struggle for Power in Asia”, Bill Hayton, Yale University Press, 2014.
- “ASIA’S CAULDRON, The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific” Robert D. Kaplan, Random House. 2014 (NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FINANCIAL TIMES)
- “Il Vietnam tra Cina e Usa” - Limes N° 8- 2015, dedicato al rapido cambiamento del paese indocinese, di cui l’Occidente fatica a cogliere l’importanza strategica e le molteplici sfumature interne.

See also :
- http://nghiencuubiendong.vn/en/ (Vietnamese website with an English and Chinese version from where you may download official documents such as “THE SOUTH CHINA SEA TOWARDS A REGION OF PEACE, SECURITY AND COOPERATION” )
- http://www.biendong.net/ (Vietnamese website with English and Chinese versions)
NB: On the first day of history class, articles for readings will be introduced and may be downloaded from the teacher's web page.

Part B) Vietnamese Language: no required reading.

Part A) History and culture of Vietnam:
- written comment (short essay) individually or in groups of 2 (5-10 pages); the topic of the essay must be approved by the teacher.
NB: the essay must be send to the teacher within 31 December 2018.

Part B) Vietnamese language
- 5 interactive, written and audio exercises (after lessons1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
- 2 examinations of 30 minutes (after lesson 2 and 4)
- 1 final examination (2 h), wrtiten and oral

Final grade : Vietnamese language 75% , History and culture of Vietnam 25%

Frontal lessons, workshops and interactive exercises.
Texts are translated to Italian, while explanations are mainly in English, but also in Italian and French.
The records of the Vietnamese texts will be distributed in MP3 format.
At the end of each lesson, students are required to make an MP3 record (slow reading) of the lesson's text and to send it via mail to the teacher for a comment.

English

Students are warmly recommended to attend lectures. Those who cannot attend are invited to get through to the professor during office hours.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development