Language and Scripts

Among the 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups some have had their own scripts for a long time and some have not preserved their ancient scripts. As a matter of fact, some ethnic groups consisting of some hundreds of individuals living in remote areas have their own languages.

Throughout the years, these languages have been enriched in terms of vocabulary, precision, and expression. However, the Viet language is most commonly used.

Hanoi authorities announced in early April that international visitors to Hanoi fell by 7.2 percent in the first quarter 2010. This is a bad new for the capital city when many activities are organized to celebrate its 1000th anniversary.

Hanoi People’s Council on April 20 considered the city’s construction plans to 2030 and vision to 2050.

A big mock-up describing Hanoi in the future was placed outside the hall, accompanied by a dozen maps on the city’s future traffic, land use and social infrastructure.

Ngo Trung Hai, the director of the Institute for Urban and Rural Architecture and Planning, briefly introduced the draft construction plan for Hanoi to 2020. Many deputies expressed their concern about the plan’s incomplete points.

Most visitors to Vietnam need a visa to enter the country. Visas are exempted for the citizens of the countries, which have signed a bilateral or unilateral visa exemption agreement with Vietnam, tourist visa may be valid for 15 to 30 days.

Tourist visa can only be obtained in Vietnamese embassies, consulates abroad. Otherwise, you can get a visa at the border gates if you are invitees of some Vietnamese competent organs or you are travelling on a package tour organized by Vietnamese travel companies. To apply for a visa, the requirements are as follows:

The Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) held a seminar in Hanoi on April 20 to discuss with the relevant agencies about measures to carry out a pilot project to enhance the teaching of the Vietnamese language abroad.

The first day of the fruit festival in Tien Giang province attracted a large number of visitors and businesses. By the end of the first day, more than 800 stalls had sold out all their fruit.

As part of the festival, a national seminar was held on April 20 to discuss opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese fruit growers during the processm of international economic integration process.

The Central Quang Tri provincial People’s Committee decided to invest 244 billion VND in a project to preserve and promote historical relics of the Quang Tri ancient citadel.

The project aims to mark the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Quang Tri town and the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi.

One hundred gigantic posters showing images of the Vietnamese country and people will be hung in 45 subway stations around Tokyo in 2010, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Director of the Market Department of VNAT, noted that, besides the subway ads, Vietnam will also have big poster hung at the Vietnamese consulate in Osaka.

A group of Japanese university lecturers has researched the Hanoi Old Quarter for five years under a project to preserve and develop the Old Quarter in a sustainable manner.

Each year, they organize seminars about historic preservation and brought Japanese students to Hanoi to learn about the Old Quarter.

“We make research of Hanoi as a new subject of research and to learn valuable experience for preserving old streets in Japan,” said Prof. Fukukawa Yuchi from the Chiba University, who has been in Vietnam for 7-8 years.