According to Khoa, Vietnamese youth nowadays, in addition to being equipped with a rich language foundation, have inherited the open and dynamic spirit of modern times. This is a favorable environment for new literary talents to reach out to the globe and live with passion.

Looking back at his era, Khoa commented that people of his generation were talented and always had a great passion for literature, but they did not have good foreign language skills, which was a barrier for them to approach the world’s literary circles.

Khoa mentioned his days studying at the Maksim Gorky Literature Institute in the former Soviet Union. Though he had studied Russian for a long time before following a training course there, and had practiced Russian regularly, he still faced difficulties when his Russian teachers and friends commented that he ‘spoke Russian like Vietnamese’. 

It was a humorous but meaningful comment implying that he still thought in a Vietnamese way and then described thoughts with Russian words, and had not really mastered the foreign language.

Khoa returned to Russia 30 years later and once again used Russian to communicate with native speakers. He tried to talk with Russians he met on the streets. But surprisingly, the Russian people replied in English. The poet then realized that his Russian had become too poor and he could no longer communicate with them in Russian.

He stressed that it was the language barrier which prevented the people of his generation to approach international literary circles. Despite great talents and passion, they lacked opportunities to shine in the world.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese youth, especially those born in 1990 onwards, have great opportunities to learn foreign languages in Vietnam. Living in a ‘bilingual environment’, many students can use English as second language in their childhood, and can compose literary works in English and easily show their talent to the world.

Nguyen Khanh Chi (Kaitlyn Nguyen), the author of Magic Runs Wild and Dang Ha Linh (Bonnie Mae), the author of The Strongest Magic of All, are two examples. Their novels have been published internationally by Ukiyoto Canada.

Le Gia Thao Ngoc and Le Ho Quy Que Duyen composed novels and long tales in English when they were just 11-12 and 16 years old.

To win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Khoa said young writers need one percent talent, fluent foreign language skills, and 99 percent effort.

Tinh Le