Little translator Lily and the silk road of knowledge from her parents

Translator Lily (center) and her father at the launch of the book *The Silk Road* - Photo: QT

In 2022, Vietnamese readers admired the translation abilities of 9-year-old translator Lily (Ho An Nhien) with her work "Cannot Stop ". At the end of May 2024, Lily released a new work titled "The Silk Road ". This is the fifth work translated by Lily.

Reading the book *The Silk Road* reveals that wherever there are pioneers who open up new paths, there are paths of wisdom, paths that transcend space and time.

Parental perseverance

Lily started translating books at the age of 8 and continued translating at the ages of 10 and 11. Such an early start and consistent production of high-quality translations by a young translator is clearly not something that happened by chance.

Lily's mother loved reading from a young age. Although she didn't work in publishing, she made significant contributions to the publishing and dissemination of books. Lily's father was a lecturer at various universities and understood the value of books. Lily's paternal grandfather was a professor of medicine. Lily's maternal grandmother was a teacher who also loved books.

Lily's grandparents and parents started their careers on the Silk Road of knowledge. Therefore, they instilled knowledge in Lily's mind from their own love of knowledge.

Have you ever patiently read books with your children from a young age? Have you ever patiently listened to stories your children made up while looking at picture books? Have you ever patiently read the entire Journey to the West series with your children and answered their questions when they were in second grade? Have you ever patiently discussed philosophical issues for children, financial literacy for children, etc., whenever your children needed help?

Parents may face a multitude of such questions. And each different answer will result in different people and different lives.

With Lily, her parents have been persistent and patient, not only answering "yes" to the questions above but also creating many other opportunities for her. This includes building a vocabulary bank in both Vietnamese and English across various fields, helping her understand concepts within her capabilities, allowing her to freely imagine and express herself, and fostering debate and mutual learning over the past 11 years.

Therefore, these five translations are the result of the tireless efforts of the parents and the young translator herself. And we don't need to prove the obvious that family education is the great start for every child.

To have more lilies

In addition to inheriting opportunities to access knowledge and transform it into translated products, Lily soon became involved in activities to popularize books among rural readers, including using the financial resources from book translations to build rural classroom libraries and participating in book-themed celebrations during Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) to raise social awareness about the importance of books, just as Lily herself had benefited.

So, what kind of support is needed for children born into families lacking specialized knowledge and whose parents were deprived of books from a young age?

Tens of millions of children growing up in rural areas from the 1970s to the present lack access to books and educational opportunities from their families. If, during preschool, primary, and lower secondary school, students do not receive reading or audiobook instruction, then as adults, these citizens will not understand the value of books in impacting their spiritual lives, knowledge accumulation, skills, life values, confidence in communication, and problem-solving.

Worse still, many of them are uninterested in books and don't encourage their children to read. This intergenerational intellectual poverty persists, preventing individuals and society from transforming into the intellectual force that drives social progress.

Therefore, on a personal level, not everyone studies in the UK like Lily's parents, not every student is as passionate about translating books as Lily, but millions of parents in urban and rural areas are capable of reading with their children from a young age, just like Lily's parents, and millions of children want their parents to read with them.

Parents need to understand that while each classroom library only costs a few million dong to start, its long-term value for children cannot be measured in money; it's about developing knowledgeable minds, fostering filial piety, and cultivating responsible citizenship.

Simultaneously, Vietnam's education system must change to align with that of developed countries. In that context, parenting education becomes an integral part of education. Parents who haven't yet developed the habit of reading with their children will gradually change as schools and society evolve.

Resources from parents, teachers, and alumni, totaling trillions of dong during the school year, will be mobilized, and tens of millions of books will reach children at school and at home. The educational revolution in Vietnam means that all our children will have access to and be able to read books, just like children in Western Europe, America, and Japan...

Hopefully, in the next twenty years, society will have many more "Lilies" in various fields, contributing to enriching the nation's knowledge base, and many intellectual products will be created, just as Japan, South Korea, Israel, and others have been and are creating.

Lily began translating at the age of 8 with the trilogy of picture books "Guardians of Childhood ," published by Book Hunter and Da Nang Publishing House in 2021. Shortly after, Lily received an invitation from Omega Plus Book to translate two popular history books: "Unstoppable" by Yuval Noah Harari and "The Silk Roads" by Peter Frankopan.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dich-gia-nhi-lily-va-con-duong-to-lua-tri-thuc-tu-cha-me-20240612234935641.htm