Strange Sri Lankan village speaks Vietnamese, sings "Kia con butterfly vang"

The temple under the bamboo forest

Vietnamese class in March 2023 (Photo: Ngoc Ngan).

In the imagination of Hiranya - a Sri Lankan girl, Vietnam is a land of sweet voices, friendly smiles, ripe rice fields, and long beaches. Vietnamese people give each other red lucky money envelopes, wrap Chung cakes, and Tet cakes every Tet holiday. That is what Hiranya feels, after 6 months of learning Vietnamese at a pagoda 700 meters from her home.

Not only Hiranya, many children and adults in the village of Ambokotte town, Kandy city, Sri Lanka can read, speak and sing Vietnamese.

About 10 years ago, monk Phap Quang (from Dong Thap ) went to Sri Lanka to study. In 2020, he was given 2,000 square meters of land to build a Vietnamese temple in Kandy City, about 120km from the capital Colombo.

Each letter is carefully written by the children (Photo: Ngoc Ngan).

The temple nestled under the bamboo forest was named Truc Lam Zen Monastery by the monk. He and five other monks brought seeds of mustard greens, Chinese cabbage, longan, jackfruit, and betel leaves from their hometown to plant. The villagers went to work or school one day and went to the temple to help with the public works the next day.

They loved the Vietnamese monks and were curious about the tonal language, so they asked the monks to teach them. The Vietnamese class for Sri Lankan children was launched in June 2022.

Strange Vietnamese-speaking Sri Lankan village ( Video : Nga Trinh).

The free class is located in the main hall of the temple. Children learn the alphabet, spelling, and then babble Vietnamese songs such as Kia con buom vang, Bong hong cai ao... Children come home and sing Vietnamese songs, and adults find it interesting and ask to come to the class.

In the days when Sri Lanka was deep in economic crisis, prices were skyrocketing and power outages were frequent. Students still went to class and wrote under the dim light of candles and flashlights.

Life was hard, but the monks continued to maintain their classes. They switched from gas stoves to firewood to save money. Gas prices skyrocketed, and people had to walk to class.

Sri Lankan children learn Vietnamese spelling (Photo: Ngoc Ngan).

"We were touched by the affection of the Sri Lankan people. They are gentle, hard-working and diligent. Some students, after only 4 months of studying, were able to sing the complete songs "Bông hồng có áo" (Rose pinned on the shirt), "Bôn phương trời" (Four directions of the sky)... The notebooks were carefully wrapped and decorated with beautiful stickers about Vietnam. They cherish the knowledge they have learned," said Mr. Phap Quang.

Every day when they met, the monks asked everyone, "Are you happy today?" They replied, "I am very happy." In addition to learning Vietnamese, the monks also invited the Sri Lankan people to enjoy Vietnamese food, introduced them to the ao dai, conical hats, and Tet customs...

Love for Vietnam

Although it is quite difficult to learn, the children are still very passionate about Vietnamese (Photo: Ngoc Ngan).

Seeing visitors to the temple, Santush (15 years old) greeted: "Good morning, how are you all?". He introduced himself fluently and showed us the poems he had written. According to Santush, the most difficult part of Vietnamese is learning to add accents. He had to learn to distinguish between question marks and tildes, grave marks and heavy marks... This is not easy for Sri Lankans.

However, Santush still comes to class every day, rain or shine. He is eager for each new lesson. His "classmates" include 60 and 70-year-old ladies with white hair who still carefully learn to write Vietnamese.

My father was happy to see that I had been working hard since I started going to class. He volunteered to become a free English teacher at Truc Lam Zen Monastery.

Sri Lankan children with Vietnamese notebooks (Photo: Ngoc Ngan).

The villagers’ love for the Vietnamese language was ignited by very small things. They went to the pagoda on New Year’s Eve to experience the feeling of welcoming the new year like the Vietnamese people. Every time they learned to sing Vietnamese songs, the monks explained the meaning of the lyrics, about love for the country, friendship or filial piety to parents.

Talking to reporters, Ms. Arakita (58 years old) said that going to class every day helps her to have more joy in life. The Sri Lankan woman found Vietnamese "interesting" when she heard her grandchild sing the song "Ke con buom vang". At the age of nearly 60, she still decided to go to class to learn spelling. Currently, she is happy to be able to communicate basically with the monks.

"Age is not an obstacle when you have passion," she said. Thanks to her love of Vietnamese, the class has grown to 50 students, divided into two shifts, from Monday to Friday.

Vietnamese exercises in class (Photo: Ngoc Ngan).

Every night, the classroom lights up to welcome people. Osteen (15 years old) said that one of his dreams is to go to Vietnam, to see the bamboo fences, banyan trees, communal houses... as described in his studies.

Monk Phap Quang said: "The class is a way for people to preserve and develop the Vietnamese language abroad. We are proud to be Vietnamese and introduce the language, culture, and beauty of our homeland to international friends."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/ky-la-ngoi-lang-sri-lanka-noi-tieng-viet-hat-kia-con-buom-vang-20230504130821013.htm