"Mr. Hoat Thai"

For a long time, the people of Na Bo 1 village, Muong Sang commune, Moc Chau district have given the excellent artisan Luong Van Hoat a name closely associated with his people, "Mr. Hoat of Thai script" - he has spent many years researching and teaching Thai script to preserve and maintain the nation's writing to live forever with time.

Meritorious artist Lo Van Hoat studies ancient Thai script documents.

Born in 1946 in Muong Sang land in a farming family, Mr. Hoat loves the culture of the Thai people. Mr. Luong Van Hoat shared: In the past, there were not many people in the village who knew Thai and only knew some common words in daily life, such as: eating rice, drinking water, the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter, numbers, names of some animals... When I was young, I saw adults who knew how to use Thai to record agricultural seasons, sowing rice, planting rice, buying and selling buffaloes and cows, so I asked to study. In 2005, I enrolled in a Thai writing class taught by the excellent artisan Lo Van Thang in Na Bo 2 village. While learning the script, I also had access to ancient books left by our ancestors, such as the epic "Tay Pu Xac", the poetic stories Xong Chu Son Sao, Khun lu nang Ua, or folk songs and idioms of the nation imbued with humanistic philosophy and human education, making me increasingly passionate about the nation's writing.

With the desire to preserve and pass on to the younger generation, since 2013, Mr. Luong Van Hoat has started teaching Thai to his children and those who want to learn. Over the past 10 years, he has taught 7 Thai classes to more than 200 people in several communes in Moc Chau district, many of whom are officials working in state agencies and the elderly. He has spent a lot of time researching and preparing lectures with close, practical content, related to daily life, helping students easily read, write and understand the meaning of each word and sentence. The classes taught by Mr. Hoat have contributed to promoting the development of the Thai learning movement in Moc Chau district.

Ms. Deo Thi Xuan, 60 years old, in Na Bo 2 village, Muong Sang commune, shared: More than 5 years ago, I joined Mr. Hoat's Thai writing class. At first, I found it difficult because the way Thai is written, pronounced and rhymed is different from the common language. After a period of persistent study, I was able to read and write fluently, and understand the good traditional cultural values of the nation through the folk songs and proverbs in the ancient Thai book. I feel that I have a responsibility to preserve the writing and language of the nation and teach it to my children and grandchildren.

Artisan Luong Van Hoat also actively researched and composed many works of poetry and literature in ethnic languages; collected documents on traditional festivals, customs and practices of the Thai people; translated hundreds of folk songs, proverbs and ancient Thai literary works. With his tireless contributions, in early 2023, Mr. Luong Van Hoat was awarded the title of Meritorious Artisan in the field of preserving spoken and written languages by the President .

Before saying goodbye, Meritorious Artist Luong Van Hoat gave us a poem in Thai script “Sac Xuan Moc Chau” that he had just composed and expressed: My greatest joy is that Thai script now has an increasingly important position in life. The local Party Committee, government and people have truly joined hands to preserve and promote the cultural values of the Thai people. As long as I am healthy, I will continue to research, learn and teach Thai script, contributing to preserving and maintaining the culture of the Thai people.

Article and photos: Hoang Giang

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