Associate Professor Bui Hien - the person who proposed the reform of 'Vietnamese' has passed away

Associate Professor Dr. Bui Hien - famous for his controversial proposal to reform the Vietnamese alphabet in 2017, passed away at 3:15 pm on May 11 at his home, at the age of 90.

The funeral will be held from 1:00 p.m. on May 12 to 6:00 a.m. on May 13 at. The memorial service and funeral of Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Hien will take place at 6:30 a.m. on May 13. He will be buried in his hometown of Vinh Chan, Ha Hoa, Phu Tho .

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Hien.

Associate Professor Dr. Bui Hien was born on May 19, 1935 in Vinh Chan commune, Ha Hoa district, Phu Tho. He was one of the first people to teach Russian in the Vietnamese education system.

In 1953, he was sent to China to study Russian. After 2 years of study, in 1955, he graduated from the University of Foreign Languages, Russian Department in Beijing, China. Returning to Vietnam, he was assigned to be in charge of the Russian department of the newly established Foreign Language School in Hanoi . In 1967, the Hanoi University of Foreign Languages was established, Bui Hien was in charge of the Russian department of this school.

From 1969 to 1972, he was a PhD student in Russian in the Soviet Union. After successfully defending his thesis, in 1973, he returned to Vietnam to continue working at the Hanoi University of Foreign Languages.

In 1974, he was appointed Vice Principal of Hanoi University of Foreign Languages (now University of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi).

He was then appointed Deputy Director of the Institute of General Education Content and Teaching Methods under the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences and held this position until his retirement in 1993.

In 2017, he became known for his controversial proposal to improve the national language. In it, he proposed to reduce the alphabet from 38 to 31 letters, improve the Vietnamese writing system with "giao duc" becoming "zao zụk", "Tieng Viet" becoming "Tieq Viet"... He believes that after nearly a century, the national language has revealed many unreasonable things, so it needs to be improved to be simple, easy to remember, easy to use, and save time.

On December 29, 2017, his proposed improvement was granted a copyright certificate by the Copyright Office. On January 12, 2018, he continued to publish 3,254 six-eight verses of the Tale of Kieu in the "Vietnamese" language.

However, by the end of 2018, he announced a complete stop, not researching anything more about the Vietnamese improvement set because the improvement set was fully completed, clear, and his health did not allow it.

Kim Anh

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/pgs-bui-hien-nguoi-tung-de-xuat-cai-tien-tieq-viet-qua-doi-ar942753.html