Six Foreign Languages Rhetoric Competition held at the Foreign Language Specialized School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

The finals of the Rhetoric Competition of Six Foreign Languages were held at the Cultural Center of the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University in Hanoi on January 20, 2018. The six languages were Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Russian, and six first-prizes, six second-prizes, and twelve third-prizes were awarded to the students. All the contestants were senior secondary students at the Foreign Language Specialized School affiliated with Vietnam National University in Hanoi. “This competition helps students to practise how to speak these six languages fluently.” said Lai Thi Phuong Thao, the vice president of the Foreign Language Specialized School at Vietnam National University in Hanoi. The contestants had to participate in two separate competition sections: one on language and the other on culture. The judges asked questions related to each country’s literature, music, politics, geography, economics and society, and then the contestants expressed their opinions. In the other section, which followed, each contestant was required to ‘tell a story based on pictures’: each contestant had to randomly pick up a picture and then use it to express their knowledge and thoughts. Each candidate’s foreign language ability was evaluated by a panel of native speakers of the respective language and professors from Vietnam National University, Hanoi, with a key principle being to ensure fairness and accuracy. On behalf of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi, Mr. Lee Ming, the Director of the Education Division, donated seven million VND to the Foreign Language Specialized School and presented the awards to the winners in the Chinese language division. He also encouraged the students to continue working hard to master Chinese language skills while they are still at school, pointing out there are roughly 6,000 Taiwanese corporations in Vietnam, that will need approximately 1.5 million middle and high level management personnel in the future, and being equipped with good Chinese language ability will substantially facilitate both their further study and careers, and help the students to ensure a bright future. Photo：Mr. Lee Ming, Director of the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi with the prize winners in the Chinese language rhetoric competition.