Under the impact of deeper globalisation, the process of teaching and learning foreign languages not only involves the mastering of knowledge but also needs to flexibly apply cultural beauty, thinking and the ability to perceive language, in the spirit of preserving the national cultural identity and the purity of the Vietnamese language as well.

Ms. Le Dang Thuy Trang believes that parents need to maintain the habit of bilingual communication with their children. Photo: T.Y

As revealed by Ms. Le Dang Thuy Trang, who holds a master degree in the English language and is currently a teacher for Da Nang-based Brilliant English class, everyone needs to distinguish between bilingualism and learning a foreign language as a second language. The ability to express and communicate in two languages is bilingualism. Common characteristics of bilingual people are: May be of two cultures or one culture that uses two languages. May or may not speak both languages equally well.
Typically, bilingual people are exposed to two languages from childhood, which allows them to acquire both languages more easily. However, you must be very alert and balanced during this language exposure process, otherwise it may negatively affect your ability to use your mother tongue," Ms. Trang said.

Below is an interview between a Da Nang Today reporter and Trang:

* English teaching is facing challenges when there is a possibility that children will "turn away" from Vietnamese. What are your thoughts on this issue?

In my opinion, this issue is increasingly worrying. From my teaching experience, I have encountered many cases of children "turning their backs" on the Vietnamese language, especially children of elementary school and preschool age.

During the entrance test, they spoke English quite well, but when encountering Vietnamese questions, they spent a lot of time thinking and answered very slowly, even saying word by word. This situation leads to a fact that children face difficulties in communicating with peers, often playing alone. When time passes by, they easily lose the ability to communicate with the Vietnamese-speaking community around them.

* In your opinion, what is the cause of the above-mentioned situation?

In my point of view, the situation of children "turning their backs" on Vietnamese comes from two reasons. Firstly, parents let their children watch foreign language programmes as soon as they can babble and this goes on for a long time. Secondly, parents let their children learn foreign languages for an "overwhelming" amount of time as compared to absorbing Vietnamese.

In today's society, many parents do not spend much time talking in Vietnamese with their children and letting them sit for hours in front of the TV or phones, continuously listening to English programmes, which is promping children to absorb passively, gradually becoming a linguistic reflex.

In fact, there are many children who pronounce foreign languages quite correctly but do not really understand the meaning of the words. The sad thing is that many families think their children can speak English well, but when they discover that their children have a language disorder, they spend a lot of time and money on treatment.

Besides, many parents are afraid that their children will not be able to keep up with their friends, and plus pieces of highly -inviting advice from foreign language centres on sending their children to school at the age of 2 - 3. Rich families even sent their children to international schools so they can be exposed to 100% foreign languages. After a while, they panicked when they realised that their children couldn't speak Vietnamese and asked them to return to public school.

During the teaching process, I refused to teach  2-or 3-year-old children because I am clearly aware of the downside of learning English superior to Vietnamese, which would cause some of the aforementioned unfortunate consequences.

* There is an opinion that it is difficult for foreign language learners to "integrate without assimilate" in a dynamic society like today, what do you think?

- Actually, this is not true if learners approach foreign languages at the right age and with the right method. The proof is that many expatriates have settled down abroad, "bathing" in foreign languages and cultures for decades but still retain the purity of Vietnamese. For thousands of years, our country has still maintained the longevity of the Vietnamese language, even making it becoming richer.

However, the reality is that a decline in the ability to use Vietnamese is occurring in a portion of young people. Some often use foreign words to add to their speaking or writing to show their sophistication or simply make it a habit to use them a lot. In other wards, it is an example of the term code-switching practice. Current, some songs comprise of both Vietnamese and foreign lyrics. Even some famous people, when interviewed on television, carelessly show off their code-switching abilities.

In my perspective, the reason does not entirely come from teaching and learning foreign languages, because foreign language learning in Vietnam today mainly focuses on teaching grammar, vocabulary, and practice.

Also, topics in high school English textbooks also focus mainly on Vietnamese culture. Therefore, the remaining problem lies in personal consciousness and outside influence. Young people today are surrounded by information chaos on social networks and learn very quickly from those trends.

Every day, every hour, you are infected with bad images, words, and behaviours and unintentionally turn yourself into the so-called “imitation channel”. Therefore, in order to "integrate without assimilate", not overusing too many songs and festivals from foreign countries and forgetting the beauties of traditional culture, teachers need to integrate many English exercises and dialogues about culture, land of Viet Nam, and make a balance between Vietnamese and English in daily communication and behaviour.

* Do you have any advice for parents?

Language is not only a communication tool but also the basis of culture and information reception. This is something every parent needs to consider before letting their children learn a certain foreign language. In particular, it is high time for parents to determine that their native language is very important for their children, helping them develop family relationships, integrate into the community and enhance love for their beloved homeland and the country.

Along with creating conditions for children to listen to foreign children's music, participate in the Hellowen, Christmas and Thanksgiving festivals to better understand about foreign culture, parents also need to prompt their children to listen to Vietnamese songs that feature such traditional festivals as Mid-autumn and Lunar New Year so as for children to be fully aware of their origins.

Through consulting with families whose children are fluent in both Vietnamese and English, I realised that parents need to build reading habits and writing skills in both English and Vietnamese at the same time. Along with that, it is necessary to maintain a bilingual communication environment and habits. For example, if mother speaks English, father must speak Vietnamese and vice versa. In addition, parents should not reject their native language nor have foreign-loving thoughts in terms of languages when communicating with their peers or the elderly.

Last, but not least, we need to help our children integrate into the community, build a healthy communication environment about the Vietnamese language and avoid letting them imitate Vietnamese slang through social networks and harmful movies.

Reporting by TIEU YEN - Translating by A.THU