Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien - Life after 5 years of improving Quoc Ngu script caused a storm

Perhaps each of us remembers the period of 5 years ago when we were in peace and quiet, when Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien (former Vice President of Hanoi University of Foreign Language Education) made a proposal to improve the Quoc Ngu script, making public opinion not from confusion, causing controversy for a long time.

Specifically, after the reform, "Education" will be written as "Zao zúk", "Vietnamese" as "Vietnamese tieq", ... Looking back 5 years after being criticized throughout social networks, life Assoc. Prof. TS's "improvement of Quoc Ngu" makes many people curious.

I don't want to bother my children and grandchildren, I choose to go to a nursing home

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien and his wife have 5 children with enough habits. Currently, his wife has moved to Poland to live with her daughter to help her take care of the house and take care of her grandchildren. And because he did not want to live abroad as well as bother his children, he chose to live alone. Previously, he lived in an apartment in the old dormitory in Thanh Xuan district (Hanoi). However, at present, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien has moved to live in a nursing home because he does not want to disturb his children and grandchildren.

VietNamNet newspaper published, the reason was because he felt lonely in his own house. A few years ago, during a rush to work, he missed a step on the stairs leading to a sprain and had to use a cane to be able to walk for a long time. At that time, being alone, he faced many difficulties. Seeing that, the grandson and his wife moved to live with him to take care of him. However, because of the generation gap, there are many points that are difficult to get along with.

Specifically, the time of living, eating, and sleeping. Because he is an old man, Mr. Hien often gets up early to exercise. The children are still young and often stay up late at work, so they cannot get up early. Also because of the difference in living time, even though they lived in the same house, the couple's nephew and Mr. Hien did not eat and drink together. The food preferences of the two grandparents are also different. Because of his age and weak teeth, Mr. Hien usually only eats soft and frugal dishes. The children are still young, so they like to eat fried foods, grilled hot pot, ...

Sharing with New Family Newspaper, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien said: "It is said that they live in the same house, but they eat separately and have little time to talk together. There are times when I feel lonely in the house itself. mine." Therefore, Mr. Hien decided to enter a nursing home where he had many friends of the same age and was cared for by nurses.

Still working hard on reforming the word despite facing many disadvantages

After 5 years, the life of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien has changed a lot. However, he is still engrossed in his more than 40 years of devoted research.

It is known that Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien rented a room of about 15m2 in a nursing home for 12 million VND/month with pension and the support of his children and grandchildren. Every day, in addition to writing books and researching languages, Mr. Hien also goes online to chat with relatives and friends. At the same time, he also spends about an hour a day walking and exercising around the nursing home campus.

"When I arrived at the nursing home, I was transferred all my personal belongings, computers, research documents here, I almost moved my working corner to a new place, everything was familiar so I felt very familiar. The living conditions are good, making me feel like returning to my home, not moving to a new place," said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien.

Up to now, Mr. Hien has lived in a nursing home for nearly half a year and feels very interested in life here. Because in addition to the quiet, fresh space, he also has contact with old friends of the same age, someone who takes care of him, takes care of 4 meals.

"Because I'm well cared for, I don't have to do errands like at home, so now I have more time to work, study languages and feel much happier," said Mr. Hien.

Previously, in July 2017, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien announced a scientific work on improving Quoc Ngu script at a scientific conference on language in Binh Dinh. According to Mr. Bui Hien, the current alphabet has 3 major limitations. The first is 2-3 letters representing the same phoneme. The second limitation is that the same letter represents multiple phonemes. Finally, some consonant phonemes at the end of the rhyme such as ch, ng, and nh are represented by more than one letter.

According to the new alphabet proposed by Mr. Bui Hien, there will be 4 more Latin letters F, J, W, Z and the letter D will be removed. Specifically, the letter C will replace the letters Ch, Tr; D = D; G = G, Gh; F = Ph; K = C, Q, K; Q = Ng, Ngh; R = R; S = S; X = Kh; W = Th; Z = D, Gi, R. Besides, he also created a new letter for the phoneme "thanks" (nh). So, after the reform, the word "Education" will be rewritten as Zão zúc, "Vietnamese" as "Vietnamese tieq",...

It is known that he submitted this research which has been diligently carried out by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien for more than 40 years. He proposed this work 27 years ago in a scientific journal but was not considered.

"They used my own words to curse me"

Remember the time when Assoc. Prof. Bui Hien announced the improvement of Quoc Ngu script, besides the objective comments with goodwill contributions, there were many harsh comments, including the use of extremely harsh words. heavy as "problem", "nervous", "crazy", "fat".

Sharing with the media, Associate Professor Bui Hien said:

"Honestly, I've read them all, but I ignored them because they weren't worth paying attention to. If serious people write articles, I definitely have to read them to learn from their own experiences, get feedback, and then edit them again. And the netizens "stoned the council" often because they didn't understand my proposal well, so they just said let them talk, and then stopped talking because it was boring.

Moreover, I found them very conflicted because on social networks they criticized up and down, saying that it was difficult to learn but funny that after the first night, many people used my own words to curse me. I haven't taught them, I haven't introduced the system yet, but they spent hours learning how to write the right typeface. They also don't have to wait a year like learning the national language to curse me. It proves one thing that this word is very sensitive, very quickly into people's heads. Why don't people see that benefit and turn to call me causing trouble?" he shared.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Hien's enthusiasm for this research is undeniable. Although he pointed out many shortcomings of the current alphabet as well as the advantages that the reformed letter brings, it is still not appreciated. Many people believe that Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hien should put aside the research work to focus on enjoying old age. However, he is still determined to study and improve the Quoc Ngu script until "just close my eyes".

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