Arabic language day celebrated

HÀ NỘI — Student Khương Hữu Anh Duy from HCM City won first prize at this year’s Arabic Poem Reciting Contest hosted by Saudi Arabian Embassy in Hà Nội on December 17.

Students Trần Bùi Ngọc Trâm and Nguyễn Khánh Linh won second and third prizes while Vũ Phương Quỳnh Anh and Nguyễn Lê Khánh Huyền collected consolation prizes.

They were among dozens of contestants from Hà Nội National University and HCM City’s National University.

Student Khương Hữu Anh Duy (right) won first prize in the Arabic Poem Reciting Contest. Photos courtesy of the embassy

On the same day, the embassy launched the first Arabic-Vietnamese dictionary by Hà Nội’s National University.

The ceremony was organised in the framework of the International Arabic Language Day under Arabian – the Language of Poetry and Arts, which took place in the ambassador’s residential area in Hà Nội gathering dozens of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, universities and research institutes.

Addressing the ceremony, Hamoud Naif S. Almutairi, Deputy Chief of Mission of Saudi Arabian Embassy, stressed that the anniversary this year coincides with the 50th anniversary of Arabic being approved to be one of the official languages of the United Nations.

An exhibition of Arabic Language at the ceremony.

“With the profundity and abundance of vocabularies, origins, and ways to express, the Arabian language has been a tool to connect civilisations, cultural exchanges, science, knowledge and literature exchanges between eras,” he said.

“The language has absorbed various civilisations like Persian, Greece and India to become a global language.”

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has initiated many schools, research institutes, and universities specialising in Arabian.

The King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, set up in September 2020, has helped enhance the position of the language in the region and in the world, he said. VNS

The first Arabic-Vietnamese dictionary was launched by Hà Nội’s National University.