News & Events

TRA VINH – Members of the School’s news team enjoyed an intensive training in news translation in the morning of Tuesday 30 Dec 2014 at the School’s meeting room.

The instructor, Dr. Ho Dac Tuc, started the workshop by making it very clear that news translating is in fact a news writing process. The translators have to obey some basic principles and strategies in translation to make a translated text informative and meet the reader’s expectations.

Dr Ho-Dac Tuc at the news translation workshop

“The vital goal of translating is to bring equivalent effects to the target readers of the target culture.” Dr. Tuc said. Therefore, translators should always bear in mind the question “who is going to read my texts?” before making an attempt to transfer an original text into the target language.

During the workshop, some fundamental theories in the field of translation were briefly introduced such as “equivalence in translation”, “Skopos Theory” together with some basic standards and conventions in news writing like “the structure of news” and  “translation styles”.

At the end of the workshop, the news members applied the basic principles from the above theories to make news headlines in English. One of the participants, an intern student, Ngo Thi Phien, said: “Yesterday, I tried to translate one English text into Vietnamese. And now I am thinking about using what I have learned from this workshop to re-write my translated text.”

News by: Thao Nhung, Ngoc Tai.

TRA VINH – On Friday night 17th December, TVU School of Foreign Languages students opened their 11th annual Christmas tradition with a group dancing on the background music of Doraemon that effectively brought the Christmas cheer to hundreds of merry audiences.

“Green Your Life” is the theme of this year’s Get-Together music concert.


Creative choreography  performed by the talented students of the Foreign Languages School

The annual music concert, lasting well over a decade, is entirely student-run from script writing, choreographing to costume designing and stage managing.

This year Get-Together once again mixed the warmth of students and the fun of an intercultural experience, with the combined power of English, French, Khmer and Chinese music.

‘The popular Get-Together at TVU is a great opportunity for the students to practice English, bonds community members through the sounds of music,’ said Mr Tran Van Trong, TVU’s Vice Rector. ‘It is a joy to see how the School of Foreign Languages annual concert gets our community together.”

This year’s theme, ‘Green Your Life’, is inspired by the TVU Rector, Dr Pham Tiet Khanh, who in 2013 signed the Talloires Declaration, an official statement of a commitment to environmental sustainability in higher education made by 300 university presidents in over 40 countries.

For the TVU community, attending the Get-Together concert is a tradition, but there is something new this year. Students infused this year’s theme into each entertainment scene through music, plays, fanciful costumes procession, and group dances to inspire sustainable behaviours campus-wide.

Europe-wide hit 'Tous les garcons et les filles' performed by French lecturer Diane and Year 4 English major  Diem Thi

‘Besides languages, we show our talents in the language of dance and music,’ said Nguyen Thi My Tu, Year 4 English major who’s also an MC for the night. ‘We have been working diligently for the last three months behind the scenes to contribute to this music show.’

Grotesque and wild costumes designed by students, fantastic breakdancing group, and Year 4 English major Pham Thi Diem Thi, singing the 1960’s greatest hit Tous les garçons et les filles with French lecturer Diane Zorzi, are part of this talent.


'We wish you a Merry Xmas'

The 2014 Christmas music concert greatly benefits from the hard work of students and staff both on and off stage. Over 60 students and teachers performers used their combined talents to bring to life the sounds of this season.

News by Aloki Nodi

Photos by Nguyen Thanh Son

Faculty of Australia’s Swinburne and Vietnam’s TVU have presented two peer-reviewed papers on sustainability at the 14th International ACTS (Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability) conference, hosted by the University of Tasmania in Hobart on November 5, 2014.


Dr François Malherbe presents TVU and Swinburne joint green project

Dr François Malherbe and Dr Vivienne Waller of Swinburne University of Australia, and Dr Ho-Dac Tuc of TVU School of Foreign Languages co-authored two discusion papers, entitled “Innovating campus sustainability projects through international collaborative engagements”, and “Green transformations at a university campus in Vietnam”.

A poster on behalf of the International Sustainability Project-2014 cohort was also presented at the Conference to continue promoting the Green Campus Concept to TVU staff and students.TVU Green Project Poster at the Conference

The papers are part of the follow-up of the International Sustainability Project between Swinburne and Tra Vinh Universities, which, in January 2014, brought 18 students and three academics from Swinburne University, Australia, to Tra Vinh University for a 2-week program to jointly boost environmental awareness.

This project was conceived by Dr Pham Tiet Khanh, Rector and President of Tra Vinh University, Dr Ho Dac Tuc, Deputy Dean of the TVU School of Foreign Languages, and Dr François Malherbe, Deputy Academic Coordinator (Education) of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, at Swinburne University of Technology, in January 2013.

From Australia, environmental chemist Dr François Malherbe said the papers were shared through two separate 45 minutes oral presentations. The Tra Vinh experience was lauded by all attendees.

TVU’s Rector, Dr Pham Tiet Khanh, signed the Talloires Declaration in October 2013, a declaration for sustainability, created for and by presidents of institutions of higher learning. Swinburne is also a signatory to this declaration.

News: School of Foreign languages

Photo: Francois

The School of Foreign Languages at Tra Vinh University is offering a Lecture Series on Fine Arts and Literature in Europe to the University’s entire students and staff for Term 1 of 2014-2015.

This weekly Lecture Series features 13 lectures given by Diane Zorzi and Benoit Hamon, the two Sorbonne graduates have recently joined the TVU School of Foreign Languages.

Lectures Schedule - 2014

Unless otherwise noted, all lectures take place Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. in Room B11.208.
Mark your calendars, have some coffee, and learn for free!

 OCTOBER

October 1st
Introduction of French art and literature from the 16th century to the Revolution (1789)

October 8th
A brief study on the Revolution and an introduction of French art and literature of the 19th century

October 15th
Introduction of French art and literature of the 20th century

October 22th
Classical theatre with Corneille, Racine and Molière: study of comedy and tragedy in the 17th century

October 29th
From Neoclassicism to Romanticism in Germany and France (1750-1850)

NOVEMBER

November 5th
French art from Realism to Impressionism and French realist literature (Balzac, Zola, Maupassant...) in the 19th century

November 12th
Birth of Modern Art: the avant-garde from Impressionism to Abstraction (1874-1920)

November 19th
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (1913)

November 26th
What is Surrealism? (1924-1966)           

UPCOMING EVENTS

DECEMBER

December 3rd
Study of the "Nouveau Roman" with Marguerite Duras (1955-1980).

December 10th
Introduction to classical music in Europe from the 16th century to the 20th century.

December 17th
A visit and a brief history of Louvre Museum and an introduction to French architecture with the most important buildings in Paris.

December 24th – Christmas Day
The Catholic iconography in Renaissance paintings and a reading of the Bible.