Vietnam: the Unheard Voices - Refugee Educators' Network

Other foreigners may spend a long timc in Vict Xam 1%-itlmut
ever undersmnrb~g what is going on. Thc lanpgc probiem is cmcia!.
Fcw Amcrican advisers spcak Victnamesc, and tl~osc who do
arc found only at the nliddlc and lo\r.cr levels. In Igj9, according to
the U.S. ambassador in Saigon at the time, only nine of the I , ~ O
LQmericans in thc official atablishment could speak l-7icmamesc:
four in the Statc Lleparment, three in thc rnfiq, one in the Infvrmarion
Service, and one in the econonlic aid program. Through
1968, therc was still nobod!? in the upper echelons or on the U.S.
Alission Council ~vho kncw Viemamcie and codd thus talk with thc
very pcople for \vhom policics were being made. Foreigners,
whethcr they know it or not, arc virtually hclplcss without the
language. Althoush thcre has been, over the years, a growing
emphasis on thc need for spcaking Victn3mesc, very fcrv Americans
have rally tried to master thc difficult tone marks or risked "losing
face" bv makills mistakes in front of the pcoplc thcy halye come m
advise. The advisers feel that thcir stay is too short to take rhe
trouble. Most IVS volunteers studied thcir entirc first \:car before
feeling at home in Vicmamesc. Mcan\vhile, U.S. government officials
were dcciding that thc languagc \\.as too difficuIt and werc
Iearning Frcnch instad. What thcy f3ilcd to rcalize was that nlant-
Vietnamcsc who spoke French also spoI