Portrait of the man who brought Vietnamese language to equal status at Harvard

In 1994, for the first time, Vietnamese was named on the department nameplate, standing equal with Chinese, Japanese and Korean at the top university of the USA. Behind that historical recognition is the quiet effort and almost a third of a century of dedication by a teacher from Hanoi.

Professor Ngo Nhu Binh giving a lecture on “The Vietnamese Language Program at Harvard University.” Photo: vsl/ussh.

AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY TO HARVARD

Ngo Nhu Binh was born and raised in Hanoi, in an environment that taught him to love language from an early age. He was an excellent student of the Russian Department, Hanoi University of Foreign Language Education (1968 - 1973), and later remained there as a lecturer from 1973 to 1978.

His passion for linguistics led him to Moscow, where he pursued postgraduate studies in Russian linguistic theory at the Institute of the Russian Language, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. There, he deepened his knowledge of linguistics, learned methods for teaching languages to foreigners, and gained exposure to an international academic environment.

After completing his doctoral program in the early 1980s, he became a lecturer at Lomonosov Moscow State University, where he taught and conducted research on Vietnamese linguistics. This period laid a solid foundation for his later journey to bring the Vietnamese language to the world.

By the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union began opening up which created more opportunities for academic exchange. When Lomonosov invited American professors to teach, Ngo Nhu Binh learned from colleagues that many U.S. universities were seeking Vietnamese language instructors.

In 1992, he applied for and was accepted as a Vietnamese lecturer at the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) at the University of Washington (Seattle). While teaching there, he heard that Harvard was hiring a Vietnamese instructor. At first, he submitted his application “just for fun,” thinking Harvard was too prestigious, especially with so many talented Vietnamese already in the U.S. To his surprise, after several phone interviews, he was officially appointed as a Vietnamese language lecturer at Harvard.

ESTABLISHING THE FIRST OFFICIAL VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE PROGRAM

One of Prof. Ngo Nhu Binh’s most remarkable contributions is his dedication to building a structured Vietnamese language program at Harvard. Before this, Vietnamese had been taught at Harvard, but it had never been organized into a systematic program that was regularly updated to reflect the linguistic realities. From revising textbooks and designing syllabi for each level, to advocating for course recognition within the department, he was the driving force that led Vietnamese into an academic option on par with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in the Faculty.

“Harvard has continuously taught the Vietnamese language since 1971. However, only from 1994 that the university officially established a Vietnamese program within the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, placing it on par with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean,” he noted.

Not only was he the architect of the program, but Prof. Ngo Nhu Binh also directly authored and revised the syllabus for international students. His notable work Elementary Vietnamese (Revised Edition) has been widely adopted, not only at Harvard but also in many universities and Vietnamese language centers worldwide. These textbooks reflect his effort to transform linguistic expertise into practice, and are more accessible for students with no prior background in Vietnamese.

Although the number of enrollment in Vietnamese is not as high as in other languages, his program has consistently maintained a stable number of 20 - 30 students each year. Throughout his years at Harvard, he also took the roles of coordinator and mentor for younger lecturers, organized workshops, and presented the Vietnamese program at international conferences, thereby creating a scholarly network that ensured the program's sustainability and growth.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: LANGUAGE AS A GATEWAY TO CULTURE

For Prof. Ngo Nhu Binh, teaching Vietnamese was never just about vocabulary and grammar. He often reminded his students: “You are not learning Vietnamese just to pick up a few words or grammatical structures to make small talk. You are learning Vietnamese in order to understand Vietnam’s culture and history. My mission is to give you the linguistic means to do so.”

This philosophy is deeply reflected in his teaching approach. He skillfully integrated descriptive linguistics with the communicative approach. He especially paid attention to pronunciation, intonation, and sentence structures commonly used in everyday life, helping students to quickly develop their listening and speaking skills.

To deepen student knowledge, he integrates elements of literature, history, and the arts into his teaching. He assigned students to read Nguyen Huy Thiep’ works, poetry by Nguyen Binh, and watch classic films such as The Quiet American.

Many of his students, after completing his courses, have changed their perspectives. They came to realize that the war in the past was an unfortunate tragedy for both nations.

THE MAN WHO “REPAID HIS DEBT” TO VIETNAMESE

After more than three decades of dedication, Prof. Ngo Nhu Binh’s legacy extends far beyond the campus of Harvard. It is a system of rigorous, practical teaching materials that continue to be used worldwide. There are generations of students, many of whom have become scholars, diplomats, and professionals with a deep understanding of and affection for Vietnam.

He succeeded in transforming Vietnamese from an occasional subject into a recognized academic discipline at one of the world’s most prestigious universities. Today, Vietnamese remains the only Southeast Asian language taught in Harvard’s Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Above all, he built a cultural bridge that enabled international friends to see Vietnam beyond the war, but also a country with an ancient heritage, a beautiful and rich language, and a profound national soul.

When asked about his journey, he humbly described himself as someone who “owed a debt” and was simply trying to “repay” it to the Vietnamese language. “If a person does not feel indebted to their mother tongue, it is difficult for them to truly cherish it, and from there, they do not cherish the culture of their own people,” he shared.

Yet with all of his achievements, Prof. Ngo Nhu Binh has not only repaid that debt to his mother tongue, but has also brought honor to the Vietnamese language and culture on the international stage.