[13926] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FYI France: la Francophonie -- Vietnam
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Wed May 16 08:54:36 2001
Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 11:39:43 -0700
From: Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.COM>
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FYI France: la Francophonie -- Vietnam
Online French language resources about Vietnam are numerous, and
they are interesting from various special points of view. Yes,
there are those who simply are interested in Vietnam. But, also,
that particular Asian country is a symbol now of at least two
more general issues of special interest to people here:
a) Empire -- among the many things shared by the French and US
Americans, surely "Vietnam" is one of the most recent, most
poignant, and most significant; also,
b) Language Policy -- among the greatest misconceptions ruling
today's Internet and Globalization worlds is that which ordains
an English - language - only planet going forward. Surely this is
as unrealistic a dream, now, as "Vietnam" was a fantasy for the
many -- Vietnamese and foreigners -- who became embroiled with
each other over there during the last century. Ironically, Asia
generally and Vietnam in particular may be shaping up to become
the new frontier for the confrontations of the current era as
well: this time peaceful, perhaps -- one hopes -- but also nearly
as ferocious, no longer now over territory but over language.
Which will it be in the future, in Vietnam and Asia generally and
elsewhere, English? or French? or some other choice? The race is
not for first place, which doubtless will go to whatever is
local: to Vietnamese in Vietnam, as it will to Chinese in China,
Bahasa Malaysia in Malaysia, Tagalog in the Philippines, Thai in
Thailand. But there is a great contest under way now for second
place, and it is by no means clear, or necessary, that English
must "win" this.
One excellent example of the increasing number of Francophone
"Vietnam online" sites:
Vie^t Nam Contact
Bienvenue sur le serveur du Campus Nume'rique Francophone
de Hanoi
http://www.vn.refer.org/vietn_ct/
[The site offers the following, in French -- and Vietnamese --
and no, I'm not going to try _that_ in US ASCII diacriticals...]
* Education
** Repe`res sur le syste`me e'ducatif au Vie^t Nam
** Les classes bilingues - Le certificat francophone
** F.U.F. Filie`res Universitaires Francophones
** U.V.F. Universite' Virtuelle Francophone
** La CONFRASIE [/Confe'rence re'gionale des Recteurs des
Universite's membres de l'Agence Universitaire de la
Francophonie en Asie du Sud-Est]
** I.F.I. Institut francophone d'informatique de Hanoi
* Recherche
** Energies renouvelables : initiative PRESSEA
(Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources in South - East
- Asia) en Asie du Sud - Est. Partenaire : Vietnam
** Consultez MIRURAM : le Milieu Rural et son
Ame'nagement, une base de connaissances paysages et
sols sur le Vietnam, en particulier le Delta du Me'kong
** Le CERDAC-ASRDC (Centre de Recherches et de
De'veloppement sur l'Artemia et les Crevettes) de
l'universite' de Can Tho
** Le CNIDST, Centre national de l'information et de la
documentation scientifique et technologique
** L'Ecole franc,aise d'extre^me orient
** Le FICU : Fonds International de Coope'ration
Universitaire de Hanoi
** Les re'seaux institutionnels
** Les Centres SYFED-REFER au Vietnam [/ centres d'acce`s
a` l'Information Scientifique et Technique (Centres
IST, auparavant de'nomme's centres Syfed-Refer)]
* Economie
** Sur le site canadien Agriculture et Agroalimentaire
Canada, a` la rubrique Information sur les marche's :
Asie-Pacifique vous trouverez un profil du secteur
Agroalimentaire du Vietnam (mars 1998)
** Sur le site de la Direction des Relations Economiques
Exte'rieures du Ministe`res des affaires e'trange`res
franc,ais, vous trouverez les pages sur le Vietnam :
indicateurs e'conomiques, nouvelle bre`ves, appels
d'offres ainsi que diverses informations d'inte're^t
ge'ne'ral
** Les pages du "Vietnam et la coope'ration
de'centralise'e franc,aise" sur le site de l'ambassade
de France au Vietnam offrent une bonne pre'sentation
ge'ne'rale du Vietnam comprenant, entre autres, de
nombreuses cartes graphiques et donne'es de base sur
le pays a` jour jusqu'en 1997
** Informations du Ministe`re des Affaires Etrange`res du
Vietnam
** Actes de la premie`re rencontre re'gionale « Affaires,
entreprises et francophonie » (25 et 26 novembre 1994,
Palais de la Re'unification, Ho^ Chi Minh Ville)
** Note sur le de'veloppement des relations
internationales du Vie^t Nam en 1995
** VITRANET est un site d'informations e'conomiques et
commerciales sur le Vietnam publie' en partenariat par
le Ministe`re du Plan et de l'Investissement, le
Ministe`re de l'Industrie, la Chambre Vietnamienne
pour le Commerce et l' Industrie et le Comite' pour
les Vietnamiens de l' Etranger. Les informations sont
en anglais et en vietnamien.
** Vietnam Economic Times : Une Revue e'conomique
hebdomadaire en ligne, en langue anglaise et
vietnamienne
** La bourse de l'emploi francophone
** FCUE Francophonie environnementale
* Me'dias
[links to many news sources on Vietnam, many of them in
French, with good French - language explanations of how
to reach all of them...]
* Culture
[online exhibits --]
** Hanoi: d'hier et d'aujourd'hui
** Le bassin du me'kong : images du passe'
** Les marionnettes sur eau
** Muse'e virtuel, en franc,ais et en vietnamien
** Le Te^t
** Le Hat Tuo^ng (the'a^tre traditionnel) et le Hat Cheo
(the'a^tre populaire)
** Le Truye^n Tha^n (art populaire du portrait)
* Vie Pratique
** Informations ge'ne'rales
** Tourisme & Loisirs
** Transport et voyages
[useful contacts, addresses...]
* Cooperation
** Associations
** Associations de solidarite' internationale (ex-ONG)
** Organismes de coope'ration
** Organisations pre'sente'es sur ce serveur
[more useful contacts, addresses...]
plus numerous announcements, impressive - sounding "Appels
d'offres et propositions", intriguing - sounding "Sources
potentielles pour le financement des projets" -- even la
Francophonie does not live by language alone... -- and various
materials for downloading.
This online site apparently has a real, physical, presence on the
ground in Vietnam: not all do --
Campus Nume'rique de Hanoi, Bureau Asie du Sud-Est,
Universite' de Ha` No^i
21 Le^ Tha'nh To^ng
Ha` No^i, Vie^t Nam
t. (84 4) 868.02.37, fx. (84 4) 869.45.09
Centre Syfed - Refer
2e`me e'tage, Ba^timent de l'IFI
Ngo 42 rue Ta Quang Buu
Universite' Polytechnique de Hanoi
t. (84 4) 869.60.17 (poste 319)
So, French resources on / in Vietnam: a chance to have a look at
the old Vietnam dream / nightmare, of both France and the United
States, in its newest incarnation -- through both the eyes of the
currently - dominant English speaking world but also those of the
wannabe - dominant world of la Francophonie.
It is interesting to see what is offered: would a French
"foreign" site be likely to offer more in "culture", I wonder,
and a US American site more in "business"? Should such a resource
be locally - oriented, primarily, or should "ties to the mother
country" take precedence, or should the emphasis be
"international" -- or perhaps even "regional", in a case such as
this of a country in dynamic / expanding / increasingly self -
absorbed "Asia"? How much emphasis to place upon / how much
htmlspace to devote to, each language?
And why only these two particular languages, in this case
Vietnamese and French? Turning things around, would a Vietnam -
based Website on "France" want to show pages in Breton and
Occitan, in addition to French? would one on "Spain" want to show
pages in Catala` and Euskara and Galego in addition to
Castiliano? one on "Britain", pages in Welsh and Cornish and
Scottish (Scotch?)... one on the USA,...
The Vietnamese may opt, ultimately, for Spanish instead, or Hindi
-- and stranger things could happen, such as Chinese (not likely)
or even, if they strike oil in the Gulf of Tonkin say, Vietnamese
itself... But, for now, at least it might be interesting to have
a look at how a non - English language -- French -- is turning up
in "foreign", i.e. neither French nor English, online situations.
The French projects in Vietnam may not scale up, ultimately. But
there seems no obviously necessary reason why English projects
aimed in the "Vietnam" direction should do any better. Language
policy is a tricky thing, and famously fickle.
A few facts: per http://www.odci.gov --
* Vietnam
Population: 78,773,873 (July 2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4.8% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,850 (1999 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 26%
industry: 33%
services: 41% (1998 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 29% (1993
* France
Population: 59,329,691 (July 2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 2.7% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $23,300 (1999 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.3%
industry: 26.1%
services: 70.6% (1998)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 24.9% (1989)
* USA
Population: 275,562,673 (July 2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4.1% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $33,900 (1999 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2%
industry: 18%
services: 80% (1999)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.5%
highest 10%: 28.5% (1994)
-- these from a naive and perhaps arrogant US American
francophone and sometime - francophile who, as many of the French
might have perhaps, and as nearly all US Americans would have
during the 1960s, shamefacedly admits that he began a first draft
of this piece with the phrase "Vietnam, a _small_ southeast Asian
country..." --
-- the current population of Vietnam per the figures shown above
is 79 million souls -- that is considerably more than France's 59
-- and the Vietnamese 1.49% population growth rate is climbing,
while that of France is only .38% now and is dropping steadily --
-- 19th century hubris truly was a remarkable thing, exceeded
only by that of the 20th... here's hoping that we all will see
things more clearly in the 21st... "English - language - only
planet" indeed...
--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071 - 5916
*
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