Charles Sturt University in Australia (Photo: AP) Titled “VietSpeech Multilingual Children”, thebook is the product of research on pronunciation and language for Vietnamesechildren in Australia funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC). The book is freely available online.
The book covers topics such as the benefits of preserving their native languageand multilingualism, ways to help children adapt to the Vietnamese language,and communication skills.
Dr. Tran Hong Van, the co-author of the book,said it will provide parents with the tools to help their children learn the Vietnameselanguage and develop bilingual skills.
According to Professor SharynneMcLeod, the other co-author, said mother tongues are at risk of disappearingwithin three generations among migrant families. Many children cannot speak theirmother tongue fluently when they start school.
Vietnameseis one of the five most spoken languages in Australia. There are over 300,000Vietnamese people living in this country, accounting for 1.26 percent of thepopulation.
McLeod said now is an importanttime for the Vietnamese community in Australia to maintain the mother tonguefor younger generations.
The authors hope that the book will be popularised not only in Australia, but also in othercountries with large Vietnamese populations such as Canada and the US./.
VNA
