The six-volume Czech-Vietnamese encyclopaedia (Photo: VNA) Prague (VNA) - The six-volume Czech-Vietnamese encyclopaedia has won the“Dictionary of the Year 2020” award of the Union of Interpreters andTranslators (JTP).
The120,000-headword bilingual encyclopaedia, co-authored by late Czech linguisticprofessor Ivo Vasiljev and Vietnamese engineer Nguyen Quyet Tien, was completedover 12 years.
Thecomplete collection of the Czech-Vietnamese encyclopedia was launched in theCzech Republic in July 2019. It aims to serve Vietnamese expats and Czechpeople who want to learn Vietnamese. Considered a bilingual encyclopaedia, itcovers a wide range of subjects, including society, culture, history, biographyand geography.
Theaward ceremony is scheduled to be held during an international book fair inPrague on May 15.
Theencyclopaedia was also among eight works honoured at the 2019 award forliterature by the Czech Writers’ Association in Prague in recognition for itssignificance to the country’s literature and culture.
Vasiljevdied on October 23, 2016 at the age of 81 when he just started to write thefifth volume.
Heinterpreted for President Ho Chi Minh when a Czechoslovakian delegation visitedVietnam in 1966. He was the first Czech to translate President Ho Chi Minh’s“Nhat Ky Trong Tu” (Diary in Prison) into Czech and also researched Vietnameseancient heritage and old scripts.
AfterVasiljev died, Tien said that he was still determined to complete thesix-volume encyclopedia as his late fellow’s will.
JTPwas founded in 1990 and currently has over 500 professional translators,interpreters and translation teachers actively working in the Czech Republic,Slovak Republic and other countries.
Sinceits inception, the union has proven itself to be an important representative ofprofessionals in the field of interpretation and translation. It aims toachieve social recognition and adequate assessment of the profession and at thesame time increase the level of professional colleagues./.
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