PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC The six-volume Czech-Vietnamese encyclopaedia has won the “Dictionary of the Year 2020” award by the Union of Interpreters and Translators (JTP).

The award ceremony will be held at the International Book Fair in Prague on February 15.

Author Nguyễn Quyết Tiến (second from the right) and authors receiving the 2019 award for literature by the Czech Writers’ Association in Prague on November 9. VNA/VNS Photos Hồng Kỳ

The 120,000-word bilingual encyclopaedia, co-authored by late Czech linguistic professor Ivo Vasiljev and Vietnamese engineer Nguyễn Quyết Tiến, was compiled over 12 years. 

The complete collection of the Czech-Vietnamese encyclopedia was launched in the Czech Republic in July 2019, which aims to serve Vietnamese expats and Czech people who want to learn Vietnamese.

Considered a billingual encyclopaedia, it covers a wide range of subjects, including society, culture, history, biography and geography.

The encyclopaedia was also among eight works honoured at the 2019 award for literature by the Czech Writers’ Association in Prague in recognition for its contribution to the country’s literature and culture.
Vasiljev died on October 23, 2016 at the age of 81 when he just started to write the fifth volume.
He interpreted for President Hồ Chí Minh when a Czechoslovakian delegation visited Việt Nam in 1966. He was the first Czech to translate President Hồ Chí Minh’s “Nhật Ký Trong Tù” (Diary in Prison) poetry collection into Czech and also researched Vietnamese ancient heritage and old scripts.
After Vasiljev died, Tiến was determined to complete the six-volume encyclopedia as his late fellow’s will.

Six volumes of the encyclopedia.

JTP was founded in 1990 and currently has over 500 professional translators, interpreters and translation teachers actively working in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other countries.

Since its inception, the union has proven itself to be an important representative of professionals in the field of interpretation and translation. It aims to achieve social recognition and adequate assessment of the profession and at the same time increase the level of professional colleagues.

In May 2016, the project won second prize of the Dictionary of the Year award by the Union of Interpreters and Translators of the Czech Republic despite only three volumes having been released at the time. VNS