Associate Professor and Doctor Nguyễn Văn Tùng (standing), Member of the Members’ Council of the Việt Nam Education Publishing House, speaks at a working session with the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany. — VNA/VNS Photo Thu Hằng

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Education Publishing House hopes to learn from and adopt new technologies in the distribution of digital publications and electronic learning materials as well as the latest publishing trends in Germany, in order to support the development of its long-term strategy.

Associate Professor and Doctor Nguyễn Văn Tùng, Member of the Members’ Council of the publishing house and head of its delegation, made the remarks during a working, study and experience-sharing visit to Germany to explore advanced models for producing and distributing e-books and digital learning materials.

The visit runs from last Saturday to this Friday.

The trip was organised in response to the strong demand for digital transformation in Việt Nam’s education sector and the publishing industry.

Nguyễn Văn Tùng expressed his hope that the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany would continue to support the publishing house in building partnerships with Germany, a leading global publishing and digital publishing powerhouse.

Through such cooperation, the publishing house seeks to gain experience in digital transformation in publishing and education; learn from Germany’s approaches to managing textbook data; standardise data in digital publishing and education environments; and explore new publishing methods to further improve teaching and learning effectiveness and meet the growing demand among Vietnamese teachers and students for digital publications and electronic learning materials.

Books that the Việt Nam Education Publishing House present to the embassy and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Germany. — VNA/VNS Photo Thu Hằng

Chargé d’Affaires Đặng Hoàng Linh affirmed the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany’s commitment to promoting cultural diplomacy and broadly disseminating Vietnamese cultural values to the world, while also absorbing the cultural quintessence of humanity and contributing to the development of an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity.

The approach is in line with the spirit of the Strategy for Cultural Diplomacy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, which was approved by the Government in July.

Speaking with the delegation, Hà Thị Lâm Hồng, Counsellor and Head of the Embassy’s Science and Technology Office, stressed the importance of participating in Germany’s two largest annual book fairs, held in Frankfurt and Leipzig.

Participation would provide opportunities to gain access to new production technologies and publishing formats, while connecting with international publishers and building professional networks, she said.

She also called for stronger cooperation in copyright protection, rights transfers and the translation of valuable research works from Việt Nam and Germany as well as books on science and technology, education and knowledge dissemination.

The delegation also held a lively discussion with embassy officials and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Berlin on the teaching and learning of Vietnamese among younger generations of Vietnamese people living in Germany.

Sharing her 17 years of experience teaching Vietnamese to second-generation Vietnamese in Germany, Nguyễn Thu Loan, founder and head of the AWO Vietnamese-language school at the Bayouma-Haus Multicultural Centre in Berlin’s Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, said she hoped that a Vietnamese-language textbook series tailored to overseas Vietnamese would be developed.

Such materials should incorporate lessons on family education and etiquette in Vietnamese culture, helping spread Vietnamese cultural and traditional values while strengthening bonds between generations of Vietnamese living abroad, she said.

Tùng then welcomed the valuable contributions from representatives of the Vietnamese community, saying the publishing house would draw on their recommendations to further refine, develop and expand its book projects, as well as technological and digital platforms.

The aim is to provide Vietnamese people overseas with effective tools to learn the Vietnamese language and gain knowledge of Việt Nam’s history, culture and geography, both through traditional books and modern technology platforms, he said.

The Vietnamese Language Programme for Vietnamese People Overseas was issued by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2018, with the aim of helping preserve the Vietnamese language and promote national cultural identity, while improving the quality of Vietnamese-language teaching and learning among Vietnamese people living abroad.

The publishing house has been compiling and publishing the Chào tiếng Việt (Hello Vietnamese) textbook series, which comprises six levels corresponding to the six proficiency levels prescribed under the programme.

To date, two books, covering Levels 1 and 2, have been published.

The Chào tiếng Việt series, written by Nguyễn Thụy Anh, won the A Prize at the sixth National Book Awards in 2024.

During the visit, the delegation presented Levels 1 and 2 of the Chào tiếng Việt series, along with a number of other publications from the publishing house, to the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives of the Vietnamese community.

While in Germany, the delegation worked with Westermann and Cornelsen, two renowned German publishers specialising in textbooks and educational publications, in Berlin.

It also visited the University of Erfurt in the city of Erfurt, Thuringia, and held working sessions with the German Publishers and Booksellers Association and the organiser of the Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse. — VNS