While Tran Thi Hoang Phuong, with her fluent Mandarin, is frequently mistaken for a native Chinese speaker, she was in fact born and raised in Vietnam. In college in Vietnam she majored in law, and when she expressed an interest in learning a foreign language to read more foreign textbooks and references, one of her professors recommended she study Chinese. To work on improving her language skills, Tran took up part-time work at a local company run by Taiwanese expats, where she met Taiwanese engineer Allen ­Chien. She seized the opportunity to practice her conversational Mandarin, and the two of them soon hit it off. Her open and outgoing personality drew ­Chien in, and they began dating. Eventually, they took the plunge and got married.

Originally the couple planned to settle down in Vietnam, visiting family in Taiwan from time to time, until ­Chien’s father flew to Vietnam and told them he would love to be able to see his grandchildren every day. That, and a desire to give their children a better education, inspired Tran to suggest to her husband that they move to Taiwan. In 2001, the family—then a foursome—packed up and returned to ­Chien’s homeland.

Before arriving in Taiwan, Tran says, she had no real idea what she would do with herself here, thinking she would just be an ordinary stay-at-home mother. What she hadn’t expected was the kind of dis­crimination and unfriendliness Taiwanese society often shows toward Southeast-Asian spouses and their children. Confronted by this, Tran decided she wanted to do something to change those attitudes.

Tran Thi ­Hoang ­Phuong, chief instructor and full-time lecturer in the Vietnamese division of the Southeast Asian Languages and Cultures Program at the Foreign Language Center of National Cheng­chi University.

Taiwanese mother, Vietnamese teacher

For a while, Tran took on work as a volunteer interpreter at a special clinic for Vietnamese immigrants at a local women’s and children’s hospital. There, she not only helped the medical staff with interpretation, helping things go quicker, but also served as a bridge between new immigrants and the family members helping them at the clinic. On top of that, in order to help improve the communication skills of her fellow immigrants, Tran took up a position teaching a special Chinese class at Zhong­shan Community College. After just a few semesters, Tran’s teaching and energetic personality were so well received that the family members of some students began asking if she could teach them Vietnamese too.

And so in 2003 Tran began teaching Vietnamese courses at the community college, later even teaching at National Cheng­chi University and its Center for Public and Business Administration Education. Since then, Tran has become a figurehead for Vietnamese education in Taiwan. “I can’t change anybody else,” says Tran, “unless they themselves want to change. I hope that through teaching I can touch people’s hearts and help them better understand Vietnam.”

Tran’s students are of all ages and come from a variety of countries. In her classrooms people of different age groups, backgrounds and even nationalities come together to exchange ideas and practice conversation, breaking down language barriers, increasing cross-­cultural understanding and, through cultural exchange, eroding past prejudices against Southeast-Asian migrants.

Tran and her brilliant smile continue to help make Taiwan a place where Vietnamese expats can live free and happy lives.

From whiteboard to TV screen

Tran also hopes to use the media to help spread Vietnamese education more widely around Taiwan. In addition to hosting a Vietnamese education program on National Education Radio, she also turned her attention to television, shopping around a fully planned and budgeted idea with her husband and looking for a TV company willing to offer her a platform.

Eventually she found CTS Education and Culture Television, which was willing to provide a time slot for the couple to present their program; however, Tran and her husband would have to shoulder the production and manpower costs. As well as applying for subsidies, Tran also invested all of her earnings from teaching into producing the program, writing her own scripts to create lively and engaging Vietnamese education programs. The content of her shows was drawn from real life and was presented in the form of short skits and conversations, offering practical and useful Vietnamese in five-minute or half-hour bursts.

In the classroom, Tran often directly engages with her students, interacting with them with enthusiasm and energy.

A happy new life

In 2013, Tran formed an association with some of her students and fellow Vietnamese expats, expanding her reach even further by providing new arrivals with suitable work opportunities including interpretation, translation, and tour guiding, as well as somewhere to just get together.

As head of the organization, Tran has also set up a performing arts group, cultivating a generation of young Vietnamese expats with a passion for performance and promoting Vietnamese culture. Traveling around Taiwan, they bridge the language and culture gap through the performing arts, and while the audiences may not understand the lyrics, they enthusiastically hum along, part of the fun atmosphere the group creates wherever they go.

After over a decade of promoting the Vietnamese language in Taiwan, in 2015 Tran received an award for Best Educational and Cultural Host at the 50th Golden Bell Awards. This year, she and members of her association launched Taiwan’s first television variety show in Vietnamese, Happy Vietnamese, which not only provides Vietnamese expats with a performance venue, but also gives them an avenue to assuage their homesickness and to educate their children about their mothers’ native language and culture, helping them make their identity as second-generation Vietnamese-Taiwanese an even greater asset.

Tran’s hard work has helped Taiwanese society better understand Vietnamese culture and become more tolerant toward it. As the theme song to Happy Vietnamese says, “Because I believe in love, you will always have a smile on your face.” With her enthusiasm and passion, Tran continues to work at creating an environment in which fellow Vietnamese expats can live freely, enjoying happy new lives integrated into Taiwanese society.   

Writing her own scripts and finding her own talent, Tran hopes to use the broadcast media to help increase cultural interaction between Vietnamese expats and Taiwanese society. (courtesy of Tran Thi Hoang Phuong)

At the 50th Golden Bell Awards, Tran was named Best Educational and Cultural Host for her work on the radio program United Nations of Happiness. (courtesy of Tran Thi Hoang Phuong)

Happy Vietnamese, Taiwan’s first Vietnamese-language variety show, was screened on CTS Education and Culture Television. (courtesy of Tran Thi Hoang Phuong)

Tran (rear, seventh from left) has formed a performing arts group that provides a platform for fellow Vietnamese in Taiwan to promote Vietnamese culture. (courtesy of Tran Thi Hoang Phuong)