Interview with Cong Tu Pham, Chairman of the Association of Czech Citizens of Vietnamese Descent

Recently, we had the opportunity to interview the Chairman of the Association of Czech Citizens of Vietnamese Descent, who arrived in then-Czechoslovakia to study in the autumn of 1974. In the interview, he shared his memories of his demanding student years, building a career and trust in the industry and telecommunications, and why, as an engineer, he decided to translate Karel Čapek's short stories into Vietnamese.

You arrived in then-Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. What were your first impressions of the country at the time, and how much did reality differ from your expectations?

I arrived here in the autumn of 1974, and my first impressions were very good. At the time, we were taught that the Soviet Union was supposed to be the best in the world, followed by other socialist countries like Poland or Czechoslovakia. In the eyes of Vietnamese students back then, the Soviet Union was the absolute pinnacle. However, we traveled by train through China and the Soviet Union and spent about a week in Moscow before continuing through Kyiv to Slovakia and into then-Czechoslovakia. Suddenly, we saw that what we had experienced in Moscow was not as nice and advanced as then-Czechoslovakia. We discovered that Czechoslovakia was more beautiful and the people here were friendlier.

How long did it take before you started studying at the university, which you completed entirely in Czech? How difficult was it for you?

We had a one-year preparatory course in Hanoi and spent another year learning Czech at the Language Faculty of Charles University. Thanks to these two years of preparation, our Czech was good enough for our subsequent studies at the Czech Technical University (CTU). I was lucky to be somewhat gifted with languages; I had already studied Russian in high school and even won second prize in a Russian language olympiad in my province in Vietnam. I later found out that Czech is very close to Russian, so the learning process itself wasn't that demanding.

When you look back on your student years, what do you remember most fondly?

My first student year took place at the language university in Hanoi while Vietnam was still at war. Everything was destroyed, and the school was terrifying, but we studied very well. That year, I focused on my studies to pass the entrance exam and get on the list of students approved to travel to Czechoslovakia. Subsequently, we were accepted in Košice, went to Prague for registration, and then to a study center in České Budějovice, where I spent a year preparing for the CTU entrance exams. So, to actually get into the university, I took entrance exams three times in total: after high school, after the preparatory course in Hanoi, and after the course in České Budějovice. But aside from that, all those student years in Prague were beautiful, and I look back on them fondly.

Why didn't you decide to return to Vietnam after your studies? What kept you in the Czech Republic?

Vietnam was post-war, everything was destroyed, and there were no jobs. People from better families who had connections in Hanoi could still get jobs for their children, but I had practically no chance of getting one. At the time, the Vietnamese side allowed us to complete an internship here for a while, and whoever could get a job could apply to the embassy for an extension of stay and later remain here.

You have contacts in the electrical engineering industry, which is a very demanding sector. How did you manage to build trust in it, and how does it relate to your student years?

Studying at CTU was quite demanding. Basic subjects like math and physics weren't a problem for us; we were prepared for that. However, specialized subjects, like machine parts or materials science, were very challenging for us because we came from a country that did not have a developed industry. We had to work really hard to pass the exams successfully. On one hand, you are holding a diploma from CTU and looking forward to working, but on the other hand, you are afraid because you have no practical experience.

First, I tried an internship at the Prague-based company ZPA, which dealt with automation technology, but the company was very unproductive. I was advised to try Tesla Rožnov, where a Toshiba production line for screens was being built. I found a job there as a design engineer, and from the very beginning, I tried very hard to thoroughly understand everything and take on every task. Thanks to diligence and courage, I worked my way up to become a good engineer, lead designer, and later head of design.

Where do you think Czech companies make mistakes most often when trying to penetrate the Vietnamese market? What are the specifics of communicating with Vietnamese partners?

I was successful at Tesla, but after the Velvet Revolution, it didn't get a bailout from the government and collapsed. By that time, I was already learning English, studying various systems, and also electrical engineering, so I was prepared for life after Tesla. We founded a cable television company, did various projects for municipalities and large investors from the CR and later from America, and after a while, a crisis hit telecommunications. That was when I traveled to Vietnam for the first time in years and started offering Czech expertise and projects.

I organized a large seminar in Hanoi and invited representatives from television stations. Although everyone clapped, I didn't get a single contract. The same thing happened the following year in Saigon at an even larger seminar. That was when I realized that even though I speak Vietnamese, my mindset had changed after 20 years of living in Europe—I had become a European. I had to relearn how to think in a Vietnamese way to find a point of mutual understanding. I stopped doing marketing, focused on the Vietnamese business system, and subsequently won my first projects. Later, I started offering Czech technology to the Vietnamese defense system, which was a huge challenge. Convincing Vietnamese generals and colonels, accustomed to systems from the former Soviet Union and Russia, to try Czech technology took a lot of work. Had I not been a passionate enthusiast of Czech technologies, I probably wouldn't have pushed it through.

How did you get from all this to translating books by Karel Čapek?

During my studies, I realized that without reading Czech novels and short stories, I wouldn't understand the language in depth. One day, I came across Tales from One Pocket and Tales from the Other Pocket by Karel Čapek. I started reading them on a train from Prague to Brno, and an older Czech man encouragingly told me that I was reading a beautiful book.

Initially, I thought someone studying literature or history should translate it. But in my 40 years in the Czech Republic, no one had. I realized that people studying philosophy or literature couldn't translate it because Čapek writes a lot about technology. Without the knowledge of a good engineer, hardly anyone can translate his stories correctly. Through the heroes of these 44 stories, I truly understood what the Czech nation is like, and I put my whole heart into the translation.

What causes you the biggest problem when translating texts? Are there any specific idioms?

Karel Čapek's vocabulary is so diverse that even few Czech people know what is meant unless they know the full context. For example, I asked Czechs what "grofinka" means, and almost no one knew. I read up on it and found that Dr. Grof treated mental illnesses, and in one story about a girl who went mad from love, Čapek used exactly this name—Grofinka. There are many such words that not even an average Czech knows. I am convinced that if Vietnamese people want to understand how a Czech thinks and behaves, they should read Čapek.

Is there anything a Czech should read in return to better understand Vietnamese culture?

Czechs' knowledge of Vietnamese culture is often superficial. It is necessary to read Vietnamese history and books. Vietnamese people love poetry, so I would recommend that Czechs first read the Tale of Kieu. There are beautiful poems in it, and through them, you can best see the Vietnamese person.

As Chairman of the Association of Czech Citizens of Vietnamese Descent, you have a great overview. How do you think relations between Czechs and Vietnamese have changed over the decades?

Once, Czechs didn't trust us and saw us only as children who had fled a war. But gradually, everything changed. The Vietnamese have shown that they are hardworking and eager to learn, and I dare say that among the minorities living in the Czech Republic, they belong to the good ones. Czechs respect us more now.

Today's young generation of Vietnamese speaks Czech very well, unlike our generation, but unfortunately, the knowledge of the Vietnamese language is fading. It is essential for our community to learn Vietnamese as well and preserve their culture, which has 4,000 years of history. If we only knew Czech, we wouldn't bring anything interesting to the Czechs. Preserving traditions is the most valuable thing we have.

What helped you the most to maintain a positive mindset, motivation, and the will to keep moving forward?

As a foreigner starting a company with Czech employees in the Czech Republic, I had to appear trustworthy. Fortunately, in my youth, I studied classical literature a lot—how our kings, generals, and poets behaved. From that, I understood that a leader must show others a vision or a future, and there must be mutual understanding among people.

People must think constructively: the supplier about the customer, and vice versa. Thanks to this approach, we managed to bring Czech technology to Vietnam. Due to its strategic position and pressures from world powers, Vietnam needs good defense, and we must act skillfully to maintain peace. Czech technology is very good and is sold at an affordable price. I hold the view that I have two duties: to love my Vietnamese homeland as well as my Czech one. I do both, effectively killing two birds with one stone.

Jan Vavřík