Dr. Giap Van Chung, a Hungarian literature translator, has been awarded the Pro Cultural Hungarica 2011 certificate for his contribution to introducing and promoting Hungarian culture abroad.

Giap Van Chung (R) introduces his translated book ‘Candles Burn to the End’ by Marai Sandor with Szasz Denes, Hungarian Ambassador to Vietnam - Photo: Courtesy of Giap Van Chung

The award was granted by Geza Szocs, Hungarian State Secretary of National Resources, on August 19.

This award is given by the Republic of Hungary to foreign citizens who have made a major contribution to spreading Hungarian culture abroad and to deepening cultural and civil relations between Hungary and other nations.

This year, the award has been granted to four people including Vietnamese Chung.

Born in 1953, Chung was an alumnus of Transportation Faculty of a Budapest technical university in 1970-1976 then he pursued a doctorate in Hungary in the early 1990s. Moving to Hungary in 1988, Chung loves his second home, the people and the language.

He has been absorbed in writing and translating since he was a student and has translated some Hungarian poems into Vietnamese. His translating career started booming when he translated and released the novel ‘Candles Burn to the End’ by novelist Marai Sandor in 2007.

Since then, he has translated successfully dozens of books, of which the most striking are ‘Fateless’ and ‘Kaddish for an Unborn Child’ by Kertesz Imre who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002 and ‘Four Seasons’, ‘Casanova and Bolzano’ and ‘Memoir of Hungary’ by Marai Sandor.

Chung also translated the book introducing Hungarian businessmen in science, culture and society named ‘Nobel Prize Winners and Famous Hungarians’ by Bodok Zsigmond, and the collection ‘The world is an open book’ by Levai Balazs.

Chung has also joined many cultural and literature exchange activities between Hungary and Vietnam. He is also translating and publishing a Vietnamese book into Hungarian.

“I am very happy to receive this prize. I think culture is the shortest and most proper way for peoples who live in different terrains with different cultures and history to understand together. I also consider this an honor for the Vietnamese community in Hungary,” said Chung. He said that this award will encourage him to translate more Hungarian books into Vietnamese.