QUESTIONS

Below are some of the questions that came up when I was writing the encyclopedia entry on the Vietnamese Independence Declaration, and some of these questions still continue to intrigue me. These questions have now taken on a slightly pedagogical bent for potential use in courses such as world history, Asian history, and Southeast Asian studies. Most of the questions can be answered by comparing the different translation versions provided on this website. (Tip: Although the questions can be answered independently of each other, they are interrelated and progress from easier to more difficult, so it would make sense to skim through all the questions first before focusing on any particular question.)

Differences

• Provide examples of significant differences between the available translations. How would you define ‘significant’?

• Provide examples of differences that are not significant. What makes you decide they are not significant?

Causes of difference

• Why do all the translations draw on different texts?

• Compared to the American Declaration of Independence (which has not changed since 1776) why are there so many texts / translations? To what extent is this due to different Vietnamese language versions and to disagreement among translators?

Reliability

• Which translation(s) would you regard as the most reliable, and why?

Formal Features: Differences, Omissions, and Additions?

• Why do only two of the translations directly address an audience?

• Why do only two translations feature signatures: what could be the reason(s)?
  
  
• Why are the headers different, and does it matter?

• Why do two translations refer to ‘people’ rather than ‘men’, and why does it matter? [Sections 2 to 4]

Was Ho quoting, paraphrasing, or making his own original point?

• Does Ho cite or paraphrase from the 1776 American Declaration of Independence, or does he use it in an original way to make a different point? Refer to the examples provided to substantiate your answer.

• Same question as above, but with regard to the 1791 (1793?) Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.

Overall

• Is Ho Chi Minh’s Declaration of Independence best understood as an event, a spectacle, or as a (translated) text?
  
  ** This question is best answered by referring to the texts and the short-filmed sequence on the YouTube video; it is most usefully complemented by reading one of the Marr (1995) texts and, for instance, the relevant sections in Bartholomew-Feis, Patti, or Dommen.)