The Cuban Embassy in Vietnam, the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association and Hanoi University released the Vietnamese-Spanish dictionary compiled by journalist and translator Vu Van Au in Hanoi on December 9.

It is the first dictionary of its kind compiled and printed in Vietnam, comprising 2,397 pages with over 40,000 words.

Speaking at the event, Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Orlando Nicolas Hernandez Guillen called the dictionary “a precious gem” from Vietnamese friend and brother Vu Van Au that marked a milestone in the history of Cuba-Vietnam solidarity and friendship.

He added that the teaching of the Spanish language also opens up economic, diplomatic and tourism cooperation opportunities.

Vice Rector of Hanoi University Nguyen Tien Dung said Spanish is the primary language in 21 countries with about 470 million speakers, and is also the second most used language on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Au, 89, is a native of the northern province of Hung Yen. He was one of the 23 Vietnamese students sent to Cuba for Spanish studies in 1961. Later in 1966, he was assigned as the first chief of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) bureau in Havana, Cuba. In May 1974, he was the first chief of the VNA Department of News for Foreign Service's Spanish desk, later became deputy head of the World News Department and chief of the VNA bureau in Havana for the 1992-1996 tenure. He retired in 1997./.