HANOI -- Few outside of Vietnam have probably ever heard of Nghi Son, but it is the site of a $10 billion oil refinery project of national importance undertaken by Japan's Idemitsu Kosan. And its name is the source of some disagreement in the Japanese business community here.
Located in Thanh Hoa Province in Vietnam's North Central Coast region, the refinery, which Idemitsu aims to fire up in 2017, will turn cheap Kuwaiti petroleum into fuel and chemicals for a growing domestic market.
Back in 1995, Taiheiyo Cement became the first Japanese company to invest in Nghi Son. In coming up with the Japanese name for its local unit, Nghi Son Cement, it followed the standard northern Vietnamese pronunciation, in which the initial "n" is silent and the accent is on the "g." Thus, in Japanese, the geographical name became "Gison."
This rendering stuck among Japanese in Vietnam. The Japanese Embassy, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the trading house Marubeni, which runs a local coal-fired power plant, all use it.
But Idemitsu has insisted on using "Nison." An Idemitsu television commercial that aired in Japan last autumn called the project by that name; since then, "Gison" has given way to "Nison" as the prevailing pronunciation among the company's local staff. A spokesperson said Idemitsu has used "Nison" since it began considering a move into the area in the early 2000s.
Perhaps it was simply that the company first employed a translator from southern Vietnam, where the the initial "n" is pronounced distinctly. But judging by the intense power struggle between north and south on display at the Communist Party congress last month, one can suspect that Idemitsu had political considerations in mind.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had been seen as well positioned to become the party's first general secretary of southern extraction -- until the incumbent, northerner Nguyen Phu Trong, turned the tables on him last year. Nguyen Phu Trong will stay on as party leader, but the prime minister remains a powerful figure who has made considerable achievements in promoting economic growth and reform while in office. He was naturally involved in decision-making on the refinery project, and he must surely have pronounced Nghi Son the southern way.
Language symbolizes the divide between north and south that persists 41 years on from the end of the Vietnam War. Vietnamese from one side rarely change their pronunciation to accommodate people from the other. For Japanese journalists, the naming issue is a minor trouble compared with the deeper problem it hints at in Vietnamese society.
Located in Thanh Hoa Province in Vietnam's North Central Coast region, the refinery, which Idemitsu aims to fire up in 2017, will turn cheap Kuwaiti petroleum into fuel and chemicals for a growing domestic market.
Back in 1995, Taiheiyo Cement became the first Japanese company to invest in Nghi Son. In coming up with the Japanese name for its local unit, Nghi Son Cement, it followed the standard northern Vietnamese pronunciation, in which the initial "n" is silent and the accent is on the "g." Thus, in Japanese, the geographical name became "Gison."
This rendering stuck among Japanese in Vietnam. The Japanese Embassy, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the trading house Marubeni, which runs a local coal-fired power plant, all use it.
But Idemitsu has insisted on using "Nison." An Idemitsu television commercial that aired in Japan last autumn called the project by that name; since then, "Gison" has given way to "Nison" as the prevailing pronunciation among the company's local staff. A spokesperson said Idemitsu has used "Nison" since it began considering a move into the area in the early 2000s.
Perhaps it was simply that the company first employed a translator from southern Vietnam, where the the initial "n" is pronounced distinctly. But judging by the intense power struggle between north and south on display at the Communist Party congress last month, one can suspect that Idemitsu had political considerations in mind.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had been seen as well positioned to become the party's first general secretary of southern extraction -- until the incumbent, northerner Nguyen Phu Trong, turned the tables on him last year. Nguyen Phu Trong will stay on as party leader, but the prime minister remains a powerful figure who has made considerable achievements in promoting economic growth and reform while in office. He was naturally involved in decision-making on the refinery project, and he must surely have pronounced Nghi Son the southern way.
Language symbolizes the divide between north and south that persists 41 years on from the end of the Vietnam War. Vietnamese from one side rarely change their pronunciation to accommodate people from the other. For Japanese journalists, the naming issue is a minor trouble compared with the deeper problem it hints at in Vietnamese society.
nikkei.com
Relate Threads
