Hello "Xin chao (sin chow)
Goodbye "Tam Biet"
Thank you "Cam on" (kam urn)
I’m sorry "Xin loi" (sin lowey)
Writing Vietnamese using the latin or western alphabet (the letters we use) is a relatively recent practice. The Vietnamese always used Chinese characters to write until a westerner came to Vietnam, translated the language, and wrote out the vocabulary (phonetically) using the latin alphabet. Soon after he accomplished this, the new system was adopted and the Chinese characters were no longer used.
Be careful! Vietnamese is a tonal language. What that means is you must say words at a certain pitch (like musical notes) in order to have the meaning you intend. The same word at different pitches can mean different things.
Vietnamese expressions I like:
Something or someone special is called "noodles." Something you have to do or someone you see everyday is called "rice."
People in Vietnam eat rice every day and eat noodles infrequently or on special occasions. Thus, the expression mentioned above.
For example, school is "rice" and weekends are "noodles."
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1 comment:
People should read this.
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