Aya Shawn
master in Computer Science, National University of SingaporeSep
Technically, of course. But there doesn't seem to be such a need.
Before the 19th century, Vietnam had used Chinese characters for more than a thousand years. Almost all ancient Vietnamese documents are written in Chinese characters.
In fact, the spoken language in Vietnam is similar to that spoken in many villages in southern Guangxi, China.
All Chinese characters have corresponding spoken Vietnamese pronunciations. Therefore, it is technically feasible for Vietnam to change the text back to Chinese characters.
This is an edict written by the king of the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam. Now Chinese elementary school students can understand it, but Vietnamese university professors can't understand it either.
This is the cultural divide caused by the 100-year hiatus - the Vietnamese can no longer communicate with their ancestors. Of course, they can entrust the Americans to do it for them: google translate.
Why does Vietnam change its own text? This has quite a long history
Before the 19th century, Vietnam existed as a subsidiary of the Chinese Empire for a long time. Their culture was deeply influenced by China, and they naturally used Chinese characters. Since the Tran Dynasty, the use of Chinese characters in Vietnam has been very well developed. All aristocratic classes learned Chinese characters from childhood and used them in all their writing. This is why all ancient Vietnamese documents we see today are written in Chinese characters.
By the 19th century, the Chinese Empire entered a new period of decline, when Western colonists came to the land. The missionaries used the French alphabet to record the spoken language of the Vietnamese, and gradually formed a new set of norms. As the colonists took control of Vietnam, the Vietnamese began to use phonetic writing, especially the uneducated middle and lower classes accepted this new writing faster. Until the founding of Vietnam in the 20th century, this text was standardized and still used today, and it was named (Ch? Qu?c Ng?).
Therefore, Vietnam's choice of characters has never been the wishes of the Vietnamese themselves. It's just that different conquerors in history gave them different scxts.
Like Vietnam, the situation where a country or a nation changes its characters halfway has happened in many places around the world.
In the future, will Vietnam change its own characters back to Chinese characters?
I believe such a thing is very difficult to happen.
Except for a few experts who study classical culture, most Vietnamese do not have this interest. After all, Chinese characters have not been used for more than 100 years, and the social cost of using them again is too great.
After all, who would want to relearn a completely unfamiliar scxt? It makes no sense.
Unless there is another conqueror change event like in history. But human society has left the stage of conquering and being conquered. History is hard to repeat itself.
VicVu
· Jul 11
Vietnamese’s social caused much greater if we are keep using the Chinese writing system, got rid of this writing system distinctly shows that we are Vietnamese NOT Chinese.
Petra Liel
· Jul 12
Current writing system shows you are part french
但是當(dāng)前的書寫系統(tǒng)顯示您有部分法國血統(tǒng)
Joseph Tu
· Jul 11
If you are very smart I can teach you to read any and all Vietnamese words in one hour, perhaps in two. Not involving understanding, of course. Can you teach a very smart Chinese to read any and all Chinese characters in three years?
· Jul 12
May be that’s the reason they emphasise the merits of using the existing writing. Quite frankly, French is an elegant language to get associated with(I don’t know Vietnamese)
AnhMy Tran
· Jul 16
I have 3 comments on your ideas:
You said: “In fact, the spoken language in Vietnam is similar to that spoken in many villages in southern Guangxi, China.”
I comment: The Chinese in Guangxi speak Cantonese with some Mandarin accent, while the Vietnamese speak Vietnamese, a quite different language.
You said “All Chinese characters have corresponding spoken Vietnamese pronunciations.”
The Chinese, the Thais, Laotian, Cambodians, the Vietnamese and some other languages are monosyllabic. The way you think is wrong, and the words you said is misleading.
You repeated the question: “In the future, will Vietnam change its own characters back to Chinese characters?”
I comment: this question can be applied to question the Thais, Laotian, Cambodians, and some other languages that are monosyllabic, rather than asking on the Vietnamese alone.
?ào Huy Kiên
· Jul 11
No big deal. We have smartphones that can translate Chinese scxt to modern Vietnamese scxt. Actually, our ancestors didn’t want to use Chinese scxt but they had no better way at that time. They invented Vietnamese scxt which called “Ch? N?m” based on Chinese scxt, but it was somewhat difficult for normal people to learn.
AnhMy Tran
· Jul 16
Common Vietnamese like me, who can learn Mandarin well, feel difficult to learn “Ch? N?m,” for I have no motivation for it. It is not the matter of the capability of the brain. I can teach all subjects in High School, such as Math, Chemistry, Biology, Music, Art, Sport, Vietnamese Literature (not English Literature) etc . “Ch? N?m” is not hard to learn.
?ào Huy Kiên
· Jul 16
Sir, I suppose you are not the common Vietnamese. I quit learning Mandarin after 1 month, for both the difficulty of Chinese scxt and the lack of motivation. Even though I don’t have supporting evidence, I felt that Latin scxt is much easier than Chinese scxt and Ch? N?m as well for Vietnamese to learn. Not yet to mention that Latin scxt also help Vietnam reduce the influence of China.
AnhMy Tran
· Jul 16
Why do I say I am a common Vietnamese? When I was in high school, I was an A- students. There were other students who were better than I was. When I was in Hong Kong refugee camp, I made myself English teacher and Chinese teacher. I taught the elementary classes, from ground up. There were many other adults in the camp who were better than I was in Chinese, but they were Chinese who knew Chinese without academic trainings, and I learnt Chinese in school in Vietnam. I taught my students the way my teachers taught me in school. In one year, my students were better than I was in English and Chinese talking and listening. Hong Kong had the better environment to learn Chinese and English than Vietnam, that there were many people talking in Chinese and English. I was better than they were in writing, for they were kids, and I was adult. That is the evidence that I am not a superman.
?ào Huy Kiên
· Jul 16
I highly appreciate your humbleness, but still keep my opinion that you are above the average Vietnamese. Maybe you are average in your social circle, but still more intelligent than most workers or peasants. I guess A- is still a really good grades at that time though.
AnhMy Tran
· Jul 16
Thank you. I have been thinking about myself. When I was a kid, I was bullied by other kids because of my communication ability. They thought that I was retarded or autism. I was bad student on Vietnamese, getting C only. I got A- only in my last grade in high school.
After high school, I was not allowed to enter college, for I was a child in a “ph?n ??ng” family. I follow a carpenter to work around in the countryside. I very surprised that many poor old men and women were very intelligent and knowledgeable. I learnt much from them.
When I was in Hong Kong refugee camps, I lived between many Vietnamese criminals. They said that they were very bad students in schools, and I saw that it was true. However, they were very bright, and in some aspects, they are more intelligent than I am. That makes me think bad students are not necessary stupid people. They were just not interested in academic study, just as I am not interested in social study, that I behave badly among people. We - the people - have not exploited our full potential.
Thuong Nguyen
· Jul 19
Have you ever thought that Chinese language used to be Vietnamese language? Back to thousand years ago South China, correctly from South Yellow River, was a territory of Hundred Yue=Bách Vi?t people settled in this area spoke old language and used Chinese characters. That why one still finds that Cantonese in Quang-xi and Quang-Zhou very similar with Vietnamese. Some old word has same meaning.
Holy Bible
· Aug 20
Nope, excuse for similar vocabulary. Cantonese influenced Vietnamese, not the other way round.
不,請原諒類似的想法?;浾Z影響了越南語,而不是相反
S.Nguyen
· Jul 11
That’s Ok, we can communicate with our ancestors either via google translate or Chinese friends
沒關(guān)系,我們可以通過谷歌翻譯或中國朋友與我們的祖先溝通
Don Wynn
· Jul 12
The Latin alphabets are widely used in the world than Chinese characters. Chinese characters are for Chinese to use. The Vietnamese are happy with its writing now, they don’t want to go back or to learn new characters from anyone.
Holy Bible
· Aug 20
The Latin letters are made by the French in an attempt to baptize Vietnam. Chinese letters were adopted by Vietnamese people and have been in use for thousands of years.
Yes, Chinese characters are for the Chinese to use but Latin is for westerners to use.
Holy Bible
· Aug 23
But Chinese made romanized their language out of own free will, not because of an imperialist invader.
And the Latin was because of an attempt to modernize the country, not to baptize it.
Nguy?n Long
· Jul 13
Never. Chinese scxt isn't able to represent all Vietnamese sounds, it is a scxt for a “Vietnamese version” of Chinese language, not for Vietnamese language. The old scxt for Vietnamese language is the Nom scxt adapted from Chinese scxt and so complicated that almost no one to understand and to learn.
Holy Bible
· Aug 20
This is why China simplified their scxt! Why can’t anyone understand? Yes China had the same confusing scxt but did they willingly submit to a Latin scxt created by the French in an attempt to baptize Vietnam?
Ng?c Huy Tr??ng
· Jul 14
Using Chinese character in Vietnam is impractical, and thousands of years of Vietnamese history proved that. Most people were illiterate, or having a hard time learning Chinese character. Moreover, Chinese character were unable to represent native Vietnamese words. Take a look at japan for example, Japanese have difficulty reading and writing for many years until they rely less on Dictionaries, whereas it only take a Vietnamese 1 year to learn how to write and read. You're saying that Vietnamese will have difficulty understanding our ancestor ? Hell, even our ancestor cant understand it. There are more Vietnamese who can read traditional Chinese today than litterate Vietnamese in the 19th century
Nguy?n Ng?c ??c Th?nh
· Jul 12
And that is precisely the problem. The Latin scxt was partially adopted because they could expand literacy so much faster, aiding to the course of their revolution. It’s not like China did not think of adopting the Latin scxt before. Not to mention that China’s modern typing system is heavily dependent on the Latin scxt anyway.
While Chinese has to be actively taught Chinese characters, children in Vietnam just naturally pick up the scxt as they grow up.
· Jul 11
Vietnamese’s social caused much greater if we are keep using the Chinese writing system, got rid of this writing system distinctly shows that we are Vietnamese NOT Chinese.
如果我們繼續(xù)使用中文書寫系統(tǒng),對越南人的社會影響會很大,擺脫這種書寫系統(tǒng)可以清楚地表明我們是越南人而不是中國人。
· Jul 12
Current writing system shows you are part french
但是當(dāng)前的書寫系統(tǒng)顯示您有部分法國血統(tǒng)
· Jul 11
If you are very smart I can teach you to read any and all Vietnamese words in one hour, perhaps in two. Not involving understanding, of course. Can you teach a very smart Chinese to read any and all Chinese characters in three years?
如果你很聰明,我可以在一小時內(nèi),也許在兩個小時內(nèi),學(xué)會閱讀所有越南語單詞。當(dāng)然,不涉及理解。你能在三年內(nèi)教一個非常聰明的中國人讀懂所有漢字嗎?
Duck填仲籃
May be that’s the reason they emphasise the merits of using the existing writing. Quite frankly, French is an elegant language to get associated with(I don’t know Vietnamese)
也許這就是他們強調(diào)使用現(xiàn)有文字的優(yōu)點的原因。坦白說,法語是一門優(yōu)雅的語言(我不懂越南語)
· Jul 16
Partly French, partly Portuguese, and partly Spanish.
部分是法語,部分是葡萄牙語,部分是西班牙語。大雜燴
· Jul 16
I have 3 comments on your ideas:
You said: “In fact, the spoken language in Vietnam is similar to that spoken in many villages in southern Guangxi, China.”
I comment: The Chinese in Guangxi speak Cantonese with some Mandarin accent, while the Vietnamese speak Vietnamese, a quite different language.
我對你的想法有3條評論:
您說:“其實越南的語言和中國廣西南部很多村莊的語言很相似?!?br /> 我評論:廣西的中國人說粵語,帶有一點普通話口音,而越南人說越南語,這是一種完全不同的語言。
The Chinese, the Thais, Laotian, Cambodians, the Vietnamese and some other languages are monosyllabic. The way you think is wrong, and the words you said is misleading.
You repeated the question: “In the future, will Vietnam change its own characters back to Chinese characters?”
I comment: this question can be applied to question the Thais, Laotian, Cambodians, and some other languages that are monosyllabic, rather than asking on the Vietnamese alone.
你說“所有漢字都有對應(yīng)的越南語發(fā)音”。
漢語、泰語、老撾語、柬埔寨語和其他一些語言都是單音節(jié)的。你的思維方式是錯誤的,你所說的話是有誤導(dǎo)性的。
您重復(fù)了剛才的問題:“今后越南會不會把自己的文字改回漢字?”
我評論一下:這個問題可以問一問泰語、老撾語、柬埔寨語等一些單音節(jié)語言,而不可能是越南語。
· Jul 11
No big deal. We have smartphones that can translate Chinese scxt to modern Vietnamese scxt. Actually, our ancestors didn’t want to use Chinese scxt but they had no better way at that time. They invented Vietnamese scxt which called “Ch? N?m” based on Chinese scxt, but it was somewhat difficult for normal people to learn.
(不認識中文)沒什么大不了。我們的智能手機可以將中文文字翻譯成現(xiàn)代越南文字。其實我們的祖先并不想用漢字,但當(dāng)時他們也沒有更好的辦法。他們在漢字的基礎(chǔ)上發(fā)明了越南文字,稱為“Ch? N?m”,但對于普通人來說有點難以學(xué)習(xí)。
· Jul 16
Common Vietnamese like me, who can learn Mandarin well, feel difficult to learn “Ch? N?m,” for I have no motivation for it. It is not the matter of the capability of the brain. I can teach all subjects in High School, such as Math, Chemistry, Biology, Music, Art, Sport, Vietnamese Literature (not English Literature) etc . “Ch? N?m” is not hard to learn.
像我這樣的普通越南人,普通話學(xué)得很好,但使用“喃字”卻覺得很難,因為我沒有動力。這不是大腦能力的問題。我可以教高中的所有科目,如數(shù)學(xué)、化學(xué)、生物、音樂、藝術(shù)、體育、越南文學(xué)(不是英語文學(xué))等?!班帧辈⒉浑y學(xué)。
· Jul 16
Sir, I suppose you are not the common Vietnamese. I quit learning Mandarin after 1 month, for both the difficulty of Chinese scxt and the lack of motivation. Even though I don’t have supporting evidence, I felt that Latin scxt is much easier than Chinese scxt and Ch? N?m as well for Vietnamese to learn. Not yet to mention that Latin scxt also help Vietnam reduce the influence of China.
先生,我想您不是普通的越南人。1個月后我就放棄了學(xué)習(xí)普通話,因為漢字的難度和缺乏動力。盡管我沒有證據(jù)支持這一點,但我覺得拉丁文字比漢字和喃字更容易學(xué)。更不用說拉丁文字還幫助越南減少了中國的影響力。
· Jul 16
Why do I say I am a common Vietnamese? When I was in high school, I was an A- students. There were other students who were better than I was. When I was in Hong Kong refugee camp, I made myself English teacher and Chinese teacher. I taught the elementary classes, from ground up. There were many other adults in the camp who were better than I was in Chinese, but they were Chinese who knew Chinese without academic trainings, and I learnt Chinese in school in Vietnam. I taught my students the way my teachers taught me in school. In one year, my students were better than I was in English and Chinese talking and listening. Hong Kong had the better environment to learn Chinese and English than Vietnam, that there were many people talking in Chinese and English. I was better than they were in writing, for they were kids, and I was adult. That is the evidence that I am not a superman.
為什么我說我是一個普通的越南人?當(dāng)我上高中時,我是一名A-學(xué)生。還有其他學(xué)生比我更好。當(dāng)我在香港難民營時,我給自己當(dāng)了英語老師和語文老師。我從頭開始教小學(xué)課程。營里還有很多其他成年人的中文比我好,但他們是沒有受過學(xué)術(shù)訓(xùn)練就懂中文的中國人,而我是在越南的學(xué)校里學(xué)中文的。我按照老師在學(xué)校教我的方式教我的學(xué)生。一年之內(nèi),我的學(xué)生在英語和漢語口語和聽力方面都比我好。香港學(xué)習(xí)中文和英語的環(huán)境比越南好,有很多人用中文和英文交談。我寫得比他們好,因為他們還是孩子,而我是成年人。這就是我不是超人的證據(jù)。
· Jul 16
I highly appreciate your humbleness, but still keep my opinion that you are above the average Vietnamese. Maybe you are average in your social circle, but still more intelligent than most workers or peasants. I guess A- is still a really good grades at that time though.
我非常欣賞你的謙虛,但我仍然認為你高于越南平均水平。也許你在你的社交圈子里很普通,但仍然比大多數(shù)工人或農(nóng)民聰明。我想當(dāng)時 A- 仍然是一個非常好的成績。
· Jul 16
Thank you. I have been thinking about myself. When I was a kid, I was bullied by other kids because of my communication ability. They thought that I was retarded or autism. I was bad student on Vietnamese, getting C only. I got A- only in my last grade in high school.
謝謝。我一直在思考我自己。當(dāng)我還是個孩子的時候,我因為我的溝通能力而被其他孩子欺負。他們認為我是弱智或自閉癥患者。我的越南語成績很差,只得了C。我在高中最后一年只得到了 A-。
高中畢業(yè)后,我沒考上大學(xué),因為我是“ph?n ??ng”(譯者:大概就是越南的反動派)家庭的孩子。我跟隨一個木匠到鄉(xiāng)下打工。我非常驚訝,我發(fā)現(xiàn)許多貧窮的老人和婦女非常聰明和知識淵博。我從他們身上學(xué)到了很多。
當(dāng)我在香港難民營時,我生活在許多越南難民中間。他們說他們在學(xué)校是非常差的學(xué)生,我想這是真的。不過,他們都很聰明,在某些方面,他們比我還要聰明。這讓我覺得壞學(xué)生不一定是傻子。他們只是對學(xué)術(shù)研究不感興趣,就像我對社會研究不感興趣一樣,我在人群中表現(xiàn)得不好。我們——人民——還沒有充分發(fā)揮我們的潛力。
· Jul 19
Have you ever thought that Chinese language used to be Vietnamese language? Back to thousand years ago South China, correctly from South Yellow River, was a territory of Hundred Yue=Bách Vi?t people settled in this area spoke old language and used Chinese characters. That why one still finds that Cantonese in Quang-xi and Quang-Zhou very similar with Vietnamese. Some old word has same meaning.
你有沒有想過漢語曾經(jīng)是越南語?追溯到幾千年前,中國南方,確切地說是黃河以南,是百越人的領(lǐng)土,定居在該地區(qū)的人講古老的語言并使用漢字。這就是為什么人們?nèi)匀话l(fā)現(xiàn)廣西和廣州的粵語與越南語非常相似。一些舊詞具有相同的含義。
· Aug 20
Nope, excuse for similar vocabulary. Cantonese influenced Vietnamese, not the other way round.
不,請原諒類似的想法?;浾Z影響了越南語,而不是相反
· Jul 11
That’s Ok, we can communicate with our ancestors either via google translate or Chinese friends
沒關(guān)系,我們可以通過谷歌翻譯或中國朋友與我們的祖先溝通
· Jul 12
The Latin alphabets are widely used in the world than Chinese characters. Chinese characters are for Chinese to use. The Vietnamese are happy with its writing now, they don’t want to go back or to learn new characters from anyone.
拉丁字母在世界上的使用比漢字更廣泛。漢字是給中國人使用的。越南人現(xiàn)在對它的文字很滿意,他們不想回去或向任何人學(xué)習(xí)新的字符。
· Aug 20
The Latin letters are made by the French in an attempt to baptize Vietnam. Chinese letters were adopted by Vietnamese people and have been in use for thousands of years.
Yes, Chinese characters are for the Chinese to use but Latin is for westerners to use.
這些拉丁字母是法國人為了給越南施洗而創(chuàng)造的。漢字被越南人民采用,并已使用了數(shù)千年。
是的,漢字是給中國人用的,拉丁文是給西方人用的。
· Aug 20
don't Chinese úe Latin too
中國人不是也在用拉丁字母嘛
· Aug 23
But Chinese made romanized their language out of own free will, not because of an imperialist invader.
And the Latin was because of an attempt to modernize the country, not to baptize it.
但中國人將自己的文字拉丁化(搞出拼音)是出于自己的自由意志,而不是因為征服者。
他們希望使自己的國家現(xiàn)代化,而不是其他。
· Jul 13
Never. Chinese scxt isn't able to represent all Vietnamese sounds, it is a scxt for a “Vietnamese version” of Chinese language, not for Vietnamese language. The old scxt for Vietnamese language is the Nom scxt adapted from Chinese scxt and so complicated that almost no one to understand and to learn.
絕不。漢字無法代表所有越南語聲音,它是漢字的“越南版”文字,而不是越南語的文字。越南語的舊文字是由漢字改編而來的喃字,非常復(fù)雜,幾乎沒有人能夠理解和學(xué)習(xí)。
· Aug 20
This is why China simplified their scxt! Why can’t anyone understand? Yes China had the same confusing scxt but did they willingly submit to a Latin scxt created by the French in an attempt to baptize Vietnam?
這就是為什么中國簡化了他們的文字!為什么沒人能理解呢?是的,中國也有同樣令人困惑的文字,但他們是否愿意接受法國人創(chuàng)建的拉丁文字?別試圖給越南洗地?
· Jul 14
Using Chinese character in Vietnam is impractical, and thousands of years of Vietnamese history proved that. Most people were illiterate, or having a hard time learning Chinese character. Moreover, Chinese character were unable to represent native Vietnamese words. Take a look at japan for example, Japanese have difficulty reading and writing for many years until they rely less on Dictionaries, whereas it only take a Vietnamese 1 year to learn how to write and read. You're saying that Vietnamese will have difficulty understanding our ancestor ? Hell, even our ancestor cant understand it. There are more Vietnamese who can read traditional Chinese today than litterate Vietnamese in the 19th century
在越南使用漢字是不切實際的,越南幾千年的歷史證明了這一點。大多數(shù)人都是文盲,或者很難學(xué)習(xí)漢字。而且,漢字無法代表越南本土單詞。以日本為例,日本人多年來一直在閱讀和寫作方面遇到困難,直到他們不再那么依賴漢字,而越南人只需要一年的時間就能學(xué)會如何寫作和閱讀。你是說越南人很難理解我們的祖先?天哪,其實連我們的祖先(大部分都是文盲)也無法理解漢字。今天能閱讀漢字的越南人比 19世紀(jì)識字的越南人還多。
· Jul 12
And that is precisely the problem. The Latin scxt was partially adopted because they could expand literacy so much faster, aiding to the course of their revolution. It’s not like China did not think of adopting the Latin scxt before. Not to mention that China’s modern typing system is heavily dependent on the Latin scxt anyway.
While Chinese has to be actively taught Chinese characters, children in Vietnam just naturally pick up the scxt as they grow up.
這正是問題所在。拉丁字母被部分采用,因為他們可以更快地擴大識字率,從而有助于他們的革命進程。中國以前也不是沒有想到采用拉丁文字。更不用說中國的現(xiàn)代打字系統(tǒng)無論如何都嚴(yán)重依賴?yán)∽帜浮?br /> 中國人從小就必須積極地學(xué)習(xí)漢字,但越南的孩子在成長過程中就可以很自然地學(xué)會現(xiàn)在的越南文。
· Jul 23
I think some Chinese words related to the Lunar New Year, Buddhist temples and Chinese immigrants are still in use in Vietnam.
我認為一些與農(nóng)歷新年、佛教寺廟和中國移民有關(guān)的中文詞匯在越南仍在使用。