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Vietnamese Culturefood [ language ] holidays traditions folklore history Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) is the national language of Vietnam with three distinct dialects--Northern, Central and Southern--as well as local distinctions within those areas. (The biggest differences are in pronunciation of specific letters or letter combinations.) The language has origins in Chinese and was written in both Chinese script and, later, as modified Chinese characters, known as chữ nom. Chữ nom was used by the elite until the late 1800s when it was replaced by quốc ngữ (latin alphabet) as the way to write the Vietnamese lanaguage. The vocabulary itself did not change with each modification; it was simply a different way to write it. Quốc ngữ was initiated by Portuguese missionaries in the mid-1600s for educational and evangelical purposes. French Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes is credited with doing much of the work to establish a standard in the writing system. It would take nearly 300 years before most Vietnamese started using quốc ngữ universally. It is now used exclusively for communication, though there are folks working to preserve the chữ nom and the literature written in that script. Using the Latin alphabet makes the language a bit easier to figure out phonetically, but as a tonal language, Vietnamese is very difficult for Westerners to pick up. Especially on a short trip. Expect that you will learn to say 'Xin chao' (Hello), 'Xin loi' (Excuse me) and 'Cam ơn' (Thank you) well enough to be understood, but don't expect much more unless you really put forth the effort to get local tutoring or classes before you leave. If you're planning to stay a while, learn as much as you can; the locals will appreciate it. The tricks to getting by is trying your very best to pronounce words, and a phrase book with the sentences you think you will use highlighted in yellow and corners turned down (or use the little sticker tabs). It's a good idea to learn a little before you go, at least to familiarize yourself with the sound of the language. We used the Pimsleur series, which I'd recommend, as well as checking out a few different books, tape series and CDs from our local library. Kids naturally pick up language incredibly quickly, so give them a heads-up by listening to the audio programs in the car, but get some stuff for them as well. We bought Sing and Learn Vietnamese tapes and my daughter especially enjoyed them. It's particularly good for the under-10 set.
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