Translation requests [Vietnamese]

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Tenebrarum
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Re: Hồ Xuân Hương poem: "tiêu sơ" = ?

Postby Tenebrarum » 2012-01-05, 14:06

That rocks, Aurelio! :praise: You're more knowledgeable about the language and the country than those guys who call themselves experts - often the same people who produce mangled sentences, maybe even insist that Vietnamese is related to Chinese. :nope:

Best of luck with your language adventure!
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Re: Translation requests

Postby abcdefg » 2012-01-12, 5:25

There are different meanings for "tiêu". One (消) could be dissipation (tiêu tán), eliminate (tiêu diệt), consume (tiêu hao). Another (逍, in 逍遙) means carefree, leisurely (tiêu dao, tiêu dao tự tại).

Tiếu (俏), meaning pretty, has the 'sound' part (phonetic indicator) similar to tiêu. There's a Chinese - Sino-Vietnamese - Vietnamese dictionary which can convert Chinese paragraphs to Sino-Vietnamese and vice versa, which could be of help :).

We used Chinese characters to represent Vietnamese that is a phonetic language, so there were many inventions that still remain confusing to current scholars.
Tôi kể người nghe chuyện Phố-trong-sông,
chuyện những mùa Đông đi qua thời con gái.
Bóng đổ dài, bước chân người mê mải
Gió chở mùa về,
hoang hoải cả giấc mơ..

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What's the word for wine?

Postby Midnight » 2012-03-17, 17:15

I asked this guy in the convenience shop and mispronounced rượu, which means alcohol only I think.
He said something like champagne ( I've just looked up the word sâm banh), but I think that goes for champagne only, doesn't it?

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Re: What's the word for wine?

Postby linguoboy » 2012-03-17, 17:44

rượu vang (< Fr. vin)
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: What's the word for wine?

Postby Midnight » 2012-03-17, 20:55

Cám ơn.

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Re: Translation requests

Postby Tenebrarum » 2012-03-18, 17:15

Note that rượu vang only refers to wine made from grape.

It works like this: rượu + [modifier] = specific type of alcoholic drink. E.g: rượu rắn, rượu rum, rượu đế, rượu vodka, rượu sake, rượu vang trắng, rượu vang đỏ, (rượu) champagne, rượu Johnny Walker...
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Re: Translation requests

Postby Midnight » 2012-03-19, 8:20

Thank you. I wanted to ask one more question. Do people with northern accent understand those with the southern. I've been learning northern, because the main Vietnamese community comes from either North or Central Vietnam, but there are some exceptions.

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Re: Translation requests

Postby Tenebrarum » 2012-03-19, 9:28

Southerners understand Northerners more easily than vice versa, for several reasons.
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Re: Translation requests

Postby maianhvk » 2012-03-23, 5:24

Midnight wrote:Do people with northern accent understand those with the southern.


Not really. I found that it's extremely hard for the Northern people to get what the Southern people are talking about if they're speaking fast and/or using local terms.
Trong muôn vạn bàn chân chen phố thị
Ai thừa giờ nhớ một kẻ đi xa

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Re: Translation requests

Postby Tenebrarum » 2012-03-23, 13:01

maianhvk wrote:I found that it's extremely hard for the Northern people to get what the Southern people are talking about if they're speaking fast and/or using local terms.

Well, I find that when Northerners talk fast, their top speed is even higher than our top speed. :wink:

But of course, if you just race ahead and use lots of local words, it's bound to be hard for people from other regions to understand you, regardless of where you come from. This is true for all languages on Earth that have dialects.
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What does "nha" and "được" mean???

Postby jiback7 » 2012-04-03, 0:33

chào tắt cả mọi người!!

I have two questions, first, what does "nha" mean? This Vietnamese wrote me using it a lot:

"mình sửa lỗi viết cho bạn luôn nha"
"mình cũng mong bạn cũng sửa lỗi tiếng anh của mình nếu mình viết sai nha"
"đồng ý nha?"

Second, what does "được" mean? I can't find a good example right now, but it comes up often, thanks!

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Re: Translation requests

Postby Tenebrarum » 2012-04-03, 3:43

Được is the particle of ability and permitability.
E.g:
Con làm được mà mẹ! -- I can do it (myself), mom!
Thí sinh được đi tiếp vào vòng trong. -- The contestant might progress to the next level.

Nha (ha, nhe) is an interjection in the South.
It could mean roughly "is that okay?" or "cool?" - offering, inviting.
E.g:
Đi với tụi tao ha? -- Come with us, eh?
Đồng ý nha!* -- Deal? (=^___^=)

Or it can be combined into "đó nha" (á nha), "quá nha" (wá nha) or "quá đó nha", which mean something else... Precisely what, I still can't pin down.

*This is cute language. The Vietnamese writing to you must be a girl.
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Re: Translation requests

Postby jiback7 » 2012-04-03, 4:10

Thank you!

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Re: Translation requests

Postby jiback7 » 2012-05-26, 18:00

chào tất cả mọi người!
How would I write something like this (in a year book):

"Although we've had two classes together, I still don't really know you that well. Perhaps next year we can speak some vietnamese together!"

cảm ơn bạn!

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Re: Translation requests

Postby jiback7 » 2012-05-28, 1:47

chào tất cả mọi người!
How would I write something like this (in a year book):

"Although we've had two classes together, I still don't really know you that well. Perhaps next year we can speak some vietnamese together!"

cảm ơn bạn!

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Re: Translation requests

Postby Tenebrarum » 2012-05-28, 17:00

Ah, are you trying to score a girl? That's cute, so I'll help you out.

"Dù đã học chung với nhau hai lớp, tụi mình vẫn chưa có dịp quen thân. Biết đâu năm tới, mình sẽ nói được vài ba chữ tiếng Việt với nhau!"

But since you can't write Vietnamese by yourself, what's the point? Writing it in English is way more genuine.
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Re: Translation requests

Postby jiback7 » 2012-05-30, 4:19

Haha, I suppose so. Thanks for the translation!

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Do people in Vietanam use these words in daily life?

Postby simplio » 2012-07-08, 14:34

I would like to know if people in Vietnam use in a daily life these words and if not what are the Vietnamese alternative:

web, net, game, portal, forum, login, ban, job

and when you put them together like:

web game, web forum etc.

Thanks in advance.

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Re: Do people in Vietanam use these words in daily life?

Postby Tenebrarum » 2012-07-08, 14:50

web, net, game, portal, forum, login, ban, job

- Portal: never heard.
- Job: rarely heard, usually said by Việt kiều-s.
- The rest: frequently heard, but sometimes not used in the way you expect.

simplio wrote:web game, web forum

game online, forum
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Translation request

Postby Linnaeus59 » 2012-07-10, 10:29

I found some some lines in a poem by Nguyễn Huy Thiệp, and I'd like to know their meaning. My problems are with the little words: đâu (where or not), mà (but or that), này (can't mean this here).


Đêm nay chim ngủ đâu
Mà đêm nay hồn anh ở đâu
Này chú chim xanh
Bao giờ báo tiệp?

Suggestions:
- The bird sleeps where my soul sleeps
- The bird does not sleep and my soul does not sleep
- So when will the little blue bird proclaim victory?

Can anybody help?


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