korn wrote:What do you think is special about Vietnamese language?
abcdefg wrote:korn wrote:What do you think is special about Vietnamese language?
We add a lot of nonsense words in spoken language, that's why when translating to English we're often stuck
korn wrote:Vietnamese, when they say how old they are, don't just tell how long they've lived since they were born but add the 9 month they're in their mother's womb. So usually they will tell you they are one year older than we would expect them to say. ..... I hope I could my point across.
korn wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but another thing I realized is, Vietnamese lack nouns in comparison to many Western languages. E.g. in German we would say "Postbote" for postman (<-- one word for one object). In Vietnamese though, it would be like "người đưa thư" (=the person who brings letters). So in Vietnamese you don't have one word for an object but rather a description of the object.
Pangu wrote:It depends on how you define "word". Just because in Vietnamese, the "word" is written separately by syllables it doesn't necessarily mean it's multiple "words". At the end of the day, "người đưa thư" = postman = one single idea. If you break it up, does it still mean the same? This is why I've always thought Quoc Ngu should be written with "words" together like in Hanyu Pinyin.
korn wrote:Pangu wrote:It depends on how you define "word". Just because in Vietnamese, the "word" is written separately by syllables it doesn't necessarily mean it's multiple "words". At the end of the day, "người đưa thư" = postman = one single idea. If you break it up, does it still mean the same? This is why I've always thought Quoc Ngu should be written with "words" together like in Hanyu Pinyin.
they aren't just syllables (which would imply they have no meaning) in fact each of those "syllables" do have meaning: người = person; đưa = to bring; thư= letter. Just because the majority of Vietnamese words have only one syllable doesn't change the fact that they are words, each having meaning of their own.
korn wrote:Albeit, I have to say not having one noun that describes one idea, but instead "describing" this idea with multiple words, is not uniquely Vietnamese. French for example have this characteristic too.
Pangu wrote:korn wrote:Albeit, I have to say not having one noun that describes one idea, but instead "describing" this idea with multiple words, is not uniquely Vietnamese. French for example have this characteristic too.
All languages (that I know) have examples of this.
korn wrote:Pangu wrote:korn wrote:Albeit, I have to say not having one noun that describes one idea, but instead "describing" this idea with multiple words, is not uniquely Vietnamese. French for example have this characteristic too.
All languages (that I know) have examples of this.
Yeah, but some more than others. I think languages like French and Vietnamese are at the end of the spectrum. But this will lead to the discussion whether you see the morphemes as independent words or not.
korn wrote:Another thing is, the vast majority of Vietnamese words have only one syllable.
korn wrote:More over if you leave Asian pacific countries aside, then Vietnam is the only Asian country that uses Latin Alphabet.
That's increasingly a thing of the past. A lot of people my age don't even know there's such a custom.korn wrote:Vietnamese, when they say how old they are, don't just tell how long they've lived since they were born but add the 9 month they're in their mother's womb. So usually they will tell you they are one year older than we would expect them to say.
Tenebrarum wrote:I agree with Pangu. Western linguistics might not be applicable if we want to debate what constitutes a "word" in analytic Asian languages like Vietnamese. In my view "người đưa thư" is only one word though, and isn't "Postbote" made up from more than one component too?korn wrote:Another thing is, the vast majority of Vietnamese words have only one syllable.
The vast majority of Vietnamese words have two inseparable syllables, because most of them are loans from Classical Chinese.
Tenebrarum wrote:korn wrote:More over if you leave Asian pacific countries aside, then Vietnam is the only Asian country that uses Latin Alphabet.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, but Vietnamese is not unique in the Orient in this regard. You've got romanisation systems for some Southern Chinese languages too, like Hakka and Hokkien, and damn, don't they resemble Chữ Quốc Ngữ from the olden days.
korn wrote:Tenebrarum wrote:I agree with Pangu. Western linguistics might not be applicable if we want to debate what constitutes a "word" in analytic Asian languages like Vietnamese. In my view "người đưa thư" is only one word though, and isn't "Postbote" made up from more than one component too?korn wrote:Another thing is, the vast majority of Vietnamese words have only one syllable.
The vast majority of Vietnamese words have two inseparable syllables, because most of them are loans from Classical Chinese.
It depends on what you would define as one word. If you think components=morphemes=words, then you may be right. But honestly saying I've got a more simplistic definition of a word: a word is separated by a space from other words.... I'm a simple guy.
korn wrote:So given you're right, Vietnamese still need a lot of more words to describe the same thing:
"Postbote" is make up by two components: Post (=post) and Bote (=carrier)
"Bote" = "người đưa tin", "người chuyên chở" <-- see Vietnamese needs three words to describe.
Maybe "Postbote" was a bad example. What about "Romantik" (= romance) in Vietnamese it's "Chủ nghĩa lãng mạn" <-- in German you need one noun while in Vietnamese you have a description.
korn wrote:Tenebrarum wrote:korn wrote:More over if you leave Asian pacific countries aside, then Vietnam is the only Asian country that uses Latin Alphabet.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, but Vietnamese is not unique in the Orient in this regard. You've got romanisation systems for some Southern Chinese languages too, like Hakka and Hokkien, and damn, don't they resemble Chữ Quốc Ngữ from the olden days.
I mean using a language as official language that is based on the Latin Alphabet. I know the Chinese use pinyin, but not as a community language. I hope I could put my point across now.
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