I left the country almost two decades. I thought my Vietnamese is rusty. But, in contrast, I read the news online, printed paper in oversea or in Viet Nam. They are so horrible in grammar usage and word choices. For example, the goverment need a new policy or methodology to resolve traffic congestion, they, instead use the term "strategy". It still sounds they still in combat zone?! "...chien luoc phat trien giao thong..." why not "...phuong sach hay ke hoach phat trien giao thong" In most of the speech, to introduce the purpose, they use the term of reason in stead of purpose, "...day la ly do cua buoi le ngay hom nay..." why not make it simple and concise like "... day la muc dich cua buoi le ngay hom nay..." I don't understand why don't they be straight and walk around and use awful replacement. In Paris By Night, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ngan, the co MC with Ky Duyen, in his to praise how great Vietnamese wowen are, he read: "Phan son to diem son ha "Lam cho ro mat dan ba nuoc Nam" These are really problem of this poem because instead of praising the women, they litterally means to "uncover...". I am couunting that term "Phan Son does not go well with Son Ha" I hope to address this so that the language is not being used in approprietly. This will pass on next an very generation.
First off, Vietnamese do speak "CORRECT" Vietnamese. You have to assess your audience when writing and speaking. Since a lot of people are uneducated and more familiar with the "cultural" language (veterans type), it's easier for them to comprehend the speech. In response to your examples: - the goverment need a new policy or methodology to resolve traffic congestion, they, instead use the term "strategy". It still sounds they still in combat zone?! "...chien luoc phat trien giao thong..." why not "...phuong sach hay ke hoach phat trien giao thong" The words you picked in your example do not emphasize strategy. It literally means purpose or planning; very different from scheme or plot. Purpose and planning are part of a strategy, scheme, or plot. Also, these words you picked are more modernized and westerned terms that you're so used to here which may give the same connotation but not so back there. In VN, it's different. The people's understanding and regular usage are different. As for your reference to the "combat zone", it's not it. Man, talk about bad language, sorry to say this but you should really brush up on your Vietnamese first before going around correcting others. Vietnameses care extremely on their presentation.
I don't think anything wrong with my vietnamese. And I am not representing myself, either. The fact, most of Vietnamese in Viet Nam and oversea use the language incorrectly. That is the fact. Admit it and put aside the personal confrontation. It just merely shows that you are weak in your defense. "chien luoc" in Vietnamese means literally war strategy. If you are not sure, you can look it up in Vietnamese. Don't try to westernize it. Let me repeat, I am talking Vietnamese language, not how they are being undertood in Western context or influences, whatsoever. "ly do" and "muc dich" are not interchangable. If you don't see the differences then I don't see you are different from the languange problem crowd. I mentioned to those Vietnamese professors who were intellectual class and they agree of the language usage issue.
Dude, where are your professors??? Are they in Vietnam??? Chien luoc is strategy .. depending on the context of the usage .. doesn't necessary apply to war alone. Those words you used are modernize and western terms for business. In fact, there are a lot of words that can be used interchangably. I didn't say anything about "ly do" or "muc dich" in my earlier post so don't put words in my mouth .. of course they're different ... ly do is reason and muc dich is purpose .. but at times muc dich can give a ly do connotation. You don't know anything about the Vietnamese language so don't go around thinking others are stupid. You are WRONG and that's a FACT. Did you even graduate from a Vietnmese college? Keep in mind, writing and speaking are different too.
I agreed with you.......I heard soo many new phrases that Vietnamese used after the fall of the South.
Disclaimer: I don't even speak Viet; so perhaps I'm totally wrong to even put forth any opinion here. However, for those willing to hear me out, allow me to offer a few personal observations. In Cantonese Chinese, depending on where one is from, certain words, and even entire phrases can offer regional flavors to one's speech, even within the same dialect. For example, Canto speakers from Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, or Shanghai, all have different terms of usage that could be best described as functionally similar pronouns or adjectives, insofar as communicative intent. Spanish is another notoriously regionally imbued language, where again, word choice and usage can easily indicate a speaker's geographic origins to a seasoned listener. Years ago, when I was stationed in Germany, the subtle differences between low and high German, were a constant reminder of the many variations within a language that can exist, where both versions are linguistically correct. The most striking example of this is the German based language called Yiddish, that is extensively used throughout the world by the Jewish diaspora. IMHO, my suspicion is that the OP's observations, while correctly recognizing the existence of technical differences, is probably incorrect in its assumptions that one usage form is inherently more linguistically accurate over the other. At any rate, language is a living thing, something that is constantly evolving; else we would continue to sayeth thou art, in place of you are, which itself is so often misrepresented by a misused contraction of your (instead of you're) that by common usage, has become routinely acceptable.
^ I agree that language is constantly evolving and I understand the OP's intention; however, he was totally off. Those examples he gave were dead WRONG.
LOL... Like I'd stated, I unfortunately don't speak Viet; so I can't even understand what was being said, much less the subtle nuances of proper versus improper word usage. I was just giving my observations and experiences with language in general, so it was purely speculative in any case. Sorry if it didn't have anything substantive to add to the quality of the debate. Ok, Ralph will keep his mouth shut here in... -innocent2
The government invented a lot of new words in order not to use the old ones. And then it also sounds something special.
the only time you might and again, might hear some new words is when they're giving an international speech where they have to accommodate western audiences. they don't invent, just use another expression to make easier to understand per se.
lol ^^ fails with a capital F anyways, as for OP, correct vietnamese or not, i actually learned new words.
