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7/1/1992 - Language by Carole Beaulieu

FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUTWRITER S3ONSENT CB INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWORLDAFFAIRS Peter Bird Martin ICWA Crane Rogers Foundation West Wheelock Street Hanover New Hampshire 03755 Dear Peter How would computer Vietnamese Oom toad7 literally electricity mathematics Well depends Xun Vu teacher Hu communist regime lives Seattle Washington cornp And nothing another those weird words communists created But Blnh Ng0 North Vietnamese supports Boris Yeltsin loves culture teacl Vietnamese Moscow years computer toad7 Vietnamese always borrowed words foreign languages B broad shouldered teaches University Washington summer We borrowed mainly C inese French Thai English But Vietnamese computer easily understood population living cities I The biggest contribution classical Chinese Han which during millenium Chinese imperial Hence proportion Han words adoption certain Han syntaxic rules But through centuries Hart become vietnamized thoroughly integrated country language The process documented G V Foreign language publishing house Hanol Carole Beaulieu ICWA fellow writing about countries former French Indochina focus Vietnam Since theInstituteofCurrentWorld Affairs theCrane Rogers Foundation hasprovidedlong termfellowships enable outstanding young adults outside United States write about international areas issues Endowed bythelateChar Crane theInstituteisalsosupportedbycontributionsfromlike mindedindividualsand foundations The disagreement between Xun Blnh From Nguyn Tra century rejected Chinese classical script wrote instead mixture phonetics Chinese characters century patriots spread their nationalist message using romanized alphabet devised European missionnaries preach Catholicism indeed Vietnamese fought national language Was computer simply another chapter battle I wondered about I small office University Washington chatting Vietnamese language teachers It Seattle degrees Fahrenheit record We sweating I fascinated Bnh teacher advanced level Southeast Asian Summer program SEASSI patiently answering questions I puzzled since classes June It began morning usual teacher Xuan teacl Flour different class There three beginner classes program advanced intermediate their assigned teacher there roughly eight students class Every mornlng first hours beginner class teachers rotate The expose students different accents Voices teaching techhiques Already first morning began sense usual variations accents between regions The maJor difference personnalized Bch N Hanoians teaching SEASSI other teaches intermediate level Bch young woman With shining black communicative laugh The first morning class puzzled Not because giggled Actually truly refresI watch break irrepressible What supposed instead saying I studied Vietnamese I I Vietnamese stuck tlnroat Now those beware The under first accent second sound different pronounced Unfortunately I Anyway liked Bch laughed However started textbook wrorig Or learned before Xun advice actually polite formal anymore We patiently inquired Was matter region Was OK South KfTDnE khDnE answering which means No Nobody anymore insisted It Just dictionaries I bought Montreal Nguyn Trai recueil langue nationale Editions CNRS According Bfch English Vietnamese French Vietnamese dictionaries published America passe They written scholars Vietnam years For example still office But Bich right Had Vietnamese language changed years Xun outdated Was Bich simply pushing Eio H Noi Hanoi dialect On other maybe Xun influenced communists created weird words insisted formal polite expressions instead Bch shorter Dr Kim Nguyen rector Vietnamese program University Washington couldn quite answer those questions A southerner herself United States student years never returned Vietnam According chanze language terminology The communists created words mainly military technology politics literary criticism But there other differences And Dr Nguy aware When I Dr Nguyn teaching summer insisted having teachers northern accents recalls Harold Schiffman language coordinator SEASSI program University Washington She insisted having teachers Hanoi She local Vietnamese community would accept So northerners northerners So Xun Vietnamese American Hu4 teaching Vietnamese Seattle children years credentials community The program hired Kinh respected teacher Idaho regime knows northern accent though South B Hanoi teacher listed Georgetown University studying English there months before oming Seattle All teachers agreed teach northern Vietnamese So letter pronounced while South would pronounced And variations Out Hanoi I recalls John student spent months studying Vietnam People understood I could understand There dialects Binh books could written about evolution mother tongue Fluent languages spent years pondering about phenomenon while taught Vietnamese Russian students Take words E B Mr Mrs communists Between Vietnamese Kinh speak Vietnamese The population composed about ethnic groups speaking different languages Among Kinh there least three major dialects numerous regional variations Vietnamese understood everywhere country expressions respect bourgeoisie tried eliminate replace comrade Just Russia But words never disappeared Even North always mainly villages cities Now heard because communists because world tendency democratize language Even States anymore Ainong Asian languages Vietnamese might easiest westerners learn alphabet Vietnamese written ideograms Chinese Japanese It romanized alphabet created century missionnaries trying spread Catholicism The result their effort caled OuDo national language oldest document catechism written Alexandre Rhodes At first Vietnamese elite rejected another foreig aggression But advantages abetic script ideographic script became evident learning required months nstead several years From start century patriots anxious propage ideas ealized Quoc could covenient In founding Democratic Republic Vietnam quDcgbecame official national language administration school system It first language linked patriotic upsurge As early century while still Chinese empire Vietnamese devised special script transcribe their popular language It called mixture phonetics Chinese characters The history vietnamese language history patriotic sentiment writes Bi Hun Bo To language group Vietnamese belong Among linguists question remains undecided It either Austroasiatic language adopted tones Tai language puzzling number Austroasiatic vowels everyday vocabulary writes E J A Henderson Bi Xun B L Q Qn Editions Tu Sach Nhn Vau Xa HOi G V L Bui Xun Bo Quoted Robert Parkin A ZQ A Q S D oceanic linguistic special publications University Hawaii Press Honolulu Other scholars H L Shorto Vietnamese Mon Khmer language showing effects contact Chinese vocabulary phonological progress syllabism But whatever classification there tones Vietnamese which means driving Say pitch instead I I wanted rather I pregnant So better learn singing Overall learning Vietnamese involves Each seems window ancient sophisticated culture For exalnple I I identifying I Je French keeps changing Vietnamese Sometimes I meaning servant other times It depends person I talking I strangers friends And I should niece older person I respect But older sister Will someone about insulted If I instead How should close enough older person child instead I Sometimes Vietnamese themselves It difficult Vietnamese speak phone admits Dr Kim Nguyen We decide other pearson super equal younger older It difficult In spite difficulties I guage reveals about importance family relationships Vietnamese society Others might importance hierarchy Vietnamese society But about weird words communists created All languages create words Blnh The question rules create In French Latin In Vietnamese still Chinese rules Ot prefer Vietnamese rules For example_ helicopter either The first comes ietnamese roots The second Vietnamese accordin Bnh communist accordin XOan As historian Alexander Woodside wrote linguistic battle Some nationalists extreme position Vietnamese people should steal vocabulary should fully invent their words writes Woodside V To these patriots Vietnamese people suffered hereditary sickness which disease scornin their mother tongue GQ AZi quoted Robert Parkin So careful answering questions Vietnamese class If Bch profession I answer journalist But Kinh answer A E Sometimes I I guess those Strangely enough southerners northerners cling Chinese words I expected opposite simply because northerners closer China geographically The Chinese later South explains Binh And there Chiese schools South until In North there Chinese schools Vietnamese Most those differences mentioned smooth matter But sometimes their existence seems violently shake apparent unityo teachers Last Friday T teacher KinI sophisticated southerner speaks fluently languages treasures I mother tongue hardly despise Hanoi regime suddenly angry textbook using He police actually meant secret police average An lnour Bich fuming right Kinh I I If I I For Lt colonel Edouard Diguet wrote Elments grammaire annamite For weeks since I began studying Vietnamese I looking spell vowels Vietnamese alphabet My fellow students Lt Colonel Diguet better He called barbu bearded bearded Everytime I smile memory Colonel Diguet loved language wrote grammar Europeans believing tones graphic ornaments I beleive tones graphic ornaments Lt Diguet I certainly But I often I better singer More Carole Beaulieu Avenue Seattle WA 98112 USA Edouard Diguet E Z Imprimerie Nationale Paris foreword I Diguet foreword Received Hanover July