Loanwords in Vietnamese

In this post, Tiengviet24h will introduce to you: Loanwords in Vietnamese. Let’s start!

Loanwords and native Vietnamese words

Vietnamese vocabulary is divided into two parts: Native Vietnamese words and loanwords

+ Native Vietnamese words are words that are created by Vietnamese people and have existed for a long time in Vietnamese language.

Example: vợ (wife), chồng (husband), ăn (to eat), uống (to drink), etc.

+ Loanwords are words borrowed from other languages in order to enrich Vietnamese vocabulary. In Vietnamese, there are many words borrowed from Chinese, French, English, Russian, etc.

Example: hạnh phúc (Sino-Vietnamese word), bánh ga tô (French loanword), ti vi (English loanword), etc.

Classification of loanwords

Based on the origin of loanwords in Vietnamese, they are divided into two categories:

Sino-Vietnamese words

+ Sino-Vietnamese words are words borrowed from Chinese by Vietnamese people, but they are written in Latin letters.

Example: quốc gia (country), băng hà (to die), anh hùng (hero), siêu nhân (superman), etc.

+ You shouldn’t overuse Sino – Vietnamese words because it will make sentences become unnatural and unsuitable for communication situations.

Indo-European words

+ Indo-European words are words derived from Indo-European languages.

+ Indo-European words are divided into two categories:

• Indo-European words that are Vietnameseized: xà phòng (soap), ban công (balcony), xúc xích (sausage), mù tạt (mustard), etc.
• Indo-European words that are not completely Vietnameseized (When writing, you need to add dashes between syllables): ra-đi-ô (radio), vi-ta-min (vitamin), tuốc-nơ-vít (screwdriver), pê-ni-xi-lin (penicillin), etc.

Principle of borrowing words from other languages

– Borrowing words from other languages has both positive and negative aspects:

+ On the positive side, it helps enrich Vietnamese vocabulary.

+ On the negative side, it makes Vietnamese language become a bastard language if borrowing too much words from other languages.

– You need to ensure the following principles: Do not use loanwords randomly and do not overuse loanwords.

Above is: Loanwords in Vietnamese. See other similar posts in category: Basic Vietnamese

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