Are traditional VietNamese and Chinese written languages similar ??

[songhan]

I find it quite interesting that the Old traditional Vietnamese language is quite similar to Chinese . It seems to me Chinese can read and understand Vietnamese without learning it

English - Vietnamese (traditional characters) - Chinese (simplified characters)

Airport - Phi Trường 飛場- 机場 Cơ trường

Hospital - Bệnh Viện 病院 - 医院 Y viện

Library - Thư viện 書院 - 图书馆 Đồ thư quán

Ambulance - Xe Cứu Thương 車救傷 or Xe Cấp Cứu 車急傷- 救护车 Cứu hộ xa

Teacher - Giáo viên 教員- 老师 Lão sư

Doctor - Bác sĩ 博士 - 医生 Y sinh

Engineer - Kĩ sư 技師 - 工程师 Công trình sư

Audience - Khán giả 看者 - 观众 Quan chúng

Translator - Thông dịch viên 通譯員 - 译者 Dịch giả

Miss (Queen of Beauty) - Hoa hậu 華后 - 小姐 Tiểu thư or tiểu tả

Fire fighter - Lính Cứu Hỏa (兵)救火 - 消防队员 Tiêu phòng đội viên

Fire truck - Xe Cứu Hỏa 車救火 - 消防车 Tiêu phòng xa

Zoo - Sở Thú 所獸 or Vườn Bách Thú 園百獸 - 动物园 Động vật viên

Television - Vô tuyến truyền hình 無線傳形 - 电视 Điện thị

Supermarket - Siêu Thị 超市- 超级市场 Siêu cấp thị trường

Christmas - Lễ Giáng Sinh 禮降生 - 圣诞节 Thánh đản tiết

To volunteer - Tình nguyện 情愿 - 志愿 Chí nguyện

volunteer (person) - Tình nguyện viên 情愿員- 志愿者 Chí nguyện giả

Travel - Du lịch 游歷 - 旅行 Lữ hành

Reproach - Chỉ Trích 指責 - 责备 Trách bị

(Be) Careful - Cẩn thận 謹慎 - 仔细 Tử tế

Protect - Bảo vệ 保衛 - 保护 Bảo hộ

To understand - Hiểu 曉 - 了解 Liễu giải

Grandparents - Ông bà 翁婆 - 祖父母 Tổ phụ mẫu

Paternal grandfather - Ông nội 翁內 - 祖父 Tổ phụ

Paternal grandmother - Bà nội 婆內 - 祖母 Tổ mẫu

Maternal grandfather - Ông ngoại 翁外- 姥爷 Mỗ gia

Maternal grandmother - Bà ngoại 婆外- 姥姥 Mỗ mỗ

[renzhe]

The languages are not really similar, but Vietnamese has a stupendous amount of loanwords from Chinese. It something like 60-70% of the entire language, if I'm not mistaken.

[liuzhou]

It seems to me Chinese can read and understand Vietnamese without learning it

I can assure you they most certainly can't.

Vietnamese has a stupendous amount of loanwords from Chinese.

As English does from French, but few English people can actually speak French (even if they learned it in school.)

[renzhe]

Well, the Vietnamese USED to write in Classical Chinese for a very long time. An educated Chinese would be able to read that.

Still, writing Vietnamese using Chinese characters (and some characters specifically coined for Vietnamese) was also common, and a Chinese person would not understand much of that. Just like 50% of English vocabulary is Latin, and English speakers cannot read Latin.

Some reading.

[songhan]

interesting differences in usage between Vietnamese and Chinese

Vietnamese

Sách 册 = book

Thư 書 = mail

Chinese

Thư 书 = book

Bưu kiện 邮件 = mail

Singer:

Vietnamese: ca sĩ 歌士

Chinese: ca thủ 歌手

To produce:

Vietnamese: sản xuất 產出

Chinese: sinh sản 生产

(Vietnamese use the word "sinh sản" to say "reproduce")

Reproduce (biology-wise)

Vietnamese: sinh sản 生產

Chinese: sinh thực 生殖

Rebirth, be reborn

Vietnamese: 回生 hồi sinh or 復生 phục sinh

Chinese: 重生 trùng sinh or tái sinh 再生

Grown-up

Vietnamese: trưởng thành 長成

Chinese: thành niên 成年

Patience:

Vietnamese: kiên nhẫn 堅忍

Chinese: nại tâm 耐心

Happy

Vietnamese: sung sướng 充暢 or hạnh phúc 幸福

Chinese: du khoái 愉快 or khoái lạc 快乐

Sad

Vietnamese: sầu muộn 愁悶

Chinese: bi ai 悲哀

Weather:

Vietnamese: thời tiết 時節

Chinese: thiên khí 天气, thiên hậu 天候

Atmosphere (geography-wise)

Vietnamese: khí quyển 氣圈

Chinese: đại khí 大气

Office:

Vietnamese: văn phòng 文房

Chinese: bạn công thất 办公室

[gato]

Looks like Vietnamese would be one of the easiest foreign language for a Chinese speaker to learn.

[liuzhou]

Looks like Vietnamese would be one of the easiest foreign language for a Chinese speaker to learn.

I have a good Vietnamese friend here in Guangxi (which borders Vietnam). She teaches Vietnamese in a local university. She would disagree with you.

[gato]

I have a good Vietnamese friend here in Guangxi (which borders Vietnam). She teaches Vietnamese in a local university. She would disagree with you.

"Easiest" doesn't necessarily mean "easy." What's easier than Vietnamese then?

[liuzhou]

Fair point.

Most Chinese English majors (even here in Guangxi) choose Japanese as their second foreign language.

I reckon Italian would be easier!

[gato]

Most Chinese English majors (even here in Guangxi) choose Japanese as their second foreign language.

Ha. I took some baby steps in starting to learn Japanese last week. First trying learning the fifty or so hiraganas. That took at least ten hours, and I still don't have it completely memorized, and I'm still at a crawling pace in trying read words written in hiragana. Then there are the fifty or so kataganas.... While there many shared words between Chinese and Japanese in the hanzi/kanzi written form, the pronunciation of those words seem to differ greatly quite often. Knowing Chinese helps in learning to read Japanese, but I'm not sure that it helps much in learning to speak Japanese. Vietnamese, on the hand, seems to be much closer to Chinese in pronunciation. A Chinese learner of Vietnamese also doesn't have to learn a new alphabet.

[liuzhou]

A Chinese learner of Vietnamese also doesn't have to learn a new alphabet.

No. All Chinese understand this.

Hiện tại Tồng lãnh sự quán Việt Nam được đặt tại Đại lộ Dân Tộc - Thành phố Nam Ninh.

[Hofmann]

I would say Japanese is easier, as they write Chinese. Perhaps if Vietnamese wrote nouns, adjectives, etc. in Chinese, when it would be as easy (or easier) than Japanese.

Oi! Check this place out. I can understand a lot of it.

[songhan]

Liuzhou , are you Chinese ? you can understand that Vietnamese sentence written in Romanized version . interresting ??

can you understand these popular Vietnamese expressions written in Romanized Vietnamese

* Tâm đầu ý hợp

* Bách chiến bách thắng

* Chiêu hiền đãi sĩ

* Vạn sự khởi đầu nan

* Trường sinh bất lão

* Vô danh tiểu tốt

* Tứ hải giai huynh đệ

* Tham quyền cố vị

[liuzhou]

Liuzhou , are you Chinese ? you can understand that Vietnamese sentence written in Romanized version . interresting ??

No. I'm not Chinese, but I am a long term resident of China.

Yes, I understand the romanised Vietnamese which I posted. It's just an address.

My point was ironic.

[Hofmann]

Wild guesses:

* Tâm đầu ý hợp 抌到易合 attack a state to the point that it's easy to unite

* Bách chiến bách thắng 百箭百疼 hit by a hundred arrows and it hurts like hell

* Chiêu hiền đãi sĩ 憔軒帶屎 the worn carriage carries feces

* Vạn sự khởi đầu nan 暈甦礙豆難 it is difficult to find that one faints and wakes up, finding that one is blocking beans from sprouting

* Trường sinh bất lão 撞醒八佬 run into eight men, and wake them up

* Vô danh tiểu tốt 跛等挑帥 the cripple waits to provoke the commander

* Tứ hải giai huynh đệ 渡海崖懸姐 cross the sea to the cliff to hang one's sister

* Tham quyền cố vị 擔拳我胃 endure as one punches my abdomen

Don't kill me.

[Mugi]

* Tâm đầu ý hợp 心投意合

* Bách chiến bách thắng 百戰百勝

* Chiêu hiền đãi sĩ

* Vạn sự khởi đầu nan 萬事起頭難

* Trường sinh bất lão 長生不老

* Vô danh tiểu tốt 無名小卒

* Tứ hải giai huynh đệ 四海皆兄弟

* Tham quyền cố vị

Don't recognize nos. 3 or 8...

(I think I like Hofmann's suggestions better though!!)

[HashiriKata]

3. Chiêu hiền đãi sĩ = 招贤待士

8. Tham quyền cố vị = 贪权顾位

[Mugi]

8. Tham quyền cố vị = 贪权顾位

→ 贪权固位 ?

[HashiriKata]

I think it should be 顾位 (as in 顾惜地位)

[Mugi]

Trouble is I don't get any Google hits for 顾/顧, but I do get some (not many, I admit) for 固 ...