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Introduction

I am please to present the first paperback edition of Tuttle Compact Vietnamese Dictionary.

The English language is the first language for approximately 400 million people residing in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. It is also the second language for approximately 600 million of people, especially from the former British colonies in Africa, Asia and the Commonwealth and its use in the business, educational, professional and communications spheres makes it an almost universal language. Many countries and international organizations use English as their official language. With the widespread use of the Internet, it has also become the most common language for Internet users. On the other hand, the Vietnamese language is now spoken by over 90 million people in Vietnam and is also the home language of about three million people living in other countries around the world.

With the globalization of industries and hence the movement of people working across cross-cultural boundaries, the demand for a compact, inexpensive and upto-date Vietnamese-English/English-Vietnamese dictionary has grown dramatically in recent years.

In the last fifty years, there have been so many changes in both the English and Vietnamese languages in all aspects of life. New terms have been invented to meet the development of society, especially in media and communications. This dictionary has contemporary, up-to-date and useful terms and expressions. Many practical examples are given to facilitate understanding of terms in context for users. Approximately 25,000 entries can be found in this dictionary for every aspect of daily living, thus making this dictionary an essential tool for both English-speaking users as well as Vietnamese who are learning the English language.

How To Use This Dictionary

This dictionary is in two parts: a Vietnamese–English section and an English– Vietnamese section. The entries in each section are arranged alphabetically, following the English order from A to Z; and according to the Vietnamese tradition for tones and sequence for the Vietnamese-English section.

The components of each headword are as follows:

1. Headwords are printed in bold, followed by details of the word class (given in italics). If the headword has more than one word class, the different classes are numbered:

ém v. to cover up, to hide: ém chuyện đó đi, không nên nói với ai to cover up that story, do not tell anyone

land 1 n. đất liền, lục địa; đất, đất đai (để trồng trọt); vùng, xứ sở, địa phương, lãnh thổ; ruộng đất, điền sản: ~ breeze gió từ đất liền thổi ra biển; 2 v. đổ bộ; đưa đến, đẩy vào; được, bắt được; giáng (đòn); (máy bay) hạ cánh; cập bến.

2. Square brackets are used to give more information for each entry: such as cross-references to other headwords, the past tense and past participle of the English headword, etc:

kẻ 1 n. individual, person, man [cf. người] 2 v. to draw [a line]: kẻ một đường thẳng to draw a straight line; thước kẻ ruler; giấy kẻ rồi lined paper

bear 1 n. con gấu: the great ~ chòm sao đại hùng; ~ hug ôm chặt 2 v. [bore; born/borne] mang, cầm, vác v.v. chịu đựng, sinh (sản), sinh lợi; to ~ in mind nhớ; to ~ interest sinh lãi

3. Meanings of Vietnamese headwords are in low cases. If the headword has different expressions in Vietnamese, they are separated by a comma (,) and if they have different meanings, they are separated by a semi-colon (;):

oán v., n. to resent, to bear a grudge against; resentment, hatred: oán giận/ oán hờn resentment, hatred; thù oán to resent; ân oán ingratitude and rancor

4. Extended vocabulary items using the English headword are first given in English, followed by the Vietnamese translation. In order to avoid repetition of the headword in these extended vocabulary items the symbol ~ is used to represent the English headword:

pace 1 n. bước đi; dáng/cách đi; tốc độ, nhịp độ: to keep ~ with theo/ sánh kịp; to set the ~ nêu gương; to go at a walking ~ đi từng bước; to go the ~ đi nhanh; ăn chơi phóng đãng; to put someone through his/her ~s thử tài ai, thử sức ai; cho ai thi thố tài năng 2 v. đi từng bước, bước từng bước: to ~ up and down the corridors đi đi lại lại dọc theo hành lang

For the Vietnamese–English section, the extended vocabulary items are separated by semi-colons:

ra 1 v. [SV xuất] to exit, to go out, to come out; to go [out] into, to come [out] into; to look, to become; to issue [order lệnh], to give [signal hiệu, assignment bài]: ra bể to go to the sea; ra sân to go [out of the house] into the yard; ra đường to go out in the street; ra dáng … to look 2 adv. out, outside, forth: không ra gì, chẳng ra gì to amount to nothing; chẳng ra hồn to be worth nothing; bày ra to display, to show off; béo ra to get fat; đỏ ra to become red; nói ra to speak up; nhìn ra, nhận ra to recognize; nhớ ra to remember, to call forth; tìm ra, kiếm ra to find out; trở ra to be out; lối ra “Exit, do not enter.”; cửa ra vào door; ra vô thong thả admission is free.; hiện ra to appear; sinh ra, đẻ ra to be born, to give birth to; hoá ra to become; it turns out that; thành ra to come out; chia ra to divide up, to divide into

5. There are a variety of terms used to address the first and second persons in Vietnamese. As shown by the following example:

bà 1 n. [SV tổ mẫu] grandmother; female: bà ngoại maternal grandmother; bà nội paternal grandmother; đàn bà woman, women; Hai Bà Trưng the Trung sisters 2 pron. lady/you [used by grandchild to grandmother, first person pronoun being cháu]; I [used by grandmother to grandchild, second person pronoun being cháu]; you [used to refer to women of a certain age, first person pronoun being tôi]

tôi is used for the first person and cháu for the second person. The reader can replace these terms with ông, bà, anh, chị, em, tau, mày... depending on age and relationship between the first and second persons.

6. Vietnamese words that are loanwords have their Vietnamese pronunciation connected by hyphens (-), for example:

a-xít n. acid

ki-lô n. [Fr. kilogram] kilogram

7. Abbreviations used in this Dictionary are as follows:

Abbreviations	Full word	Vietnamese equivalent
adj.	adjective	tính từ
adv.	adverb	phụ từ
conj.	conjunction	kết từ
intj.	interjection	cảm từ
n.	noun	danh từ
pl.	plural	số nhiểu
prep.	preposition	giới từ
pron.	pronoun	đại từ
sing	singular	số ít
v.	verb	động từ
num.	numeral	số từ

A Guide to Vietnamese Pronunciation

Vietnamese is a tonal language where no word is conjugated. The Vietnamese alphabet has 29 letters:

a, ă, â, b, c, d, đ, e, ê, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, ô, ơ, p, q, r, s, t, u, ư, v, x, y.

The Vietnamese consonants are written as single letters or a cluster of two or three letters, as follows:

b, c, ch, d, đ, g, gh, gi, h, k, kh, l, m, n, ng, ngh, nh, p, ph, qu, r, s, t, th, tr, v, x.

The vowels in Vietnamese are the following: a, ă, â, e, ê, i/y, o, ô, ơ, u, ư. Vowels can also be grouped together to form a cluster or a word.

The following tables show the vowels and consonants in Vietnamese pronunciation with their English equivalents.

Vowels

Vietnamese	English	Example	Meaning
a	father	ba	three
ă	hat	ăn	to eat
â	but	âm	sound
e	bet	em	younger brother/sister
ê	may	đêm	night
i/y	me	kim	needle
o	law	lo	to worry
ô	no	cô	aunt
ơ	fur	bơ	butter
u	too	ngu	stupid
ư	uh-uh	thư	letter

Consonants

Vietnamese	English	Example	Meaning
b	book	bút	pen
c, k, q	can	cá	fish
		kem	ice-cream
		quý	precious
ch	chore	cho	to give
d, gi	zero	da	skin
		gì	what
đ	do	đi	to go
g/gh	go	ga	railway station
		ghe	boat
h	hat	hai	two
kh	(no real English equivalent)	không	no
l	lot	làm	to do
m	me; him	mai	tomorrow
n	not; in	nam	south
ng/ngh	singer	ngon	delicious
		nghe	to hear
nh	canyon	nho	grape
ph	phone	phải	right
r	run	ra	to go out
s	show	sữa	milk
t	top	tốt	good
th	thin	thăm	to visit
tr	entry	trên	on/ above
v	very	và	and
x	see	xa	far
nh	canyon	nho	grape
ph	phone	phải	right
r	run	ra	to go out
s	show	sữa	milk
t	top	tốt	good
th	thin	thăm	to visit
tr	entry	trên	on/ above
v	very	và	and
x	see	xa	far

Tones

The standard Vietnamese language has six tones. Each tone is a meaningful and integral part of the syllable. Every syllable must have a tone. The tones are indicated in conventional Vietnamese spelling by diacritic marks placed over (á, à, ả, ã) or under (ạ) single vowels or the vowel in a cluster that bears the main stress (v).

Vietnamese	Tone name	Tone mark	Description	Example	Meaning
Không dấu	(no)	o	Voice starts at middle of normal speaking range and remains at that level	ma	ghost
Sắc	high-rising	ó	Voice starts high and rises sharply	má	cheek
Huyền	low-falling	ò	Voice starts at a fairly low and gradually falls	mà	but
Nặng	low-broken	ọ	Voice falls, then cuts off abruptly	mạ	rice seedling
Hỏi	low-rising	ỏ	Voice falls initially, then rises slightly	mả	tomb
Ngã	high-broken	õ	Voice rises slightly, is cut off abruptly, then rises sharply again	mã	horse

Tone Symbols

The six tones just described are summarized in the following chart to illustrate the differences between them as they are associated with individual words.

Vietnamese language has its national standard syntax, morphology and the tone system, although there are some regional variations in pronunciation and accents. There are significant differences in pronunciation and accents between the Northern and Southern people (represented by Hanoi and Saigon respectively). They are as follows:

1. There is no difference in the single vowels between Hanoi and Saigon.

2. There are two vowel clusters /ưu/ and /ươu/ which are pronounced /iu/ and /iêu/ by Hanoi, and /ưu/ and /ươu/ by Saigon.

3. Differences in the pronunciation of consonants:

4. Saigonese do not differentiate between the two tones /?/ and /~/; these are pronounced alike.

We hope that all users of this Compact Vietnamese Dictionary—be they Vietnamese students learning English, or English-speaking expatriates, students or business people—will find this a most compact, up-to-date and user-friendly Vietnamese-English/English-Vietnamese dictionary, for all aspects of daily communication.

Phan Văn Giưỡng