Vietnamese2020 Writing Reform Proposal

3) Polysyllabics fosters an ability to think abstractly and collectively
As we all have seen, only a few of us who have been lucky enough to have acquired a second or a third foreign language such as English or French are mostly the ones who can function fairly well to a higher degree in academic and scientific fields, all requiring abstract and collective thinking skills. That ability must have been results of a cognitive process after a long period of training in academic disciplines, which has effectively molded our brain to work and see things that way.
In fact, the capabilities of thinking abstractly and colectively have helped us achieve successes in many other aspects of lives as well. We can safely assume that the process of acquiring second language, a polysyllabic one such as English, is one of major disciplines that has brought us these skills. Those, assumably, who have been left out of this intellectual circle, in every sense of it, including the economically disadvantaged, are the poor souls whose language skills have been limited monolingually with "monosyllabic" Vietnamese. Unfortunately, those people constitute a majority of overall population. Can our country progress with a large number of individuals whose brains barely function in a limpo state of mind? Think about that over and over again and you will recognize how urgent a reform is needed for the present state of Vietnamese writing system!
Anybody who knows German is well aware of the fact that the way its nouns are written appears to be the most lengthy ones among those of any other Indo-European languages, for example, Informationssystemverarbeitung (information system processing), Aufwiedersehen (see you again), Recherchem?ảglichkeiten (possibility research), Datenbanken (data bank), Betriebwirschaft (economic management), etc. It does not matter how long a word is, the Germans accept it as one complete word conceptually. Please note that all nouns are started with the first letter being capitalized, which may unexpectedly signify the beginning of a long text string and further fortify the symbolistic effects of those long polysyllabic compounds. That fact implies that they are highly capable of seeing things abstractly and collectively.
Contrarily, we are accustomed to seeing things in minute details, a mindset that tends to associate abstract concepts with concrete objects, individually and sentimentally. For example, we often hear among ourselves boasting that how beautiful our language is, each syllable represents and triggers an object visually and depicts a picturesque perception of a word (actually a syllable for this matter) in our mind, or how orderly our language shows with regard to social hierarchy, etc., when we should call a person by name, by title, by seniority, or by rank, etc., (in this case consider India's social classes which are still in existence!), while in many other languages, including Chinese (that used to be the same as ours for this matter), all first and second person addresses are abstracted to "I, you" in English, "wo, ni" in mandarin, or "je, tu" ("moi", "toi" and "vous") in French. It is so not because in other cultures people do not know how to respect others to address them accordingly, but because their languages have transcended, not descended, to higher abstract degree for this matter.
No matter how good our excuses are for refusing to accept that reasoning, our way of thinking, unfortunately, has incapacitated our ability to think abstractly. From the early ages when we first learned how to write our language, our teachers and parents had taught us how to recognize the relationship between spellings and sounds, but focused only on practicing how to spell out vocally syllables individually and separately. This way of teaching syllabic spellings to those youngsters 50 years ago still remains the same for our post-war newborn generations! Among us some of those who have been elementary teachers in American schools, they may have known too well about this fact: spelling curricula to teach "American" young kids to learn how to spell have been in constant changes in methodology for the last twenty years every year!
Configuratively speaking, we were trained to distinguish trees, but not to see a whole forest. The Americans do not teach their children that way, neither do the Frenchmen, nor the Chinese for that matter.
It seems that nobody pays attention to an agonizing fact that that limpo mental legacy has been passed down one generation after another. We all have failed to utilize our writing system properly as a powerful tool to con***ion our abstract and collective thinking abilities since our early age and continued to implant this retrograde mindset in our youngsters' brain and still feel proud of it!
Human beings cannot think without languages. Which language tool currently in use now, no matter how inferior it is, is the only option our kids have and learn to live with. In other words, chances are that those monolingual souls will grow up knowing to think things one syllable at a time.
It is undoubtedly that an ability to think things abstractly and collectively is important in many aspects of life. It is the keys *****ccess in many areas, including mathematics, sciences, academics, or economics. We all were not born with this special skill; it partly depends on language training, a multi-facet tool that will help people think and reason logically. However, an already badly-formed monosyllabic "gene" from previous generations is ready to pass down to the next ones.
A bad tool will certainly affect final products. A better polysyllabic language tool will trigger children' brains to develop differently for the better. Reading and writing Vietnamese texts scripted in polysyllabic formation would help children develop and enhance that special ability for sure. They will benefit greatly from seeing concrete and abstract concepts alike only in shapes and symbols rather than in dismembered syllabic spellings.
The Koreans have recognized this matter as we see in their Korean block writing system, being utilized in both of Korea's own national script and the adapted Chinese characters. They put polysyllabic characters in distinct groups for each concept-word, for instance, "hyundai" = "hiỏằ?n?'ỏ?Ăi" (modern), "Dongnama" = "ÐôngnamÁ" (Southeast Asia), "fanghuo" = "phònghoỏ?Ê" (fire prevention), "phónghoỏ?Ê" (set fire), "Kori" = "Caoly" (Korea), "kamsamida" = "cỏ?Êmtỏ?Ă(mi)" (thank you)... If X stands for any Korean block character, you will see that Korean words all appear as XX XXX XX XX as four, not nine, concept-words. That scientific way of writing reflects true nature of spoken words -- and the Koreans' collective mindset as well -- and naturally they are processed faster mentally and in many areas of data processing. The Chinese do not write that way but their highly symbolistic characters are put one after another which will render somewhat the same effect. The Thai writing system does the same with its chained scripts written with no interuptive spacing. In other words, "seeing one catching all" is the idea behind polysyllabic ways of writing.
Writing reform is necessary but not enough, of course, to expect seeable achievements in any technological progress, which is only a premise for overall economic development. In fact, simply staging a language reform is not enough to create favorable con***ions for advancement in other areas, but, at least changes in our current writing system will meet rising and immediate needs in the computing fields such as data processing or online translation. Certainly polysyllabic writing reform will help a great deal in those areas.

Let go back to the German example of "Informationssystemverarbeitung". For only the mere shape of this word a German speaker will catch the meaning of it, let's say, in a "nanosecond". Nobody is going to spell out syllables contained in that word mentally in order to understand what it means. However, with the current writing as "xử lý bằng hệ thống truyền thông" a Vietnamese brain will process in 7 "nanoseconds" or more! That is to say a Vietnamese speaker will first have to recognize 7 different shapes of the separately-written syllables. After these syllables have been perceived in his or her brain, only then that person will be able to form 4 different concept-words, and lastly he or she will be able to combine those words together to finalize the concept-phrase collectively!
If we have to translate and write this concept-word the same way as it is written in German as "xửlýbằnghệthốngtruyềnthông" (processed in 1 nanosecond!) then, seemingly at first, it may be still an overkill and an annoyance to a Vietnamese speaker's eyes even though that should be the right way to do. Let's temporarily go for "xửlý bằng hệthống truyềnthông" (processed in 4 nanoseconds.) and we can continue to apply the same pollysyllabic principle for hundreds of other similar words.
If the new polysyllabic writing system were in place now, when our eyes scan of a line of text on a page, we will be able to recognize less word-shapes, but our brain will process more information at an even faster speed! Do you need more explanation about this fact? If so, your brain may be still working at the pace of one syllable at a time. It needs more language, a polysyllabic language, training then, sorry!
We have come to the conclusion that writing the way words are spoken, or the "natural way", as it should be will result in recognizing and processing concept-word-phrases faster than the way syllables of those words are written separately. Readers will not spend more time than necessary to decipher each syllable before combining them to form a word in order to understand what that after-assembled concept-phrase means. In this sense, the "composite" polysyllabic way of writing with Latin letters will similarly render the same symbolistic effects as that of an ideographic writing system, which enable us to think abstractly and collectively.
Of course, not all those nations which use the same Latin scripts to write their languages mosty think the same way. Since we are the ones who are still using monosyllabic inferior spellings, we have not made the full use of this language tool in an effective way. Let's think who else on earth is in the same boat with us? Gotcha! They are the Hmongs -- combined form of polysyllabic words appear sparingly in their writing, though -- and some other oborginal peoples living in Vietnam's Central highland who have inheried our orthography devised specially for them modeled on the existing Vietnamese system. They write the same way as we do! So we have found companions who do think the same.
Let's go back to the bamboo analogy. It seems that we are very good at distinguishing a bamboo tree in front of our front yard from another one around a corner of our village road or even a unique one in a bamboo forest. What is all the fuss about this matter? Do you still remember the reason why we are still having so many problems in the area of simple computing technology? We do not have computers that use the same font scheme system, can do spelling check correctly, sort our name lists, or translate simple English websites, etc.
The writing system we are using now is only a rather new invention with still lots of rooms for improvement. Do not take it at the bare value just as it has been passed down to us from the original inventors and treat it as something nationally sacred; it is simply a means to communicate through a set of symbolic convention. Nothing will prevent us from changing it and making it serve us better. If a new writing convention based on the pollysyllabic principle is to be created and accepted by a majority, that will be the one that we should value and treasure, not the imperfect system that we are having now.
For such a change, we, in fact, do not advocate an extremist approach for reform such as implementing the cases of suffixes -s (-ist, -er..) for "sĩ", -z (-ist, -er..) for "gia", or s- (-tion, -ity, -ance..) for "sự", but we only suggest that everybody gives up a little bit of habit and practice to write Vietnamese the new way with polysyllabic principle.
4) Accuracy facilitates data processing
One needs not to understand how badly a Vietnamese database structure has been currently built based on existing linguistic logic, such as what redundant attributes of data fields or how lengthy and complicated algorithms are needed to process behind a fairly workable online dictionary or language translation engine, to see an urgency for the need of a new Vietnamese writing system.
With tons of information to be processed daily on a nationwide scale, it is more effective for us to visually scan strings of words as a series of symbols by quickly recognizing only shapes of concept-words other than to have to mentally decipher individually syllabic spellings of each word.
Let's say, when one catches the shape of the word "international" he or she does not need to spell it out as in-ter-na-tion-al in order to absorb the meaning that symbolistic text string conveys. At first glance the shape of that word immediately yields in the meaning of the word right away, which is somewhat like taking a glimpse of a picture or a Chinese ideograph. The same effect applies to its derivatives "internationalization", "internationalism", "international imperialism", "internationale"... as well. At the glimpse of the similar shapes of those words our brain processes the information, undoubtedly, at the same speed as that of the word "international" because those "pictures" are closely associated with symbolic conventions similar to the original radical, that is, some new affixes are attached to the derived words to carry extended meanings.
This hypothesis, of course, convinces us to believe that speed of processing of the same concepts is much faster than what a Vietnamese speaker sees in the Vietnamese equivalents written in their current orthography: " quốc tế", quốc tế hoá", "chủ nghĩa quốc tế", " chủ nghĩa đế quốc quốc tế" và "thế giới đại đồng"... If we change to a new polysyllabic way of writing as " quốctế", quốctếhoá", "chủnghĩaquốctế", " chủnghĩađếquốc quốctế" và "thếgiớiđạiđồng"... our brain will get accustomed to the new symbolic shapes and later on it will certainly process the information at a much faster speed.
In terms of space saving, a computer's microprocessor, as a result, will work at a much higher speed with efficiency and accuracy than a human brain for sure. Let's say "chủnghĩaquốctế" will save 3 bytes of spaces for a computer's memory and a Vietnamese electronic speller will work faster and accurately without the ambiguity of mistaking "chủ nghĩa" with "chu nghĩa", or "chú nghĩa", which can actually fool the computer as legitimate words because those individual syllables exist in the Vietnamese language as independent words as well.
The same idea applies well to a database structure where algorithms for translating "chủnghiãquốctế" are as simple and straightforward as "internationalism". The electronic translator does not have to scan a database passing "chủ nhà? chủ tiệm? chủ chứa? chủ trương? chủ ý? chủ trì? chủ quan?" ... bla bla bla..., and all the words started with "chủ" in Vietnamese, before hitting "chủ nghĩa" and then continue to look for "quốc tế" after scanning many other words started with "quốc" such as "quốc hồn", "quốc tuý", "quốc gia"..., and then it has to search for the right "combination" after filtering out "chủ nghĩa cá nhân? chủ nghĩa công sản? chủ nghĩa xã hội, chủ nghĩa cơ hội? chủ nghĩa bành trướng?"... bla bla bla... since there is only one "chủnghiãquốctế" for "internationalism" to read.
In terms of saving paper, or trees for that matter, as a result of eliminating unwanted white spaces between syllables of respective words, we would save even more money than those bits and bytes in a computer's memory for an estimate of 5 to 10 percent. Consequently, printed books would become even more with 5 to 10 percent less expensive.
This language reform, in a way, will practically benefit the overall development in areas of science and technology, which undoubtedly will, in turn, effect the nation's economy -- this can be considered as the core of the reform matter as a Vietnamese saying goes, "có thực mới vực được đạo", loosely meaning "no eat no say".

HOW TO REFORM THE CURRENT VIETNAMESE WRITING SYSTEM?
1) Polysyllable correctness
Before any changes or reform of the existing writing system of Vietnamese to be implemented, some other related cultural factors should also be considered, addressed, and resolved. No matter how controversial certain arguments are, we have to accept certain facts, then let's start working from there using them as starting points.
Firstly, most languages borrow vocabularies from languages of more advanced countries and, in the case of Vietnamese, there exist a great number of Chinese loanwords. Let's not shy away from the matter when it comes to the fact that many among us, biologically, might have been mutations of that Vietnamese-Chinese mixture. The same reasoning can be applied to the language aspect.
Secondly, our language shares most of characteristics that the Chinese language does have. This should not come to us a a shock as some people, especially those of younger generations who have intensively been exposed to Western cultural contacts since the second half of the last century, naively believe that Vietnamese was born out of both Chinese and French wedlocks. As a matter of fact, there are as few of French words as those of the Mon-Khmer languages in our language (See more in Appendix A).
With all the attributes that are so similar to those of Chinese, Vietnamese carries all traits that the Chinese language has, including that of dissyllabics. The implication of this fact is that at present time Chinese is a major language that has been extensively researched by many large universities around the world and their Chinese experts mostly have reckoned that modern Chinese is a polysyllabic, or, to be exact, dissyllabic language. Given the Chinese loanword factor in Vietnamese alone, it is enough to constitute Vietnamese a dissyllabic language which is the driving force behind this proposed reform.
Regarding Chinese elements in Vietnamese, a few people have raised up an idea of elimination of those Chinese influence on Vietnamese. If that would be the case, what would have been left in the Vietnamese language? A huge hole in the vocabulary stock and in the culture of Vietnam.
There have been also people who had advocated compaigns of "keeping the Vietnamese language pure" or "giữgìn sựtrongsáng trong tiếngViệt" with the purpose of replacing the use of some Sino-Vietnamese words with those of considered "pure" Vietnamese, for example, "máybay" (airplane) for "phicơ", hence its compound "máybay lênthẳng" (helicopter) for "máybaytrựcthăng", "tênlửa" (rocket) for "hoảtiển", sânbay (airport) for "phitrường"... Ironically, they might have not been aware that "máybay", "tênlửa", or "sânbay"... all have Chinese roots, too!
What if we are to replace the Sino-Vietnamese words that are used to denote ***ual organs and notations such as "bộphận sinhdục", "âmhộ", "dươngvật", "giaocấu" by those pure Vietnamese words? It is good to know that the existence of Sino-Vietnamese words in Vietnamese vocabulary have their rightful place. Just like Latin or Greek roots in English, Sino-Vietnamese words -- many of which have evolved into those of Sinitic-Vietnamese -- undeniably have enriched the Vietnamese language in every conceivable aspects. That is not to mention most of the gammatical functional markers, or "hưtự" such as "và", "dù", "sỡdĩ", "nếu", "nhưng" and so on, being in used in Vietnamese are all of Chinese origins. In other words, one can not complete a Vietnamese sentence without ever using a word of Chinese origin. Therefore, staging a new Vietnamese writing reform should not be not overkill -- don't kill the messengers!
In the evolution of Quốcngữ, since its birth until this day, the Vietnamese writing system has gone through numerous changes and modifications in orthography and spellings. In the second half of the last century till these days, the Vietnamese orthography has been fairly stable without much changes.
Thanks to this stable con***ion, when we analyze Vietnamese written words with their actual pronunciation, without taking into consideration of what those words were actually spoken in the old days, today's Vietnamese orthography gives us an overview that shows a few traceable relative changes in its historical phonology. For example, "thu" is written as such but in reality it is pronounced as /t'ou/, but not /t'u/, "không" as /k'ongw/, but not /k'ong/, "hộc" as /hokw/ but not /hok/, "ti" as /tei/ but not /ti/; however, "tin" is pronounced as /tin/, but not /tein/, etc... If Northern, Central, and Southern accents are also taken into consideration, today's Vietnamese spellings may no longer accurately reflect the original sounds as they were originally transcribed.
It is not surprising to have that assumption given the fact that language has been always in state of continuously evolving and changing if those creators of "Quốcngữ" had accurately transcribed the sounds of words as they were actually spoken in a certain place and at a certain time in the past.
However, minor changes in Vietnamese phonology have not greatly caused notable shifts in Vietnamese spellings in comparison with those of English, a language that has undergone tremendous changes vocally to the point that in a great number of cases their pronunciation has steered away from original spellings.
With this point of view in mind, in the first stage of this reform campaign, we shall not completely revamp of the Vietnamese orthography for the purpose of transcribing words to match respective sound precisely, but only to focus mainly on how to write polysyllabic and dissyllabic words correctly as they are spoken. This kind of reform will expectedly bring us many beneficial returns eventually as earlier mentioned.
In proceeding to realize this writing reform, therefore, we do not need to wait any longer. Any further research on the dissyllabic nature of the Vietnamese language may be needed to further authenticate the vali***y of the issue of dissyllabics, but that should not be a premise or con***ion for an action to proceed reform. Sometimes with just a little bit of common sense, one can realize that a large number of Vietnamese words are mostly composed of two-syllable words.
If you are still in doubt, for now, let's simply accept the fact that since a large number of dissyllabic Sino- and Sinitic-Vietnamese words exist in the Vietnamese language, in ad***ion to a few hundred French and English loanwords in its lexicon (See more in Appendix A), it is more than enough to designate Vietnamese as a polysyllabic, or to be exact, dissyllabic language.

2) Setting the mindset
As we have discussed this far, the most logical description of characteristic of Vietnamese is that it is undeniably a polysyllabic language.
The last poets on earth have pointed out that if we proceed reforming Vietnamese by writing dissyllabic words in their combining formation we will destroy the structural rules for composing poems in "lụcbát" (a form of Vietnamese national poetry written in six and eight syllable line patterns) or "songthấtlụcbát" (written in a pair of seven syllable lines then followed by six and eight syllable line patterns) or thấtngônbátcú (written in seven syllables in each of a total of eight lines), etc., which would no longer reflect the true melodic rythm in poetry (do you still remember the story of Mao Zedong who was so obssessed with the Tang poetry?)
In reality this matter is not difficult to solve because when one composes Vietnamese poems he or she may want to chose either to write the old way or to go with the new way. In poetry what actually counts is sounding syllables, not visually written syllables. For this matter, poerty is an art and arts usually can go their own way freely.
Vietnamese writing reform is mainly to focus on the way how the language is written as a logical and scientific communication medium. Again, the polysyllabic approach to the writing reform matter will create the visual impact of abstract perception of concept-words, e.g., "coi cọp" (watching tigers) not equal to "coicọp" (a stealing act of avoiding paying ticket when attending a public performance") , hoa hồng" (red-colored flowers) not equal to"hoahồng" (roses or monetary commission), "đánhrớt" (let fall, drop) not equal to "đánh rớt" (give a fail grade)...
A new polysyllabic way of writing will be definitely a useful application to other scientific fields in data processing (accurate spelling checker or precise online translation...) or lexicography of scientific terms for informatics, medicine, industry, commerce, etc... which have brought us modern terminologies such as "dữliệu" (data, files), "dữkiện" (data, information), "trangnhà" (homepage), "bệnhthan" (anthrax), "vimô" (micro), "vĩmô" (macro)...
When new words are coined or created, with the recognition of the polysyllabics of Vietnamese, new scientific terminologies can be applied with a polysyllabic principle. In fact, relatively new concepts such as "lênmạng" (online), "cổngnối" (gateway), "nốimạng" (connected), "trangnhà" (homepage)... have been coined partly, though probably unconsciously, based on this principle where syllables in words with their meanings are analyzed to serve as either radicals or affixes to form new compound, dissyllabic, and polysyllabic words. The only things departing from this principle is that those new words are still scribed in an outdated old-fashioned way with separate syllables written individually.
Regarding one among advantages in applying that princple, i.e. a polysyllabic application, to creation of new words, those syllabic elements can be shuttled around and combined or paired with other syllables to create new words for new concepts in a flexible way (functioning the same way as those of radicals and affixes in English).
Even though Vietnam is still lagging far behind many other nations in scientific fields, her scientific vocabularies have been enriched tremendously in modern time by making use of plentiful existing Sinitic- and Sino-Vietnamese radicals and affixes to translate scientific terms readily available from an advanced nation such as Japan, mostly via Chinese characters, by which the Japanese have used in a similar manner as we do to coin new terminologies.
This lexicographical practice has actually been done a long time ago by the Chinese. In modern time they re-imported those newly coined technical terms with the same old materials made out of Chinese characters from Japan, for instance, equivalent words in Vietnamese such as "chínhtrị" (politics), "cộnghoà" (republic), "dânchủ" (democracy), "tíchcực" (positive), "tiêucực" (negative)... are those of new concept-words that had come into existence by clever creation of Japanese lexicographers around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In other words, Vietnamese can always conveniently adapt any new scientific words when needs arise to enrich its existing scientific vocabulary.
Here are some other new terminologies, illustrated in the new proposed polysyllabic combining formation to strengthen some viewpoints as discussed above. They are the new computing terms applied with a principle of combining the existing radicals and affixes to coin new words: máyvitính (micro=vi, compute=tính, -er=máy), tinhọc (information=(thông)tin, science=(khoa)học), liênmạng (inter=liên, net=mạng), nângcấp (up=nâng, grade=cấp)... At the same time some other original English words in this field have been widely used either in their full original spellings or slightly modified variants: "chip", "bit", "bai" for "byte", "mê" for "mega", "bo" for "board", "phông" or "font", "CD", "email", "website", "unicode", "internet"...
The implication of the new coinage of such new Vietnamese scientific terminologies standardized and created following that polysyllabic principle also demonstrate the apparently dissyllabic characteristic of modern Vietnamese, just like radicals and affixes in English,where syllables can be used to form new composite words. Concensus rules in this field, that is, you may want to call a computer a " máyđiệntoán" or "máyđiệnnão" more than "máyvitính", but if everybody calls it a "máyvitính", you will have no other choices but acceptance.
However, a similar analogy such as that the current Vietnamese writing system has been widely used and we should accept its status quo does not qualify as a legitimate excuse. The current Vietnamese writing system carry negative boomerang effects that will genetically encode in the young brains of new generations to come. They are definitely cancerous cells -- here we go again -- that have incapitated our people's ability to think abstractly and collectively in order to function and fare properly in a technically advanced modern society.
This is a fact, not fictious fabrication out of some wild and outlandish imagination. Look back again and count how many people in our country, for now, who have done well without a knowledge of a foreign language? Do we want only a few priviledged among us standing out as an elite class who have enjoyed all fruits of having successfully acquired a highly abstract polysyallbic language such as English? Only reforming Vietnamese into polysyllabic writing system will change that situation for the better.
Writing our language as a polysyllabic language as we do with English or German will benefit our nation intellectually and electronically. In short, recon***ion our mindset and rethink hard about this matter to rebuild our writing system, which is relatively a newborn in comparison with other old-timers scripted in Latin letters. Our Vietnamese orthograpgy is in a process of growing into maturity, deserving and still having room for improvement. Do not settle for less in writing our language with an inferior tool. Let's gear up and put this reform idea into practice right away.

3) No more old-fashioned hyphenation -- get rid of this once and for all!
The old way of writing is here to stay as long as we continue doing nothing. This exactly reflects the stagnant progress of Vietnam in many areas as consequences of our prolonged inaction. We have wrongly approached our language as if it were an "isolated" language till these days. It is a concept that in the past western linguists used to imply as a primitive language still in its developing stage, then mirrored by many Vietnamese scholars. Of course they are not around to say so explicitly these days, but their books are still lying around.
For the last forty years in the 20th century, the Vietnamese writing system had been scribed more accurately than it is today. Most of dissyllabic words were written in combining formation with a hyphen in between two syllables of a word, e.g. quốc-gia (nation), bâng-khuâng (melancholy), lạnh-lẽo (coldly)... The disappearance of the hyphen was a result of a prevailing tendency to make do without it for the sake of convenience. One can save a little bit of time by eliminating extra strokes in writing for dissyllabic words.
Could that also be a result of, unconsciously, the influence of the Chinese scripts, of which each character individually has its own meaning and itself a word that our people have been so accustomed to writing? That is less likely the case because in the old days our nation's illiteracy rate must have been pretty high due to complexities in learning Chinese and Nôm block characters.
Nowadays what we read in newspapers and books and on the internet is the way Vietnamese has been written with syllables of words being written separately with a white space in between as if our orthography were still constrained to those old Chinese scripting systems. This way of writing makes each syllable look like a whole word itself with no visual boundary distinction between words and syllables. However, no matters what, writing dissyllabic words with hyphenation in between syllables is still considered a correct and formal way to write academic paper in Vietnamese at present time.
As for the disappearance of hyphenation, we can safely say that lazy habits are to blame. It is so convenient to write without hyphens, which has gained scribers of Vietnamese some time savings by eliminating extra strokes in handwriting movements. Interestingly enough, with our new polysyllabic writing reform proposal we can achieve the same results and even more by completely eliminating white spaces in between syllables in dissyllabic words once and for all!
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4) Spring into action:
So far we have explored some good reasons why our current writing system needs reform. Have we reached some concensus in the reform matter so far in order to share our humble part to contribute good deeds our nation? What are we going to do now for that revolutionary idea? Don't worry, this will be a fairly simple reform.
Here are some simple principles to follow when writing a new polysyllabic way:
Make use of our recognition of those words, or syllables for this matter, which usually go together in pairs and in groups as fixed expressions, and start to write them in a combining formation. This is the way we speak those words as continuous sound strings in real time;
write all phrasal expressions, including propositional and idiomatic phrases in combining formation for specific concepts, for example, "mặcdù" (although), "vớinhau" (together, each other), "nhiềuhơn" (more than), "đẹpnhất" (most beautiful), "nhấtlà" (especially), "đólà" (that's), "dođó" (therefore), "chonên" (accordingly), "chotớinay" (until now), "kểtừbâygiờ" (from now on), "ngaylậptức" (right away), "từtrướcđếnnay" (from then till now), "xãhộichủnghĩa" (socialism), "chủnghĩatưbản" (capitalism), "phầnmềm" (software), "hằnghàsasố" (innumerable), "kểkhôngxiết" (uncountable), etc.... We have recognized that a dissyllabic or polysyllabic word is to convey a complete concept, so adopt the new polysyllabic writing habit;
use a foreign language such as English or any other foreign languages, when you are in doubt, as a temporary guide to work you through what should be written in combining formation since they are all polysyllabics in nature, which all have their language written in superior combining formation,
Let's take English as an example, we will have these equivalents in both languages: although="mặcdù", scholarship="họcbổng", dictionary="từđiển", handbook="sổtay", however="tuynhiên", any="bấtcứ", individualism="chủnghĩacánhân".... In other words, if a group of words, or syllables for that matter, is usually going together most of the time, we should go ahead and write them in combining formation as single words,
For those who cannot make out what a dyssyllabic word is, follow those who know,
Spread words of reform as widely as possible. Pratice it yourself first. Do not forget to make use of all possible means that is readily available at our disposal, such as the internet and emails. If you write a book, write it and have it published in the new combining formation.
These new forms of communication are undoubtedly the powerful tools through which we all can actively exploit to advocate our ideas of the new polysyllabic writing reform. Little actions at a time will add up over time. For example, in writing emails, many of us are still writing Vietnamese messages without putting diacritical marks. So why don't we simply write dissyllabic words in the combining formation to make recognition of those words easier and even more accurate? Writing advertising materials or store's signs with this new special writing also will attract more attractions than usual. For hosting a website or posting of one's writing work onto the internet, just season it with your pieces of writing in dissyllabic combining formation and that new exotic polysyllabic way of writing has the power to attract more attention for our purpose. (Read more in Viet Email Bang Vietngu2020 Khongzau - Write email in Vietnamese without diacritical marks)
The more people write the new polysyllabic way, the better chances that we will have a final say in reform decisions down the lines and we all will be proud of being the first pioneers for the betterment of our new polysyllabic writing system.
In early stage of this reform each person will probably write a different way for the same fixed phrasal expressions, but later on gradually over the years, we will be able to filter out uncommon usages and take on only the most commonly used phasal terms for offcial adoption. This shall be the work of a future academy of the Vietnamese language.
Someone may ask, "Fine, but that's for the future. How's about the old books and archives of old printed materials?" Well, once everybody has become accustomed to reading and writing the new polysyllabic way, for which we call ChữViệt năm 2020, TiếngViệt năm 2020, or Việtngữ2020 (Vietnamese2020), economic motives will be the pushing force behind every reform. Publishers will, of course, print books according to readers' demands, if in 2020 books would be still printed at all. On the government's side, a new writing mandate should be put on its agenda's action item!

CONCLUSION
We have analyzed the benefits of reforming the existing Vietnamese writing system, which might have not been thoroughly complete and convincing enough, but if you agree with what has been presented above and enthusiastic about that reform matter, do not drag your feet any longer but pick up your pen and put that new way of writing into practice right away. If a majority of us all is actually committed to writing the new combining formation way, this little reform will pose no problems at all, especially in our modern time where we all can put up our writings on the internet, mostly free, as an experiment of reform.This writing in the Vietnamese version written the new way has been done as an example without much efforts at all.
Vision without action is only a dream,
Action without vision only passes time,
Vision with action can change the world.
Joel Arthur Barker
Regarding this matter all comments and opinions from readers are welcome and will be posted on vny2k.com website for further discussions. Be a pioneer in this writing reform movement and together we will make history. Without your contribution to this noble cause, all is but a storm in a teacup.

dchph
22-07-2002

Cảicách TiếngViệt2020 là conđường tấtyếu để pháttriển nướcnhà!

Vietnamese2020 Writing Reform Proposal
By dchph
Appendices
Examples of some polysyllabic and disyllabic vocabularies
Composite words
Disyllabic compound words
Reduplicative disyllabic and polysyllabic compound words
Polysyllabic "Vietnamized" English and French words
Disyllabic Sino-Vietnamese words
Disyllabic Sinitic-Vietnamese words
Examples of some Chinese and Vietnamese basic vocabularies of the same roots
Examples of monosyllabic and disyllabic vocabulary databases
x X x

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APPENDICES
The appendices below will help one make judgement whether: (1) Vietnamese is a disyllabic language, (2) it should be written the natural way by combining associated syllables to form a word, and, (3) as a result, help process information faster, mentally and electronically. You are the judge! Let us know your comments!
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APPENDIX A
Examples of some polysyllabic and disyllabic vocabularies
I) Composite words:
Ngáoộp, giómáy, lộnxàngầu, liềntùtì, lấplalấplững, bùlubùloa, híhahíhửng, êmrubàrù, bủnxỉn, rửngmỡ, lậtđật, bệurệu, mốckhính, thúiình, bệrạc, bêtha, chìnhình, đẩyđà, thắcmắc, trịchthượng, trịchbồlương, ởtruồngnhồngnhộng, trầntruồng, tòmò, tấtbật, bứcxúc, bứcrức, táymáy, tấtbật, bângkhuâng, bộpchộp, bồihồi, hữnghờ, phảngphất, mơhồ, chạngvạng, chậtvật, khúcmắc, ngờvực, bạttai, giangsan, tuyệcúmèo, háchxìxằng, hộtxíngầu, tứđỗtường, sạchbách, yêuđương, thươnghại, ngonơ, hấthủi, ấmcúng, làmbiếng, tộinghiệp, mồcôi, goábụa, híhửng, thấpthỏm... càphê, càrem, càpháo, càlăm, càkêdêngỗng, lacà, càgiựt, càgật, càrá, càrà, càrỡn, càrờ, Càná, càtàng, càchớncàcháo, càtrậtcàduột, càrăng, càdựt, càràng, càlắc, càrịchcàtang, càtàng, càtửng... cùlần, cùlao, cùlét, cầncù, lùcù, cùrũ... hoasoan, hoavôngvang, hoa***lợn, hoamắt, tàihoa, hoatay, hoaliễu, đàohoa, hoahoèhoasói, bahoa, bahoachíchchoè ... bagai, batrợn, tàiba, bađồngbảyđổi, chúangôiba, hộtxíngầu, baphải, bahồi, bồhòn, bồcâu, baquân... táhoảtamtinh, cứuhoả, hoảlò, hoảdiệmsơn, nhảydù, bếpmúc, baola, thừamứa, đằmthắm, nhạtthếch, chánphèo, ếẩm... châuchấu, bươm****, đuđủ, chuồnchuồn, lạcđà, sưtử... dưahấu, dưagan, bíđao, khổqua... trảđủa, chénđũa, bùlubùloa, sàbát, viếtlách, xấcbấcxangbang, tầmbậytầmbạ, tầmphào, bảvơbảláp, trớtquớt, tầmgửi, contầm, bánhtầm, bánhít, bánhdây, bánhdày, bánhxe, coicọp, bắtcóc, đánhcá, cáđộ, cáthu, cáẻm, cáchép, cángừ, cáđộ, đánhđáo, độcđáo, laỏmtỏi, chầndần, càmràm, cằnnhằn, nhủngnhẽo, tiềnnong, ruồngrẫy, obế, tângbốc, bặmtrợn, tréocẳngngỗng, baquexỏlá, thảgiàn, diệuvợi, xaxăm, xaxôi, xalắcxalơ, sạchbách, bângkhuâng, mônglung, ngỡngàng, ngơngác, tọcmạch, heomay, cùichỏ, chânmày, bảvai, chómực, chómá, chóđẻ, nhàquê, nhàvăn, nhàngủ, nhàmát, nhàtu, nhàlao, laocông, laophổi, laođao, lậnđận, mộttay, taychơi, tàytrời, tayvợt, chẫmrãi, gấprút, lẹlàng, tệlậu, cửasổ, maymắn, hấphối, dốtnát, thơngây, dỡẹt, đắngngắt, giàusụ, nghèonàn, tươmtất, rấmrớ, phâyphây, chậmrì, lềmề, nhẹhẫng, bãithama, gạocội, ngáoộp, biểnlận...
NOTE: "Composite" used here is to convey the meaning of something closely affixed to a radical which can not be broken into separate syllables, either one or both of which can not function independently. This kind of composite words are found numerous in the Vietnamese language. They are commonly used in daily life. Compare words in English of the same nature: windy, courious, vague, pitiful, lovely, creamy, marvelous, tomato, salemon, unique, vocano, butterfly, kitchen, handy, camel, melon, excited, handsome, etc. Can you break these words into separate syllables and still use each of them independently with its original meaning?
II) Disyllabic compound words:
Nhanhchóng, nhàthờ, trườnghọc, giấybút, sinhđẻ, vợchồng, chamẹ, anhem, nhàcửa, trờiđất, đồngruộng, nướcmắt, tiềnbạc, bànghế, chuacay, maquỷ, thầnthánh, trờiphật, bảngđen, sôngnúi, nhànước, máybay, sânbay, nhàmáy, ghếngồi, bànviết, giườngngủ, phòngăn, quẹtlửa, máylạnh, tủlạnh, máyhát, lýlẽ, chờđợi, ănuống, rượuchè, cờbạc, lợihại, traigái, dàingắn, tonhỏ,...
NOTE: Just like compound words in English, e.g. blackboard, therefore, airplane, moreover, billboard, airport, bookworm, football, baseball, notebook, software, harddisk, honeymoon, plywood, handicraft, aircraft, shipyard, graveyard, grapefruit, jackfruit, pineapple, etc., Vietnamese compound words are in great numbers. Each word-syllable in a word can be used independently as a word.
III) Reduplicative disyllabic and polysyllabic compound words:
Lạnhlẽo, nóngnẩy, buồnbã, văngvẳng, mằnmặn, ngọtngào, ngánngẫm, khờkhạo, giàgiặn, xaxôi, nặngnề, nhẹnhàng, mêmẫn, phephẩy, chămchỉ, lolắng, mắcmỏ, rẻrúng, viễnvông, mơmàng, sâusắc, đenđuá, hoahoè, dạidột, sờsoạn, mòmẫm, hẹphòi, rộngrãi, ấmức, thẳngthừng, quạuquọ, chắcchắn, vắngvẻ, côicút, lỗlã, dưdã, đauđớn, luônluôn, mêmãi, nhanhnhẩu, runrẩy, lắclư, lườilĩnh, liềnliền, nhạtnhẽo, nhẹnhàng, lấplalấplững, bùlubùloa, híhahíhửng, xíxaxíxọn, lúngtalúngtúng, càrịchcàtang, ...
NOTE: Reduplicative compound words are made of a one-syllable word plus a variation of that with a little change in sound. This type of words renders a subtle change in meaning of the radical. An affix to the original word is usually a reduplicative element that has a different tone and initial or ending comes before of after a radical. Comparable structures of this type of words are those of "childish", "slowly", "talkative", "handy", "continuous", "fashionable", "horrendous", "fabulous", exited", exciting", "initial", "vital", "likewise", "shaking", "shaky", "lonesome", "troublesome", "mimicry", etc. An affixed syllable or add-on component, just like those similarly structured words in English, cannot be used independently.
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IV) Polysyllabic "Vietnamized" English and French words:
Càphê, càrem, oánhtùtì, nói onđơ, xecamnhông, phíchnước, sônước, canô, building, oánhtùtì, bíttết, lagu, sàlách, nướcsốt, xàbông, sôcôla, dămbông, phôma, vôlăng, mêgabai, internet, website, software, rôbô, radiô, lade, photocópy, cọppi, ốcxygen, cạtbônát, dềphô, dốpdiếc, vốtka, virút, cờlê, mỏlết, tivi, video, dĩacompact, galăng, đôla, vila, phẹcmatuya, gạcmănggiê, cômpa, tráibôm, bômhơi, dăngxê, câulạcbộ, vacăng, ôtô, nhàga, ôten, dầuxăng, bùlon, cáisoong, chơigem, trượtpaten, chạymaratông, menbo, hợpgu, hămbơgơ, mesừ, mađam, xinêma, thùngphuy, kílômét, centimét, milimét, xebuýt, xemôtô, môtơ, đènmăngxông, xyláp, phạcmaxi, đốctờ, đìaréctơ, áoghilê, bộcomplê, ôpạclơ, micờrô, phắctuya, trảbiu, ốcxíthoá, sida, aid, căngxe, buyarô, rờmọt, móocchê, súngcanhnông, tủbuýpphê, chạyápphe, nhàbăng, trảcheck, sờnáchba, mìncơlaymo, bốtdờsô, aláchsô, ạctisô, căngtin, míttinh, Ácănđình, Hoathịnhđốn, Balê, Ănglê, Vaticăn, sôviết, bônxêvích, gạcđờco, gácgian, trứngốplết, hộtgàốpla, áobànhtô, áomăngtô, bugi, épphê, ácxít, átpirin, đờmi, đờmigạcxông, đíplôm, găngtơ, ápphích, táplô, bancông, salông, khănmùxoa, lêmônát, rượurum, rượuvan, đườngrầy, xetăng, tănglều, miniduýp, carô, súngrulô, xerulô, mọtphin, xìphé, pháctuya, côngtắc, côngtơ, rôbinê, marisến, phôngten, phăngtadi, phuộcxét, xìcăngđan, sanđan, bigiăngtin, phúlít, rờmọt, boongtàu, tíchkê, bánsôn, đitua, vãira, đítcô, đăngxe, lăngxê, pianô, viôlông, honđa, trumpét, càtômát, xúchxích, patê, tráibơ, đắcco, xêrum, xiarô, xêry, băngrôn, băngnhạc, đồlen, rumba, bếpga, môđen, môđẹc, xilô, nồixúpde, pađờxuy, sơmi, balô, búpbê, tắcxi, buộcboa, côngtra, dềpô, áopull, quầngin, jắtkết, zêrô, suwinggum, sabôchê, sốpphơ, xếplớn, pátpo, vida, bida, côcacôla, pépsi, vôlăng, ămpiya, ampe, kílôoát, tăngdơ, xuỵtvôntơ, cátsét, ghisê, nhàbăng, tivi, gàrôti, chơisộp, kháchsộp, cômpíutơ, díppô ...
NOTE: These are variants of words of French and English origins, which are spelled in Vietnamese orthography. Though words in this classification are in limited numbers, they are best presented in polysyllabic combining formation. They are considered as loan words of "foreign" origin. Their syllables are an integrated parts attached the others and cannot certainly be used as independent words even though the Vietnamese syllable itself may mean something else unrelated. The implication of these examples is that if disyllabic Sino-Vietnamese words are seen as "foreign" loan words in the Vietnamese language, then their nature and characteristics are virtually the same, not to be separated.

V) Disyllabic Sino-Vietnamese words:
Giađình, tổquốc, giangsan, sơnthuỷ, phụnữ, thanhniên, hộiđồng, chínhphủ, tựdo, dânchủ, tưbản, đầutư, kinhtế, tâmlýhọc, triếthọc, vănsĩ, thisĩ, vănnhân, nghệsĩ, họcgiả, khoahọc, nhânphẩm, tâmtình, tìnhyêu, lýtưởng, quảntrị, doanhnghiệp, vitính, độcgiả, phêbình, thưviện, hoạđồ, lýgiải, giaothoa, hợpđồng, giáosĩ, giáođường, đạilộ, họcđường, đạihọc, nhâncách, phẩmchất, tậpđoàn...
NOTE: These are Chinese loan words, dominantly exisiting in the Vietnamese vocabulary stock, spelled and pronounced in special Vietnamese way, have roots in Middle-Chinese. In Chinese, each syllable can be used independently as a complete word , but this kind of words are considered as polysyllabics by Chinese specialists. However, in Vietnamese, most of the syllables are not free to be used on their own. That is to say, they can only appear in one combination or another. Just like those words of Latin or Greek origins in English we have something like sociologist, historian, librarian, intersection, missionaries, etc. in which radicals such as "socio", "libra", or "inter"... cannot be used the way they plainly are.
VI) Disyllabic Sinitic-Vietnamese words:
Ănuống, đáiỉa, sinhđẻ, điđứng, ngànhnghề, trướctiên, thươngyêu, thùhằn, tứcgiận, trôngmong, chờđợi, sânkhấu, trườnghọc, tầmbậy, bắtbuộc, bắtbẻ, sânbay, tronglòng, giôngbão, đấtđai, trồngtrọt, rơirớt, lạnhlùng, dưthừa, saysưa, đằmthắm, chốitừ, rútlui, tiếntới, quanhquẫn, lẽsống, căngthẳng, tranhgiành, lộnxộn, tắmrữa, riêngtư, tìnhtứ, chửimắng, trongsáng, banngày, tốităm, thiêngliêng, cănbuồng, giườngngủ, giannhà, quêhương, lánggiềng, bạnbè, mậpmạp, khờkhạo, dìdượng, cậumợ, côdì, chúbác, bốmẹ, chamẹ, anhchị, chúthím, xơitái, đánhcá, đánhbạc, ănthua, tranhgiành, giànhgiựt, tấmcám, ấmcúng, xinhxắn, hoangđàng, đànghoàng, tửtế, xuôngxẻ, chắcchắn, mưumô, maimối, bồihồi, bắtcóc, bóclột, épbuộc, cướigã, đámhỏi, lễphép, lườibiếng, bồngbế, binhlính, chạngvạng, hòhẹn, hụihè, đìnhđám, xâyxát, đỗbể, vợchồng, maimốt, côngcuộc, xinlỗi, tiềncủa, củacải, đánhcắp, khéoléo, giỏigiắng, tầmbậy, bắntiếng, vỡlòng, ngâythơ, khônlanh, lanhlợi, ngờvực, hưhại, hènhạ, mơmộng, giótrăng, trờitrăng, giônggió, chàilưới, xecộ...
NOTE: These Sinitic-Vietnamese words are also Chinese loan words but they have been completely "Vietnamized". Some of them may have an older age than those of Middle Chinese from which the Sino-Vietnamese vocabularies have been derived. Many of them are complete variations of the original words which may or may not still carry the same original meanings. In most of the cases they are just another version of an original form, which have different spellings and pronunciatons and they have been even coined with new materials. Somewhat similar examples in English are like those of ""familial" and "familiar", "infant" and "infantile", "coffee" and "café", "blond" and "blondie", "baby" and "babe", "car" and "carriage", "automotive hotel" and "motel", "moving pictures" and "movies", "monsieur" or "mister", senior" and "senor", "madam" and "madame", "road" and "route", "aerospace" and "airspace", "whilst" and "while", "thou" and "you", "thy" and "your", "handicraft" and "aircraft", "gunship" and "scholarship", , "grand" and "grandiose", "entrance" and "entry","pendant" and "pending", "serpent" and "serpentine", or like varied usages of foreign loan words such as "chaomein", "shusi", "typoon", "taipan", "déjà vu", "moulin rouge", "gallant", "attaché", "kindergarten", "wagon", "vendor", "agent", "bourse", ""mercy", "rendezvous", "accord", "regard", "guard" , "résumé", "composé"...

APPENDIX B
I) Examples of some Chinese and Vietnamese basic vocabularies of the same roots:
mắt ?>?(eye): mục (Sino-Vietnamese-SV), mù (modern Mandain pinyin - Mand.), mat (Hainanese-Hai.)
đầu 頭 (head): đầu (SV), tóu (Mand.), touh (Cantonese - Cant.)
mặt 面 (face): diện (SV), miàn (Mand.)
hàm, cằm 含 (chin): hàm (SV), hán (Mand. ancient usage)
răng ??T (tooth): ngà (SV), yá (Mand.), ngah (Cant.), gheh (Hai.)
râu ?s (beard): tu (SV), xu (Mand.)
bụng ?.? (stomach): phủ (SV), fú (Mand.)
đùi ?.? (lap): tui (Mand.)
ăn, xơi ?f (eat): ngật (SV, cf.?T ất), chì (Mand.), chiht (Cant.), chah (Hai.)
uống 飲 (drink): ẩm (SV), yin (Mand.), yáhm (Cant.)
liếm ?^" (taste): thiểm (SV), tián (Mand.)
bú ?"? (breast feed): bu (Mand.)
nhìn ?o? (look): nhãn (SV), yan (Mand. Ancient use), ngahn (Cant.)
khóc ?"? (weep): khốc (SV), kù (Mand.)
đái, tiểu 尿 (urinate):niếu (SV), niào (Mand.)
ỉa ?T (to ****): ố (SV), e (Mand.), ó (Cant.)
ngủ ??? (sleep): ngoạ (SV), wò (Mand. archaic usuage)
***, đụ ?- (****): phiêu (SV), piao (Mand.), diéu (Cant.)
đẻ ?"Y (give birth to): sinh (SV), sheng (Mand.), de (Hai.)
đánh ??" (strike): đả (SV), da (Mand.), dá (Cant.)
hôn 吻 (kiss): vân (SV), wén (Mand.)
mơ, mộng 夢(dream):mộng (SV), mèng (Mand.), muhng (Cant.)
xấu ??o (ugly): sửu? (SV), chou (Mand.)
xinh, sáng 亮 (pretty): lượng (SV), liang (Mand.), xiang (Han.)
chạy 走 (run): tẩu (SV), zou (Mand.), zhóu (Cant.)
cha, tía ?^? (father): tía (SV), diè (Mand.)
bố ?^?(dad): phụ (SV), fù (Mand.)
con 子(son): tử (SV), zi (Mand.), ke (Hai.)
vợ, bụa 婦 (wife): phụ (SV), fù (Mand.)
chồng ?> (husband): quân (SV), jun (Mand.)
mẹ, mái 母 (mother): mẫu (SV), mu (Mand.), mouh (Cant.), mài (Hai.)
ông, trống ?.? (grandfather): công (SV), gong (Mand.)
trời, giời ?-? (sun): nhật (SV), rí (Mand.)
trăng, giăng ?o^ (moon): nguyệt (SV), yuè (Mand.)
bụt ?> (Buddha); phật (SV), fóu (Mand.)
sông ?Y (river): giang (SV, archaic: krong? > công), jiang (Mand.)
sao ?~Y (star): tinh (SV), xing (Mand.)
lửa 火 (fire): hoả (SV), huo (Mand.), wá (Cant.)
lúa ?? (whole rice grain): lai (SV, archaic), lái (modern Mand. means "come")
gạo ?"( rice): tháo (SV), tào (Mand.)
chim 禽 (bird): cầm (SV), qín (Mand.)
cá ?s (fish): ngư (SV, archaic: nga), yú (Mand.)
gà ?>z (chicken): kê (SV), ji (Mand.)
trâu??> (water buffallo):ngưu (SV), níu (Mand.)
chó 夠 (dog): cẩu (SV, archic: kro?), gou (Mand.)
voi ?,? (elephant): vi (SV, archaic), wei (modern Mandarin means "because")
cọp ?TZ (tiger): hổ (SV, archaic: ku?), hu (Mand.)
đất ?oY (soil): thổ (SV), tu (Mand.)
lá ?'? (leave): diệp (SV), yè (Mand.)
mây ?>? (cloud): vân (SV), yún (Mand.)
mưa ?>? (rain): vũ (SV), yu (Mand.)
may ? (pain): thống (SV), tòng (Mand.)
bồng, bế ?S? (carry): bao (SV), bao (Mand.), bohng (Hai.)
khiêng, gánh, cõng ??> (carry on one's back or shoulders): cang (SV), káng (Mand.)
....

II) And some not-so-basic Vietnamese of Chinese origins:
ănđòn (deserved punishment) ?O???": ăida (Mand.)
ăntiền (win bet) 贏?O?: yínqián (Mand.)
ănnhậu (have a drink) ????.?: yìngchóu (Mand.)
ănmày (begging) ?z丐 khất cái (SV), qigài (Mand. cf. ăn, xơi?f,?T ất)
ănnăn (regret) ?.?恨 ânhận (SV), yìnhèn (Mand. archaic)
dêxồm: (lecherous) 婬?Y?: yínchóng (Mand.)
hẹnhò (dating) ?"?of: yèhuì (Mand.)
đánhcướp (rob) ??"?S?: dăjié (Mand.)
đánhbài (play cards) ??"??O: dăpái (Mand)
tầmbậy (tầmbạ, sàbát) ???.?: tambát (SV), sanbà (Mand.)
chánngán (sick of) ?Z????: yànjuan (Mand.)
bậtcười (laugh) ?T??': fáxiào (Mand.)
bậtkhóc (cry) ?T??"?: fákù (Mand.)
banngày (daytime) ?T??-?: báirì (Mand.)
bồcâu (pigeon) ?T?鴿: báige (Mand.)
chạngvạng (at dusk) ?-??Ts bángwăn (Mand.)
cảgan (dare) 大???: dadăn (Mand.)
đụmá (**** you)?-媽: tama (Mand.)
khờkhạo (foolish) ?,??"o: săgua (Mand.)
ấmcúng (warm) 溫馨: wenqìng (Mand.)
muárối (puppetry) ?o?偶?^?: mùouxì (Mand.)
xinlỗi (apologize) ?: téngài (Mand.)
khôngdámđâu (not so) 不?.??.?: bùgăndàng (Mand.)
riêngtư (private) ?s?私: ẩntư (SV), yinsi (Mand.)
hoàicông (wasting time) 費工: phícông (SV), fèigong (Mand.)
cùlét, thọclét (tickle) ??-?': đậutiếu (SV), dòuxiào(Mand., galet Hai.)
đốkhỏi (unavoidable): 躲不?-< đoábấtkhai (SV), duo bú kai (Mand.)

NOTE: The mplication of these basic and not-so-basic words of the same roots between Chinese and Vietnamese, in ad***ion to those Sino- Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabularies which are indepensable in the Vietnamese language, is that Chinese is classified as a polysyllabic language, so is Vietnamese. To learn more about this please go to 1) Introduction into Sinitic-Vietnamese Studies, 2) The Etymology of Nôm of Chinese origin.
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APPENDIX C
Examples of monosyllabic and disyllabic vocabulary databases
The following 2 simplified examples of Vietnamese databases are just to give you an idea of how a new polysyllabic writing system for Vietnamese may benefit native speakers in terms of processing data faster mentally and electronically. &gt;Suppose that we need to built a translating machine and we have two choices of 2 different databases. Which one are you going to use in order to write program to translate the short passage (written in both old Vietnamese orthography and the newly reformed polysyllabic combining formation) below into English or vice versa:
OLD WAY:
"Trong tương lai nếu cách viết chữ Việt được cải cách theo lối viết đa âm tiết thì sẽ rất có ích."
trong = in....
tương = soy sauce
lai = mixed race
(algorithm: tương ớt, tương tự, tưong đồng, tương cay, tưoơng cự đà, tương đương, tương đối... many more words to be scanned before reaching to the next one)
tương lai = future
nếu = if
cách = way, method, far from, distant from....
viết = write, writing, written, wrote.....
(algorithm: cách xa, cách mạng, cách trở, cách nói, cách đi... many more words to be scanned before reaching to the next one)
cách viết = writing method
chữ = word
Việt = Vietnamese
(algorithm: chữ nghĩa, chữ ta, chữ tây, chữ tàu, chữ ông bà.....many more words to be scanned before reaching to the next one)
chữ Việt = Vietnamese
được = is, are....
cải = argue, cabbage...
(algorithm: cải cọ, cải ta, cải trắng, cải trang, cải lương, cải lộn, cải trắng, cải tổ... many more words to be scanned before reaching to the next one)
cải cách = reform
theo = follow, according to, by...
lối = road, route, way, method...
(algorithm: lối đi, lối vào, lối làm ăn, lối cư xử.... many more words to be scanned before reaching to the next one)
lối viết = way of writing
đa = multi, poly, many...
âm = female, negative, sound....
tiết = season, class, section...
(algorithm: đa tình, đa thê, đa hệ, đa dâm, .... đa văn hoá, đa chủng tộc... đa văn hoá, đa chủng tộc... many more words to be scanned before reaching to the next one)
đa âm tiết = polysyllabic....
thì = is, then...
sẽ = will, shall...
rất = very
có = there is, have, has, exitst...
ích = useful, beneficial...
(algorithm: có tiền, có của, có tội, có mang, có lý.... many more words to be scanned before reaching to the next one)
có ích = useful
NEW WAY: "Trong tươnglai nếu cáchviết chữViệt được cảicách theo lốiviết đaâmtiết thì sẽ rất cóích." trong = in...
tươnglai = future
nếu = if
cáchviết = writing method
chữViệt = Vietnamese
được = is, are....
cảicách = reform
theo = follow, according to, by...
lốiviết = way of writing
đaâmtiết = polysyllabic....
thì = is, then...
sẽ = will, shall...
rất = very
cóích = useful
NOTE: So, in comparison of the two systems, which one do you think will work faster and accurately? The benefits of reform implemetation are tremendous! It is no doubt that in this area the human mind will work the same way as that of a computer. With a better precisely organized "dictionary" the brain will save more time in processing data in an even more highly symbolistic, abstract, and collective way. The eyes will scan the information quicker because the printed words are shorter noew and words will present themselves as shapes and symbols, not by separate syllables (to understand more about this matter, it is best to refer to the German or Chinese writing systems!)
dchph
09-05-2002