Tuttle Compact Vietnamese Dictionary. Phan Van Giuong
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