Forms of address and pronouns in the Vietnamese language

The Vietnamese system of address is one of the most culturally rich and unusual linguistic elements for Russian speakers.

Why "I = tôi, you = bạn" is not enough

tôi is a useful neutral "I", and bạn can function as "you, friend, peer". For an introductory course, this pair is convenient, but real spoken language constantly uses kinship terms as pronominal forms.

Key words: anh, chị, em, cô, chú, bác, ông, bà, con, cháu and others.

Relationship is more important than abstract person

The choice of form simultaneously encodes:

• who is speaking and to whom;
• relative age;
• social distance;
• respect;
• degree of closeness;
• sometimes a family or status role.

For example, a man slightly older than the speaker can be anh, and the speaker relative to him — em. Therefore, the forms "I" and "you" depend on the pair of conversation participants.

Methodological conclusion

At the very beginning, you can temporarily use tôi/bạn to avoid blocking phrase construction. However, the anh/chị/em system and further expanded forms of address must be introduced quite early, otherwise speech will remain artificially distant or situationally incorrect.

Connections

The system of address directly affects Basic Grammar and especially the transition to live impromptu speech. The general framework is Vietnamese language: system and study methodology.