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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Vietnamese
Ho
Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh), formerly
Saigon (Sài Gòn)— touches
of Vietnam, China, France
and today
Language information:
Vietnamese is the first language of the Vietnamese people, who currently constitute
about 87% of the population of Vietnam. It is also used in other countries,
especially in North America, Australia and France. Vietnamese is a tonal language
with six tones in the standard variety (each syllable having an inherent tone).
Contrary
to a common Western assumption, Vietnamese is not related to Chinese, but it
borrowed
heavily
from
Chinese,
especially
in ancient times. The language used to be written with Chữ
Nôm, a very complex system drawing from the Chinese script, and in addition—more commonly, in fact—with the actual Chinese writing system (Chữ Nho or Hán Tự), which amounted to writing in Classical Chinese, a foreign language.
Until the early 20th century these two systems coexisted with the Latin-based
script (Quốc Ngữ “National Language”) that began with Portuguese missionary activities in the
16th century and was farther developed under the supervision of French missionaries.
The
Western-derived
script is now the only one used for Vietnamese.
Being a Mon-Khmer language, Vietnamese has many relatives throughout Southeast
Asia, from Northeastern India to Southern China, among them being Khmer (Cambodian).
However, some have argued that the supposed Viet-Muong subgroup,
to
which Vietnamese belongs (and Khmer does not), is an isolated group of language
varieties
or
represents
a
family in
its own right.
Frontpage
in Classical Chinese, a foreign language.
Until the early 20th century these two systems coexisted with the Latin-based
script (Quốc Ngữ “National Language”) that began with Portuguese missionary activities in the
16th century and was farther developed under the supervision of French missionaries.
The
Western-derived
script is now the only one used for Vietnamese.