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is there a way to type Vietnamese language without diacritics?

Thuan asked. His family name is Nguyen of Phan Rang Town and we became friends of each other since 1992 or 1994 whereabout, when we worked as employees in some typing shops on Ly Thai To Street, Saigon 3. He used to type VNI’s style while fija typed serpent’s style. Once, fija was free and passed by Thuan’s working shop for a chat. He was sitting and typing something, looked tired – perhaps – of reaching his fingers many times to press the numerical keys again and again, he sighed and posed a question with no hope of available answer ‘is there any way to type Vietnamese language without diacritics?’ He asked and truthfully he spent lot of time to find the solution but he failed to reach a satisfied one. To his question, fija just said ‘wait, man!’ And, fija started to study to know…

what Vietnamese lingual diacritics are

The current written Vietnamese language together with its signs above, beneath and on the right side is the product of (needless to interrogate) a Christian named Alexandre De Rhodes. To fulfill the mission of preaching the Gospel in this country of Vietnam, he learned Nom language, which to be written in the formula of Chinese combination, for example, the character ‘God’ is combined with ‘up.’ The character God is written above and the character up is written below and this set look like a Chinese character but read ‘trời.’ Chinese character is difficult itself, now the new form by combining Chinese characters together, it is no doubt the former education required a lot of work! It is said that (perhaps) in the situation of ‘a thousand years to be conquered by Chinese troop, our ancestors decided to play a joke that to create the character set themselves) by combining Chinese together which to be read following the voice of Nom language. Thus, Vietnamese reading Chinese and understanding (because to learn Nom language, one must learn Chinese first) while Chinese people reading Nom language see that it looks like Chinese the same but wondering themselves, failing to understand. Nom language is so ironical in this situation…

fija still incomplely remembers the style of leaning by heart formerly tam thiên tự (i.e. three thousand characters) ‘thiên trời địa đất tử cất tồn còn tử con tôn cháu lục sáu tam ba gia nhà quốc nước tiền before hậu sau…’ each Chinese character followed by a Nom character explaining the meaning of the preceeding Chinese character. Alexandre De Rhodes learned Nom language and used the way of phonetic – some documents say Alexandre De Rhodes is not the author of the said phonetic way [yeah, fija is discussing this later] – because there had been many researches, Alexandre De Rhodes or inherited or summarized those works… and therefore Vietnamese language written in Latin alphabet was born (moreover was also) called national written language (while indeed, it is a mere phonetic word set!) No one can find any diacritics in Latin language the question therefore must be…

where do the diacritics come from?

The accents aigue, grave, circonflex and tide may come from French language. French has its influence on letters C and NG which convert to K and NGH before vowels E and I respectively [the conversion of NG to NGH itself makes trouble while many speakers ignore and they write ‘nghành’ innocently!] The hook seems to borrow from Greek but the dot beneath is what fija fails. In certain languages of Europe, some letters are found with a coma beneath, such as letter Ç of French but the dot beneath a letter is sure only shown in Vietnamese. It is possible to comment that Alexandre De Rhodes dotted below just to note that the tone must be lowered (because in other voices, the coma beneath doesn’t indicate the tone of the letter must be lowered!) Particularly the crescent over letter A and hooks on the top right of U, O… Some European languages include letters with small circle over A while German has double horizontal dots over A, O and U [Ä, Ö and Ü, called umlaub, while in French found over E and I, called tréma]. One should thinks old Alexandre De Rhodes created his own particularity and this is not need to discuss, but, what is the reason the old man got letter D, read it /z/ and inserted letter ð of Greek and read /ð/. Wierd… this old… Nevertheless, the available letter F he didn’t want to apply and turned to get P then combined with H to form PH which voices /f/. The same like letter J available he also ignored and busy to attach G with I. What a hard work for nonsense!

Fuff! Vietnamese are those whose character seems so easy, no comment! That european had already worked hard and presented, now, just to use and to make him happy because of hospitality! Uh huh, that mess of…

diacritics to be negative!

Those diacritics have ever been negative [certainly not so long] after their birth and even until present, right today, sometime we can read somewhere the hook instead of the tide or vice versa, and there are some boards, some notes written without diacritics [at this age, diacriticless messages often used on phone, on net chatting …] The mark for diacritics to be denied seems perhaps the time when telex device and typewriter landed the country. Now, many letters were made with typewriter, French ones at the beginning which can produce accents aigue, grave, circumflex and tide… but later on, English ones were used and there is no diacritics at all. Letters, including official, sometime to be added with diacritics manually while some failed.

To write and read telex message, a mister could definite ‘A follows A is A that bears an accent circonflex (Â).’ A is a vowel, thus A following a vowel means that vowel bearing an accent circonflex… doesn’t it? Well, nope, Sir! Because A following E cannot be found in Vietnamese currently, while following I is IA, and following O is OA, and finally following U is UA. Therefore, another definition ought to be added ‘E following E is E bearing an accent circonflex (Ê)’ and ‘O following O is O bearing an accent circonflex (Ô)’ though, this formula doesn’t apply to letter Đ, that means ‘D following D is D bearing an accent circonflex,’ huh, not that, but ‘D following D is Đ.’ Well, this author must be rather flexible, that means ‘what I definite like that not like that!’ Finally, what seems to be a formula is not a real formula at all, now what we can say is ‘the definition of what is just that.’ What to go on are the rules, S stands for accent aigue, F for grave, R for hook, X for tide and J for dot! And W for crescent over A and hooks top right of U, O.

Although, at least, telex author found better than old Alexandre De Rhodes for unify all the marks bending over or on the side of the letters A, O and U just the same form like Ä, Ö and Ü of German.

Such nonsense definitions could have been still used in official letters, for example it is written TW and roled this the abbreviation of ‘trung ương’ (Jesus!) Haha! letters are used that way, it is therefore the time came and…

diacritics dance stumbly!

Like what discussed above, when the writting tools change there must be some changes. Therefore when computer (named in Vietnamese ‘máy tính’ which means calculator – for this name, we must follow the ad of Triumph manufacturer ‘fashion and more’ so, it must say ‘calculator and more’) imported into Vietnam land, the diacritics of old Alexandre De Rhodes became ‘white flag’ (it is lucky he went away afar, if not, he would be shocked and choked then died… my God!)

At the beginning, it is somehow similar to telex age, computer landed here and treated without diacritics, that went on and on and one day, a man wrote the code of VNI, which is no help and Vietnamese cannot be displayed on the screen if there is no font VNI, then, code of ABC, and code Overseas… Wow! Too many codes which are made free of rule! Waw, just think they are ‘abundant’ and that’s all! Each one is special, each one is unique! What dances stumbly here doesn’t mean that the hook instead of the tide or vice versa. Please spend a little of your time to have a look at a short sentence with different codes read in a sole font:

Code	Sample sentence
Unicode	Loạn xạ ở đây không phải là hỏi thành ngã hay ngược lại
VNI	Loaïn xaï ôû ñaây khoâng phaûi laø hoûi thaønh ngaõ hay ngöôïc lai
ABC	Lo¹n x¹ ë ®©y kh«ng ph¶i lµ hái thµnh ng· hay ngîc lai
ASCII	Lo?n x? ? ?ây không ph?i là h?i thành ngã hay ng??c l?i

What meaning? For instance if fija wishes to read a statement of VNI but having no font VNI, should fija learn the code VNI[??] like to remember ï for dot beneath, û for hook… how about ABC, and Overseas, and ASCII… who can dedicately remember for fija?

Even until now (year 2008), sometime a mate fija exchanges with letters fija, sends his reply, written in Vietnamese language without diacritics, asking fija to resend the recent message (even fija has used unicode,) ensuring fija ‘remember not to produce diacritics, please!’

Is it right that watching so clumsy dancers now it is the time for Microsoft to join the competition, font unicode was created… in which, just a mere letter A there are 18 different looks: a, á, à, ả, ã, ạ, ă, ắ, ằ, ẳ, ẵ, ặ, â, ấ, ầ, ẩ, ẫ and ậ… the competitor of A is O but letter U is one third less, for U bears no circumflex [not Û]. Now just the three vowels A, O and U can be read in as much as 48 letters [while in Engish both vowel and consonant are displayed in only 26 letters no more!]… this is why, while the trend of human is to be simple, when using the present tools, sending letters, messages and chatting, people return to the origin, that means, Vietnamese without diacritics! Such hard work of old Alexandre De Rhodes… is nullified, isn’t it?

Till this time, Alexandre De Rhodes cannot be surviving after his end, even if he could be he would also (wish to) die (for ever!). Fija is very regretted to be just a tiny sand while Alexandre De Rhodes is a giant beach, if this role could be played, there would be nothing to be ironical by the following generation decisively!

Now, this time, please allow fija to say a few words about the strokes falling down left [accent aigue], down right [accent grave], in the shape of an S up side down [hook], which then falls left [tide], too many fallings that it cannot fall any more then lying as if a bunch down [dot beneath], still, there are hooks that lying (above A) and hanging (by side of O and U) all of them look like a mess to prove old Alexandre De Rhodes intellectual, coping many languages but what he’s lack of is a principle of ‘simplification’. There is no double that he knew the languages of French, Greek (for he was a theological doctor,) Latin (as assigned by Vatican to visit this country!)… though as lacking the principle of simplification, he could make Vietnamese language so complicated as it is now. I’d like to bet English is not a trouble to his knowledge but why he was a stranger to the simplification of English is an answer fija fails to respond, Anyway this is to thank him who worked hard to latinize Vietnamese language otherwise the following generations including fija must learn by heart first tam thiên tự, spending uncountable trousers which are worn on the benches of schools in order to cope the tongue of the mother!

Please, old man, allow me your follower to ask you a question ‘are the diacritics you presented necessary?’ ‘Cause, dear my old, to ask you it’s just for fun for you’d fail to answer, as you might know, following the word combination of your formulat, any vowel followed by one of the consonants C, CH, P and T by rule to be voiced with an accent aigue, why should it be marked with a stroke falling down left? Now let fija to go back to the question, while you were so talent, coping many languages, why could you present Vietnamese language written such troubleful, fija means, baddest [not worst which is a failure of English, ruleless!] wow, how to prove this language is what you have created?

Where you had stepped first must be Tourane, the Central of Vietnam and of course you got chance to meet a lot of Hue’s people. Do you remember how the people voice? Very simple, dear old man, right? Hue’s people use just three tones including [1] diacriticsless, [2] accent grave and [3] dot beneath.

In the languages you knew, French for example, the word ‘tous’ goes without diacritic and pronounced as if with an accent aigue in Vietnamese voice, the word ‘merci’ the same, no diacritic, and pronouced as if with a dot beneath for the first syllable, and ‘question’ also found no mark extra, pronounced /kesõ/… the tide over O voiced clearly in Vietnamese language and a lot more, this is why, this is to recall, there is no clue for fija to be convinced Vietnamese written language is what you created yourself.

what fija’s sure talent just as you old man were could troublelessly edit a set of Vietnamese language free of diacritics. But, you came here in order to serve God, what you had to do is to preach the words of Christ and not to use the time he granted to mediate then create a phonetic for Nom language in a way so clumsy, is fija right, dear old man.

Whether Vietnamese language written without diacritics is feasible?

The discussion about the accent aigue before one of consonants C, CH, P and T as above mentioned proves that accent aigua is superfluous there.Yet, the accent is necessary for other cases. Let’s become familiar with fija’s style.

English has only 26 letters to combine with each other to express all what people think. Fija would like to decide to apply not more than those 26 letters and the order is what English alphabet is. What is identical of fija’s style is that now Vietnamese language written include no more than a vowel each word, represented the same as its instinct of Nom language, single syllable. More than that, some words go without any vowel, such as those found in letter the 10^th following.

If the next wording is not what you want, please go directly to the tables for the final result. Let’s go first with the letter 1.

A

vowel A remains unchanged. Newer combinations of A is to preceed R to form OAI and before X to be read ÂY.

ar oai

ax ây

B

Letter B is still a consonant as a prefix. B follows a vowel to become the accent aigue which is omitted after C, F, K, and T. See

ab á

baxb bấy

…

C

C is coverted to CH at both ends of a word.

ac ách

cac chách

…

D

D returns to its original value, read as Đ. D follows a vowel to be voice as an accent grave.

ad à

dad đà

…

E

vowel E remains unchanged. E before J forms AY. E before W forms EO and before X forms OE.

ec ếch [éch does not exists therefore the accent circumfles naturally falls over]

cej chay

dej đay

…

F

F standing before vowel becoming PH and following consonant becoming P. B uncessarily following F.

faf pháp

fec phếch

…

G

G remains unchanged. G forms GH before E and I. Following một vowel, G forms NG.

gag gang

geg geng

…

H

H remains unchanged. Following a vowel, H becomes NH. ENH not exist but ÊNH.

eh ênh

hah hanh

…

I

I remains unchanged. Standing before G forms IÊNG and before J forms UY.

cig chiêng

fij phuy

hih hinh

…

J

J before vowel becoming GI. Following vowel becoming I or Y.

jej giay

aj ai

…

K

K before vowel becoming KH. Following vowel becoming C. after K, B is not needed.

kak khác

…

L

L before vowel remains unchanged. Following vowel becoming hook.

lal lả

lijl lủy

…

M

M before and after vowel remains unchanged.

N

N before and after vowel remains unchanged.

NG

NG before vowel remains unchanged. NGH before E and I returning to NG, not needing any H. After vowel NG becomes G [see G].

ngig nghiêng

…

NH

NH before vowel remains unchanged. After vowel NH becomes H [see H].

nhah nhanh

…

O

O before and after consonant remains unchanged. O before C forms OÁCH, before H forms OANH. before X forms OẮC.

oc gep oách ghê

horgd oh hoàng oanh

ox qon oắc con

…

P

P following vowel becoming accent circonflex.

ap âu [if no consonant follows]

apk ấc

ip yêu

ipn yên

dipb điếu

cipd chiều

…

Q

For vowels, Q becomes C before A, O, U and K before E, I. Q following vowels becoms crescent over A and top right hook of O, U. Following I becomes ƯI. Following two word, repeating the first and the initial consonant of the second.

aq ắc [if no consonant follows, C is added]

aqn ăn

qah canh

qipn kiên

qok cóc

ciql chửi
…

lapmb la q et lấm la lấm lét

qunl qa q oqnl củng ca củng cởn

…

R

R remains unchanged standing before a vowel and following a vowel becoming A.

ir ia

ar oai

er oeo

or oa

url ủa

org org la lagd oang oang la becomingng

…

as both AR and OR voiced OA therefore for example, the word TOAN can worded TORN or TARN.

S

S remains unchanged standing before a vowel and following a vowel becoming a tide.

xas xã

…

T

T remains unchanged standing before and after a vowel. After T, B is superfluous.

tit tít

…

TR, TH go with no change.

U

U remains a vowel unchanged. U before C forms UẾCH and before H forms UÊNH. Before P, there are two cases, if no consonant follows, becomes UÊ, if jes, becomes UÂ.

kupn khuân

thup thuê

huh horg huênh hoang

…

V

V remains unchanged standing before a vowel and following a vowel becoming U.

av au

uv ưu [saving one Q]

iv iu

…

Particularly E standing before U doesn’t exist but Ê before U, thus V follows E will becomes ÊU.

The exception for V following O, fija’s definition is the voice of ƠI.

ev êu

ov ơi

…

W

W before a vowel stands for QU. Following vowel, W becomes O.

wawd quào

ew eo

ow oo

…

Though, O doesn’t follow U, but Ơ. Thus

uw uơ

…

If W follows Y, while in Vietnamese language there is no combination of IO. Fija’s rule is to name this ÔI.

iwb ối

…

X

X remains unchanged standing before vowel. if this follows a vowel, fija’s regulations is that if wording

AX please read ÂY

EX please read OE

OX please read OẮC, if a consonant follows please read OẮ.

UX please read UÔI, if a consonant follows please read UÔ.

dax đây

kex khoe

ox oắc

cuxg chuông

cux chuôi

…

Additionally, X follows a word will repeat that word.

tad x tà tà

…

Y

Y now turns to be a bi-vowel and stand for ƯƠI. if a consonant follows, Y will play the role of ƯƠ. This bi-vowel is found a lot in Vietnamese language.

qyd cười

tygl tưởng

…

Yet, there are some exceptions:

before H fija names UYNH

J UYU

P UYÊ/UÂY

Q ƯA

V ƯƠU

X OAY

hyh huynh

kyjl khuỷu

zypn duyên

tryq trưa

byvb bướu

xyx xoay

…

and finally the last letter

Z

Z before a vowel stands for D and after vowel becomes the dot beneath.

zaz dạ

…

Thanks for your patience to spend here. In case you want to include the style of fija to word Vietnamese language, in order to remember the order of diacritics, say this ‘Be Diacrictics Launching Such Zero,’ i.e. no diacritics at all, see the initials BDLSZ standing for the accents aigue, grave, hook, tide and dot.

Letter P stand for accent circonflex because the accent is always uP a letter, while Q standing for the curves over A and on the right side of O and U, please don’t forget, this curve looks like the main part of a Question mark.

shortcuts

Consonant

fija	current wording
	prefix	suffix
c	ch	ch; ec becoming ếch; oc becoming oách; yc becoming uých
b	b	accent aigue– used not before the consonants c/f/q/t
d	đ	accent grave
f	ph	p
g	g/gh	ng; ig becoming iêng
h	h	nh; eh becoming ênh; oh becoming oanh; uh becoming uênh; yh becoming uynh
j	gi	i after a/o/u; ij becoming uy; yj becoming uyu
k	kh	c
l	l	hook
p		tide after a/o/u; ip becoming yêu; up becoming uê hay uâ; yp becoming uây hay uyê
q	c(a,o,u)/k(e/i)	crescent over a; hook top right of o/u; iq becoming ưi; yq becoming ưa; following two words to repreat the first and the consonant the second (if any) word.
r	r	a after i/o/u; ar becoming oai; er becoming oeo; yr becoming uya
s	s	tide
v	v	u after a/i; ev becoming êu; uv becoming ưu; yv becoming ươu
w	cu	o after a/e/o; ô after i; ơ after u; uw becoming uơ
x	x	ax becoming ây; ex becoming oe; ox becoming oắc; ux becoming uôi; yx becoming oay; following a word to repeat that word.
z	d	dot beneath

vowel

b

c

d

f

g

h

j

k

l

p

q

r

s

t

v

w

x

z

a

á

ách

à

áp

ang

anh

ai

ác

ả

âu

ắc

oai

ã

át

au

ao

ây

ạ

e

é

ếch

è

ép

eng

ênh

ay

éc

ẻ

ê

oeo

ẽ

ét

êu

eo

oe

ẹ

i

í

ích

ì

íp

iêng

inh

uy

íc

ỉ

iêu

ưi

ia

ĩ

ít

iu

ôi

ị

o

ó

oách

ò

óp

ong

oanh

oi

óc

ỏ

ô

ơ

oa

õ

ót

ơi

oo

oắc

ọ

u

ú

uếch

ù

úp

ung

uênh

ui

úc

ủ

uâ/ê

ư

ua

ũ

út

ưu

uơ

uôi

ụ

y

ưới

uých

ười

ướp

ương

uynh

uyu

ước

ưởi

uyê/uây

ưa

uya

ưỡi

ướt

ươu

oay

ượi

typing fija in Microsoft Word, Excel, Access…

wording without any installation of any software, please copy AutoCorrect and paste in Macro (in Word, select Tools, Macro (or Alt+F8) then run those Macros.

when typing a word, the diacritic(s) will not appear if no punctuation or a space follows.

thanks for using fija!

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