Vietnamese

Essay for Colgate: really something that I have wanted to write about for a long time

thân thương, yêu thương, yêu quý, yêu dấu, dấu yêu

"r" sound is pronounced differently across Vietnam, in the North, it sounds like "z", further to the South, it sounds like /r/

Different words can be added to the end of a sentence as a signature of the region. In provinces in the middle of Vietnam, "răng" - which means "tooth" when stands alone - is added to the end of emphasize that a question is being asked. Because of the variety of accents and the presence of a such signature words, a person from Hanoi - the capital of Vietnam - will definitely be confused and bewildered when he or she ever speaks to a person from my city - Danang, a city at the middle of Vietnam.

You is a general term to address another person in a conversation. In Vietnamese language, there are different words used to address the person based on age, relation ...

the same word may carry different meanings that sometimes are interestingly ambiguous. For example, a boy may want to address another younger girl by a term that either means "younger sister" or "honey". Same goes for the girl. Love may carry different level of "intensity" to address different type of relationship: the love between family members is different from the love between a boy and a girl. By combining different word, one can vary the level of intensity of the word love to show one's fondness toward another. There is one word for someone that one's fond of but does not want to reveal the intention yet. There is another word to hint the interest vaguely. There is a different word to explicitly show the emotion.

Vietnamese language carries a lot of subtlety that one, by dissecting the use of words can figure out the counterpart's intention without the other tell explicitly. It can be as simple as when one is asked to stay for dinner, by judging the person's use of words, the host can figure out whether the person is just trying to show his "politeness" by declining the invitation. Or it can be as complicated as when I want to

Any language in the world must have evolved and changed over the years. Any language in the world sounds differently when it is spoken in different countries. Such subtle variation tells not only the origin of the person, but may also mean a different mindset, a different way of thinking.

why is it important? The language carries a culture. If everyone gravitates towards to the common, there needs to be somebody to voice out the contrasting

Speak up in class about the way we behave towards the teacher. In a Vietnamese mindset, that's too way out of casualty and became disrespect

it takes time to experience, to feel and live in a new place to learn discovered the missing pieces of the half-truths one may hear before hand about the place. Otherwise, one may easily fall into the trap of either become overtly-chauvinistic or antagonistic towards one's own home.

An influential person in my life - Princeton Supp

It is not what money can buy that will win you the championship. It is what money cannot buy that will make you a champion in life.

Mr. Low never told us me things like "Prepare to be a left back. Prepare to be a substitute. Prepare to take a free kick. Prepare to go insane". Those are my words. They are not just words I made up for a sake of writing an essay, but more of the summary of what I have gone through in Soccer. It was a burning desire of me to write this down, a memorable journey of my life, or rather a detour from my normal life to face so many challenges but also to learn so many new lessons. Mr. Low words naturally appeared in my mind when I started writing about my two years in the soccer team. His over-inspirational pre-game team talks, post-game nagging have been hard wired too deeply in my mind that they just naturally popped up in my hear. Of all the things that he has taught us, there are simple words that always stay in my mind: "Do you really want it?". At the end of the day, preparing to take a lackluster position, to hold a supporting cast, to dare stepping up in crucial moments, to be willing to throw in anything to make something happen, it's really not about showing anything to people. Not even to achieve the championship. But to show to myself whether I really want it. Soccer. Dream. Life.

Free the Children - Read more about the organization
Children of Vietnam
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