The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024 - 26

Several efforts have been made
to support a standardized
Vietnamese-language services
market, both academically
and professionally, within and
outside Vietnam.
associations, and the lack of
governmental regulations.7
The Vietnamese government
has not yet established a
T&I organization with the
authority to standardize
rates, requirements around
qualifications, and many
other issues. In Vietnam,
negative societal attitudes
also adversely impact
professionalization.
Some domestic and
international customers
are attracted to work
within Vietnam because of
the so-called affordable
(i.e., cheaper) T&I services
available there. For these
entities, calls for the
need to standardize the
Vietnamese language are
construed as exaggeration.
Translation is understood as
a bureaucratic step from an
administrative perspective.
In contrast, many competent
translators are unaware of
the international rates for
their services and often offer
substantially below-market
rates, which contributes to
confusion among customers.
The case is different for
the Vietnamese markets
overseas. Here, the
foundations for language
services are stronger, thanks
to professional societies,
including ATA in the U.S.,
the New Zealand Society of
Translators and Interpreters
26 The ATA Chronicle | September/October 2024
(NZSTI), the Chartered
Institute of Linguists (CIoL)
in the U.K., and the National
Accreditation Authority for
Translators and Interpreters
(NAAIT) in Australia, along
with government regulations
with stricter and clearer
requirements for the T&I
professions. Within the
overseas markets, projects
are paid at better rates and
accredited certificates and
credentialed academic and
professional programs exist.
However, the Vietnamese
variant spoken in these
overseas markets differs
greatly from the one spoken
in Vietnam. Due to the
differences between dialects,
the relationship between
T&I professionals in Vietnam
and those of Vietnamese
diasporas is often critical.
The lack of unity between T&I
professionals in the domestic
and overseas markets is
further problematized by
the lack of certifications
and credentials specific
to the language pair. The
lack of official Vietnamese
certifications has also
contributed to a weaker
basis for negotiating rates
in cases requiring stricter
requirements.
Language Evolution:
Vietnamese Variants
and Appropriateness
Vietnamese has two major
variants: the Vietnamese
spoken in Vietnam and
the Vietnamese spoken
by diaspora populations,
primarily in the U.S. The
development of these two
variants is tied to legacies
of colonialism and war.
Vietnamese was historically
written using the Nôm Script,
a logographic system that
used Chinese characters to
represent Sino-Vietnamese
(Chinese-Vietnamese)
vocabulary and some native
Vietnamese words, together
with many locally-invented
characters to designate
other concepts.8
At the time
the Nôm script was used,
it was customary for only
the educated and elite to be
literate. The French colonial
rule of Vietnam from the
19th century to just before
1945 led to the official
adoption of the Vietnamese
alphabet, which is based on
the Latin script. Because of
this, Vietnamese became
a language with a Chinese
structure and vocabulary but
with a Latin pronunciation
and writing system.9
During the Vietnam
War (1954 to 1975), " pure
Vietnamese " (non-SinoVietnamese)
was adopted
in the North so that the
government could teach
" simplified " Vietnamese to
the people there, the majority
of whom were illiterate. In
the meantime, people kept
the same Sino-Vietnamese
vocabulary they had used
before 1945 with the Latin
script in South Vietnam.10
After the fall of Saigon in
1975, differences formed
and developed between
the way the Vietnamese
language was used by
" Southern Vietnamese, "
the Vietnamese migrants
and refugees in the U.S.,
Australia, Canada, and older
generations in New Zealand,
and the way the language
has come to be used in
present-day Vietnam under
a communist administration.
Under this administration,
the Northern Vietnamese
dialect is considered the
standard dialect.
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The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024

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