Vietnamese words spelled & pronounced the same but different meaning

sanooku wrote:

Yesterday, I was looking at different and similar vocabulary of North, Central, and South Vietnam and happen to see that in the South of Vietnam a ladle is called 'vá'. When I had a puncture on my motorbike and took it to a repair shop (in Vũng Tàu) they had a sign at the front that said 'vá'. In this context, I believe 'vá' means patch or puncture.

Just seen that in Hanoi 'Vá' is also used for puncture or patch. e.g. Cứu hộ Vá lốp

Anyway, unless the repair shop where you're taking your motorbike to, also happen to be selling ladle's, there shouldn't be any confusion. Or,  you order a hotpot dish at a restaurant and they also happen to be fixing motorbike punctures.

BTW, do you know any other words in Vietnamese that are written and pronounced the same, but have different meanings depending on context.

I just know one other:

* đường

It can mean 'sugar' or 'road'. Depending on context. There are some others here:

https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%BB%A … %E1%BB%87t

p.s. please do try and share your experiences. I would have posted this earlier if I was aware of it earlier. Also, do try and keep your replies civil and within the rules.

One concept I was taught early on is that the Vietnamese language is written in syllables.

So what I see as a complete "word" is often just a syllable which must be put into the context of the surrounding syllables, before and after, and also in the context of the surrounding complete words which form a complete sentence or quite commonly, a well-known idiom, turning what might seem to be a nonsensical sentence into an idiomatic cultural shorthand.

Did I get that right, Ciambella?

Examples of that would be đồng hồ(watch) and căn hộ(apartment). Two words, separate syllables, but together one noun.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

So what I see as a complete "word" is often just a syllable which must be put into the context of the surrounding syllables, before and after, and also in the context of the surrounding complete words which form a complete sentence or quite commonly, a well-known idiom, turning what might seem to be a nonsensical sentence into an idiomatic cultural shorthand.

Did I get that right, Ciambella?

I'm trying not to participate in this thread because I tend to explain things the way a teacher does, which seems to offend a few posters as they've expressed that in their posts.  (Folks, I was a teacher in VN, in the States, and in Italy.  Old language teachers never die, they just lose their verb and slip into a comma -- or rather, put their audience in a coma.  I can't change my way when it has been part of me for so long.)

Anyway, to answer you in the shortest way I can: Very often, yes.  A little longer: A self-respect Vietnamese would never say one word and expect others to understand what he means.

Now, on sanooku's first example. 

sanooku wrote:

Just seen that in Hanoi 'Vá' is also used for puncture or patch. e.g. Cứu hộ Vá lốp

"Cứu hộ" means rescue, not "vá lốp".

Ciambella wrote:

Now, on sanooku's first example. 

sanooku wrote:

Just seen that in Hanoi 'Vá' is also used for puncture or patch. e.g. Cứu hộ Vá lốp

"Cứu hộ" means rescue, not "vá lốp".

I was simply quoting the text on that website:
https://apprada.vn/service/detail/cuu-ho-xe-may-13.html

I believe they come to you and repair the puncture. Hence the 'rescue' bit.

p.s. I was re-iterating that both North and South use 'vá', as opposed to different words. e.g  chăn (North and Central) and mền (South) to mean 'blanket'.

colinoscapee wrote:

Examples of that would be đồng hồ(watch) and căn hộ(apartment). Two words, separate syllables, but together one noun.

Aren't the 'hồ' sound in 'đồng hồ' different to the 'hộ' in 'căn hộ'. One has Dấu huyền, the other doesn't (it has a dấu nặng).

sanooku wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Examples of that would be đồng hồ(watch) and căn hộ(apartment). Two words, separate syllables, but together one noun.

Aren't the 'hồ' sound in 'đồng hồ' different to the 'hộ' in 'căn hộ'. One has Dấu huyền, the other doesn't (it has a dấu nặng).

I believe Colin used his examples to expound on OceanBeach's statement of "what I see as a complete 'word' is often just a syllable which must be put into the context of the surrounding syllables, before and after,"

By itself, the syllable đồng means copper or Vietnamese currency, and the syllable hồ means glue or lake.  Together, they're not two separate syllables with two definitions each but one noun with only one definition: a watch.

To give examples of "Vietnamese words spelled & pronounced the same but different meaning", this thread could go on for years because a huge percentage of Vietnamese syllables are the same in spelling and pronunciation but with different meanings.  That's another reason Vietnamese is a difficult language to learn.

Ciambella wrote:

sanooku wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Examples of that would be đồng hồ(watch) and căn hộ(apartment). Two words, separate syllables, but together one noun.

Aren't the 'hồ' sound in 'đồng hồ' different to the 'hộ' in 'căn hộ'. One has Dấu huyền, the other doesn't (it has a dấu nặng).

I believe Colin used his examples to expound on OceanBeach's statement of "what I see as a complete 'word' is often just a syllable which must be put into the context of the surrounding syllables, before and after,"

By itself, the syllable đồng means copper or Vietnamese currency, and the syllable hồ means glue or lake.  Together, they're not two separate syllables but one noun: [a] watch.

To give examples of "Vietnamese words spelled & pronounced the same but different meaning", this thread could go on for years because a huge percentage of Vietnamese syllables are the same in spelling and pronunciation but with different meanings.

I think we are talking about different things. I'm just looking for similar words to 'đường' and 'vá'. I think you said before no vietnamese would use these words on their own, but it doesn't mean we won't encounter them on signs.

So, if I see a sign on the road that say's 'đường', I know it's not talking about sugar.

p.s. I edited my post before you replied below. Please use quote feature when replying.

Đời nào tôi thèm nói chuyện với anh ta:  I never care to talk to him.
Tôi muốn biết đời anh ta đã thay đổi đến đâu:  I want to know how much his life has changed.

(Note: The examples above were written before you edited your last post, when you were asking for them.)

I'm out.

sanooku wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Examples of that would be đồng hồ(watch) and căn hộ(apartment). Two words, separate syllables, but together one noun.

Aren't the 'hồ' sound in 'đồng hồ' different to the 'hộ' in 'căn hộ'. One has Dấu huyền, the other doesn't (it has a dấu nặng).

Seeing as I posted it under OB post I thought it was obvious who I was referring to.

colinoscapee wrote:

sanooku wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Examples of that would be đồng hồ(watch) and căn hộ(apartment). Two words, separate syllables, but together one noun.

Aren't the 'hồ' sound in 'đồng hồ' different to the 'hộ' in 'căn hộ'. One has Dấu huyền, the other doesn't (it has a dấu nặng).

Seeing as I posted it under OB post I thought it was obvious who I was referring to.

I wasn't referring to you when I said 'use quote feature'.

Btw, if he edited his post within the 60 minutes of posting, we wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about.

There's definitely some misunderstandings surrounding the OP. I'm not asking for compound words/phrases. Just one word that could have multiple meanings if used on it's own. I know in everyday speech this wouldn't happen, as there would be whole sentences.

I'm referring more to words (actually one word) foreigners may see on a sign outside a shop or street sign. There you don't have any context given by a sentence, only circumstance or situation.

To give more concrete examples. Imagine you want to buy cloths, the shop may have sections with signs:

* Nam = Male
* Phụ nữ = female

Here 'Nam' means 'male' not 'south'. If you see 'Nam' on a compass it means 'South'.

That's all I'm asking.

Similar to the English word 'right'. It means 'direction' and also 'correct'.

sanooku wrote:

There's definitely some misunderstandings surrounding the OP. I'm not asking for compound words/phrases. Just one word that could have multiple meanings if used on it's own. I know in everyday speech this wouldn't happen, as there would be whole sentences.

I'm referring more to words (actually one word) foreigners may see on a sign outside a shop or street sign. There you don't have any context given by a sentence, only circumstance or situation.

To give more concrete examples. Imagine you want to buy cloths, the shop may have sections with signs:

* Nam = Male
* Phụ nữ = female

Here 'Nam' means 'male' not 'south'. If you see 'Nam' on a compass it means 'South'.

That's all I'm asking.

Similar to the English word 'right'. It means 'direction' and also 'correct'.

Language here can be quite baffling at times. An old man came to the apartment a while back with a package that was not for me. In  general my Vietnamese is passable but even my wife could not understand what the hell the old man was saying !

Indices wrote:

sanooku wrote:

There's definitely some misunderstandings surrounding the OP. I'm not asking for compound words/phrases. Just one word that could have multiple meanings if used on it's own. I know in everyday speech this wouldn't happen, as there would be whole sentences.

I'm referring more to words (actually one word) foreigners may see on a sign outside a shop or street sign. There you don't have any context given by a sentence, only circumstance or situation.

To give more concrete examples. Imagine you want to buy cloths, the shop may have sections with signs:

* Nam = Male
* Phụ nữ = female

Here 'Nam' means 'male' not 'south'. If you see 'Nam' on a compass it means 'South'.

That's all I'm asking.

Similar to the English word 'right'. It means 'direction' and also 'correct'.

Language here can be quite baffling at times. An old man came to the apartment a while back with a package that was not for me. In  general my Vietnamese is passable but even my wife could not understand what the hell the old man was saying !

Really clutching at straws here, but is there any chance he could have been saying 'is this package for you?', or 'Do you know where this address is?' 

p.s. I know you can take a joke.