Saying Vietnamese names

If you were to ask me to write down my full name, I would write as "Nguyen Thanh Binh". But if you were trying to call me "Nguyen" (this could be very hard for you to pronoun). I'd not understand that you were talking to me. That's because in Vietnam, we write family names first, first names last and we now don't call people by their family names but most often their first names. This blog will help you understand our name structures and thus, call us the way we understand :-D.

A Vietnamese name usually consists of 3 parts: Family name, middle name and first name - in their writing order. For example, my family name is "Nguyen", middle name is "Thanh" and first name is "Binh", then my full name is written as "Nguyen Thanh Binh".

In Vietnam, in most cases (more than 95%), we call people only by their first names (the last written part). In some formal cases (more than 4%), when calling actors, actresses, artists, reporters, etc, we call them by their middle names plus their first names. That is, if I were a, say, a reporter, people would call me "Thanh Binh". In very formal cases (less than 1%), politicians are usually called by their full names. So, if I were the president of the country, others would call me "president Nguyen Thanh Binh". Remember that first names are always at the last positions.

The above is the most general rule. However, you should be aware of situations when a name does not consists of 3 parts but 2 (middle name omitted) or 4 (double family names or double first names) or even 5 (double family names together with double first names). In cases of 2 part names, the general rule still applies with the exception that actors, actresses, painters, etc are called by their full name (family names + first names). In cases of 4-or-more-part names, general rule applies normally, noticing that you should be able to recognise if the family names and/or first names are doubled.

Some examples of names with 2 parts are: Tran Luc (a film director), Nguyen Son (a general), Hoang Van (a musician).

Examples of 4 or more part names could be: Le-Dang Viet Nam (double family name), Hoang-Le Bao-Tram (double family name and double first name, no middle name), Nguyen Thi Thu-Hang (double first name),... I could not find a 5-part names at the moment but if you see one, it's most possible that it has a double family name, a middle name and a double first name. Usually, people in the South of Vietnam have more lengthy names.

Lastly, Vietnamese is monotongue, i.e. a word produces exactly ONE sound no matter how long it is. This could make you a bit difficult to say names like "Nguyen", "Huyen", "Luong", "Truyen", etc but I'm sure with a bit of practice and help from your Vietnamese friend, you'll say them acceptably.

Cheers,

Binh

ProjectW is back!!!

ProjectW is back!!! What a wonderful news!!!

The website was shutdown by its owner several months ago after 3 years of being built-up and bringing fun to many people.

There was a wave of discussions, arguments and even bad sayings concerning the event. Someone was so angry hearing the news that the owner was selling the domain name at the initial price of $5,000. A series of websites and forums claimed to be alternatives to ProjectW, some boasting that they had attracted famous posters of ProjectW, etc. However, the trademark seemed to be so powerful that none of the so-called alternatives could really get the old site's members...

ProjectW is back with a new interface, and most probably a new owner. However, the member database seems to be conserved (I can log in with my old account quite smoothly) and even more wonderful, the resource database also seems to be protected. The website of course is being developed again, rapidly!!

Welcome back old friend, ProjectW!!!

25 July 07 - Internet comes back to the attic

Today, the internet comes back to the house, and thus to my small attic!! The event finishes the last 2 weeks when I had to stay a the lab until nearly midnight to work/to surf the web and do all other crazy things. It was quite a long time with late dinners, boring bus waiting, etc. Without the internet at home, writing blogs seems to be also uncomfortable. The laptop at home has slept for dozen days... Well, how life is so hard without the internet.

There was some difficulties setting up the new service but finally, here we go: The world comes back to the small attic...

Links concerning using Latex

Cambridge's Text processing using LaTEX:
http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/help/tpl/textprocessing/

PSTricks tutourial:
http://sarovar.org/projects/pstricks/

Using L^ATEX to Write a PhD Thesis
http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/thesis/index.html

8 July 07

Feel tired on bored suddenly.

And want nothing now.

Best experience - A recognised associate tutor

It was in the Autumn semester when I was working as an associate tutor in mathematics for 2nd year computer science students. A girl did the job in first 5 weeks, then I took the remaining 5 weeks.

At the first time when I came to the classroom, there were only 2 or 3 students and they did not seem much excited with the subject. I felt that and I tried to get their attention since I knew that maths would be very useful for CMP students. I usually reminded them of the theory they were taught in the class, then I explained that more carefully and tried to extend the theory so that they could have a broader view. I summarised formulas, wrote them down in a corner of the blackboard, then helped students solve their problems. While doing that, I often explained every step very carefully, keeping students refer to the theory and formulas so that they could understand the basis better and be able to apply that to similar excercises. Sometimes, I asked a student to come to the blackboard, represent his solution and asked help students analysed the work of their classmate. I did like this method since it made student more active, thus got to understand the problem more deeply. I thought that the methodology was good since more and more students came to the sessions afterward. Comparing some 10-15 students each session with 2-3 of them in the first time, I was very happy.

There was a girl in the class and she was the only female student. She came with a guy from my 3rd or 4th session and kept coming very regularly, even when the mentioned guy did not come. She seemed doing well. And she had beautiful eyes. There was a time, normally, I asked her to go to the blackboard and represent her work. She went to do that while other students, including her friend, kept smiling very strangely. I noticed their actions but could not know why they smiled that way. Anyway, the girl did the question perfectly and I was pleased.

It was the last session of the unit and the girl came. When the time was finished, I went to my lab and the girl went to the same direction. Naturally, we had a talk. And I found somethings that surprised me so much: The girl was not a member of the class (!); she just came because her friend told her that the tutor was good and she kept coming because she found that herself(!!); and she was in her 5th year at the UEA, completing her PhD in Education (if I remember correctly) (!!!).

You can imagine how I was surpried and happy. I was unable to say anything but said some stupid thanks to her. You know, and I know, when a famous professor/boss gives a talk, people from different places come to attend his session. But what was I? Just a humble associate tutor! And that happenned! I knew why other students smiled so strangely!! I was extremely happy!!!

Everytime recalling this memory, I still feel the happiness inside. Thanks you so much, Kiki, to bring me such a sweet moment to my life...