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Currency
The Dong (D) is the official currency in Vietnam.
Exchange rate is approximatley 1 USD = 15,000 Dong (Sep
01)
Bank notes currently in circulation are in denominations
of 100 / 200 / 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 / 5,000 / 10,000
/ 20,000 and 50,000 Dong
Notes under 200 Dong have little value and are rarely
used.
The U.S. dollar is more or less a second currency in
Vietnam. Other foreign currencies are not readily accepted.
A large supply of US$1, US$5 and US$10 are almost essential
for tipping, for small expenses and for hotel bills.
U.S. money is so common that change will frequently
be given in dollars.
You may bring in an unlimited amount of foreign currency
as long as it is declared on the forms provided by customs
officers. Foreign currency can be exchanged for dong
at your hotel or at the State Bank of Vietnam.
Language
 The
Vietnamese language belongs to a language group which
was established a long time ago in East Asia. Changes
in material conditions over many centuries and the increasing
demands of cultural life have influenced the Vietnamese
language.
While adopting many elements of the Chinese language,
the Vietnamese people changed many Chinese words, gradually
creating Han-Viet (Chinese-Vietnamese) which incorporated
purely Vietnamese words. "Vietnamization"
not only applied to the Chinese language, but also to
French and other language groups, creating a diverse
vocabulary for the Vietnamese language
Written
 When
the multi-ethnic Vietnamese nation was taking shape,
a great monarchy was established in the North, and it
began a southward expansion. The Vietnamese nation underwent
thousands of years of Northern domination. This was
why Chinese was used for a long time as the official
written language. Local mandarins of various levels
were allowed to sit for examinations in the Northern
Court (China), and were recruited into the administrative
machinery of foreign invaders.Based on Chinese characters,
the Vietnamese worked out a unique writing system of
their own called Chu Nom. In Chu Nom, two Chinese characters
were usually combined, one of which indicated the meaning
of the Vietnamese word, while the other indicated pronunciation.
Chu Nom was welcomed and widely used by the masses in
their daily life, as well as in transcribing their national
history and literature.
According to researchers, Chu Nom probably originated
around the end of the Northern domination period and
early in the 10th century (the independence period).
The oldest evidence of Chu Nom currently available is
a stele in the Bao An Pagoda in Yen Lang, Vinh Phu province,
dating back to 1209 AD (Ly Dynasty). It was not until
the 13th century under the Tarn dynasty that Chu Nom
was systematized and used in literature. Nguyen Thuyen
(alias Han Thuyen) and Nguyen Si Co wrote poems in Chu
Nom. Ho Quy Ly (1400 AD) made Chinese textbooks which
translated the Vietnamese language using the Chu Nom
writing system. He also used Chu Nom to write royal
proclamations and ordinances. In the 15th century, Nguyen
Trai, a national hero, used Chu Nom to write 250 poems
in Quoc Am Thi Tap (Collection of Poems in the National
Language). The Chu Nom literature continued to be developed
from the 16th century onwards and totally dominated
national literary circles.
Ba Huyen Thanh Quan (the wife of the Chief of Thanh
Quan district), Cao Ba Quat and Kieu Story of Nguyen
Du, and the translation of Chinh Phu Ngam (Lament of
a Wife Whose Husband has Gone to War) by Doan Thi Diem
were quite noteworthy poems.In conjunction with the
development of the nation, the Vietnamese language was
constantly developed and improved. Around the 17th century,
western missionaries came to Vietnam and learned Vietnamese
in order to disseminate Catholicism.
They developed a romanced script to represent the Quoc
Ngu (meaning national language) in order to translate
prayer books and catechisms. A number of Portuguese
and Italian missionaries used Quoc Ngu to compile catechisms
and Portuguese-Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Portuguese
dictionaries. Based on these works, Alexandre de Rhodes,
a French Jesuit missionary, published the Vietnamese
Portuguese-Latin dictionary which was a fundamental
catechism in Rome from 1649-1651. After Alexandre de
Rhodes, Quoc Ngu was further improved by foreign missionaries
and Vietnamese scholars.
In 1867, some colonial schools began to teach Quoc Ngu.
It was not until early in the 20th century that Quoc
Ngu became widely used in the local primary educational
system. The introduction of Quoc Ngu constituted a new
step in the development of the Vietnamese language.
While romanization received a reserved welcome in other
Asian countries, it recorded extraordinary success in
Vietnam, creating favorable conditions for cultural
and intellectual development.
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