Vietnamese language

Vietnamese ⁱ/ˌviɛtnəˈmiːz/ (tiếng Việt) is an Austroasiatic language that originated in the north of Vietnam and is the national and official language of the country. It is the native language of the Vietnamese (Kinh) people, as well as a first or second language for the many ethnic minorities of Vietnam. As the result of Vietnamese emigration and cultural influence, Vietnamese speakers are found throughout the world, notably in East and Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and Western Europe. Vietnamese has also been officially recognized as a minority language in the Czech Republic.

It is part of the Austroasiatic language family of which it has by far the most speakers (several times as many as the other Austroasiatic languages combined). Vietnamese vocabulary has borrowings from Chinese, and it formerly used a modified set of Chinese characters called chữ nôm given vernacular pronunciation. The Vietnamese alphabet (quốc ngữ) in use today is a Latin alphabet with additional diacritics for tones, and certain letters.

Orient

The Orient means the East. It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Middle East (aka Near East) or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the continent of Asia. In France and other countries of Western Europe, it also denominates the countries of North Africa.

Derivation

The term "Orient" derives from the Latin word oriens meaning "east" (lit. "rising" < orior " rise"). The use of the word for "rising" to refer to the east (where the sun rises) has analogs from many languages: compare the terms "Levant" (< French levant "rising"), "Vostok" Russian: Восток (< Russian voskhod Russian: восход "sunrise"), "Anatolia" (< Greek anatole), "mizrahi" in Hebrew ("zriha" meaning sunrise), "sharq" Arabic: شرق‎ (< Arabic yashriq يشرق "rise", shurūq Arabic: شروق‎ "rising"), "shygys" Kazakh: шығыс (< Kazakh shygu Kazakh: шығу "come out"), Turkish: doğu (< Turkish doğmak to be born; to rise), Chinese: 東 (pinyin: dōng, a pictograph of the sun rising behind a tree) and "The Land of the Rising Sun" to refer to Japan. Also, many ancient temples, including pagan temples and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, were built with their main entrances facing the East. This tradition was carried on in Christian churches. To situate them in such a manner was to "orient" them in the proper direction. When something was facing the correct direction, it was said to be in the proper orientation.

Đống Đa District

Đống Đa literally Banyan Heap is an urban district (quận) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam.

Administrative divisions

The district is divided into 21 wards (phường).

Streets

See also

Hoàn Kiếm District

Hoàn Kiếm is an urban district (quận) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, named after the scenic Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

Hoàn Kiếm District is the downtown and commercial center of Hanoi. Most of the largest Vietnamese public corporations and bank headquarters are located here, but the central government offices are located in Ba Đình District (sometimes called the French quarter). The Hanoi City Committee is located on Dinh Tien Hoang street, adjacent to the Hoan Kiem lake.

Many of Hanoi's tourist attractions are located here, including: The Old Quarter, Hanoi Opera House, National Museum of Vietnamese History, and the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.

Coordinates: 21°01′44″N 105°51′09″E / 21.02889°N 105.85250°E / 21.02889; 105.85250