Adults befuddled by teen texting

by Hang Nguyen

Vietnamese teenagers have caught on to the global trend of using a type of written shorthand in their text messages, e-mails and social networking sites, such as Facebook. If you're not a teen, it can be sometimes hard to understand what they're saying - whether it is in English or Vietnamese.

Some of it is fairly obvious, such as what r u doing? and i luv u. But do u hv free tjme, while understandable, seems to contain a literal mistake - the ‘j' for the ‘i'. Then, you start to realise that it takes only one stroke to get a ‘j' while it takes three to get an ‘i' - therefore, in terms of texting economy, the ‘j' wins.

The expression c u l8er, is somewhat cute, but g9 for goodnight takes some getting used to. And bb for bye bye or good bye is also obvious, but using a simple ‘2' for hello is a quantum leap until you realise the Vietnamese word for two is hai.

However, just to prove there's more to it than shorthand, the word m0n3y (money) actually takes more keystrokes to complete than the original word. Presumably, it's the feeling that they're evolving their own private language is what's turning on the teen texters and emailers.

Understanding the newspeak is not too difficult, when it's basically in English, but when Vietnamese kids start playing games with Vietnamese language, things start getting out of hand. One English sub-editor at Viet Nam News said: "When I get messages from younger people who start replacing the letters in Vietnamese, my brain starts melting."

This explains the birth of new software by Duong Dang Truc Khuyen, a student at Tran Dai Nghia High School in HCM City. To be able to make the language of young people clear, she has invented V2V, a programme that can translate ordinary Vietnamese into teenage Vietnamese.

Vietnamese teenagers will write p instead of b; j,i for y; k for c; d for r, gi, and 3 for e; 4 for a; hok or hem for khong means "no"; bit or bik for biet means "know"; vs for voi means "with or and"; w for q; oa for a and eo for ao.

Sometimes they also add a variety of original or home-made Smiley icons. These vary from : ) (smile), :"> (shy), :((,(sad). :-) (smile/happy) and are regularly used in most electronic correspondence. It is not unusual to read sentences that are a mix of Vietnamese and English - and, to make things even more difficult, even slang in both languages.

Some claim that they use such languages to shorten time for typing. Others say it's simply a trend of their peers that they can't ignore. Many use it to keep their languages secret from inquisitive parents.

Nguyen Hai Phong, a tenth-grade student says: "My mother always sneakily reads messages on my mobile phone. I do not like this, so I want use another version of language to stop her." Another student, Tran Ha My, says: "I was very angry when I saw my mother unlock my drawer and read my diaries. I felt that she had no respect for me. She invaded my privacy."

The question becomes: Should parents read their children's messages, emails diaries and so on? Dang Thuy Ngan, a mother of a 12-year-old girl in Hai Ba Trung District, says: "Sometimes I don't know if I should read my daughter's diaries and messages or not. If I do, I am able to know what she hates, loves or thinks about. But I admit it does invade her privacy and might cause her to lose trust in her parents." Tran Phuong Lan from Thanh Xuan District said that she read her 16-year-old boy's messages because he stopped confiding in her since puberty.

Psychologists say teenagers need privacy as a natural part of growing up because it allows them to have their own lives and own ways. And, just as good parents should teach their children to respect themselves and people around them, it also means parents must also respect their children.

Tran Thu Hang, from the Institute of Linguistics' Social Linguistic Department said that giving speech a special identity was a teenage way of distancing themselves from their parents, just as new music forms, clothing and mannerisms. "I think that it is very natural that teenagers create and use their own language. However, they should remember not to use it in tests, examinations or academic documents," she said.

The tendency to use teen speak will not lessen the purity of Vietnamese or any other language if it is kept where teenagers want it - in their own private world. — VNS