What is the modern human-made Quoc Ngu script?(1)

• Developed By:
  • Portuguese missionaries, most notably Francisco de Pina (early 17th century), and later refined by Alexandre de Rhodes, a French Jesuit missionary.

• Date: Began in the 17th century, with significant refinement and adoption during the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Details
  • Inspiration:
  • Based on the Latin alphabet, adapted to represent the unique phonetic system of the Vietnamese language.
  • Uses diacritics to indicate tones (Vietnamese is a tonal language) and certain sounds not found in the Latin script.

• Purpose:
  • Created initially as a tool for missionaries to teach Christianity and communicate with Vietnamese people more effectively.
  • Gradually replaced earlier writing systems like Chu Nom (a logographic script based on Chinese characters adapted for Vietnamese) and Chu Han (classical Chinese characters).

(To be continued)