CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
I.1. Statement of the problem
English is one of the most important languages in the world. It can even be
said to be the single most important language. It is the international language,
the only language that truly links the whole world together. According to
Jennifer (2013), English has special or official status in more than 75
countries. It’s spoken as the first language by 375 million people and as the
second language by approximately 375 million people. Estimates suggest that
one in every four people is able to speak a little English, with numbers
increasing year-on-year.
Moreover, a mastery of the language provides job opportunities outside of
English-speaking countries, as well as in them. Multinational corporations
employ English-speakers in offices around the world. English is also the first
language of organisations such as the European Union, the United Nations,
the Commonwealth of Nations, and NATO.
In summary, English is very important in our life. For this reason, schools
in countries with other primary languages often require students to study
English as a Second Language or a Foreign one.
In Vietnam, English has become a compulsory subject at secondary
schools as well as high schools. However, together with speaking standard
English, Vietnamese students have invented a number of statements which no
one can understand at the first listening. These statements belong to the
phenomenon of Vietnamese equivalent of English and can be understood as a
kind of slang.
The phenomenon of Vietnamese equivalent of English among the young
people in Vietnam is becoming more and more popular. More important, this
issue is ripened into a huge social problem. In an article, Dr. Le Trung Ngan
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has said “This phenomenon firstly seemed to be harmless but it has gradually
left unforeseen consequences”.
Because of the current state of using the so-called slang among the

from other places cannot understand at the first listening.
The Vietnamese students also have their own slang.
No table! (slang): no comment!
No star where (slang): no problem/ not at all
Ugly tiger (slang): shy
Black chicken (slang): okey
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In short, slang is an informal kind of language that is not considered part
of the standard vocabulary of a language and that is used very informally in
speech, especially by a particular group of people.
2.2. Vietnamese equivalent of English
The phrase Vietnamese equivalent of English refers to the way of using
Vietnamese equivalent of one English word instead of it when
communicating, the English words are combined together to make up a
sentence with Vietnamese grammar according to homophonic principle.
These sentences do not agree to both English and Vietnamese; in this case,
the Vietnamese equivalent is called Slang. ( />su/mot-dung-tieng-anh-theo-nghia-viet-cua-teen-2142857.html)
The principle of forming the so-called slang is mainly based on the
homophonic phenomenon in Vietnamese language. The English words are
translated into Vietnamese and combined together to make up a phrase that
has a Vietnamese tame meaning.
These examples will make it easier to understand the Vietnamese
equivalent of English.
No table!(slang): No comment!
Umbrella tomorrow (slang): sugared dry apricot
In the first example, no table is used instead of no comment that has the
Vietnamese equivalent of miễn bàn.
In Vietnamese, table and comment have the same pronunciation bàn;
however, in English, table refers to an article of furniture consisting of a flat,
slab top supported on one or more legs or other supports, while comment has

I no want salad again! (tôi không muốn cãi nhau với anh nữa)
Know die now (Biết chết liền)
Lemon question (chảnh)
Like is afternoon (Thích thì chiều)
No dare where (không dám đâu)
No family live (vô gia cư)
No I love me (không ai yêu tôi)
No four go (Vô tư đi)
No star where (không sao đâu)
Pickhand dot com (bó tay.com)
Seven love (Thất tình)
Sky down no enemy (thiên hạ vô địch)
Son with no girl (con với chả cái)
Star I miss mono? (vì sao tôi cô đơn?)
Stop we share hand (thôi mình chia tay)
Story minor (Chuyện vặt)
Sugar I I go, sugar you you go (đường tôi tôi đi, đường anh anh đi)
Sugar sugar a hero man (Đường đường một đấng anh hùng)
Ugly tiger (xấu hổ)
Umbrella star go again (dù sao đi nữa)
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Uncle like (Chú thích)
Understand die now (hiểu chết liền)
You think you delicious? (mày nghĩ mày ngon à?)
2.4. The current state of the phenomenon amongst the young people
in Vietnam in recent years.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khang, the former deputy director of the linguistic
institute, believes that slang is a kind of language belonging to certain social
groups. When there are different groups in a society, there are different kinds
of language that go with these groups.

of English at Tran Hung Dao Special High School, is that the young use slang
because they do not have a thorough grasp of vocabulary and grammar;
thereby, they use slang instead of standard English.
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In fact, using slang leads to serious consequences.
First, using slang in communication makes the interlocutors difficult to
comprehend and is even open to misunderstanding.
Second, using slang in a long period of time without controlling has
made up a habit of using them unconsciously. Most of the youths now
certainly face many difficulties in constructing a sentence in grammar as well
as in using words in contexts.
Last but not least, a large number of the young people in Vietnam have a
tendency to use this kind of language casually and widely which damages and
crooks the Vietnamese language’s pureness.
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CHAPTER III. CONTENTS AND METHODOLOGY
3.1. Subjects
The subjects of this study are fifty four students, who are at
intermediate level in English proficiency.
3.2. Contents
This study aims to find out the current situation towards the
phenomenon of the Vietnamese equivalent of English among the students
at Cao Ba Quat high school in terms of the extent of knowledge of slang,
the frequency of using slang, the reasons for not using slang, when to use
slang, the feelings of the students about slang and the opinions towards
the impacts of using slang.
3.3. Methodology
The instrument to collect the data used in this study is questionnaire
survey.
The researcher chose this method because it has some advantages.

The figures in this section indicates that the students at Cao Ba Quat
High School do not know many of the statements involved in the
phenomenon of Vietnamese equivalent of English.
4.2. Frequency of using slang
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1 – 5 statements
6 – 15 statements
16 – 25 statements
26 – 37 statements
The chart below describes the frequency of using slang of the students
at Cao Ba Quat High School.
Chart 4.2. The frequency of using slang
The chart shows that the majority (n = 22, 41%) never use slang while
only 11% (n = 6) of the respondents chose level “always”. 26% (n = 14)
sometimes use slang and 22% (n = 12) rarely use slang.
The fact is that the number of students who do not and rarely use
slang is bigger than that of the students who use slang. Therefore, most of
the students at Cao Ba Quat High School do not often use slang when
communicating.
4.3. Reasons for not using slang

Chart 4.3. Reasons for not using slang
According to chart 4.3, over half of the students who have never used slang
(n = 12, 54%) state that they do not use slang because slang is rubbishy while
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always
sometimes
rarely
never
You do not know the slang

It can be said that most of the students use slang to communicate with
friends only.
4.6. Feelings
In this section, data concerning the feelings of the students about
slang is provided.
Chart 4.6. Students’ feelings about slang
As shown in chart 4.6, the majority (n = 23, 43%) agree that the
statements involved in the phenomenon of Vietnamese equivalent of
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Communicating with friends
Communicating with parents and
relatives
Both
Other
Rubbishy
Interesting
No opinion
English are rubbishy while 33% (n = 18) of the respondents agree that
these statements are interesting. Among 54 students, 24% (n = 13)
consider these statements are neither rubbishy nor interesting.
Therefore, the number of students who consider slang rubbishy is
bigger than that of the students who think that slang is interesting.
4.7. Opinions towards the impacts of using slang
This section presents the opinions towards the impacts of using slang
of the students at Cao Ba Quat High School.
Chart 4.7. Students’ opinions about the impacts
of using slang
Chart 4.7 above illustrates that the majority of the respondents (n =
22, 41%) believe that slang is harmful. The percentage of the students who
agree that slang is both harmful and helpful is 22% (n = 12) while that of

communicating and even 41% never use slang.
In terms of the reasons why the students use and do not use slang, the
researcher explored that most of them do not use slang because they find
slang rubbishy and many of the them use slang just for fun.
In the aspect of when to use slang, while the Vietnamese youths use
slang to communicate with friends, teachers, even parents and relatives,
most of the students at Cao Ba Quat High School just use slang to
communicate with their friends.
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It is surprisingly from the study that a lot of students at Cao Ba Quat
High School consider slang as rubbishy rather than interesting while most
of the young consider slang interesting and fashionable.
The last aspect in this reseach is about the opinions towards the
impacts of using slang. Through the figures in the study, it is clear that
most of the students at Cao Ba Quat High School are aware of the ill effect
of using slang, only a few of them, only 19% support the helpfulness of
using slang.
5.2. Recommendation
The phenomenon of Vietnamese equivalent of English was apparently
serious at firs but it is not as serious as being thought after a study is
conducted on the students at Cao Ba Quat High School.
However, prevention is better than cure. Based on the findings of the
study, the researcher would like to state some suggestions to reduce as
well as prevent the development of using slang among the students at Cao
Ba Quat High School.
According to the study, a few students use slang by habbit; therefore,
the teachers should correct the students’ habbit as soon as catching them
using slang when communicating. There are also a small number of
students (25%) using slang because of the lack of vocabulary and grammar
(Chart 4.4), why don’t the teachers pay more attention to helping the

 Home face road, dad do big (nhà mặt phố, bố làm to)
 Hover go for water it pure (lượn đi cho nước nó trong)
 I wanna toilet kiss you (anh muốn cầu hôn em)
 I love toilet you sit down (tôi yêu cầu bạn ngồi xuống)
 I no want salad again! (tôi không muốn cãi nhau với anh nữa)
 Know die now (Biết chết liền)
 Lemon question (chảnh)
 Like is afternoon (Thích thì chiều)
 No dare where (không dám đâu)
 No family live (vô gia cư)
 No I love me (không ai yêu tôi)
 No four go (Vô tư đi)
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 No star where (không sao đâu)
 Pickhand dot com (bó tay.com)
 Seven love (Thất tình)
 Sky down no enemy (thiên hạ vô địch)
 Son with no girl (con với chả cái)
 Star I miss mono? (vì sao tôi cô đơn?)
 Stop we share hand (thôi mình chia tay)
 Story minor (Chuyện vặt)
 Sugar I I go, sugar you you go (đường tôi tôi đi, đường anh anh đi)
 Sugar sugar a hero man (Đường đường một đấng anh hùng)
 Ugly tiger (xấu hổ)
 Umbrella star go again (dù sao đi nữa)
 Uncle like (Chú thích)
 Understand die now (hiểu chết liền)
 You think you delicious? (mày nghĩ mày ngon à?)
2. How often have you used these phrases and sentences when
communicating?

Thanks for your help!
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