An Overview of the Current Practices in Compiling Vietnamese- Ethnic Minority and Ethnic Minority-Vietnamese Bilingual Dictionaries in Vietnam

Abstract

Since the late twentieth century, the compilation of Vietnamese-ethnic minority and ethnic minority-Vietnamese bilingual dictionaries has been systematically carried out. From 1971 to the present, more than forty bilingual dictionary projects have been published, covering a wide range of ethnic languages such as Tay-Nung, Khmer, Ede, Cham, Hmong, Xo Dang, Ba Na, Cor, and others. This paper examines current practices in compiling different types of bilingual dictionaries, including Vietnamese-ethnic minority, Ethnic minority-Vietnamese, and bidirectional Vietnamese-Ethnic minority/Ethnic minority-Vietnamese dictionaries. The study also examines the basic characteristics of these dictionaries with regard to their macrostructural and microstructural organization, and proposes solutions to the issues identified.