Script guide › Latin
Tagalog (Filipino) vs Vietnamese
Tagalog (Filipino) and Vietnamese sit in the same corner of the writing-system map — Grafle's Latin group — and players mix them up constantly. Here's the fastest way to tell them apart.
The tell
Vietnamese stacks tone marks on its vowels (ề, ỏ, ắ) on one-syllable words; Tagalog is accent-free with ng/mga.
Side by side
Tagalog (Filipino)
Ang lahat ng tao ay isinilang na malaya at pantay-pantay.
Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat, mga kaibigan!
Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating.
Tagalog (Filipino)'s own tells
- The tiny words ng and mga are uniquely Filipino.
- 'ang' and 'ay' pepper every sentence.
On signs in:
- Philippines
Vietnamese
Tất cả mọi người sinh ra đều tự do và bình đẳng.
Xin chào, bạn có khỏe không?
Có công mài sắt, có ngày nên kim.
Vietnamese's own tells
- Stacked diacritics — tone marks on top of vowel marks (ề, ỏ, ắ) — nothing else looks like it.
- Every word is short (one syllable).
On signs in:
- Vietnam