Update What Did Alexandre De Rhodes Do In Vietnam?

Alexandre de Rhodes is best known for his contributions to Quoc-ngu, the romanized script used in Vietnam. He didn’t invent Quoc-ngu, though. It was developed by earlier missionaries, Gaspar de Amaral and Antonio de Barbosa. However, Alexandre de Rhodes perfected the script by adding special marks to the roman letters, which indicate the tones in Vietnamese. These tones are crucial, as they change the meaning of words.

For example, the word “ma” can have several different meanings depending on the tone. With a rising tone, it means “ghost,” but with a falling tone, it means “horse.” By adding these diacritical marks, de Rhodes made it possible for Vietnamese speakers to write their language using the Roman alphabet. This was a huge step forward in literacy and communication in Vietnam. Quoc-ngu became the standard written form of Vietnamese, replacing the traditional Chinese script, Chữ Nôm, which was only understood by a small elite. Today, Quoc-ngu is the primary writing system used in Vietnam and is taught in schools across the country.