RECOMMENDATIONS ON TEACHING TIME EXPRESSION IN VIETNAMESE TO JAPANESE IN TERMS OF VIETNAMESE-JAPANESE CONTRASTIVE LINGUISTICS

Abstract

Vietnamese is an isolating language which does not have typical grammatical expressions of time as in English, French, Japanese … The expression of time in Vietnamese is mainly through the use of vocabulary, adverbs of time such as “today”, “tomorrow”, “before”, … and adverbs like “did”, “will”, “are”… This expression causes difficulties for foreigners in general and Japanese learners of Vietnamese in particular. This paper compares and contrasts expressions of time in Vietnamese and the category “tense” in Japanese, points out similarities and differences in the ways to express time between the two languages. Thence, it offers some recommendations for teaching Vietnamese to Japanese learners.