Is it right or wrong to write 'Viet Nam' instead of 'Vietnam'?

Question

In the opening text of the Christian Bale movie Rescue Dawn, it says 'Viet Nam.' I had never seen this before... is it an error?

Answer 1

The Vietnamese write it Việt Nam, but that's a translation into our alphabet.

That's why it's not uncommon to see it written in English as two words.

However, the standard in English is to write the name as one word: Vietnam.

Answer 2

hey, traditionally it's spelt Việt Nam in Vietnamese. NB: Việt Nam comes from the Chinese Yue Nan meaning "Over there in the South" since VN is south oif China. 60% of all Vietnamese vocabulary is from China lol!

Vietnam is just the Romanized just like Sia Gon and Saigon and most other city names

You will see both. Both are the same.

Answer 3

"Viet Nam" is how the vietnamese spell it (because if you notice, in vietnamese, most names are at least two words long). "Vietnam" is the english spelling. The movie's spelling is an error if you are trying to spell it in English but right if you are spelling it in Vietnamese, minus the accents of course.

Answer 4

the traditional spelling of it is Viet Nam.. to conserve space and money, reporters spelled it as one word..

Answer 5

I think it's acceptable but it's relatively unused. It reflects the Vietnamese way of saying it better I believe.

Answer 6

For an extensive discussion of just this point see the link below:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/southeastasia/vsg/elist_2001/VietnamORVN.html

Answer 7

I think it's a typo, as you don't see it like that al too often. The correct spelling is "Vietnam."

Answer 8

Both are acceptable

Answer 9

wrong