Tây Bồi Pidgin French
French-based pidgin of Vietnam
Summary
Tây Bồi, or Vietnamese Pidgin French, was an extinct pidgin once spoken by non-French-educated Vietnamese, typically those who worked as servants in French households or milieux during the colonial era. Literally, it means "French (Tây) [of- or spoken by] male servants (Bồi)". During the French Indochina period, the majority of household servants for the French were male. The term is used by Vietnamese themselves to indicate that their spoken French language is poor, or grammatically incorrect. The French government or protectors opened French public schools staffed by all native French speakers to take care of their compatriots/expatriates' children's education. Vietnamese children were admitted as well if they could pass the entrance examination tailored to their age and grade level. The Vietnamese elite class spoke French, and those with French Baccalaureat diplomas could attend French universities in France and in its colonies. After France's withdrawal from Indochina in 1954, Tây Bồi ceased to be used as a common language as standard French was used and is believed to have become extinct around the 1980s.
Originally created by Gaidheal
10/30/2005, 4:25:21 AM
Modified
5/23/2026, 4:19:08 AM
Recent revisions
/* History */Grammar/word choice correction: "withdrawal" for "withdraw."
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verbs?
/* Etymology */ directly link to pg 47
/* Etymology */ bồi: verb in Vietnamese (unsourced) (should be fine w/out sources because bồi is much known in Vietnamese as bearing the meaning "to add")
Grammar
italics, per link target
Fixed typo
Extinct
/* References */
[[User:Monkbot/task 20|Task 20]]: replace {lang-??} templates with {langx|??} [[Wikipedia:Templates_for_discussion/Log/2024_September_27#Replace_and_delete_lang-??_templates|‹See Tfd›]] (Replaced 1);
Disambiguating links to [[Annam]] (link changed to [[Names of Vietnam]]) using [[User:Qwertyytrewqqwerty/DisamAssist|DisamAssist]].
added a missing space
fixed citations
Undid revision [[Special:Diff/1249628962|1249628962]] by [[Special:Contributions/2600:4809:9051:BC01:958E:9425:CF90:FF7B|2600:4809:9051:BC01:958E:9425:CF90:FF7B]] ([[User talk:2600:4809:9051:BC01:958E:9425:CF90:FF7B|talk]])
added phonology, lexicon, history, and features sections added to infox and categories
take out vague tone tag, unclear what the problem is
