27/09/2024 14:55

Cases where the Law in Vietnam requires capitalization

Although many people are aware that proper capitalization in appropriate places contributes to a meticulous and professional appearance in work, determining when to capitalize and which words to capitalize or not is quite a complex issue. To address this matter, please refer to Appendix II of Decree 30/2020/ND-CP of Vietnam.

Cases where Vietnamese law requires capitalization include:

No.	Content	Example
I	Capitalization due to sentence structure
1	Capitalize the first letter of the first syllable of a complete sentence: After periods (.), question marks (?), exclamation marks (!), and when starting a new line.	(?) (!) (.) Judgment
II	Capitalization of proper nouns indicating names
1	Names of Vietnamese people
	Common names: Capitalize the first letter of each syllable of the proper noun indicating the name.	Vo Nguyen Giap
	Titles, names of historical figures: Capitalize the first letter of each syllable.	Bac Ho, Cu Ho, Ba Trieu
2	Names of foreigners transcribed into Vietnamese
	Transcribed through Sino-Vietnamese: Write according to the naming rules for Vietnamese names.	Mao Trach Dong
	Transcribed directly not through Sino-Vietnamese (transcribed closely to the original pronunciation): Capitalize the first letter of the first syllable in each element.	Phri-drich Ang-ghen
III	Capitalization of geographical names
1	Names of Vietnamese geographical locations
	Names of administrative units formed by combining a common noun (province, centrally-governed city, district, ward, district-level town, city under province, city under centrally-governed city; commune, ward, commune-level town) with the proper name of that administrative unit: Capitalize the first letter of the syllables forming the proper name and do not use hyphens.	Thu Duc city, Nghe An province
	If the name of the administrative unit is formed by combining a common noun with a number, person's name, or historical event: Capitalize the entire common noun indicating the administrative unit.	District 1, Dien Bien Phu ward
	Special capitalization case	Capital Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City
	Geographical names formed by combining a common noun indicating terrain (river, mountain, lake, sea, port, dock, bridge, bay, creek, estuary, etc.) with a one-syllable proper noun to become the proper name of that location: Capitalize all the letters forming the name. If the common noun indicating terrain is directly followed by the proper noun: Do not capitalize the common noun but only the proper noun.	Vung Tau, Vung Tau sea Ben Thanh market
	Geographical names indicating a specific region, area, or zone formed by combining a directional word with another directional term: Capitalize the first letter of each syllable forming the name. For geographical names indicating specific regions formed by combining a directional word with a common noun indicating terrain, capitalize the first letter of each syllable.	Northwest, Northeast, Northern Region
2	Names of foreign geographical locations transcribed into Vietnamese
	Names transcribed into Sino-Vietnamese: Write according to the capitalization rules for Vietnamese geographical names.	Bac Kinh, France
	Names transcribed directly not through Sino-Vietnamese (transcribed closely to the original pronunciation): Capitalize the first letter according to the rules for foreign names.	Moscow, Melbourne
IV	Capitalization of names of agencies, organizations
1	Names of Vietnamese agencies, organizations
	Capitalize the first letter of words, phrases indicating the type of agency, organization; function, field of activity of the agency, organization.	Office of the President, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
	Special capitalization case:	Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam; Central Office of the Communist Party.
2	Names of foreign agencies, organizations
	Names of foreign agencies, organizations that are translated: Capitalize according to the naming rules for Vietnamese agencies, organizations.	United Nations World Health Organization
	Names of foreign agencies, organizations used in documents in abbreviated form: Write in uppercase as in the original language or transliterate into Latin if the original language does not use the Latin alphabet.	ASEAN, WTO UNESCO
V	Capitalization in other cases
1	Special case nouns.	People, State
2	Names of orders, medals, honorary titles: Capitalize the first letter of the syllables forming the name and the ranking words.	People’s Artist, Labor Hero
3	Titles, degrees, honorary titles: Capitalize the title, degree if followed by a specific person's name.	Professor Ton That Tung
4	Common nouns that have become proper names: Capitalize the first letter of the word, phrase indicating that name in respectful usage.	Communist Party (referring to the Communist Party of Vietnam) Bac, Nguoi (referring to President Ho Chi Minh)…
5	Names of holidays, commemorative days: Capitalize the first letter of the syllable forming the name.	Vietnam Women's Day October 20
6	Names of document types
	Capitalize the first letter of the document type and the first letter of the first syllable forming the document name when referring to a specific document.	Criminal Code Law on Organization of the National Assembly…
	When referencing section, chapter, part, sub-section, article, clause, paragraph of a specific document, capitalize the first letter of section, chapter, part, sub-section, article.	According to point a clause 2 Article 103 Section 5 Chapter XII Part I of the Criminal Code.
7	Names of lunar years, festivals, days, and months in the year
	Names of lunar years: Capitalize the first letter of all the syllables forming the name.	Canh Thin, Nham Than
	Names of festivals: Capitalize the first letter of the first syllable forming the name. Capitalize Tết when referring to the Lunar New Year (Tet Nguyen Dan).	Tet Nguyen Dan, Tet Trung Thu
	Names of days in the week and months in the year: Capitalize the first letter of the syllable indicating the day and month when not using numbers.	Friday, July
8	Names of historical events and dynasties: Capitalize the first letter of the syllables forming the event and the event name, in cases with numerical time markers, write them in words and capitalize that word.	Ly Dynasty, Nghe Tinh Soviets Movement, August Revolution
9	Names of works, books, newspapers, periodicals: Capitalize the first letter of the first syllable forming the work, book, newspaper name.	Communist magazine

- This English translation is for reference purposes only and not a definitive translation of the original Vietnamese texts;
- Articles may be compiled from a variety of sources;
- Applicable Terms may have expired at the time you are reading;
- If you have any questions about the copyright of the article, please contact us via email banquyen@lawnet.vn

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