Alexandre de Rhodes

French missionary and linguist

Alexandre de Rhodes - French missionary and linguist
Born

March 15th, 1591
434 years ago

Died

November 5th, 1660
364 years ago — 69 years old

Category

Thinkers & Philosophers

Country

France

Links & References

Served as a Jesuit missionary in Vietnam, where significant contributions to the introduction and establishment of the Latin alphabet for the Vietnamese language occurred. Published the first Vietnamese dictionary and a grammar book, which laid the foundation for modern Vietnamese orthography. Worked extensively with Vietnamese language and culture, deeply influencing the development of written Vietnamese.

Developed the Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet

Published the first Vietnamese dictionary

Authored a grammar book for Vietnamese language

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