tổng thống

Sino-Vietnamese word from 總統, composed of 總 (“general; overall”) and 統 (“to rule”), from Chinese 總統／总统 (zǒngtǒng). Compare Japanese 総統 (sōtō, “führer”).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [təwŋ͡m˧˩ tʰəwŋ͡m˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [təwŋ͡m˧˨ tʰəwŋ͡m˦˧˥]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [təwŋ͡m˨˩˦ tʰəwŋ͡m˦˥]

tổng thống

1. (capitalism) a president

   Tổng thống Mỹ George Bush

   US President George Bush

   Tổng thống Pháp Jacques Chirac

   France President Jacques Chirac

   Ai là tổng thống Việt Nam ?
   Việt Nam không có tổng thống. Việt Nam chỉ có chủ tịch.

   Who's the "capitalist president" of Vietnam?
   There's no such thing in Vietnam. Vietnam's headed by a "communist president".

• Both chủ tịch and tổng thống translate to the English "president", but chủ tịch is used strictly to refer to the leaders of a few self-proclaimed "socialist"/"communist" countries (particularly Vietnam, China, Cuba and Laos) who are not actually elected, but appointed by the ruling political party, and then formally "re-elected" by representatives in the party; while tổng thống refers to elected leaders in democracies. While the use of "president" as a translation of chủ tịch is usually subject for mockery in Western media, the distinction is made abundantly clear in Vietnam, and possibly in China.