Choosing or taking as: bầu / cử / chọn / lấy … làm

To say someone is chosen as something, Vietnamese puts làm between the person and the role: Hội nghị bầu bà Lan làm chủ tịch. The meeting elected Ms Lan as chair. Here làm means "as", in the sense of "to serve as".

The verb in front says how the choice was made. Bầu is to elect by vote, cử is to send or name someone for a task, bổ nhiệm is a formal appointment by a superior, and chọn is the everyday "choose". Other verbs take the same pattern: mời ai làm cố vấn (invite someone to be an adviser), nhận ai làm con nuôi (adopt someone). Lấy … làm is "take as": lấy cô ấy làm vợ (take her as his wife), and in formal writing lấy người học làm trung tâm (put learners at the centre).

News reports usually turn it round with được: Ông Hùng được bầu làm bí thư. Mr Hùng was elected secretary. With a formal title they often write giữ chức (hold the post of) instead of làm: được bổ nhiệm giữ chức Giám đốc Sở Y tế.

You'll meet bầu, cử and bổ nhiệm in news about congresses, elections and appointments, and in official announcements. In conversation, chọn and cử are the natural ones: Lớp chọn Nam làm lớp trưởng. The class chose Nam as class monitor.

English "as" tempts learners to use như, but như means "like, similar to", so it doesn't give anyone the job.