As Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language with different sounds and without consonant clusters, brand names and other foreign words can be pronounced very differently.
Words like passport and visa should generally be understood if you pronounce them as they are. Some brands such as Nokia or Coca-Cola sound more or less the same. Many Korean and Japanese brands are also pronounced similarly, like Samsung and Yamaha.
There are however some foreign words so different that you may face communication problems. The differences are best explained through examples, so let’s take a look at some common ones.
Dream = đơ-ream
Martin = Mạc-tin
Pantene = Pan-teen
Lotteria = lốt-te
LG = el-ri
Sting = si-tin. Totally unrecognisable!
If you ever find yourself laptop shopping, prepare for confusion between these two brands. Both often referred to as a-sờ, or sometimes a-si for Asus, but either you or the sales assistant will confuse them at some point!
Over to you: Have you had problems pronouncing foreign words in Vietnamese? Have you got any more examples to add to this list?
Facebook. Love it or hate it, let’s look at how it can be used for learning languages.
1. Chat with native speakers
Use facebook to learn Vietnamese
If you have any Vietnamese friends, whether in you know them in person or people you’ve met online, you can use the chat feature to have conversations with your friends. Probably best not to add random people just for the sake of learning Vietnamese, though!
As well as being fun, this can be a great way to pick up new language in a natural and authentic way. It carries less pressure than writing emails or talking someone face-to-face as you tend to read and write one or two sentences at a time. You also have the time to look things up as you go along.
2. Translate your Vietnamese friends’ status updates
Another great way of picking up natural, everyday language is taking notes from your friends’ status updates. This is more useful for intermediate learners who just need to look up short phrases. If you put whole sentences into google translate, it’s probably not going to help you very much.
I often copy sentences into my question notepad to get clarification later. You can probably pick up some good colloquial expressions and slang this way.
Many other people suggest this, and it is a way of getting a bit more exposure to Vietnamese. If you’re also using facebook to chat in Vietnamese and the rest of the site is in Vietnamese, then you have a nice little digital immersion environment.
Bonus: Like More Vietnamese and interact with us there 😉
Come say hi, ask questions, share your experiences. Join us here.
In Vietnam, it’s common to be asked your age. Though Westerners may be shocked by this at first, it is an important question to choose the correct way to address someone for example – chị for a woman a little older than you or em for a woman a bit younger.
But before you go about answering that question, there are two important differences when it comes to counting age in Vietnam.
1. Your age is based on the year you were born, and changes at new year.
So say you’re 30 and living in Vietnam over new year. From the first day of Tết, you now give your age as 31. However…
2. At birth you start counting from 1.
Say your birthday is in September. So in the Western calendar you’d be turning 31 next month. However since Vietnamese count you as 1 when you’re born and you get older at Tết, you’d have been 32 years old since the last Tết anyway.
And next Tết you’ll be 33 in Vietnamese years. Sorry about that!
Honestly, though, it sounds more confusing than it is.
A quick way to work out your age
If you’ve already had your birthday this year,
Vietnamese age = Western age + 1
If you haven’t had your birthday yet,
Vietnamese age = Western age + 2
Birthdays
Birthdays are not usually celebrated in Vietnam. While children do receive lì xì (lucky money) at Tết, my students were quick to tell me this isn’t in celebration of their increase in age per se.
As Vietnam is modernising some people in the cities are adapting the Western concept of age, or least birthday celebrations, but whenever I’m asked “bao nhiều tuổi?”, I always give my Vietnamese age.
If you’re visiting a Vietnamese person’s house, when you leave you must tell you host this. Even if it’s obvious, it’s necessary to actually say “I’m leaving” – especially to those older than you.
It might be obvious but you should still tell your host you’re leaving.
Usually this is with the verb “về” (as in, I’m going home). For example:
Chị, em về.
Chú, con về.
But there are times when đi (to go) is used, for example if you’re heading to the bus station to leave town.
Bà, con đi.
Anh chị, em đi.
In my experience, Vietnamese people love it when you follow this custom. Next time you’re visiting someone’s house or leaving a party, try it and see.
The question in every Vietnamese beginner’s mind: should you learn northern or southern Vietnamese? Of course within those broad groups, there is more variation. But at this stage there is a choice to be made – just like choosing between British or American English, or different varieties of Spanish. Speakers should be generally able to understand each other but there are differences in the language.
So which should you pick?
Situation A: You live in Vietnam already
If you are in Vietnam already this choice is simpler – pick the one that matches your region. While northern Vietnamese is the ‘standard’, it’s rare to hear it being spoken in Ho Chi Minh City.
If you are not in Vietnam, the choice is a little harder. Let’s look at which kind of Vietnamese you are most likely to encounter.
Situation B: You’re planning to live in or visit Vietnam at some point
If you are likely to go to Vietnam in the future – which part? Again, pick the accent matching the region you’ll be in, or where you’ll be spending the most time.
Situation C: You’re planning to travel up or down the whole of Vietnam
If you’ll be travelling up or down the whole country and are just learning a few basics, be aware of the pronunciation differences. Some food words differ too. On the plus side, numbers are pronounced the same throughout the country (well, except for ‘thousand’).
Perhaps in this case, start with the accent of your arrival city and be prepared to adapt it as you travel.
Situation D: You’re not in Vietnam and not planning to go there soon
Are they any Vietnamese people in your local area? Which accent do they speak with? If you’re in the States, most of the overseas Vietnamese you’ll encounter will have southern pronunciation. Former Soviet countries may have more northern Vietnamese. If you know a student studying abroad where you are, ask which part of the country they come from.
Situation E: None of the above
If none of the above situations apply to you, then choose a course or tutor you like and study whatever accent you hear the most. There are more materials around for northern Vietnamese, but as I’ve lived in the south I try to highlight southern ones here too.
But…
Don’t worry about the decision too much – I spent a couple of weeks in the north first so started with that and switched once I went down south. Admittedly this was very early on in my language journey, but I also had classmates who’d started learning northern Vietnamese in Korea. They moved to Ho Chi Minh City a year or two later and seemed able to make the adjustment to southern Vietnamese.
Over to you: which variety of Vietnamese did you choose and why?
The question in every Vietnamese beginner’s mind: should you learn northern or southern Vietnamese? Of course within those broad groups, there is more variation. But at this stage there is a choice to be made – just like choosing between British or American English, or different varieties of Spanish. Speakers should be generally able to understand each other but there are differences in the language.