Categories
Learning

Should you watch Vietnamese films and TV when you’re a beginner?

wait

If you watch a Vietnamese film or TV show when you’re a beginner, you’re obviously not going to understand it all. But is it still worth watching?

To be honest, I wasn’t convinced there was any value until recently. But then that all changed…

A short case study

I started learning Vietnamese as I arrived in Vietnam, so I’d never really thought about listening practice as a beginner because Vietnamese has been all around me from Day 1.

However, since the spring I’ve taken up Korean (again). I’m not surrounded by Korean, I don’t have any Korean friends and the only real listening practice I get is the one or two lessons I listen to each week at Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK).

I do from time to time watch Korean dramas though. I’d watched them before I started learning Korean (simply because I enjoy them). As a total newbie I didn’t learn any vocabulary from watching them or understand anything at all. I was completely dependent on the translated subtitles and honestly, the dialogue was just background noise.

But last month something changed. It was the first time I watched a drama since finished TTMIK Level 1 and found myself able to pick out some words.

wait
기드리… wait? waiting? waited? He definitely said something about waiting.

Now, this doesn’t sound revolutionary but bear in mind that young children spend years listening to their native language before they start speaking. Gradually all that ‘noise’ they hear turns into words… Sound familiar?

Anyway, back to learning Vietnamese.

Will watching films teach me Vietnamese?

No, watching Vietnamese programmes (with foreign subtitles) as a beginner isn’t going to teach you to speak Vietnamese. But if you pay attention to the dialogue, you can start to pick out familiar words.

Singling out key or familiar words in a sentence is a skill you’ll use all the time when having conversations in Vietnamese. People will say things to you and you’ll miss or not understand half of what they say. Being able to use the words you heard to guess the meaning of the sentence is an vital skill that you’ll use over and over again as you have conversations in Vietnamese.

So…?

I watch Korean dramas because I like them. It’s an added benefit that I’m training my ear in a language I’m a beginner in.

However, watching dramas is not an efficient way to learn. If you only have an hour of free time, you’d be better off using that time to watch a Vietnamese lesson on Youtube and then practise what you just learnt.

But… if you’re going to watch a movie anyway, make it a Vietnamese one (occasionally at least). 😉

Over to you: Do you watch any Vietnamese TV shows or films? Do you find it useful listening practice?

Categories
Learning

Learn how to read Vietnamese

Vietnamese is a very phonetic language. The pronunciation and the spelling of words closely match up. This means you can learn to ‘read’ Vietnamese (ie. read aloud) very quickly.

How do you read Vietnamese letters?

Vietnamese uses a Latin alphabet and many letters are pronounced as you’d expect like b or m.

Although just like European languages, there is some variation on the basic Latin alphabet. Spanish has exra letters like ñ while Vietnamese has letters like đ and ư. There are also some letters that have a different sound (eg. Vietnamese th- sounds more like an English t-).

That may sound complicated but it’s actually really easy. You simply need to learn how these sound because đ always sounds like đ, th- is always th- so on.

How to learn the rules

Learn to read When I was a beginner I learnt how to pronounce written Vietnamese by using the phonetic guide in my phrasebook. There are other phrasebook guides online, including ones with audio.

Learn which letters make which sounds, brush up on your tones and accents then get practising. You could practice by reading aloud the words from this list of 120 beginner words, then comparing with the audio.

In no time at all you’ll be able to pronounce written Vietnamese – allowing you to read aloud signs, addresses and even poetry if you wish!

Granted, this won’t teach you what any of it means but knowing these rules will help you pick up new words that you see and also help you with spelling.

Over to you: How did you learn to pronounce Vietnamese words? Do you find it easy to read Vietnamese words aloud (even if you don’t know what they mean)?

Photo credit: hvaldez1

Categories
Learning

What if you speak Vietnamese with a foreign accent?

I imagine him saying 'Yes, I have an accent. Get over it!'

A few articles have appeared over the last couple of weeks on pronunciation and why it’s ok to have a foreign accent.

Such as:

I have to agree. While I post a lot of things on here about improving your Vietnamese pronunciation, they are aimed at improving how clear and understandable you are.

If you want to aim for a native speaker accent, good for you. Go ahead!

Banderas has an accent
Pic: Yes, I have an accent because I come from Spain. Sheesh!

However, it’s not a requirement. Thinking about English for a minute, there are so many people who speak fluent English with foreign accents from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Antonio Banderas. There’s a difference between having an accent that is hard to understand and having an accent where words are pronounced intelligibly but with a foreign twist. Heck, many people even find Banderas’ and similar accents attractive.

Having an accent just indicates where you’re from, even native speakers have regional accents. There’s no such thing as “accentless” English or Vietnamese.

If languages are about communicating with other people, expressing a meaning, sharing ideas, connecting with people then there’s nothing wrong with a little accent.

Over to you: What kind of accent are you aiming for? Do you think a native speaker accent is necessary or desirable?

Categories
Learning

The secret to mastering Vietnamese pronunciation

The secret to Vietnamese pronunication As a beginner, Vietnamese pronunciation can be a little intimidating.

Who am I kidding? It can be very intimidating.

Want to know the secret?

Don’t despair. Simply break the problem down and start by tackling one thing.

Instead of freaking out about all the tones, focus on them one at a time. I’d recommend starting with one of the very distinct ones like nặng, or my favourite hỏi.

How do that?

Watch a video explaining how to say them correctly, look at the speaker’s mouth and copy it as you repeat the word. Then spend a week practising them over and over.

Perhaps your tones are okay but you’re struggling with ng? Do the same thing.

Get feedback

Because of the tonal nature of Vietnamese, it’s really important to get feedback from a native speaker. Watch a video, copy the speaker, then ask a friend or language exchange partner to tell you whether you’re pronouncing it correctly.

Photo credit: ispap

Categories
Learning

How to beat Anki backlog

Have you ever left Anki alone for a few weeks and come back to a huge card backlog?

Several months ago I got overwhelmed by my Anki decks. I’d been on holiday and not reviewed anything. I’d started a new course and was behind with adding new words. I basically stopped using it because it felt like a black cloud hanging over my head.

I didn’t want to delete all my cards and start again. I liked having them there as a reference, like a personal dictionary.

Here’s how I tackled my huge Anki backlog.

Part A: Out of sight, out of mind

1. Create a new deck called “temp”

Transfer all the decks you are behind in to this new deck.

Although you can’t see it, most of these decks have 50+ reviews due. See Step 2 to find out how I hid the numbers.

2. Create a new options group “backlog”

Change the settings for this new “temp” deck to a new options group called “Backlog”. Set it to 0 reviews and 0 new cards.

Change the settings to 0 reviews and 0 new cards.

The problem has now disappeared from sight but the cards are still there when you’re ready to tackle the backlog. You can now continue using Anki to learn new cards without getting a visual reminder about those 90, 300 or 1000 cards you should review.

Secretly there are 498 due cards, hidden right there in my “temp” deck.

Part B: Tackling the backlog

Although you’ve hidden your backlog, the cards are still there waiting to be reviewed one day. So, what do you do when you’re ready to tackle the backlog?

3. Move one of your decks out of “temp”

Drag and drop one of your backlogged decks from “temp” to your normal Vietnamese deck.

The settings should revert to whatever your usual settings are (ie. Default). You can, however, double check if they’re using ‘Default’ or ‘Backlog’ settings.

You can then start to catch up on this deck – little and often. I like to review about 10 cards at a time, 2 or 3 times a day.

In a week or two of normal using Anki in short bursts as usual, you should be back to a more normal and manageable number of cards to review every day.

4. Repeat step 3 until all your decks are out of “temp”

This may take weeks, or even months if you have a large backlog. In the meantime, you still have access to your cards if you want to search them and you can keep learning new cards without a black cloud over your head.

No more Anki rain cloud.

Over to you: Have you ever been behind with flashcard reviews? What did you do?