Texting in Vietnamese: Common Abbreviations
Maybe you want to use your đtdd (phone) to nhắn tin (send a message) a friend in Vietnamese. Or maybe you’re lazy to type out full words in a chat. Here’s a starter guide to…
Pronouncing brand names and other foreign words in Vietnamese
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…
3 ways to learn languages through facebook
Facebook. Love it or hate it, let’s look at how it can be used for learning languages. 1. Chat with native speakers If you have any Vietnamese friends, whether in you know them in person…
Vietnamese age and birthdays
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…
How to politely say “I’m leaving” in Vietnamese
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. Usually…
Should you learn northern or southern Vietnamese?
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…
3 lessons I learnt from missing my Summer Recording Challenge goal
I messed up. I knew I’d be busy teaching at a summer camp in July so I came up with the idea of a Summer Recording Challenge. I still maintain it’s a great idea, but…
How to improve your pronunciation in 10 steps
Every language learner wants to, or should want to, improve your pronunciation. Here’s a technique I picked up while teaching English in Vietnam: how to noticeably improve your pronunciation in just 15 minutes. What you…
4 steps to prepare for Summer Recording Challenge
Yesterday I announced the Summer Recording Challenge. I hope you will join me on a 40 day quest to improve your pronunciation this summer. I’m not going to rope you into this without any advice…
How I pushed myself to learn more Vietnamese before leaving Vietnam
As my time in Vietnam started running out, I felt an urgency to learn as much Vietnamese as I could. I decided simply attending my regular classes wasn’t enough (especially as the pace was too…