Vietnamese pronunciation can be tricky for foreigners. However, I would argue it’s the only tricky part of the language. Also, the way Vietnamese is written is very phonetic. What you see is what you say.
This page covers the key areas of Vietnamese pronunciation, including the use of tones and some sounds which can be hard to pronounce.
Vietnamese pronunciation resources
Want to work on your pronunciation? Got a sound that’s troubling you? Here are some top articles and videos on Vietnamese pronunciation:
General pronunciation tips
- Improve your pronunciation in 10 steps article. If you’re committed to improving, this is a great technique.
- The secret to mastering Vietnamese pronunciation
Vietnamese tones
- The Beginner’s Guide to Vietnamese tones and accent marks article and videos
This article is a detailed guide to Vietnamese tones and vowel sounds, with embedded videos.
Further tone resources:
- 3 Low Tones: mà, mả, mạ video
- The ‘no’ tone is actually high article
- A useful tone rule video
General Vietnamese pronunciation videos
- Speaking the Vietnamese alphabet (Southern accent)
- Wikitravel Pronunciation Guide comparing with English sounds
- Northern Pronunciation Guide with audio
- Southern Pronunciation Guide with videos
- Vowel sounds in Vietnamese video
- Initial consonants video
- Final consonants video
- Final consonants article and video
Consonants and consonant combinations
- ch video
- gh- video
- gi- video (Southern)
- kh- video
- ng article and video
- ngh video
- -nh and -ch video (Northern and Southern)
- ph- video
- qu- video (Northern)
- how to pronounce words with qu like a Southerner
- th article and video
- Is v pronounced like v- or j- in Southern Vietnamese? video
Vietnamese vowels and vowel combinations
- iê video
- oă video
- Special diphthongs and triphthongs with o
- UÂ video
- uô video
- -uy-: How to pronounce Nguyễn, tuyết, chuyện, khuya and so on
- -uya, -uyu, -uây, yêu video
- -UYÊ- video
- -ươ- video
See also: The Ultimate Vietnamese Resource List.