Readers have been asking me questions about Vietnamese pronunciation. It’s an important part of learning Vietnamese but I didn’t know where to start. Then last week I read this short article explaining how to get over your big language issues.
It all became clear how to break down the big topic of Vietnamese pronunciation for you.
The short answer? Get specific. Then tackle each of your issues one at a time.
How I learnt to pronounce ng- words
Today I’m going to tell you how I learnt to pronounce ng and how you can do it too.
I started learning Vietnamese just a few days before I arrived in Vietnam. In some ways this was great because I was surrounded by native speakers from the beginning. If I didn’t pronounce something correctly, I’d be met with a blank look.
Even so, after one month there was one consonant sound that was still troubling me… ng-
I wanted to be able to say ngon (delicious) but my attempts to say the ng- sound were really hit and miss.
It all changed in an afternoon
One afternoon I was in a park in Saigon and chatting in English to some university students. During the conversation, I mentioned that I was learning Vietnamese. They encouraged me to say something so I said “Tôi là người Anh” (I’m English).
As you may have guessed, I didn’t pronounce người right. One student decided to teach me to say it.
She modelled the sound for me, showing me how her mouth was positioned as she simply said ng. After she did this a few times, she encouraged me to try.
Me: ng
Her: Yes!
Me: n
Her: No.
Me: n
Her: No.
Me: ng
Her: Yes!
This went on for a couple of minutes.
Little by little I started getting more yes’s than no’s. I also started hearing the difference myself and being able to tell when I was saying it correctly and when I wasn’t.
I kept practising for the rest of the week. One day it just clicked and since then I’ve had no trouble pronouncing ng. I’ve even taught other people to say it correctly.
How you can learn to pronounce ng- too
Start by listening to the sound ng, paying attention to how it should be formed in your mouth and how it should sound.
This video by Stuart Jay Raj explains it really well as even though only a few examples are Vietnamese, the Thai and Indonesian examples have a similar ng sound.
By the end of the video you should be able to say ng correctly, though you may still sometimes get it wrong like I used to. Keep on practising Vietnamese words beginning with ng- like ngon, người and the most common Vietnamese surname – Nguyen.
Here are some great examples for Vietnamese. If possible, ask a native speaker if you’re pronouncing it correctly.
Although this article is about ng, you can use the same technique with any sound, tone or word you are struggling with.
Over to you: What sounds do you find hard to say? What do you do to practice them?
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.
Classes can be a great way of getting good, consistent input in your language learning journey. For many people, myself included, learning stagnates without a push to keep going (and there’s nothing like having paid for classes to make sure you go, and therefore learn). But sometimes the classes are not worth your precious time and hard-earned money.
