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?…
What if you speak Vietnamese with a foreign accent?
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: Memrise: How to play the accents game Language Fluency: Dare to…
The secret to mastering Vietnamese pronunciation
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…
How an afternoon in a park taught me to pronounce ng-
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…
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…
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…
The ‘no’ tone is actually…
You might think that the so-called ‘no’ tone (known as ngang) is the easiest of Vietnamese’s 6 (or 5) tones, however I was having problems with it until a fellow learner gave me a gem…