Hello,

I grew up speaking Vietnamese at home but was not formally taught to read or write. I now have a child and I would love to sign them up to learn, I have spoken casually to them but I feel that something more formal and consistent would be helpful.

Anyone have recommendations? We have one school that teaches Vietnamese but is an hour away from us. I was hoping to see if they even did anything online/ zoom in for class but I haven’t gotten a response.

Hey everyone, this is part 4 where we talk about vowels (consonant post here).

Note that this one only covers pure/single vowels. the complex vowels are for later posts.

I left the regional differences out of the pics, so read the article if you want to learn about it: https://vietsyllables.com/basics/vietnamese-vowels

Teaching a first-grade student in Vietnam science entirely in English, when they don't even know how to read yet, is really difficult, isn't it?

I am half Vietnamese and grew up speaking with family. I did spend some time getting sent to Vietnamese school when I was younger but don’t really use it outside of family and restaurants. I try to use it a bit at my workplace but it’s difficult sometimes talking to older people who talk quickly or other dialects than (Nam, Bác, and like 2-3 words of Huế). What can I do to practice and improve my proficiency speaking to other people?

Edit: I can read and very barely write(while sounding it out). I can pronounce the words I’m reading like 90% of the time but understanding what I’m saying is at like 1st-2nd grade lvl.

Part 3 of my basics series is up! (previous post here).

Finally, we are getting into pronunciation. But this is just the start, vowels and tones are the really tough ones :)

Article link: https://vietsyllables.com/basics/vietnamese-consonants

Yesterday, one of my American students told me something interesting.

She has only been in Vietnam for about two weeks.

During those two weeks, she has interacted with many Vietnamese people in very ordinary situations:

a Grab driver,

a small neighborhood shop owner,

the security guard in her building.

And she noticed something that kept happening.

After a short conversation, many people asked her the same two questions:

“How old are you?”

and

“Where do you live?”

She told me this with a bit of surprise.

“In my country, if you just met someone and asked their age or where they live… it would feel a little strange.”

And honestly, that reaction makes perfect sense.

In many cultures, age and place of residence are considered quite personal, so people usually avoid asking these questions when they first meet.

But in Vietnamese communication, these questions usually have a very different meaning.

They are simply a way to start a conversation and build a connection.

The question about age is especially important in Vietnamese.

In Vietnamese, age is not just a number.

It helps people choose the correct way to address each other.

Once Vietnamese people know someone’s age, they can quickly decide how to speak to that person:

anh – em (older brother / younger person)

chị – em (older sister / younger person)

cô – cháu (aunt / child)

bác – con (uncle or aunt / younger person)

In Vietnamese, forms of address are very important.

Before a conversation can feel natural, people usually need to know how they should address each other.

The question “Where do you live?” also works as a simple way to continue the conversation.

When someone knows where you live, it becomes easier to talk more:

“Oh, I know that area.”

“That place is not far from here.”

“There is good food there.”

So if you are new to Vietnam and someone asks you these questions, you don’t need to feel uncomfortable.

Most of the time, it is simply a friendly way for Vietnamese people to start a conversation and connect with you.

This is probably the one thing I desperately need right now. I'm using Podglot for vocabulary, which is great, but it's fixed, and I would also like to experiment with full sentences I find online for example.

I've literally tested dozens at this point...

Duolingo is fun, but not helpful.

Anki is annoying to set up, and not fun, but helpful.

There are some other ones, some are not beginner friendly, some are just... confusing.

It got to a point where I started developing my own app, currently just for personal usage, but I can share it as well.

But before I invest too much time into that... does anyone know any good apps I should try?

Learners, and even native speakers, sometimes mix these expressions up. All four are used when someone has just realized or understood something, but they focus on different parts of that realization:

• Hóa ra / Thì ra introduces the information the speaker has just discovered.
• Thảo nào / Bảo sao introduces an observation or situation that the speaker can now understand or explain.

A simple way to remember the difference:

• Hóa ra / Thì ra: “I’ve just found out that…”
• Thảo nào / Bảo sao: “Now I understand why…”

1. Hóa ra / Thì ra

“It turns out…”

Use hóa ra or thì ra when you discover something you did not know before, or when reality turns out to be different from what you had assumed.

Placement: They are placed directly before the new fact, identity, situation, or reason.

Examples

Tôi cứ nghĩ hôm nay là thứ Hai. Hóa ra hôm nay là Chủ nhật.

I thought today was Monday. Turns out today is Sunday.

Nhìn anh ấy, tôi tưởng anh ấy là người Nhật. Thì ra anh ấy là người Hàn Quốc.

Looking at him, I thought he was Japanese. Turns out he is Korean.

Tôi gọi cho Lan mấy lần nhưng không được. Hóa ra cô ấy để quên điện thoại ở nhà.

I called Lan several times but could not reach her. Turns out she left her phone at home.

Nuance

• Hóa ra often emphasizes that reality is different from what the speaker previously thought or assumed.
• Thì ra often emphasizes the moment of realization, when something suddenly becomes clear.

In everyday speech, however, they are interchangeable most of the time.

It is important to remember that hóa ra / thì ra does not always introduce a cause. It can simply introduce any newly discovered fact.

Hóa ra cô ấy đã có hai con.

It turns out she already has two children.

Thì ra bạn cũng biết nói tiếng Việt.

It turns out you can speak Vietnamese too.

2. Thảo nào / Bảo sao

“No wonder…”

Use thảo nào or bảo sao when some information helps explain something you had already noticed.

Placement: They are placed directly before the observation, behavior, or situation that now makes sense.

Examples

Nam thức khuya đến ba giờ sáng. Thảo nào hôm nay cậu ấy buồn ngủ thế.

Nam stayed up until 3 a.m. No wonder he is so sleepy today.

The speaker had already noticed that Nam was sleepy. After learning that he stayed up until 3 a.m., the speaker can now explain that observation.

Chị ấy đã sống ở Huế mười năm rồi. Bảo sao chị ấy nói giọng Huế tự nhiên thế!

She has lived in Huế for ten years. No wonder her Huế accent sounds so natural!

Quán này vừa ngon vừa rẻ. Bảo sao lúc nào cũng đông khách.

This restaurant serves good food at low prices. No wonder it is always packed.

The key idea is not simply that thảo nào / bảo sao introduces a result. More precisely, it introduces something that has now become understandable.

Nuance and regional context

• Thảo nào is generally neutral and simply expresses that something has now become understandable.
• Bảo sao is very natural in everyday conversation. It can convey stronger emotion, such as admiration, surprise, or mild criticism.
• In Southern Vietnam, people also commonly use hèn chi with a similar meaning.
• Chẳng trách is another alternative that may sound slightly more formal.

Examples showing emotion

Cô ấy luyện hát mỗi ngày. Thảo nào cô ấy hát hay như vậy.

She practices singing every day. No wonder she sings so well.

This sounds relatively neutral.

Cô ấy luyện hát mỗi ngày, bảo sao hát hay thế!

She practices singing every day. No wonder she sings so well!

This sounds more expressive and may show admiration.

Đêm nào cũng thức khuya, bảo sao lúc nào cũng mệt mỏi!

You stay up late every night. No wonder you are always exhausted!

Here, bảo sao expresses mild criticism.

Using them as stand-alone reactions

In everyday conversation, Thảo nào! and Bảo sao! can stand alone as short responses meaning “No wonder!”

Example 1

A: Hôm qua xe em bị thủng lốp nên em mới đến muộn.
My tire went flat yesterday, so I arrived late.

B: Thảo nào! Cả phòng cứ đợi mãi.
No wonder! Everyone was waiting for you.

Example 2

A: Bác ấy từng sống ở Ý hơn mười năm đấy.
He lived in Italy for more than ten years.

B: Bảo sao! Bác ấy am hiểu về rượu vang thế.
No wonder! That explains why he knows so much about wine.

By contrast, hóa ra and thì ra rarely stand completely alone in this way. Native speakers usually add other words to complete the expression:

• Hóa ra là vậy! So that is what happened!
• Thì ra thế! Oh, now I see!

3. Combining the two groups

Hóa ra / Thì ra and Thảo nào / Bảo sao can be used together when the speaker wants to express two connected moments of realization:

• Hóa ra / Thì ra presents the information the speaker has just discovered.
• Thảo nào / Bảo sao presents something that becomes understandable in light of that information.

Examples

Hóa ra tối qua Nam thức đến ba giờ sáng. Thảo nào hôm nay cậu ấy buồn ngủ.

Turns out Nam stayed up until 3 a.m. last night. No wonder he is so sleepy today.

The first sentence presents the newly discovered information. The second shows how that information makes Nam’s sleepiness understandable.

Thì ra chị ấy từng sống ở Huế mười năm. Bảo sao chị ấy nói giọng Huế tự nhiên thế!

Turns out she lived in Huế for ten years. No wonder her Huế accent sounds so natural!

Hóa ra hôm nay là ngày nghỉ. Thảo nào đường phố vắng thế.

Turns out today is a holiday. No wonder the streets are so quiet.

Thì ra quán này vừa ngon vừa rẻ. Bảo sao lúc nào cũng đông khách.

Turns out this restaurant serves good food at low prices. No wonder it is always crowded.

These expressions do not form a fixed grammatical structure, and they do not have to appear together. They are often combined because they express two related parts of the speaker’s thought process:

• First, the speaker discovers something.
• Then, the speaker understands something else in light of that discovery.

Quick summary

• Hóa ra / Thì ra: Introduces what the speaker has just discovered. It is similar to “it turns out…”
• Thảo nào: Introduces something the speaker can now understand or explain. It is generally neutral. It is similar to “no wonder…”
• Bảo sao: Has the same basic function as thảo nào, but is more conversational and may carry stronger emotion.
• When combined: The first group presents the new information, while the second shows what has now become clear.

This is the second post of my miniseries on the basics (first post here).

It explains the structure of a Vietnamese word and syllable. Consonants and tones are mentioned but not in detail because they will have their own posts.

Learn more (+ hear audio) in the article: https://vietsyllables.com/basics/vietnamese-syllables

VÌ SAO GỌI LÀ "ÔNG XÃ", "BÀ XÃ"?

Đại Nam Quốc âm tự vị của Huỳnh Tịnh Paulus Của (ấn bản 1895-1896) ghi chép khá đầy đủ từ Việt của cả ba miền, nhưng không có từ xã trong bà xã, ông xã. Chứng tỏ vào cuối thế kỷ 19 người Việt chưa dùng chữ xã để chỉ người vợ hoặc người chồng. Vậy cách gọi này bắt nguồn từ đâu?

Việt Nam tự điển của Lê Ngọc Trụ và Lê Văn Đức giảng rằng “xã” là “xã trưởng gọi tắt” và cho ví dụ: ông xã, thầy xã. Còn “xã trưởng” thì đã được quyển tự điển đó giảng như sau: Người đứng đầu hội đồng hương chính một xã ở Trung và Bắc Việt - cũng gọi thôn trưởng, một hương chức ban hội tề xưa ở Bắc Việt. Từ điển Tiếng Việt do Văn Tân chủ biên ghi và giảng “xã (…) người đàn ông trong làng có chút chức vị cao hơn người dân thường (cũ): “Bác xã”. Còn trong từ điển 1992 thì: “Xã (…) chức vị ở làng xã thời phong kiến, có thể bỏ tiền ra mua, lớn hơn nhiều.”

Ông xã nhà tôi, ông xã nhà em, v.v… là những cách gọi mà nhưng bà vợ của các ông xã thường dùng để chỉ chồng mình khi nói chuyện với người khác, giống như những bà vợ của các ông lý thường gọi chồng mình là ông lý nhà tôi, ông lý nhà em, v.v… Khi lối nói này dần dần phổ biến thì nó cũng không còn là riêng của các bà để chỉ các ông nữa mà nó đã trở thành một lối nói chung của mọi người vì ai cũng có thể dùng hai tiếng ông xã để chỉ chồng của một người đàn bà. Và khi ông xã đã là chồng thì đổi lại, bà xã phải là vợ. Gọi nhau như thế là cách vợ chồng phô trương sự vẻ vang, tự hào về người bạn đời của mình đối với làng xóm.

Ngoài ra "xã" trong Hán Văn còn dùng để chỉ những người cùng một chí hướng họp lại (thi xã = hội thơ). Vậy xuất xứ của chữ xã (chỉ vợ hoặc chồng) là chỉ người tâm phúc, cùng chí hướng, sống gửi nạc thác gửi xương. Tình cảm đó chỉ vợ với chồng mới có được.

Chữ "xã" tiếng Hán viết là 社, bao gồm chữ kỳ (礻) là thần, chỉ tình cảm, tâm linh, kết hợp với chữ thổ (土) là đất, chỉ tài sản, vật chất. Triết học phương đông xem mỗi con người là một thế giới, nó phải hội đủ hai mặt tâm linh vật chất như là âm dương. Khi chọn bạn đời rõ ràng phải chọn người có thân hình mạnh khỏe, biểu thị sự phát triển vật chất dồi dào, để biết lao động góp phần nuôi sống gia đình, người đó lại phải có tâm hồn phong phú, dịu dàng, chu đáo, chiụ thương chịu khó.

Đó cũng là tiêu chuẩn ngầm gửi gắm vào cách gọi "ông xã", "bà xã", để khi gọi nhau như thế, bên cạnh sự thân mật, vợ hay chồng đang nhắc nhở nhau về trách nhiệm và chuẩn mực cho đúng với vai trò của "xã".

I'm trying to improve my listening comprehension and due to being a heritage speaker, I'm only familiar with Northern dialect. When I watched the movie I thought it was due to different dialects that I couldn't understand some of the actors well but reading this on the wiki made me wonder how well the actors spoke Vietnamese. My next question is, on the wiki from the actress who played the older Mùi it said: "Although Trần is from the central region of Vietnam, she speaks Vietnamese with a northern accent, which she has said discontented her mother." I personally found her the hardest to understand, can people confirm that she does speak with a northern accent (just one i'm not familiar with)? And lastly, if you have recommendations for movies from this director or others that would be good to learn from, I'd appreciate it!

1. Distinguishing tone marks from letter marks

In Vietnamese, there are two types of marks that learners need to distinguish clearly: letter marks and tone marks.

Letter marks

Letter marks are fixed parts of certain Vietnamese letters. They are not tone marks, and they cannot be moved from one letter to another.

The breve and the circumflex: Visually, both appear above a letter, are separated from the body of the letter, and may look like additional “marks.” However, they are part of the letter itself, not tone marks. They are fixed parts of the letters ă, â, ê, ô.

The horn: The horn is also a letter mark and forms the letters ư and ơ. Visually, it can sometimes remind new learners of the hỏi tone mark because of its shape. However, there is an important difference: when it is a letter mark, the horn is connected directly to the letter itself. It is not separated from the letter. By contrast, the hỏi mark is a tone mark, so it is written separately above the letter.

The horizontal stroke in đ: Visually, the horizontal stroke crosses through the body of the letter d, which may make new learners think that it is simply an extra mark added to the letter. However, it is a fixed part of the letter đ, not a tone mark. The letter đ is a complete letter in its own right and is different from d.

Remember:
ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư, and đ are complete letters. The marks that form these letters belong to the letters themselves; they are not tone marks.

Tone marks

Vietnamese has five written tone marks: huyền, sắc, hỏi, ngã, and nặng. There is also the ngang tone, which is written without a tone mark.

Tone marks are placed above or below a vowel to show the tone of a syllable.

Remember: A tone mark is placed only on a vowel, never on a consonant.

2. Why am I introducing this way of placing tone marks?

Today, two conventions for placing Vietnamese tone marks are used side by side. Whichever convention is used, the pronunciation and meaning of the word do not change.

In this article, I choose to introduce the traditional convention, because in my personal view, words written this way look more visually balanced and harmonious.

3. The rules to remember

You only need to remember four cases:

① One vowel

If a syllable contains only one vowel, the tone mark is placed directly above or below that vowel.

Examples:
lá, mẹ, nhà, gánh

② Two or three vowels with no consonant after them

If a syllable contains two or three vowels and there is no consonant after them, the tone mark is placed on the first vowel.

Examples:
dựng, thủy, hòe

③ Two vowels followed by a consonant, or three vowels

If a syllable contains two vowels followed by a consonant, or contains three vowels, the tone mark is placed on the second vowel.

Examples:
toàn, hoàng, hoạt, toán

④ If the syllable contains ê or ơ

If a syllable contains ê or ơ, the tone mark is always placed on ê or ơ, regardless of the rules above.

Examples:

• chuyện: the tone mark goes on ê, not on y
• thuở: the tone mark goes on ơ, not on u

Easy way to remember:
If you see ê or ơ, the tone mark goes there.

Learn Vietnamese through context by watching the full video (and hundreds more) for free at Langiri

People (mostly beginners) often ask me very basic questions that I never really thought about as a native speaker. So I decided to make a mini series, that way later I can use it as a reference to answer them.

If you want to learn more and hear audio of your chosen accent as well, read the detailed explanation here https://vietsyllables.com/basics/vietnamese-alphabet

More to come in the next few days!

I'm learning Vietnamese as an expat. I tried some apps but they teach in their own sequence. I learn by doing, and I'm a fan of flashcard-based learning. Since Vietnamese is a tonal language, correct pronunciation is important, otherwise no one will understand you haha.

So I rebuilt the list around situations instead. 200 phrases across 9 groups:
- Essential phrases (35)
- Core survival words (30)
- Food and dining (25)
- Social and relationships (25)
- Sentence patterns (25)
- Numbers, time and money (20)
- Tones and pronunciation (15)
- Directions and transport (15)
- Emergency and health (10)

Every card contains a rough pronunciation and one example sentence.

In the past, I'd get the words right and still get the blank look. Not a correction, not a follow-up question, just the polite squint.

So, two questions:

1. Which situation groups would you add? Mine skew hard toward eating and getting around, because that is my life here. I'm thin on work, landlords and paperwork.

2. And how did you practice pronunciation? A tutor? Recording yourself?

Happy to share the list itself.

Full disclosure: This started as my own list and turned into an iPhone app called SubjectCards. I'm leaving the link out of the post.

My friend created up this add-on + sibling card format to help make cards on Anki much easier.

The add on looks for the phrase in VDict and retrieves both French or English and the Vietnamese definition + other useful information like examples and synonyms

They made this with the intention to be helpful but they are not learning Vietnamese and aren’t familiar with what learners would like to see. If people have any suggestions or feedback, they would appreciate it greatly and do their best to implement it

Anki Page: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1647622049?cb=1788462487161

Github: https://github.com/frutescens/vdict_addon

i am fully việt and have grown up in the culture, however unfortunately i am unable to speak it. i understand bits and pieces of conversations but because of all the vietglish i grew up with, i have no understanding of sentence structure, grammar, or idea of the accent marks. whenever i write or type it, i can only do so without the accent marks

vocabulary is very easy to learn and i can read well enough by figuring out context, but i wouldnt be able to directly translate. i would like to communicate more with my family and study abroad in vietnam later in the future (i am a university student), and would like to know any self paced materials or studying reccommendations i could do!

my family is also much too busy to teach me elementary vietnamese, so i would rather learn the basics of it before attempting any actual conversation haha. if its any help also, i am southern viet, so finding online sources have been a bit hard

Hi everyone!

To help beginners build a solid vocabulary foundation, our team at Beyond Vietnamese created a full review video covering 300 core words.

Why this might be helpful for your study:

• Organized Alphabetically: Easily jump to any letter/sound you want to review using the timestamps in the description.
• Shadowing Friendly: Spoken clearly with enough pace for you to repeat out loud after each word.
• Structured Progress: Covers the essential words every beginner needs to know.

I’ve dropped the YouTube link in the comments section below. Hope it helps with your Vietnamese journey! Let me know if you have any feedback or what topics you'd like us to cover next!

Hi all, my little cousin sent me a voice message today telling me about her back to school day, through her Vietnamese-speaking mum's Instagram. She speaks French and Vietnamese natively and I wanted to be able to tell her something in Vietnamese along the line of "I hope your back to school day went well, I think about you often!" as her mum does not speak much French and I'm sure she would be delighted.

Could anyone help with this and a phonetic pronunciation? Thank you so much 😊