Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [396]
Language
Vietnamese
Glossaries
Vietnamese
Linguists are uncertain as to the exact roots of Vietnamese, though the language betrays Thai, Khmer and Chinese influences. A tonal language, it’s extremely tricky for Westerners to master, though the phrases below should help you get by. English superseded Russian as the language to learn following the sweeping changes of doi moi, and you’ll generally find that Vietnamese isn’t called for. Then again, nothing will endear you to locals as much as showing conversational willingness.
Vietnamese was set down using Chinese characters until the fourteenth century, when an indigenous script called chu nom was created. This, in turn, was dropped in favour of quoc ngu, a Romanized script developed by a French missionary in the seventeenth century, and it’s this form that’s universally used today – though you’ll still occasionally spot lavish chu nom characters daubed on the walls of more venerable pagodas and temples.
Three main dialects – northern, central and southern – are used in Vietnam today, and although for the most part they are pretty similar, pronunciation can be so wildly variant that some locals have trouble understanding each other; in the words and phrases listed below, we indicate important differences between variants used in the north and south. Bear in mind, too, that Vietnam’s minority peoples have their own languages, and may look blankly at you as you gamely try out your Vietnamese on them.
If you want more scope than the expressions below allow, invest in a phrasebook. Vietnamese: A Rough Guide Phrasebook is the last word in user-friendly phrasebooks, combining everyday phrases and expressions with a dictionary section and menu reader, all with phonetic transliterations. If you’re determined to master the basics of spoken Vietnamese, there are a number of self-teaching packs on the market, such as Language ’30 produced by Audio-Forum (www.microworld.ndirect.co.uk).
Vietnamese |
Pronunciation
The Vietnamese language is a tonal one, that is, one in which a word’s meaning is determined by the pitch at which you deliver it. Six tones are used – the mid-level tone (syllables with no marker), the low falling tone (syllables marked à), the low rising tone (syllables marked ả), the high broken tone (syllables marked ã), the high rising tone (syllables marked á) and the low broken tone (syllables marked ạ) – though you’ll probably remain in the dark until you ask a Vietnamese person to give you spoken examples of each of them. Depending upon its tone, the word ba, for instance, can mean three, grandmother, poisoned food, waste, aunt or any – leaving ample scope for misunderstandings and diplomatic faux pas.
With tones accomplished, or at least comprehended, there are the many vowel and consonant sounds to take on board. These we’ve listed below, along with phonetic renderings of how they should be pronounced.
Vietnamese | Pronunciation |
Vowels
a ‘a’ as in father
ӑ ‘u’ as in hut (slight ‘u’ as in unstressed English ‘a’)
â ‘uh’ sound as above only longer
e ‘e’ as in bed
ê ‘ay’ as in pay
i ‘i’ as in -ing
o ‘o’ as in hot
ô ‘aw’ as in awe
ơ ‘ur’ as in fur
u ‘oo’ as in boo
ú ‘oo’ closest to French ‘u’
y ‘i’ as in -ing
Vietnamese | Pronunciation |
Vowel combinations
ai ‘ai’ as in Thai
ao ‘ao’ as in Mao
au ‘a-oo’
âu ‘oh’ as in oh!
ay ‘ay’ as in hay
ây ‘ay-i’ (as in ‘ay’ above but longer)
eo ‘eh-ao’
êu ‘ay-oo’
iu ‘ew’ as in few
iêu ‘i-yoh’
oa ‘wa’
oe ‘weh’
ôi ‘oy’
ơi ‘uh-i’
ua ‘waw’
uê ‘weh’
uô ‘waw’
uy ‘wee’
ựa ‘oo-a’
ựu ‘er-oo’
ựơi ‘oo-uh-i’
Vietnamese | Pronunciation |
Consonants
c ‘g’
ch ‘j’ as in jar
d ‘y’ as in young
đ ‘d’ as in day
g ‘g’ as in goat
gh ‘g’ as in goat
gi ‘y’ as in young
k ‘g’ as in goat
kh ‘k’ as in keep
ng/ngh ‘ng’ as in sing
nh ‘n-y’ as in canyon
ph ‘f’
q ‘g’ as in goat
t ‘d’ as in day
th ‘t’
tr ‘j’ as in jar
x ‘s’
Vietnamese |
Useful words and phrases
How you greet and then speak to somebody