The learner of any language encounters the same problem of different pronunciations that occur from region to region of that country. The Vietnamese language is no exception. The best thing is to learn the standard form which is understood universally. That way you should have little trouble making yourself understood,even if you can't always make out the responses yet.
The pronunciation used in these lesson is based on Sourthern accent as it is spoken in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Your ability to master its sounds will be applauded.
Vietnamese characters
Vietnamese characters in the form that they are used nowaday were created by a Portuguese missionaire Alexander de Rhodes in 17th century. They are basically Latin characters, which make Vietnam the only country using western alphabet between other countries in the region which use ideographic characaters. Vietnam had its own ideographic
character system called "chu Nom", but that system was completly abandoned severalcenturies ago.
Tones
For speaker of English the sounds of Vietnamese are quite different. They are typically short with single consonants and one or groups of vowels. The big issue is the pronunciation of the words using the correct tone. In Vietnamese there are many words which are spelt and pronounced in exactly the same way, but meaning something quite different.
The way the words are distinguished is by the tone used when pronouncing it. English usually employs tones butthe tonal quality is used for emphasis or emotion.
There are six basic tones in Vietnamese, five of which are indicated by a diacritic above or below a letter, the last tone is not indicated at all, which means you keep your voice unchanged when pronouncing.
The word ma can have six different meanings depending on the tone:
| No tone |
ma
|
|
ghost
|
| Raising |
má
|
'
|
mother
|
| Falling |
mà
|
`
|
that
|
| Questioning |
|
?
|
tomb
|
| Falling-raising |
mã
|
~
|
horse (literally)
|
| Weighing |
|
.
|
bine, burgeon
|
Vowels
The Vietnamese language uses a large numbers of vowels and groups of vowels to create different sounds, which are at first glance difficult for an English speaker to recognize. But when they are used in words, phrases or sentences, the context can help
you to make them out easier.
|
a
|
as in 'father'
|
|
ã
|
as a with longer pronounciation
|
|
â
|
as a in 'black'
|
|
ai
|
as in 'buy'
|
|
ao
|
as in 'now'
|
|
au
|
as in 'Australia'
|
|
âu
|
as in 'go'
|
|
ay
|
as in 'day'
|
|
ây
|
as in 'David'
|
|
e
|
as in 'Claire'
|
|
ê
|
as in 'Café'
|
|
i
|
as in 'see'
|
|
ia
|
as in 'Asia'
|
|
ie
|
as in 'yes'
|
|
o
|
as in 'door'
|
|
oa
|
as in French 'moi'
|
|
oã
|
as in 'lack'
|
|
oai
|
as in 'why'
|
|
oay
|
as in 'Uruguay'
|
|
oe
|
as in 'where'
|
|
oi
|
as in 'choice'
|
|
ô
|
as in 'Bordeaux'
|
|
ôi
|
as in 'toy'
|
|
as in 'teacher'
|
|
like "er-ee"
|
|
u
|
as in 'zoo'
|
|
slightly like "Mercury"
|
|
ua
|
as in 'Ecuador'
|
|
between "oo" and "ah"
|
|
uê
|
as in 'question'
|
|
ui
|
like "oo-ee"
|
|
uôi
|
as in "way-ee"
|
|
as in 'queue'
|
|
as in 'queue'
|
|
as in 'queue-ee'
|
|
as in 'new'
|
|
uy
|
as u in French or ü in German
|
|
uya
|
as French 'culture'
|
|
uyen
|
as in 'when'
|
|
uyu
|
as in 'new'
|
|
y
|
as in 'see'
|
|
ye
|
as in 'yen'
|
|
yeu
|
as in 'yeoman'
|
Consonants
There is a trend in the Vietnamese language to pronounce all kinds of consonants as single sounds. Groups of consonants are pronounced as if they were single consonants. Consonants located at the end of words are not pronounced at all, which make the language sound a bit more confusing for foreigner at the first
contacts.
All consonants not listed here are pronounced as they would be in standard English
|
d
|
like 'z' as in 'zero'
|
|
ð
|
is the English 'd'
|
|
gh
|
like normal 'g' as in 'go' |
|
gi
|
like 'y' in 'yes'
|
|
kh
|
like German 'ch' as in 'ich'
|
|
nh
|
like French 'gn' in 'champaigne'
|
|
ng, ngh
|
as in 'nguyen'
|
|
ph
|
like normal 'f' as in 'fur'
|
|
tr
|
as in 'try'
|
|
v
|
sometime pronounced as 'y' too
|
END OF PRONUNCIATION
Please feel free to go on to further
lessons or visit us again after the new lesson has been added.
Return to Vietnamese Online - Home Page
Check out free Vietnamese software links
