Hey everyone, thanks so much for your advice about meeting the Vietnamese parents. I'm also trying to learn some of the language. I bought the rosetta stone explorer for my computer to help me learn, and i took out some books from the library. Listening and reading is okay, but I do really well when languages are spelled out phonetically.
Does anyone know of any good websites/resources that have phrases, and it spelled out phonetically? I appreciate all your help
Thanks,
Jenny

Shouldn't this go under the Vietnamese Chat?

I believe the best way to learn Vietnamese pronounciation is with a real life person. Vietnamese pronounciation isn't easy I was completely lost when I tried to learn the pronounciation online. When my ex-gf was trying to teach me, it was a little easier because she could see what mistakes I was making. But even today, there are still many sounds that I simply can't make

i agree with kulong

moving to vietnamese chat and welcome to the forum

Well if you really want to learn Vietnamese then the best place to learn is through first hand experience. Try having conversations with your boyfriend in Vietnamese and if you don't know it then he can correct you.

I see no problem in just talking English to him.

hoc tieng Viet

OOps thanks for moving me into the right discussion forum. I'm new cut me some slack :P
Anyway, well I'm trying to learn some Vietnamese to speak with his family. I can speak English to him. Thats about all he speaks LOL. He barely knows vietnamese and only gets going with it when his parents start talking to him. HIs parents are kind of annoyed with that of course, they live in California and we live in Atlanta. So he doesn't have constant practice. although he has corrected me a little bit. But his Dialect is south and all the good tutorials teach northern so I'm stumbling a bit.
He speaks okay, but he's completely illiterate in the language so reading it won't help, and he only knows if i say it right IF i say it right.
sigh..he's useless :P
Jenny

OOps thanks for moving me into the right discussion forum. I'm new cut me some slack :P
Anyway, well I'm trying to learn some Vietnamese to speak with his family. I can speak English to him. Thats about all he speaks LOL. He barely knows vietnamese and only gets going with it when his parents start talking to him. HIs parents are kind of annoyed with that of course, they live in California and we live in Atlanta. So he doesn't have constant practice. although he has corrected me a little bit. But his Dialect is south and all the good tutorials teach northern so I'm stumbling a bit.
He speaks okay, but he's completely illiterate in the language so reading it won't help, and he only knows if i say it right IF i say it right.
sigh..he's useless :P
Jenny

I speak South Vietnamese dialect.

That's no excuse. Many foreign-born Asians are very fluent in their own languages, both spoken and written. :genius:

haha..well my boyfriend escaped Vietnam as a refugee when he was 8, and he still can't read or write it.
I think a lot of it is it was a traumatic experience that he blocked out of his mind.
Thats why sometimes even the language slips.
BTW since I posted in the wrong forum last time..oops...if anyone has any advice about meeting his traditional parents, I'd appreciate it. I've gotten some really good advice so far you guys are great thanks
Jenny

Moved to large Viet community..what state do you live in?

Atlanta, Georgia?

Hi. i speak northern dialect. anyways, heres a website that might help you with grammar and stuff if youre interested. though it teaches the northern accent pronunciation. http://www.seasite.niu.edu/vietnamese/vnla...leofcontent.htm

Isn't the Northern accent the official one anyway?

I think so, since the north won the war.
My mom visit Vietnam last year and told me that all the national news anchors speak in the Northern accent ..

yea .. but most vietnamese american here speak southern accent.. even my friends who has parents with northern accent speak southern accent.

Northern Vietnamese is clearly on the 6 tones, and less glutteral than south like (the "ch" has air in north but no air in south", however ambiguous on the beginning of the word like r,d,gi is pronounced as z, and s,x is pronounced as sh.

Southern Vietnamese is ambigous on the 5th and 6th tone, more glutteral, and very ambiguous in the last part of a word like "bang, ban" is pronounced the same, nhat and nhac is pronounced the same, the beginning of the word is pronounced more correctly but not all.

No, but there are certain guidelines of how to pronounce certain sounds, when speaking to a group of people of various viet accents.

Some people don't understand me when I'm talking my hardcore soutviet accent, so I have to soften it up and speak slowly.

Does anyone here speak Central dialect? I was from Da Nang. The prettiest city I've ever seen. I'll find some pictures of it when I have time, but I got tons of crap to worry about.

Hi everyone...I saw that earlier someone had also asked about speaking Vietnamese. I've found that using computer software is the best way.
www.griessersoftware.com has a software called "A Little Vietnamese" and its great. it includes grammar and everything, and you listen to the person say the words so you get all the tones and everything. There are also a lot of fun games to help you remember and practice what you know.
I've also used Rosetta Stone, which is very good, however, it doesnt' teach you any grammar, and unless you have already studied a little bit, or you have the resources of a native speaker, you'll be a little confused. Luckily I have such a resource.
Anyway, I've found software programs to work wonders because you can learn how to pronounce the words, while reading them, and seeing pictures of them, and you learn to write it too, as well as the proper grammar.
I've already had very small conversations with my boyfriend and his friends in Vietnamese...of course they cannot get over my western accent so :P
But if anyone is looking to learn, thats my suggestion, also thanks for the website suggestion, I can use all the resources I can get
Jenny

I was born in Hue, but i don't speak strong hue accent. My mom was born in Saigon so i mostly speakt he south accent.

btw i can understand any accents from north to south. People Quang Ngai is the hardest accent to listen but when i spoke to one, I don't think it's that bad.

i was born in Hue too. although I left vietnam when I was only 1, I speak the little bits of vietnamese that I know with a heavy hue accent which most of my viet friends find quite hard to understand.

It was quite refreshing when I visited Hue last month to hear so many people speaking with a Hue accent!

One way is to get your foundation right and then search for a long-hair dictionary for guys and for gals a short-hair dictionary. thats the fastest way to learn.