Alexander Arguelles presents аn introductory overview οf thе Vietnamese language, evaluates methods fοr studying іt, аnd offers tο mаkе Skype contacts between Vietnamese teachers аnd English speaking students whο wουld lіkе free lessons іn chat fοr conversational practice. Thіѕ film іѕ thе first іn a series аbουt thе languages οf Southeast Asia. Fοr further information: www.foreignlanguageexpertise.com

24 Responses to “Vietnamese: Languages of Southeast Asia”

  • tranviettien1995:

    @AvanRJ It’s “Chào tạm biệt”. you can also say “Chào” or “tạm biệt” instead.

  • tranviettien1995:

    @xuesheng1000 It’s “cám ơn”!

  • tranviettien1995:

    @PrettyFlower3 lol sorry but in vietnamese it’s “Em thích anh nhiều lắm”. But that would sound weird in Vietnam cuz we by no means say so. Just say “Em yêu anh nhiều” or simply “Em yêu anh” (I like you). BTW you translated it correctly. =)

  • tranviettien1995:

    @utubeviewer93 yeah, she did. In northern dialect we say “xà phòng” /safong/ but in the south, “xà bông” /sabong/. sorry cannot type IPA…

  • tranviettien1995:

    @blueealge332 That’s somehow right in northern dialect but not in the south. in the south, “mả” and “mã” sound really similar, but in the south we often say “mộ” instead of “mả” (“grave”), and so with “sữa” and “sửa”, etc. Anyway, the north vietnamese is considered the standard Vietnamese (but not really) in our people.

  • tranviettien1995:

    @blueealge332 yep you’re right. Even native Vietnamese people tend to have difficulty understanding our central dialect due to its very different pronunciation and vocabulary. I’m a North Vietnamese but living in the South, so i can be with you quite well both but i hardly be with you Central Vietnamese.

  • MultiVietMinh:

    chuc mung nam moi

  • machomamajr:

    Nhảm nhí

  • olivercopsey:

    @guayx2 Yes, my understanding was that it was Chinese characters up until missionaries – possibly french I’m not sure – introduced a logic that used a latin based script.

  • downthestreetteam:

    this guy is so white

  • mongolnomad:

    these vietnamese instructors probably don’t speak french because if they did they’d know that, while french shape on vietnamese wasn’t as deep as that of chinese it still left many inscription on the vietnamese language, much more than they alluded to here.

    i can reckon off the top of my head quite a few vietnamese words of french root: so mi (chemise), pho mat (fromage), su chien (soutien), buot bo (pour boire), den pha (phare), ban (panne), ca to mat (tomate), ruou vang (vin)…

  • mongolnomad:

    @guayx2
    yes, vietnam used chinese characters up until the latter 19th century. like korea and japan that came up with their own writing systems (hangul and kana respectively), vietnam also devised its own character logic based on chinese in peacefulness to express native vietnamese words. this script was called ‘chu nom’.

  • guayx2:

    Did Vietnam use characters before the French changed its written language to alphabets?

  • tsunami1581:

    @openmindednessessary I hope you can visit Phu Quoc island, it’s my people and I want to guide you some fascinating place at this island

  • binloveh92:

    Viet Nam has 3 regions and each region has its unique pronunciation and words. They must have one more teacher from the middle of Viet Nam. For example, from the word “ma”, if u call “mạ” in Huế(one of the middle cities), it means “mother”.
    OMG, when this guy is repeating some Kiều poem sentences, I cant help laughing LOLL

  • openmindednessessary:

    Fantastic video and thought.  My name is Tony and I am going to Vietnam for Tet in 2012 and want to learn a modest Vietnamese. Is there anyone who can help tutor me? I am really half Vietnamese and was adopted to an American family when I was very childish and in view of the fact that have forgotten how to speak the Vietnamese language. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I want to speak to some family members while I’m there.

  • JeremysVideos2:

    This guy is like the Mr. Rogers of language learning. I keep thinking I’m going to hear that modest trolley coming…

  • Syzhi:

    Very helpful, thanks for sharing Alexander!

  • JunHuynh2418:

    @whitelotus77 Yes you are right. What I’m saying is more literal you know. Like the peacefulness of the way we say things in English or Vietnamese the version comes out differently. Like if you were to translate a sentence it would come out different than if you were to translate each word of a sentence and putting them together. You know what I mean? I’m not sure how to clarify it myself.

  • whitelotus77:

    @utubeviewer93 Sa Bom
    Which means, to Rub bubbles or foam AHHAHAHA

  • whitelotus77:

    @JunHuynh2418 Wait. Troi Xanh SPOKEN would mean Blue Heaven, if we were to say, Xanh Troi . it would be blue heaven . That’s how I grew up knowing how to place words

  • blueealge332:

    central vietnamese is the toughest to be with you…. haha

  • blueealge332:

    LOL…
    ma = ghost
    má = mother (south vietnamese)
    mạ = mother (central vietnamese)
    mà = but
    mả = grave
    mã = horse (chinese vietnamese)

    the lowest is “mạ”, and then “mả” -> “mà” -> “ma” -> “má” is the highest… the pronunciation of “mã” sound like “mả” but it has a modest bit sound after… i reckon “mã” = “mả” + a…… (pronounce the sound of “a” out from your throat)

    for example, “sữa” (milk) = “sửa” (fix) + ưa (like)
    remember, dont speak “ưa” out loud…
    that’s it :)

  • VWAToronto:

    Fascinating

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