Vietnamese is such an insane language.... Don't get me wrong, I've loved my attempt so far to learn it but it's a crazy language. Keep in mind that I'm still VERY BASIC so some stuff below might be wrong still if you actually know Vietnamese. The three things that I think make it so hard right now are:
1. Tones: There are six of them for any given vowel and some letters have multiple tonal marks on them. For example, con cá = fish and cái ca = mug, mẹ = mother and me = tamarind. Keeping it all straight (and learning how to type it all) has been fun. I also started trying to learn how to say all the different tones . . . my ears don't perceive some of the differences so I will definitely sound like the redneck in the Mexican restaurant when I get there I'm sure (best analogy I've got right now, sorry). 2. Classifiers: Apparently you need to designate what type of object things are. There are classifiers for animals, objects, documents and papers, fruit, food, meat, people, etc. For example, con cá = fish (the living animal) but món cá = fish (the dish you eat). According to a friend of mine who speaks Vietnamese, these are what so many foreigners get wrong when learning to speak . . . so I'm trying real hard to get these down. 3. Speed: All of the words are single syllable but one English word might take two Vietnamese words to say (Ex: bánh mì = bread). So when it's spoken, it's spoken super fast I guess because the syllables don't slow you down. . . . My brain DOES NOT process that fast. . . . Yet. I'll get there but I'll be saying làm ơn lặp lại (please repeat) A LOT. But on the plus side, I do think I've gotten a good grasp on the structure of the sentences and over all grammar. With school winding down, I've got plenty of time to work on it every day. Between Duolingo, my flashcards, the Pimsleur audio lessons, and people I know who actually speak Vietnamese, maybe I can have a conversational grasp of the language by the end of July. *Fingers crossed*
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ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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