Learning the Lingo
So it's almost 10 weeks since we arrived in Vietnam and I'm sure the question on everyone’s mind is - are we speaking Vietnamese yet ?
Well, I'm trying and Alan is selecting a few carefully chosen words from my vocabulary that he feels are useful, as of today that's beer, one more and ashtray !!
Through friends I found a local teacher who teaches English and I am now having private lessons from him. On arrival for my first lesson at his home I discover he has a wonderful outdoor classroom complete with geckos on the wall and all manner of creatures likely to crawl across my feet at any moment.....how could I study whilst worrying about the creatures !
Well, I'm trying and Alan is selecting a few carefully chosen words from my vocabulary that he feels are useful, as of today that's beer, one more and ashtray !!
Through friends I found a local teacher who teaches English and I am now having private lessons from him. On arrival for my first lesson at his home I discover he has a wonderful outdoor classroom complete with geckos on the wall and all manner of creatures likely to crawl across my feet at any moment.....how could I study whilst worrying about the creatures !
Pronunciation, Pronunciation, Pronunciation
Already nervous about the creatures, his explanation about the different tones in Vietnamese has me panic-stricken and faced with a number of charts and graphs that make it feel like I’m learning applied mathematics rather than conversational Vietnamese.....I just want to know how to buy shoes and red
wine not split the atom. I leave somewhat overwhelmed wondering if I could ever grasp this language. However, over the next few weeks things start to fall into place. What appears to be a fairly simple language as most of the words just have 2 or 3 letters becomes clearer. The scary charts show the different tones for a word and I now realize the same word could be pronounced up to 7 ways and mean 7 different things.
Bó is beef or cow and I use this frequently in the market, however bô a very slight difference will see me taking home a chamber pot for dinner ! Asking directions for the market should be easy with my new vocabulary - chó but again a very slight pronunciation mishap could get you a dog - chỏ.
wine not split the atom. I leave somewhat overwhelmed wondering if I could ever grasp this language. However, over the next few weeks things start to fall into place. What appears to be a fairly simple language as most of the words just have 2 or 3 letters becomes clearer. The scary charts show the different tones for a word and I now realize the same word could be pronounced up to 7 ways and mean 7 different things.
Bó is beef or cow and I use this frequently in the market, however bô a very slight difference will see me taking home a chamber pot for dinner ! Asking directions for the market should be easy with my new vocabulary - chó but again a very slight pronunciation mishap could get you a dog - chỏ.
Singing my way to Success
Clearly pronunciation is the key to Vietnamese and my teacher decided that singing would improve my understanding of the different tones and help to practice them. So it is a strange Friday night that I find myself in the outdoor classroom, my teacher with his guitar and I learn to sing in Vietnamese. Now we all think we can sing on karaoke after a few glasses of wine but my solo in Vietnamese will not be featured on American idol anytime soon. So now armed with my first Vietnamese song I feel like a local. I find a handsome young man who also knows the song and will sing with me for hours - the catch is he's just 2 years old as apparently the song is nursery rhyme !!
Age is important !
My progress continues and I can manage adult conversation, my name, how are you, where do you come from, how old are you etc. The last question how old are you is the most critical, let me explain why. I had noticed since my arrival in Vietnam their obsession with asking my age, something I am particularly sensitive about and never really know whether to lie or not, feeling distinctively uncomfortable that more people here knew my real age than I had told in the past 5 years. The most important thing to learn in Vietnamese is the correct way to address people you meet and this is determined by the person’s relative age to you. If they are male or female, older or younger, relatives, teachers - all have an individual term you should use to address them and to do so incorrectly is considered rude. So here I was on a mission to find out everyone’s age in order to address them properly. So I find my brain overloading with not only trying to remember everyone's name, but their age and
then searching for the correct Vietnamese address.....omg this is difficult. Here is just a small selection of the maze of words to sort through to find the correct address.
then searching for the correct Vietnamese address.....omg this is difficult. Here is just a small selection of the maze of words to sort through to find the correct address.
Making Progress
But progress is being made and the locals truly appreciate your effort to learn their language. They readily help with pronunciation and new vocabulary. Our friend Sen who sells bracelets at the beach has taught me the different types of squid (there are lots) in Vietnamese and the how much I should pay for each. She always makes us laugh with her incredible self taught English and claims her wares are cheaper than Tesco !
So my language skills are now good for shopping as you would have expected and superficial conversations, I won't be forming any deep meaningful relationships yet with my language skills. I have developed this sing song kind of voice for the different tones although I admit my eyes also go in the direction of the tone - rising, falling etc so I do look a little crazy but no-one is mentioning this or if they are I don't understand. I have mastered some wonderfully useful sentences like : bò bê có bó cỏ - the cow and calf with a bundle of grass, bé vẽ bê - the girl draws a calf.
So whilst I frantically work on my Vietnamese skills and actions or mimes for the unknown vocabulary, Alan has started to teach English to the staff at our favorite bar, Banyan at the beach. For 2 hours a week he has 10
students, this week they learned nationalities and the hunt is on for the most different nationality customers for the prize - Alan's prize for his teaching - free beer : )
Before closing I must make a special mention to one of my first visitors who learned so much Vietnamese in their short stay, he chatted to everyone telling them his name and age and can amazingly count to 999,999 - my nine year old nephew Kieran - well done and I will send you new words each week so by next year you may be fluent : )
So my language skills are now good for shopping as you would have expected and superficial conversations, I won't be forming any deep meaningful relationships yet with my language skills. I have developed this sing song kind of voice for the different tones although I admit my eyes also go in the direction of the tone - rising, falling etc so I do look a little crazy but no-one is mentioning this or if they are I don't understand. I have mastered some wonderfully useful sentences like : bò bê có bó cỏ - the cow and calf with a bundle of grass, bé vẽ bê - the girl draws a calf.
So whilst I frantically work on my Vietnamese skills and actions or mimes for the unknown vocabulary, Alan has started to teach English to the staff at our favorite bar, Banyan at the beach. For 2 hours a week he has 10
students, this week they learned nationalities and the hunt is on for the most different nationality customers for the prize - Alan's prize for his teaching - free beer : )
Before closing I must make a special mention to one of my first visitors who learned so much Vietnamese in their short stay, he chatted to everyone telling them his name and age and can amazingly count to 999,999 - my nine year old nephew Kieran - well done and I will send you new words each week so by next year you may be fluent : )