Vietnamese Lessons
I started my lessons on March 22, ‘08. Every Saturday (except for maybe 3) for 2 hours my tutor, Hà, comes over to try to teach me Vietnamese. We started by using what is probably a 1st grade level text book that is used in schools in Viet Nam. It’s obviously designed to teach the letters and the sounds they make, both by themselves and in various combinations. By the end of it, I’d imagine you’re supposed to be able to read. The book is about 140 pages – and, this Saturday we’ll finish the last 5 or 10 pages…and amazingly enough, I can pretty much read Vietnamese.
Let me expand on that a bit. I can slowly read Vietnamese. And, there are plenty of mispronunciations thrown in as I go. And, I’m still having a hard time figuring out how on Earth to make myself produce the dấu nặng tone! Every now and then I get it right, and sometimes I get it close enough that Hà says she understands it, but it’s still not where it should be. The other tones I usually get right. Anyone have pointers on accomplishing this tone? I am just not getting it.
Of course, what good is it when you can read, but you don’t know what the words mean? Not a lot! I am slowly, very slowly picking up vocabulary – but, if you thought English was hard because many words are spelled the same but mean different things – well, Vietnamese does this too, but a lot more than English. So, you might be perfectly right in thinking that chú means uncle – but it also means a few other things depending on what else is in the sentence with it. For instance, chú dẫn is like the notes at the end of book.
Anyway, after we finish this first workbook, I think she wants me to work on listening and being able to tell what words native speakers are saying – something else that is very tough for me at this point. Hearing the difference between cha and tra, or lan and lăn is almost impossible for me at this point – though, I’m sure I’ll improve with practice.
But, I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve made so far. Sure, I’d love to be a fluent speaker and reader, but I know that will take years.
This is something that is very important to me, though, so I’m not giving up – I will accomplish this.
June 13th, 2008 at 6:57 AM
What an undertaking! Congratulations on all of your progress so far!
June 13th, 2008 at 11:50 AM
The fun part is when you’re sitting there, not understanding and suddenly you understand a few words and then you get a slight idea of what is being spoken. The coolest feeling.
My friend said that I should walk around the house and “speak” VN in my head. When I see her, she helps with my pronunication. But at least see the words, tones/vowels and all.
Dấu nặng will come. My problem is ơ…I feel your pain.
All the best!
(lalla) Lori
Jonathan reply on June 13th, 2008:
Yes, I have begun to recognize words here and there - it’s a great boost to confidence, that’s for sure.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:51 PM
Hey Jonathan,
Central VNese dau nang sort of has a lilt at the end. I think that’s probably what’s confusing you. Our dau nga and dau hoi sound the same too, although we know it’s written differently.
You can buy some singalong tapes with accompanying books so you and Parker can learn the fun way. Or buy some movies in Vietnamese with subtitles. Not the Tran Anh Hung stuff like Scent of Green Papaya b/c he used his gf to star and she actually doesn’t speak VNese at all and had to be coached for all his movies. I would suggest the Bui brothers’ movies Three Seasons and Green Dragon. There’s Ham Tran’s Journey from the Fall. All three are available on Amazon. They’re really wonderful movies that will give you insight into the VNese-American experience, but also you can start getting used to matching VNese words with English equivalents by reading the subtitles.
I don’t know what kind of vacation time you have, but the Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute at U of Wisconsin, Madison is the quickest and most effective way to plunge into language learning. In two months, my friend went from zero knowledge to light conversational skills. Once those basics are in place, it becomes much easier to learn. Perhaps you can go for even one month?
http://seassi.wisc.edu/
Jonathan reply on June 16th, 2008:
Yes, I do sometimes have trouble telling her hoi from her nga. I pronounce them much more distincly, to help me learn it.
Thank you for the movie suggestions - I will definitely check those out.
As much as I’d love to attend some kind of formal language classes, there’s just no way for me to do it, especially if they are out of town. So, while I know it will take longer, I’m sure my tutor will be able to get me speaking and understanding. She did tell me this week that my dau nang was getting a little better. She said that I was getting words like dap and lac and mot correctly - but not getting me or ma. I think it has to do with them not having a trailing consonant - I think that helps me to abrubtly lower and end the vowel sound in the correct manner.
Jonathan
June 15th, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Hey Jonathan….
Just wanted to say….
HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!
Jonathan reply on June 16th, 2008:
Thanks