Vietnam - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 831

VIETNAMESE
Vietnamese is tonal and is extremely tricky for Westerners to master - luckily the script is
Romanized, and English is increasingly spoken in tourist areas. Vietnam's minority peoples have
their own languages, and may not understand standard Vietnamese.
PRONUNCIATION
Six tones are used, which change the meaning of a word: the mid-level tone (syllables with no
marker), the low falling tone (marked ă), the low rising tone (marked à), the high broken tone
(marked ã), the high rising tone (marked á) and the low broken tone (marked a).
a “a” as in father
ă “u” as in hut (slight “u” as in unstressed
English “a”)
â “uh” sound as above only longer
e “e” as in bed
ê “ay” as in pay
I “i” as in -ing
o “o” as in hot
ô “aw” as in awe
o' “ur” as in fur
u “oo” as in boo
u' “oo” closest to French “u”
y “i” as in -ing
ai “ai” as in Thai
ao “ao” as in Mao
au “a-oo”
âu “oh” as in oh!
ay “ay” as in hay
ây “ay-i” (as in “ay” above but longer)
eo “eh-ao”
êu “ay-oo”
iu “ew” as in few
iêu “i-yoh”
oa “wa”
oe “weh”
ôi “oy ”

o'I “uh-i”
ua “waw”
uê “weh”
uô “waw”
uy “wee”
u'a “oo -a”
u.u “er-oo”
u'o'I “oo-uh-i”
c “g”
ch “j” as in jar
d “y” as in young
v “d” as in day
g “g” as in goat
gh “g” as in goat
gi “y” as in young
k “g” as in goat
kh “k” as in keep
ng/ngh “ng” as in sing
nh “n-y” as in canyon
ph “f”
q “g” as in goat
t “d” as in day
th “t”
tr “j” as in jar
x “s”

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GREETINGS AND BASIC PHRASES
How you speak to somebody depends on their gender, age and social standing. Addressing a
man as ông , and a woman as bà , is being polite. With someone of about your age, you can use
anh (for a man) and chi (for a woman).

Hello Chào ông/bà Where is the…? …ò' đâu?

Goodbye Chào, tąm biêt ticket vé

Excuse me Xin lôi aeroplane máy bay

Excuse me Xin ông/bà hú' lôi airport sân bay

(to get past)
Please

boat tàu bè

Làm o'n bus xe buýt

Thank you Cám o'n ông/bà bus station bê'n xe buýt

Do you speak English? Ông/bà biê't nói train station bê'n xe lù'a

tiê'ng không? taxi tăc xi

I don't understand Tôi không hiê'u car xe ho'i

Yes Vâng (N); da (S) bicycle xe đap

No Không bank nhà băng

Can you help me? Ông/bà có thê' giúp post o ce sô bu' điên

tôi không? passport hô chiê'u

hospital bê'nh viê'n hotel khách san

police station don cong an restaurant nhà hàng