Common mistakes: Numbers

• No.1 mistake is "Không" which is number 0.

When you try to make the "ng" sound at the end of "không", your mouth will open. However, you need to close your lips when "Không" is spoken. As I mentioned in the other article, Vietnamese doesn't have ending sounds, so please don't worry about the ending "ng". We don't make such ending sound, and even if you make the sound, we can't hear it. 😅😅😅

VIETNAMESE VS ENGLISH: FUNCTION WORDS

VIETNAMESE VS ENGLISH: TONE OR INTONATION

In response to my students’ complaint about the fact that Vietnamese tones are so difficult, I say: Yes, they are, but you still make them every day in English.

Vietnamese has six tones from low to high: low constricted tone (nặng), falling tone (huyền), level tone (ngang), rising tone (sắc), falling rising tone (hỏi) and high rising tone (ngã).

The tones are different from but actually similar to intonation in English.

Common mistakes: Cũng (Also, too) vs Không (Not)

Most of my students think of "Không" (no) when I say "Cũng" (too) and the same in reverse. Therefore, when I answer their greeting with "I'm also good. Thank you!", they often get worried and ask me: "Are you ok?". Because what they understand is: I'm not good.

In speaking, mixing up between "Cũng" (too) and "Không" (no) is also my students' common mistake. So it's time for you to practise your pronunciation with these two words.

VIETNAMESE VS ENGLISH: SHORT VOWELS AND LONG VOWELS.

Vietnamese doesn't have "Short vowels" like foot and "Long vowels" like food which is different from English. That's why many new English Vietnamese learners usually say "foot" and "food" the same.

Need /niːd/ was one of the words that I was struggled with. If I didn't really pay attention to my pronunciation, the sound I made would be knit /nɪt/

VIETNAMESE VS ENGLISH: ENDING SOUNDS

Do you know that when you say "Vietnamese"? We pay more attention on how your voice goes up or down to recognize the intonation than the "ese" sound at the end.

This occurs because we don't have ending sounds such as the "s" sound at the end of cats, "d" of God, "sh" of cash, "kst" of text or "ng" of "sing". So don't be surprised when you can hear different ending sounds from the same word said by different Vietnamese people. My advice is "Ignore the ending sounds".

VIETNAMESE VS ENGLISH: VIETNAMESE IS VERY EFFICIENT

Like German, we seem to shorten sentences as much as possible. We don't waste time with filler words and many of the pleasantaries of English. But we do have many personal pronouns which in some ways are less efficient than English but they are probably the exception.

Instead of "Could you please pass me the phone?", we will say "Pass me the phone với" 

Vietnamese learning embarrassing mistakes

Please don't discourage yourself from speaking Vietnamese because of this article. Tones are important, but contexts are more important in Vietnamese.

01. Calling your wife/husband/friends' mother a "ghost".

Má with low constricted tone (Mother) vs Ma with level tone (Ghost)

02. Calling your wife/husband/friends' uncle a "dog" or "breasts".

Chú with "ch" initial consonant (Uncle in father's side) vs dú with "y" initial consonant.