It's terrible! I can't speak Vietnamese!
Quite a lot of the young folk I meet offer to language exchange with me, and I really should take them up on it, I know - but I am so lazy about it.
But, I am not a complete ignoramus. Simply by osmosis, and some Vietnamese flashcards on the iPod I have learned a few words and phrases. So, I can say hello and ask 'How much?'. Sometimes, I can understand when they tell me how much something costs, and sometimes I can't (improving every day!). I have that problem that all new language learners have, where all the words run into one another and I can't hear what is being told to me - it just sounds like babbles. In the Thai language they have a good way of talking about this. They say "Fung my dai," which means not "I can't understand," but, "I can't listen." Because, when someone slows down or talks more clearly I can understand, but I just can't listen....
Even after 13 years of concentrated forgetting I can still speak Thai better than I can speak Vietnamese. Which really demonstrates the power of immersion for language learning. I lived with a Thai family, and by three months I could read the language OK and could carry out simple conversations.
In Vietnam after 4 months I have a vocabulary of somewhere around 50 words and can use sign language.
There is another problem with Vietnamese though. It is RIDICULOUSLY difficult to pronounce. Every day I get in a taxi and I say the name of my street, (let's pretend I live on Apple street). The conversation goes like this.
ME
Xin Chao!
(This means hello.)
HIM
Hello!
(So, I speak in Vietnamese to him, and he speaks English back. But believe me, if I said hello in English, he probably wouldn't even crack a smile, let alone say hello back.)
ME
Apple Street!
HIM
(Dead silence. Driving to Apple Street.)
Or, the other half of the time it goes like this:
ME
Xin Chao!
HIM
Hello!
ME
Apple Street!
HIM
O Dau?
(Where?)
(Where?)
ME
Apple Street!
HIM
Eh?
(Cups his hand against his ear. Pulls a 'what the hell are you on about' face)
ME
Apple Street
HIM
Apple Street? Apple Street?
(Shakes head. No such thing as Apple Street surely. What language is she speaking any way?)
ME
(Pulls out notebook. Shows address: Apple Street)
HIM
Apple Street!
(Drives in silence.)
So, I'm prepared to be misunderstood. But the bit that gets me is that when I say "Apple Street" and he repeats it like it sounds like gibberish "Apple Street?" and then when he says "Apple Street" and tries to correct me - it all sounds like the same words to me. I can't spot the difference. Fung my dai.
A few weeks after arriving here I found a "Vietnamese For Beginners" book with CDs at the local government bookstore (Fahasa). It was cheap, so I bought it, thinking "I'll give that a crack".
So the book is rubbish, but - it's a really good CD...
If you're short on coasters!
Seriously folks, if you're in Vietnam and you find yourself reading this blog thinking: "Oooh! I wonder if she's got any tips for learning Vietnamese?" - well I do. Keep your 63,000 dong and don't buy that book and CD set at Fahasa. Also, practise on your taxi drivers:
A few weeks after arriving here I found a "Vietnamese For Beginners" book with CDs at the local government bookstore (Fahasa). It was cheap, so I bought it, thinking "I'll give that a crack".
So the book is rubbish, but - it's a really good CD...
If you're short on coasters!
Seriously folks, if you're in Vietnam and you find yourself reading this blog thinking: "Oooh! I wonder if she's got any tips for learning Vietnamese?" - well I do. Keep your 63,000 dong and don't buy that book and CD set at Fahasa. Also, practise on your taxi drivers:
That's funny. The driver actually stated "left turn" when you had asked what is "right," and stated "right turn" and you thought it was left.
ReplyDeleteHe then stated "anh, chi" when you asked him what is stop. Anh is brother and chi is sister. It is a polite way to address strangers instead of calling each other "you and me."
Keep trying. One day it will come.
Driver says queo phai with dau hoi accent and you repeat him with a downward accent that you use in English when comparing two things i.e right(voice goes up) left(voice goes down)
ReplyDelete