Hey everybody, here are a few quick little "minilessons" in Vietnamese vocabulary, grammar and culture.  These notes are meant as supplements to a regular program of instruction.  Of course I can also provide that, too; check my "Business Services" page, and drop me a line. In addition to this space, I'll always have one or more articles on various aspects of Vietnamese culture and society on this site someplace.  Questions, comments or suggestions?  E-mail me at Ben@benbangs.com!! So, without further ado, let's get started... Lesson One: The Language, People and Writing System The Vietnamese language is spoken by 80 million people in Việt Nam and between 2 and 3 million Việt Kiều – overseas Vietnamese people.  It’s a (mostly) monosyllabic, noninflected member of the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austronesian language family.  A tonal language, Vietnamese often sounds like it is being sung.  Special marks show which of six “tones” or pitches to pronounce a word on. The Vietnamese writing system is called: Quốc Ngữ -- “National Language,” and was invented by European Christian missionaries in the XVIIth century.  Before then, Vietnamese was written in Chinese characters – first the same ones used and understood in China, then in unique combinations only legible to the Vietnamese, called “chữ nôm” from “nôm na” – “indistinct mumbling, local speech.” The word “Việt Nam” means: “Việts of the South.”  Former names for the country included Văn Lang, Âu Lạc, Đại La, An Nam and even Nam Việt.  The capitol has variously been located in places with such names as: Cổ Loa, Thăng Long, (Hŕ Nội – throughout most of history, as well as today), Huế (formerly called “Phú Xuân”) and  Sŕi Gňn (formerly Gia Định) in the case of South Việt Nam, which of course no longer exists.  The Vietnamese people simply call themselves “người Việt” (“Vietnamese people”) or dân tộc Kinh (“Kinh” being the name of their ethnic group, of which there are a recognized total of 54 in the country as a whole).  The Republic of (South) Việt Nam was called “Việt Nam Cộng Hňa,” and the country is now officially known as the “Socialist Republic of Việt Nam: “Cộng Hňa Xă Hội Chủ Nghĩa Việt Nam. In some ways, Vietnamese grammar is much easier than our own.  While there are many personal pronouns and a complex kinship system, there is only one set of words which mean “you” or “me,” not the three of English: I/me/my, he/him/his, etc.  Unlike French or Spanish, Vietnamese has no genders to memorize, and tenses are indicated by simple “time words” that come before the verb.  Also, every syllable in Vietnamese has meaning, and lots of Vietnamese words consist of just one syllable.  But be careful of anybody who claims that Vietnamese is “monosyllabic” – that is, that every word in Vietnamese consists of only one syllable.  Just as in English, Vietnamese has plenty of compound words – “Việt Nam” itself being the outstanding example! The “quốc ngữ writing system is quite simple, and once you know it you can pronounce any Vietnamese word you come across in print.  Since it uses our letters, the Vietnamese alphabet is a snap to learn.  Almost every letter is pronounced like it is in English, but take note of the following: Vietnamese does not use the letters f,j.w or z.  Other combinations of letters fill in for these sounds, except for the “j” sound – which Vietnamese does not have at all. The letter “D” is pronounced like a “Z” in the northern and central dialects of Vietnamese, and like a “Y” in the south.  For the “D” sound, Vietnamese uses a special letter: “Đ.” Often in Vietnamese, combinations of two letters have just one sound.  For instance, the sound of the English letter “F” is written “ph” in Vietnamese.  Note that “ph” should be thought of as a single letter, and comes only at the beginning of a syllable. Two Vietnamese sounds are tricky for Americans.  The combination “kh” has the same sound as the German way of pronouncing the composer J.S. Bach’s name – pronounced from the back of your mouth.  Also, the combination “ng” often comes at the beginning of syllables in Vietnamese.  The “g” in this sound is just like our “g” in “girl,” so you’ll have to practice this one.  The best way is to hum the “n’ sound without getting your tongue involved, then add the hard “g.” There are more vowel sounds in Vietnamese than in English, but the same number of letters.  Special marks are added to these letters to make different sounds, and letters with these marks are considered different letters in Vietnamese, with their own place in alphabetical order in dictionaries and lists. Vietnamese syllables are short, and even in compound words, each one is set off by a space from the one before it.  The hyphen -- “gạch nối” in Vietnamese – is no longer used. Finally, the six tones of Vietnamese are indicated by tone marks, or in one case by the absence of any tone mark. Vietnamese syllables are simpler than English ones.  There’s always a clear vowel.  Beyond that, there may be more than one, or there may be any sort of consonant sound in the beginning, but only a “nasal” or “stop” consonant sound at the end.  You’ll never see a Vietnamese syllable ending in R,L,CH or X, for instance.  Every Vietnamese syllable, then, has some meaning, this simple sound structure and a tone.  VERY IMPORTANT: Though it seems daunting now, eventually you (like any native Vietnamese speaker) will rattle off these tones without thinking about it at a normal conversational speed.  Until you master the tones, it’s good to practice them one at a time.  But it’s better in the long run to hear the “melody” of whole sentences as you learn them, noting the slight changes that happen as you substitute one word for another in the model sentences you learn.  Since Vietnamese has strict word order grammar rules, this is almost always possible.  Remember, though: no matter how many syllables of the same tone you see together in a row, start out by pronouncing them all alike – like a mindless robot!  There are one or two cases in which the second of a pair of the same tone is pronounced differently.  But force yourself to give every syllable (and its tone) its full measure first.  You can learn the nuances later. With about two hours’ practice, you should be able to master the Vietnamese alphabet and writing system, making the language much easier to learn.  Remember, though: Each syllable has its own tone!!  You may be wondering how Vietnamese people convey emotions vocally.  The answer is by where their pitch and volume go over the whole sentene, as well as how they lean subtly on certain words for emphasis. Beyond this, though, lurks another basic point: much more so than we do, the Vietnamese use different words in contexts where we might just extend the meaning of a single word, and their word choice almost always reflects a feeling or attitude which may be different from our own.  This is true in all languages; you should never translate what you want to say into Vietnamese by thinking of the English first.  From the very start, you must get in the habit of “thinking in Vietnamese” – that is, verbalizing thoughts and feelings as though you knew no language other than Vietnamese.  Yes, that means that for a year or two, there will be many times when you simply can’t say something or talk about some subject because you don’t know how the Vietnamese phrase it.  The cure for this is cultural immersion.  Feel like a movie tonight?  Rent one in Little Saigon!  In the mood for some tunes?  Same thing.  In fact there is no better way to absorb Vietnamese cultural values than to watch “Paris by Night” and the other musical video productions any Vietnamese friend can show you.  Also, see what mistakes they make when speaking English.  Make Vietnamese friends, and while talking to them (mostly in English at first) listen out and ask for their attitudes and feelings on a variety of subjects.  Sometimes though you’ll be told what they think you want to hear, you can still get a good idea of what’s important to them by watching and listening.  Treat Vietnamese as a living language spoken by real people, and you’ll master it eventually!!