How to Start Studying Vietnamese Language? : Beginners Guide For Vietnamese Learners
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With the outstanding development of Vietnam in recent years, the Vietnamese population has been rapidly growing. As Vietnam’s population grows, it has become more important for foreigners in Vietnam to be able to speak Vietnamese. However, it’s not easy to master Vietnamese language because of the complex pronounciation rules and Vietnamese special characters. Therefore, this post will guide you where to start studying Vietnamese for foreign Vietnamese learners like me.
What is Vietnamese language like? #
In the past, Kanji inspiorange by Chinese letter was originally used in Vietnam. However, it’s shifted to French alphabet(Latin character) by the impact of the domination by French in 19th century. After a while, current Vietnamese language was developed by Vietnamese people.
Vietnamese language is mainly composed of these 2 elements.
- Vietnamese alphabet
- Vietnamese tones
If you are interested in how Vietnmaese langauge are conposed, Please kindly refer to the following posts.
Is it difficult to master Vietnamese language? #
According to Foreign Service Institute (FSI), the difficulty level of Vietnamese language is ranked as Category IV (4th out of 5th Difficult language).
It is often said that pronounciation is one of the common reasons why many Vietnamese lerners easily to give up. I am also one of them who has given up studying Vietnamese many times.
Through a couple of setbacks, I have concluded that these are the common problems when learning Vietnamese.
- Complex Vietnamese tones and pronunciation rules
- Many different accents by areas
- Many similar sounds
These are the reasons why many documents say that pronounciation is the most difficult part when learning Vietnamese. Even simple sentences like good morning will not be understood by Vietnamese native speakers.
Where we should start to learn Vietnamese? #
When it comes to learning foreign languages, these are the main categories to learn.
- Reading
- Listening
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
In case of Vietnamese study, I recommend you to focus on listening first. Because it will allow you to understand the vocabulary and grammar more efficiently.
Moreover, listening skill will help you join the conversation with native speakers and it will keep your motivation longer.
Tips for training your Vietnamese listening skills #
Based on my experiences, let me introduce 3 important Vietnamese study tips here.
- Starting from kids stuff
- Use active listening & passive listening effectively
- Shadowing
For further details, I will explain them one by one.
Vietnamese study tips : 1.Starting from kids stuff #
It’s always good 1st approach to practice with kids stuff. I used to jump into the youtube video which native Vietnamese speakers talking with natural speed. But it’s too difficult to understand and gained nothing in the end.
Therefore, I shifted to the video which Vietnamese kids also use to learn Vietnamese. Here let me introduce the useful Youtube channel which will help your study for Vietnamese.
VTV7 - Vietnam national education channel
The channel is managed by VTV, which is the biggest television network in Vietnam.
It has the Vietnamese subtitle for all of the videos and you can learn the fundamental knowledge about Vietnamese.
I recommend you to watch this video and repeat everyday to get used to listening and understanding Vietnamese.
Vietnamese study tips : 2.Active listening & passive listening #
When it comes to practicing Vietnamese, use active listening technique and passive listening technique is quite important. Here are the definition of active listening and passive listening.
- Active listening : fully engaging and concentrating on the speaker
- Passive listening : listening the speakers without full attention
To practice active listeing for Vietnamese, I recommend you to use the Youtube channel of vtv or use Learn Vietnamese with VietnamesePod101.com channel below.
The video looks for Vietnamese exams. But it’s really useful to touch Vietnamese in real situations.
Also, the speed of speaking is not as quick as the actual conversation. So it will be a good practice for practicing listening Vietnamese.
Here is one of the recommended videos for practicing Vietnamese listening.
For passive listening, I recommend you to try ODDLY NORMAL on spotify.
There are many variety of topics on their podcast. It is very difficult to fully understand the podcast, but you can let your ears get used to listening Vietnamese with natural speed.
Vietnamese study tips : 3.Shadowing #
Shadowing is one of the useful techniques when you want to improve your pronounciation or speaking skills when learning foreign languages. It will also allow you to memorize the sound of Vietnamese languages and improve your listening skills.
Based on my study experiences, I recommend you to use the textbook Tiếng Việt 123.
There are not many available resources for studying Vietnamese on the internet. However, the content is really reliable so that we can learn Vietnamese in a correct way.
They also provide us the audible resources, so you can check your pronounciation and listening are correct or not. If you are looking for a reliable Vietnamese textbook, I think this is the one.
Conclusion #
Based on my experience, I can say that it is not easy for foreigers to learn Vietnamese by self-study. But if you know the right way to start studying Vietnamese, it’s totally possible to master Vietnamese by self-study. Hopefully this post will help you study Vietnamese.
About me #
- I am living in Vietnam, Danang.
- Passionate mobile app/web developer.
- After working in Japan for a couple of years, I moved to Vietnam, Da Nang.
- I love tech, Vietnamese and contents creating
Qall’s Japanese Podcast #
For those who are learning Japanese, I am creating Japanese podcast videos with English subtitles. Hopefully you will like my contents, you can check my videos from the link below.