Learn the top five reasons you should be learning to speak Vietnamese right now
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Giang: "Xin chào"! Hello! Giang here. |
| Jason: Hi! I’m Jason. This is All About, Lesson 1 - Top 5 Reasons to Learn Vietnamese. |
| Giang: Together, we'll be your guides to everything Vietnamese. |
| Jason: That's right. And this first lesson is all about the Vietnamese country and language. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Giang: We’ll take you on a tour throughout Vietnam in this lesson. Let’s start with where Vietnam is located. |
| Jason: Sure! Vietnam is located on the East of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia, bordering China to the North, Laos and Cambodia to the West, and the South China Sea to the East. With a long coastline and diversified natural resources, Vietnam has a wide variety of natural attractions such as mountains, seas, forests and so on. |
| Giang: There’s more variety than people might think! |
| Jason: Definitely. Speaking of variety, we should mention the weather, too. It’s different between northern and southern Vietnam. People in the south enjoy warm weather all year round with only 2 seasons dry and rainy seasons. In the north, people enjoy 4 seasons like in many other places in the world. |
| Giang: Right. Now let’s talk a bit about the Vietnamese language. It’s actually heavily influenced by Chinese. |
| Jason: That’s right! Thousands of years ago, when Vietnam was under Chinese colonization, Chinese was the main language used for administrative, educational, artistic and literary purposes. So, Giang, does that mean that Vietnam didn’t have its own language then? |
| Giang: That’s right, not until the 10th century was the writing system invented. It was called chữ Nôm, which was created based on the Chinese characters. |
| Jason: Ah, I remember reading about that - when it was first invented, it was met with a lot of resistance, and it took a few centuries for it to become popular. |
| Giang: And then, in the 19th century, the French invaded Vietnam. |
| Jason: Right - It was during the French colonization that the foundation for the current Vietnamese was laid. Some Western priests started to use Latin script, which was mainly the Portuguese alphabet, to express Vietnamese terms. That was when the national alphabet... |
| Giang: ..chữ quốc ngữ |
| Jason: ...was invented. After 1945, Vietnam became independent from the French, and the Vietnamese alphabet has been the national and official language of Vietnam since then. |
| Giang: That’s right! |
| Jason: So Giang, tell our listeners - how many letters does the Vietnamese alphabet have? |
| Giang: The Vietnamese alphabet has 29 letters, but only 22 of them are similar to English letters. After that, 7 more letters with diacritics are added. |
| Jason: We’ll learn more about diacritics later on in this series. For now, Giang, let’s motivate our listeners, and go over the top 5 reasons that Vietnamese is worth learning! |
| Giang: Sounds great! The top five reasons are... |
| Number five… |
| Jason: You don’t need to study complicated characters! Vietnamese is among the few Asian languages that uses the alphabet instead of complicated characters like Chinese and Japanese. So it’s more convenient for English speakers to read and write, and make quick progress while learning. |
| Giang: Number four... |
| Jason: If you want a fun and inexpensive vacation, go to Vietnam! Rich in natural and cultural attractions, Vietnam is becoming one of the must-see tourist destinations in the world. |
| Giang: Number three… |
| Jason You can get to know more about Vietnamese culture! Learning Vietnamese gives you more opportunities to get a deeper understanding of a beautiful and interesting country and people. |
| Giang: Number two... |
| Jason: Vietnam has great economic potential. In recent years, its impressive economic growth has made Vietnam a promising place for overseas investment. Knowing Vietnamese is a further step towards your success in doing business in Vietnam. |
| Giang: And number one? |
| Jason: Learning Vietnamese is fun! |
| Giang: Of course. Vietnamese people are very hospitable and friendly. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to make friends with these lovely people, right? |
Outro |
| Jason: Okay everybody, are you ready? Get out your pen and notebook, grab your iPhone, fire up your computer, and whatever else you use to study - and get ready for some Vietnamese lessons from VietnamesePod101.com! |
| Giang: Until next time! |
| Jason: Bye everyone! |
Comments
HideHello everyone!
Did you know this much about Vietnamese Language before?
Hi Chris,
You're welcome. 😉 We are happy to have you here, studying with us. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Levente
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Thanks!
Hi Sooyong,
Thank you for posting.
We couldn't find any issue with the PDFs. Please try downloading the file by clicking on the disk icon below the lesson's title and selecting the desired option ([Lesson Notes] or [Lesson Transcript]), then saving it to your PC or device.
If you experience any other technical issues, please send us an email at contactus@VietnamesePod101.com
Thank you for using VietnamesePod101.com!
We hope you’re enjoying our lessons!
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team VietnamesePod101.com
i can't print either lesson notes or lesson transcript.
it's like " error: syntaxerror
offending commnad:
stack:
-dictionary-
/charstrings
-dictionary-
-dictionary-
/private
-dictionary-
-dictionary-
what do i have to do?
Hello Truc Ha,
Personally, I like your Vietnamese name very much.
Thank you for your interest in learning Vietnamese with Vietnamesepod101.
We hope that our lessons will be a great help to you.
Please let us know if you have any question.
Best regards,
Nguyet Nguyen
Team VietnamesePod101.com
This is awesome!
I'm half Vietnamese but there aren't any Vietnamese lessons in my city, VietnamesePod101.com is saving me!
I've wanted to learn for a long time! I've taken lessons when I went to Vietnam with my mom but that was six years ago...
Xin chao, em ten Truc Ha.
Cam on rat nhieu, em se co gang hoc viec va doc cho ong ba ngoai va me em se giat ca minh!
Hello Greg,
Thank you very much for your nice comment. Please let us know if you have any question regarding learning Vietnamese.
Wish you all the best for your next trip to Thanh Hoa, Vietnam.
Best regards,
Nguyet Nguyen
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Xin chao,
Toi ten la Greg, I have just signed up today and really looking forward to learning Vietnamese, I have been to Vietnam and its such an amazing country.
I'm going back to Thanh Hoa in October and looking to impress my girlfriends mother and father :)
Cam on.
Hello Paul,
Thank you for your kind comment!
Let us know if you have any question.
Cheers,
Lena
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Troi oi ! I have been struggling to learn Vietnamese for so long - I wish I had signed up to Vietnamese Pod101 earlier....
Hi Sam,
Thank you for posting.
This "All About" series does not have Lesson Materials.
You can find all the necessary information in the main audio, transcript and lesson materials.
Let us know if you have questions.
Cheers!
Laura
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Hiya!
These classes are great and i'm learning a lot, although i can't find the Lesson Materials or Review sections? Is it my computer that is not seeing them, or does the All About series not have them?
Thanks heaps. Sam
Hello Gavin,
That is seriously impressive. Keep it up and we are glad we can help you. :smile:
Have a great day!
Erica
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Hello Everybody.
I'm Vietnamese but I was born in America and I'm starting to lose my Vietnamese and I don't have a lot of time to speak with my family in Vietnamese. So I'm glad I'm using this site to keep reviewing and keeping everything fresh in my mind so I won't forget it. Thank you so much. Cam on rat nhieu.
Xin Chao. Toi ten la Gavin. Rat vui duoc lam quen voi ban.
(Hello. My name is Gavin. Nice to meet you.)
Chào Larry,
Rất vui được làm quen với bạn. (It's nice to get to know you)
We hope that you'll have fun studying Vietnamese with us.
Cheers,
Giang
Team VietnamesePod101.com
I'm glad Vietnamese alphabet only has 29 characters. Doesn't make the work of learning the language any easier though. :smile: Xin chao ten toi la Larry (Hello my name is Larry)
Hi Samuel,
Thank you very much for your nice words. (Cảm ơn Samuel)
I'm so glad to hear that our Vietnamese lessons are helpful to you.
If you find any differences between Northern and Southern Vietnamese that make you confused, please do not hesitate to ask us.
I hope you will enjoy studying Vietnamese more day by day.
Chúc vui vẻ (Cheers)
Giang
Team VietnamesePod101.com
I have learned a lot from this course in a small amount of time . This course is giving me the confedence to speak to natural speaking Vietnamese people ... I have learned that there is a difference between North and South Vietnamese wording from the Natives . But that still does not discourages me from learning . The more I learn and practice the better I become . ( Cam on Giang,)
Hi Moises,
Thank you for your comment.
Take your time to discover different aspects of the country, people, culture and language of Vietnam.
I'm sure you'll gradually find them interesting and I hope that you'll have fun studying Vietnamese with us.
Cheers,
Giang
Team VietnamesePod101.com
sounds like i need more time :D