Learn about the Vietnamese vowels and digraphs you'll need to know to sound like an eloquent and polished speaker of the Vietnamese language
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Giang: Hi everyone, welcome back to Vietnamesepod101.com. I’m Giang. |
| Jason: And I’m Jason. This is Pronunciation Series, lesson 2 Basic Vietnamese Vowels and Diphthongs. So listeners, did you practice the sounds from lesson one? We hope that you’ve all got a much better idea of Vietnamese consonant sounds. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Giang: And we have more sounds for you in this lesson – the vowel sounds! |
| Jason: In this lesson, firstly we’re going to learn these single vowel sounds. Then in the second part, we’ll introduce the Vietnamese diphthongs, which are sounds created by combining 2 single vowel letters. We highly recommend you use the lesson notes as you listen to get a better idea of the sounds we are talking about. |
| Giang: Let’s get started with the single vowels. |
| Jason: As we have learned, there are 12 single vowels, which create 11 vowel sounds. We will first learn the vowels that exist in English. |
| Giang: All right, here we go. In Vietnamese, “A” is pronounced [a: ]. “E” is pronounced [e]. “I” and “y” have the same sound, they are both pronounced [i: ]. Finally, “o” is pronounced [o]. |
| Jason: Please check the lesson notes for specific examples of how their sounds are similar to English. Now, let’s look at the vowels that are unfamiliar with English speakers. |
| Giang: The unfamiliar vowels are the ones with marks. The first one - ă [á] is written as “a” with a crescent above, and pronounced like the vowel in.... |
| Jason: “Cut” |
| Giang: Some examples are “chăn” meaning “blanket” or “khăn” meaning “scarf” |
| Jason: Next is ... |
| Giang: â [ớ] is written as “a” with a caret or an upside down “v” above, and also pronounced closely like the vowel in.... |
| Jason: “Cut”, but shorter |
| Giang: For example, “sân” meaning “yard” or “cân” meaning “scale” |
| Jason: And number three... |
| Giang: ê [eh] is written as “e” with a caret above and pronounced almost like the vowels in... |
| Jason: “Main” |
| Giang: For example, “chê” meaning “to criticize” or “to undervalue”. |
| Jason: Ok, number four.. |
| Giang: ô [ô] written as “o” in English with a caret above, and pronounced almost like the vowel in … |
| Jason: “Low” but without the “w” |
| Giang: For example, “bố” meaning “father” and “xô” meaning “a bucket” |
| Jason: And Number five... |
| Giang: ơ [ơ] is “o” in English with a hook on the top right side and pronounced like the vowel in... |
| Jason: “Fur” |
| Giang: For example “bơ” meaning “butter”. |
| Jason: And the last one... |
| Giang: ư is pronounced like “u”, but your lips are unrounded, as if you are grinning ư... For example “nữ” meaning “female”. |
| Jason: All right. That’s all we have for the single vowels. Now we’ll continue with the diphthongs, of which there are 29 in total. |
| Giang: Yes, most single vowels can be combined with one or a few other vowels to create a diphthong. |
| Jason: Let’s look at them one by one. Don’t forget to look at Table 1 in the lesson notes as you listen. We’ll explain how they are combined with each other first, then how they are pronounced. |
| Giang: You can see some diphthongs are written in red in table 1, and they are exceptions. |
| Jason: So except for the ones written in red, the sound of a Vietnamese diphthong is created by first pronouncing the first and the second vowel separately, then gradually increasing the speed until you can hear them combined in one sound. Now, Giang will show you how to do this. Please listen carefully. |
| Giang: All right. Let’s get started. Look at the first row of Table 1, with a [a] taking the first position. |
| a combined with i ngắn, give us “ai”. a...i...ai. |
| Next, a combined with o, gives us “ao” a...o...ao. |
| Now, a combined with u, gives us “au” a...u...au. |
| And lastly a combined with i dài, gives us “ay”. “ay” is basically the same as “ai” in terms of separate single vowel sounds. But in “ai”, a is lengthened [a i], while in “ay”, a is shortened and [i] sound is lengthened [ai ] |
| Jason: Now, in the second row, you can see no diphthongs are created, because ă never takes the first position in a diphthong. |
| Giang: That’s right. Now look at the third row, â as the first position. We have two diphthongs. |
| â combined with u, gives us “âu”. |
| Secondly, â combined with i dài gives us “ây”. |
| Giang: Continue with the fourth row, e [e] taking the first position. We have only one diphthong e and o, which gives us “eo” e...o...eo |
| The next row, ê at the first position. Here there’s also only one diphthong ê and u, which gives us “êu” ê...u...êu. |
| Jason: Ok, what’s next? |
| Giang: The sixth row i [i ] ngắn taking the first position. Firstly, i combined with a, gives us “ia” i...a...ia. |
| Secondly, a special one i combined with ê, gives us “iê”. This diphthong has no definite sound when standing alone. |
| Giang: The seventh row o [o] taking the first position. Firstly, o combined with a, gives us “oa” o...a...oa. |
| Secondly, o combined with ă, creates no definite sound when standing alone. |
| Thirdly, o combined with e, gives us “oe” o..e..oe |
| Next, o combined with i ngắn, gives us “oi” o..i..oi. |
| Finally, o combined with another o, creates no definite sound when standing alone. |
| Giang: The eighth row ô as the first position. We have only one diphthong ô combined with i ngắn ô...i...ôi.. ôi |
| Giang: The next row, ơ taking the first position also has only one diphthong. ơ combined with i ngắn, we have “ơi” ơ...i....ơi |
| Jason: Ok, we’re almost done! |
| Giang: Just a few more! Row number 10 u taking the first position, we have the highest number of diphthongs in this row. |
| Firstly, u combined with a, gives us “ua” u...a...ua |
| Secondly, u combined with â, creates no definite sound when standing alone. |
| Thirdly, u combined with ê, gives us “uê” u...ê...uê |
| Fourthly, u combined with i ngắn, gives us “ui” u...i...ui |
| Next, u combined with ô, creates no definite sound when standing alone. |
| Then, u combined with ơ, gives us “uơ” u...ơ...uơ” |
| Finally, u combined with i dài, gives us “uy”, very much like “we” in English. |
| Giang: Now, we are getting to the final row of Table 1 ư taking the first position. |
| First, ư combined with a, gives us “ưa” ư...a...ưa |
| Second, ư combined with i ngắn, gives us “ưi” ư...i...ưi |
| Third, ư combined with ơ, creates no definite sound when standing alone. |
| Finally, ư combined with u, gives us “ưu” ư...u...ưu...ưu |
| Jason: Phew! All right. We’ve covered all 29 diphthongs in Vietnamese. Don’t worry if you can’t remember all of them right away. Take your time with them! |
| Giang: Right, and please don’t forget to read the accompanying lesson notes carefully, because they provide all the details and explanations. |
Outro |
| Jason: And if you have any questions or comments, drop by VietnamesePod101.com. Thanks for joining us, and we’ll see you again in the next lesson about Vietnamese Tones. |
| Giang: See you next time! |
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