Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Vietnamese Season 1, Lesson 25 - On the Phone. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to understand basic phone vocabulary in Vietnamese.
Body
Eric: Here's the way to say "Hello. (answering)" in Vietnamese.
Hoang Anh: [Normal] A lô
Eric: This expression has only one word meaning "Hello” when answering on the phone.
Hoang Anh: [Normal] A lô [Slow] A lô
Eric: Listen again to the word meaning "Hello. (answering)"
Hoang Anh: [Slow] A lô [Normal] A lô
Eric: Ok, now let's see the way to say "This is Nam."
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi là Nam.
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi [Slow] Tôi
Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to be"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] là [Slow] là
Eric: Last is the person’s name.
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Nam [Slow] Nam
Eric: Listen again to the phrase meaning "This is Nam."
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Tôi là Nam. [Normal] Tôi là Nam.
Eric: Next up is the way to say "May I talk to Mr. Minh?"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi có thể nói chuyện với anh Minh không?
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi [Slow] Tôi
Eric: Next is the modal verb meaning "can"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] có thể [Slow] có thể
Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to talk with"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] nói chuyện với [Slow] nói chuyện với
Eric: Next is the proper noun for "Mr. Minh"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] anh Minh [Slow] anh Minh
Eric: Last is the question word meaning "no” or “not"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] không [Slow] không
Eric: Listen again to the question meaning "May I talk to Mr. Minh?"
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Tôi có thể nói chuyện với anh Minh không? [Normal] Tôi có thể nói chuyện với anh Minh không?
Eric: Finally, here is a way to say "I"ll call again later."
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi sẽ gọi lại sau.
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi [Slow] Tôi
Eric: Next is the verb meaning "will” or “to be going to"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] sẽ [Slow] sẽ
Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to call"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] gọi [Slow] gọi
Eric: Next is the adverb meaning "again"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] lại [Slow] lại
Eric: Last is the adverb meaning "later"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] sau [Slow] sau
Eric: Listen again to the phrase meaning "I'll call again later."
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Tôi sẽ gọi lại sau. [Normal] Tôi sẽ gọi lại sau.
Cultural Insight
Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight.
Hoang Anh: A lô, which means "hello" on the phone, comes from the French, allô. Since Vietnam used to be a French colony, many words in Vietnamese have French origin and have adapted Vietnamese pronunciation and characters. There hasn't been a consistent rule regarding how to write and pronounce borrowed words, though, so you may see variations of the same word. For example, a lô can be written as two words, one word - alô - or with a dash in between (a-lô.)

Outro

Eric: And that’s all for this lesson and this series. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next series!
Hoang Anh: Tạm biệt.

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