Learn how to ask for help
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 14 - How Bad is Vietnamese Bureaucracy? Becky here. |
| Huyen: Xin chào. I'm Huyen. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the phrase... |
| Huyen: ...chỉ cần |
| Becky: which means “only need to…” to express the minimum level of necessity or requirement. The conversation takes place at the airport. |
| Huyen: It's between Lan and the airport staff. |
| Becky: The speakers are strangers, so they’ll be using formal Vietnamese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
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| Lan: Cho tôi nhờ chút được không ạ? |
| Airport staff: Vâng, có việc gì ạ? |
| Lan: Tôi không biết điền tờ khai hải quan như thế nào. Anh có thể hướng dẫn tôi không? |
| Airport staff: À, ở đây chị điền thông tin cá nhân của mình như tên, ngày sinh, địa chỉ, số hộ chiếu. Phần dưới là khai báo hành lý mang theo. Chị chỉ cần đánh dấu "có" hoặc "không". Cuối cùng ký tên ở dưới. |
| Lan: Tôi hiểu rồi. Cảm ơn anh rất nhiều. |
| Airport staff: Không có gì ạ. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Lan: Cho tôi nhờ chút được không ạ? |
| Airport staff: Vâng, có việc gì ạ? |
| Lan: Tôi không biết điền tờ khai hải quan như thế nào. Anh có thể hướng dẫn tôi không? |
| Airport staff: À, ở đây chị điền thông tin cá nhân của mình như tên, ngày sinh, địa chỉ, số hộ chiếu. Phần dưới là khai báo hành lý mang theo. Chị chỉ cần đánh dấu "có" hoặc "không". Cuối cùng ký tên ở dưới. |
| Lan: Tôi hiểu rồi. Cảm ơn anh rất nhiều. |
| Airport staff: Không có gì ạ. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Lan: Can I ask for help? |
| Airport staff: Yes, what's the matter? |
| Lan: I don't know how to fill in the customs form. Could you please instruct me? |
| Airport staff: Ah, here, fill in your personal information, such as name, date of birth, address, and passport number. Under that is the carry-on luggage report. You just need to mark "Yes" or "No." Finally sign your name at the bottom. |
| Lan: I got it. Thank you very much. |
| Airport staff: You're welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Huyen, Vietnamese people are very friendly and open to foreigners, right? |
| Huyen: That's right. You can feel free to ask anyone for help in Vietnam. However, I personally think that it is better to ask for help from young people. |
| Becky: I see. I guess young people are more likely to speak English or be able to understand foreigners quickly. |
| Huyen: Right. And listeners, when you are looking around for help, please pay attention to your belongings such as bags or phones. |
| Becky: That's important. |
| Huyen: Also ignore and avoid those who seem to be trying to call out to you and convince you to do something. |
| Becky: That’s some good advice. Now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Huyen: nhờ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to ask for help |
| Huyen: nhờ [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nhờ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: có việc gì [natural native speed] |
| Becky: What's the matter? |
| Huyen: có việc gì [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: có việc gì [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: biết [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to know |
| Huyen: biết [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: biết [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: tờ khai hải quan [natural native speed] |
| Becky: customs form |
| Huyen: tờ khai hải quan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: tờ khai hải quan [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: hướng dẫn [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to guide, guidance |
| Huyen: hướng dẫn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: hướng dẫn [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: thông tin cá nhân [natural native speed] |
| Becky: personal information |
| Huyen: thông tin cá nhân [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: thông tin cá nhân [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: ngày sinh [natural native speed] |
| Becky: date of birth |
| Huyen: ngày sinh [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: ngày sinh [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: số hộ chiếu [natural native speed] |
| Becky: passport number |
| Huyen: số hộ chiếu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: số hộ chiếu [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: hành lý mang theo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: carry-on luggage |
| Huyen: hành lý mang theo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: hành lý mang theo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last.. |
| Huyen: đánh dấu [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to mark |
| Huyen: đánh dấu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: đánh dấu [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Huyen: có việc gì |
| Becky: which means “what's wrong?” or “what's the matter?” |
| Huyen: có việc gì is made up of three words- có, meaning “to have,” the word việc, which means “things” or “matter,” and gì, meaning “what.” có việc gì |
| Becky: “what's wrong?” or “what's the matter?” This phrase is often followed by the particles... |
| Huyen: vậy or thế |
| Becky: These particles both mean “so” or “such.” |
| Huyen: Right. But when vậy or thế are used at the end of a sentence, they have no definite meaning. They just make the question sound natural and flexible. |
| Becky: For example, you can say… |
| Huyen: Có việc gì vậy? or Có việc gì thế? |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Huyen: biết |
| Becky: which means “to know.” You can use it in the same way as the English “to know.” It expresses that the speaker knows something, someone, or knows how to do something. |
| Huyen: When biết is followed by a verb phrase, the verb that comes right after it is not conjugated. |
| Becky: You can also add a pronoun or a person's name after this word. In this case, it will mean that you only know a few things about that person, for example, their face or name, or some more information but not very much. It shows that you haven't spoken to him or her yet. |
| Huyen: Right. To express a closer relationship, please use the verb quen which means “be familiar with, be acquainted with.” |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Becky: In this lesson, you will learn how to use the phrase... |
| Huyen: ...chỉ cần |
| Becky: …. which means “only need to…” to express the minimum level of necessity or requirement. |
| Huyen: chỉ cần is made up of two words, the word chỉ that means “only” and the word “cần” that means “need.” So, altogether chỉ cần means “only need.” |
| Becky: This phrase has two meanings. First, it expresses that there is no need to do anything else because it’s good enough as it is. And the second meaning is that the speaker does not expect better things. |
| Huyen: After chỉ cần, you can use the verb phrase or verb. Verbs should be in their infinitive form regardless of the subject. |
| Becky: This verb phrase or verb expresses that by only doing that, it is enough. The sentence structure is very easy. |
| Huyen: First say the subject, then chỉ cần. After that, add the verb and object. |
| Becky: For example, you can say... |
| Huyen: Anh chỉ cần mang theo một va li nhỏ. |
| Becky: which means “You only need to bring a small suitcase.” |
| Huyen: This means there is no need to bring a bigger suitcase, a small suitcase is enough. |
| Becky: Another example is… |
| Huyen: Bạn chỉ cần đọc trang số một. |
| Becky: “You only need to read page number one.” So it means that page number one is enough. |
| Huyen: As we mentioned before, chỉ cần also means that the speaker does not expect better things. |
| Becky: In this case just add... |
| Huyen: thôi, meaning “no more” or là được, meaning “is fine.” The phrase chỉ...thôi expresses that just this is enough and chỉ...là được expresses that (just this) is fine. |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Huyen: Cảm ơn các bạn. |
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