Learn how to clarify confusion
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 22 - A Confusing Situation in Vietnam. Becky here. |
| Huyen: Xin Chào. I'm Huyen. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to express confusion using the verb... |
| Huyen: tưởng |
| Becky: The conversation takes place in class. |
| Huyen: It's between Hoa and Mai. |
| Becky: The speakers are friends, so they will be using informal Vietnamese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Mai: Mai cậu định chụp ảnh ở đâu? |
| Hoa: Sao lại mai? Mai là thứ bảy mà. |
| Mai: Ơ, tớ tưởng cậu định đi vào thứ bảy. |
| Hoa: Không, chủ nhật cơ. Nói với cậu rồi mà. |
| Mai: Chết, tớ nhầm à? Vậy là ngày kia à? |
| Hoa: Ừ ngày kia, 9 giờ (chín giờ) sáng nhé. |
| Mai: Biết rồi. |
| Hoa: Đừng đến muộn đấy. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mai: Mai cậu định chụp ảnh ở đâu? |
| Hoa: Sao lại mai? Mai là thứ bảy mà. |
| Mai: Ơ, tớ tưởng cậu định đi vào thứ bảy. |
| Hoa: Không, chủ nhật cơ. Nói với cậu rồi mà. |
| Mai: Chết, tớ nhầm à? Vậy là ngày kia à? |
| Hoa: Ừ ngày kia, 9 giờ (chín giờ) sáng nhé. |
| Mai: Biết rồi. |
| Hoa: Đừng đến muộn đấy. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Mai: Where are you going to take photos tomorrow? |
| Hoa: Why tomorrow? Tomorrow is Saturday, isn't it? |
| Mai: Oh, I thought you were going on Saturday. |
| Hoa: No, Sunday. I told you already. |
| Mai: Oh, my bad! So it's the day after tomorrow? |
| Hoa: Right. At 9 a.m. |
| Mai: Got it. |
| Hoa: Don't be late. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Huyen, would you say Vietnamese people are punctual? |
| Huyen: Of course, if we are talking about formal situations, but maybe not so much in daily life. |
| Becky: So, basically Vietnamese people can be late for informal meetings? |
| Huyen: Yes. They might be between 5 - 30 minutes late. We even have an expression, giờ cao su, which literally means “rubber time.” It refers to the flexibility that people can have in regards to time. |
| Becky: That’s an interesting expression! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Huyen: mai [natural native speed] |
| Becky: tomorrow |
| Huyen: mai [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: mai [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: thứ bảy [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Saturday |
| Huyen: thứ bảy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: thứ bảy [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: tưởng [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to think |
| Huyen: tưởng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: tưởng [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: nói [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to speak |
| Huyen: nói [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nói [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: rồi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: already |
| Huyen: rồi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: rồi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: nhầm [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to confuse, to mistake |
| wrong, wrongly |
| Huyen: nhầm [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nhầm [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: ngày kia [natural native speed] |
| Becky: the day after tomorrow |
| Huyen: ngày kia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: ngày kia [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: biết rồi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Understood, Got it |
| Huyen: biết rồi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: biết rồi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: đừng [natural native speed] |
| Becky: don't |
| Huyen: đừng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: đừng [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last.. |
| Huyen: muộn [natural native speed] |
| Becky: late |
| Huyen: muộn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: muộn [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 word is.. |
| Huyen: nhầm |
| Becky: which means “to confuse,” or “to mistake.” It expresses that someone has done something in a different way from what he or she was supposed to do. For example you can say... |
| Huyen: nhớ nhầm |
| Becky: “remember incorrectly” |
| Huyen: nói nhầm |
| Becky: which means “say something that should not have been said.” |
| Huyen: đọc nhầm |
| Becky: “read incorrectly.” There is a set phrase with our word. It is… |
| Huyen: (Tôi) nhầm rồi! |
| Becky: which means “Oh my bad!” Huyen, can you give us an example using this word? |
| Huyen: Sure. For example, you can say.. Chị nhầm rồi. |
| Becky: ..which means “You were wrong, sis.” |
| Huyen: Tôi nhớ nhầm ngày sinh nhật của Mai. |
| Becky: “I remembered Mai's birthday wrong.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Huyen: biết rồi |
| Becky: which means “Understood,” “Got it.” |
| Huyen: biết means “to know” and rồi means “already.” |
| Becky: So altogether it means “understood,” or “got it.” You can use it in conversation to confirm that you totally understood what another person has told you. |
| Huyen: Right. Listeners, please note that biết rồi is very informal and is only used among friends. |
| Becky: And what word can we use in a formal situation or with older people? |
| Huyen: You can say Tôi biết rồi meaning, “I got it” or Tôi biết rồi ạ. Here we added ạ to emphasize the politeness and to show respect to the other person. |
| Becky: Okay, what's the last word? |
| Huyen: đừng |
| Becky: Which means “don't,” as in the phrase “don't do something.” It’s followed by a verb phrase and expresses a request or order not to do something. |
| Huyen: Right. đừng is frequently used in public regulations. To make it more polite, you can add the word xin, meaning “please,” before đừng. xin đừng |
| Becky: It means “please don't.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to express confusion using the verb… |
| Huyen: tưởng. Tưởng means “to think,” but it carries the nuance that the thought is wrong. |
| Becky: In other words, the speaker thinks or thought this way, but things turned out another way. |
| Huyen: Tưởng is often followed by a complete sentence that describes what the speaker had thought. |
| Becky: The sentence structure is.... |
| Huyen: Subject... tưởng, “to think”...an optional rằng or là, which means “that”... then the subject...verb...and object. |
| Becky: Can you give us some examples? |
| Huyen: Sure. Tôi tưởng anh ấy đã đi Mỹ. |
| Becky: “I think he has gone to America.” |
| Huyen: The sentence Tôi tưởng anh ấy đã đi Mỹ can be translated as “I think he has gone to America” if you say it when speaking with another person. |
| Becky: However, it can also be translated as “I thought he had gone to America” if you want to talk about what you had thought at some time in the past. Ok, another sample sentence is.. |
| Huyen: Cô ấy tưởng rằng tôi là bác sĩ. |
| Becky: “She thinks that I’m a doctor.” |
| Huyen: To emphasize that the speaker has been thinking in a certain way for a long time, but it’s turned out that his thoughts were wrong, you can add the verb cứ, meaning “to continue, to keep on” before tưởng. |
| Becky: The other parts remain unchanged. |
| Huyen: The words Rằng and là are often used in this case. |
| Becky: For example, you can say… |
| Huyen: Lan cứ tưởng rằng mai là chủ nhật. |
| Becky: “Lan keeps thinking that tomorrow is Sunday.” |
| Huyen: Họ cứ tưởng là cô ấy đã kết hôn. |
| Becky: “They keep thinking that she is married.” |
| Huyen: Listeners, please note that tưởng is not used in the negative form or question form. |
| Becky: It’s also rarely used in the past tense. If you translate it into English, it can be either “think” or “thought.” You must assess the situation in which the action occurred to decide if it is meant to imply the present or the past tense. |
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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