Learn how to make a formal request
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 5 - Finding Your Way to a Famous Vietnamese Tourist Attraction. Becky here. |
| Huyen: Xin chào. I'm Huyen. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make a polite request using.. |
| Huyen: làm ơn |
| Becky: which means “please.” The conversation takes place at a hotel reception desk. |
| Huyen: It's between An and the receptionist, Hoa. |
| Becky: The speakers are strangers, so they will be using formal Vietnamese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| An: Làm ơn cho tôi hỏi, từ đây đến lăng Bác có xa không ạ? |
| Hoa: Gần lắm chị ạ. Đi bộ mất khoảng 10 phút thôi. |
| An: Làm ơn chỉ đường đến đó giúp tôi. |
| Hoa: Ra khỏi khách sạn, chị rẽ phải rồi đi thẳng. Đến ngã tư thứ hai thì rẽ trái, đi thẳng khoảng 50m nữa thì tới nơi. |
| An: Cảm ơn chị. |
| Hoa: Không có gì ạ. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| An: Làm ơn cho tôi hỏi, từ đây đến lăng Bác có xa không ạ? |
| Hoa: Gần lắm chị ạ. Đi bộ mất khoảng 10 phút thôi. |
| An: Làm ơn chỉ đường đến đó giúp tôi. |
| Hoa: Ra khỏi khách sạn, chị rẽ phải rồi đi thẳng. Đến ngã tư thứ hai thì rẽ trái, đi thẳng khoảng 50m nữa thì tới nơi. |
| An: Cảm ơn chị. |
| Hoa: Không có gì ạ. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| An: Excuse me, can I please ask you, is it far from here to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum? |
| Hoa: It's very near, madam. It only takes about 10 minutes on foot. |
| An: Please tell me how to get there. |
| Hoa: After getting out of the hotel, turn right and go straight. Turn left at the second crossroads, then keep going straight about fifty more meters and there you are. |
| An: Thank you. |
| Hoa: You're welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Huyen, in the dialogue, An asked for directions to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. What is that? |
| Huyen: It’s a large memorial located in the center of Ba Dinh square in Hanoi, for Vietnam's first leader, President Ho Chi Minh. |
| Becky: I see. What’s the name of this place in Vietnamese? |
| Huyen: In Vietnamese, we call it Lăng Bác. It literally means ”Uncle's mausoleum,” because all Vietnamese people call the president Bác Hồ, which means "Uncle Hồ." |
| Becky: I see. Is Ho Chi Minh's body actually inside the mausoleum? |
| Huyen: Yes, it is. It was embalmed and placed in a cooled glass case with dim light in the central hall. |
| Becky: Good to know. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Huyen: hỏi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to ask |
| Huyen: hỏi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: hỏi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: từ...đến... [natural native speed] |
| Becky: from...to... |
| Huyen: từ...đến...[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: từ...đến... [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: xa [natural native speed] |
| Becky: far |
| Huyen: xa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: xa [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: gần [natural native speed] |
| Becky: near |
| Huyen: gần[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: gần [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: đi bộ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to walk |
| Huyen: đi bộ[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: đi bộ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: chỉ đường [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to show the direction/way |
| Huyen: chỉ đường[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: chỉ đường [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: ra khỏi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to get out of |
| Huyen: ra khỏi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: ra khỏi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: rẽ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to turn |
| Huyen: rẽ[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: rẽ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: đi thẳng [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to go straight |
| Huyen: đi thẳng[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: đi thẳng [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last.. |
| Huyen: tới nơi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to arrive at the destination |
| Huyen: tới nơi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: tới nơi [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Huyen: từ...đến... |
| Becky: meaning "from...to..." The usage is almost the same as in English, right? |
| Huyen: That’s right. For example, when you want to say “from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.” to talk about open hours, you can use this set. Từ 10 giờ sáng đến 1 giờ chiều |
| Becky: Meaning “From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.” Can you break down the phrase? |
| Huyen: Sure. First you can say từ which means “from,” then 10 giờ sáng, meaning “10 a.m.” |
| Becky: So the order is the same in English. |
| Huyen: That’s right. After that, you can say đến meaning “to” and 1 giờ chiều meaning “1 p.m.” |
| Becky: I see. Okay, what's the next word? |
| Huyen: rẽ |
| Becky: meaning "to turn." Using this, you can say “turn right” and “turn left.” What’s “to turn right” in Vietnamese? |
| Huyen: rẽ phải. rẽ means “to turn” and phải means “right.” |
| Becky: What about “to turn left”? |
| Huyen: rẽ trái. It has the word trái, which means “left.” For example, if someone asks you how to get into a place, and the person should make a left turn and go straight, you can say..Rẽ trái rồi đi thẳng. |
| Becky: “Turn left and go straight.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Becky: In this lesson, you will learn how to make a polite request using.. |
| Huyen: Làm ơn |
| Becky: Which means.. “Please.” |
| Huyen: Just as we can use “please” at the beginning of a sentence to make it sound polite, you can add làm ơn, meaning “please” in Vietnamese. |
| Becky: But it should be at the beginning of a sentence. Then we can add a verb right? |
| Huyen: That’s right. |
| Becky: Okay. Let’s hear some examples. Let me see..I want to call a taxi. How can I make a sentence meaning “Please call me a taxi” in Vietnamese? |
| Huyen: In that case, first you need to say Làm ơn, which means “please.” Then you can add the verb gọi, which means “to call.” |
| Becky: And by putting them together, we can say “please call”, right? |
| Huyen: Yes. Làm ơn gọi. |
| Becky: “Please call.” |
| Huyen: And you can add the object “taxi” which in Vietnamese is taxi. Làm ơn gọi taxi. |
| Becky: “Please call a taxi.” |
| Huyen: And if you want to make a request more specific, you can add giúp tôi. It literally means “to help me,” but you can use it to mean “for me.” |
| Becky: Okay. Can you say “Please call me a taxi” once again? |
| Huyen: Sure. Làm ơn gọi taxi giúp tôi. |
| Becky: “Please call a taxi for me” or literally “Please call a taxi to help me.” |
| Huyen: As you can see, it’s very simple to make your request polite in Vietnamese. Simply add Làm ơn at the beginning of a sentence. |
| Becky: But when we order food or ask the taxi driver to take us somewhere, we can use a different phrase, right? |
| Huyen: That’s right. For food or your destination, you can also use Cho tôi, which means “please give.” |
| Becky: Okay. Using this phrase, how can we say.. “please give me one glass of iced tea”? |
| Huyen: First you can say Cho tôi which means “please give me.” Then you can add một cốc meaning “one glass of,” then trà đá, the noun for “ice tea.” Once again,Cho tôi một cốc trà đá. |
| Becky: “Please give me one glass of iced tea” |
| Huyen: It sounds polite enough, but you can also add Làm ơn and say Làm ơn cho tôi một cốc trà đá. |
| Becky: “Please give me one glass of iced tea.” |
| Huyen: And when you give directions to the taxi driver, you can add Cho tôi đến meaning “please take me to” then give the destination’s name to say “To somewhere please.” |
| Becky: For example,“To Ben Thanh market, please” in Vietnamese is..? |
| Huyen: Cho tôi đến chợ Bến Thành. |
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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