Learn how to discuss changes, such as increases and decreases, or something remaining unchanged
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 15 - How’s Business in Vietnam? Eric here. |
| Hoang Anh: Xin Chào. I'm Hoang Anh. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn some phrases that will be useful for discussing changes in Vietnamese. The conversation takes place in a meeting. |
| Hoang Anh: It's between Tâm, Minh and Nam. |
| Eric: The speakers are co-workers, so they’ll speak both formal and informal Vietnamese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Minh: Doanh số tháng này hầu như không tăng so với tháng trước. |
| Tâm: Lượng khách hàng đến mua trực tiếp tại các cửa hàng giảm đáng kể. |
| Nam: Thời tiết năm nay đã gây bất lợi lớn cho các sản phẩm mùa đông của công ty chúng ta. |
| Minh: Đúng vậy. Mùa đông năm nay quá ấm so với năm ngoái. |
| Tâm: Cứ thế này thì có lẽ đến giáng sinh trời vẫn còn ấm. |
| Nam: Chúng ta phải nhanh chóng thay đổi chiến lược quảng cáo. |
| Tâm: Trước mắt là phải tiến hành một chiến dịch khuyến mại cho giáng sinh sắp tới. |
| Nam: Các em có ý tưởng gì không? |
| Minh: Theo em, chúng ta có thể tặng quà giáng sinh cho khách khi mua hàng. |
| Tâm: Ngoài ra, có thể giảm giá tối thiểu hai mươi (20) phần trăm cho toàn bộ sản phẩm trước và trong ngày giáng sinh. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Minh: Sales this month have almost remain unchanged from last month. |
| Tâm: The number of customers coming directly to the stores to buy has decreased significantly. |
| Nam: The weather this year has had a majorly bad effect on sales of our company's winter products. |
| Minh: Right. The winter this year is so much warmer than last year. |
| Tâm: If this continues, it may still be warm until this Christmas. |
| Nam: We must quickly change our advertising strategy. |
| Tâm: First of all, we must carry out a promotional campaign for the upcoming Christmas. |
| Nam: Do you guys have any ideas? |
| Minh: I think we can give Christmas presents to customers when they purchase products. |
| Tâm: Moreover, we can give at least a twenty percent discount on all products before and on Christmas day. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Hoang Anh, do Vietnamese people celebrate Christmas? |
| Hoang Anh: Yes. But it’s not as important to us as it is to Western people. It’s mostly popular among young people, but it’s gradually become one of the most awaited holidays of the year. |
| Eric: But it’s not an official holiday, right? |
| Hoang Anh: Right. We celebrate it mainly in the evening of December 24 and on December 25. |
| Eric: How do Vietnamese people celebrate Christmas? Are there Christmas trees and Santa Claus? |
| Hoang Anh: Yes. Decorated Christmas trees are displayed in many public places. Santa Claus rental services are in demand, too. Christmas in Vietnam is a time for friends to gather and have parties together and for couples to go out for a romantic date and give each other meaningful presents. Over the last few years, Christmas has also become an occasion for family reunions. |
| Eric: I see. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Hoang Anh: doanh số [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sales |
| Hoang Anh: doanh số [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: doanh số [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: lượng [natural native speed] |
| Eric: the number of, the amount of |
| Hoang Anh: lượng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: lượng [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: gây bất lợi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to cause adverse effect |
| Hoang Anh: gây bất lợi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: gây bất lợi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: cứ thế này [natural native speed] |
| Eric: if this continues |
| Hoang Anh: cứ thế này [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: cứ thế này [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: nhanh chóng [natural native speed] |
| Eric: quickly, rapidly, fast |
| Hoang Anh: nhanh chóng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: nhanh chóng [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: chiến lược [natural native speed] |
| Eric: strategy |
| Hoang Anh: chiến lược [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: chiến lược [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: quảng cáo [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to advertise |
| Hoang Anh: quảng cáo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: quảng cáo [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: trước mắt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: at first, first of all |
| Hoang Anh: trước mắt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: trước mắt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: ngoài ra [natural native speed] |
| Eric: moreover, besides |
| Hoang Anh: ngoài ra [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: ngoài ra [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Hoang Anh: tối thiểu [natural native speed] |
| Eric: at least |
| Hoang Anh: tối thiểu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: tối thiểu [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Hoang Anh: gây bất lợi |
| Eric: which means “to cause” or “have an adverse effect” |
| Hoang Anh: gây means “to cause” and bất lợi means “disadvantage,” or “adverse effect.” gây bất lợi is a verb and is followed by the phrase cho + object. |
| Eric: ...which means “cause adverse effect” or “..is disadvantageous to …” You can use it to express that someone or something hinders someone else or something else from doing something. |
| Hoang Anh: The hindrance is placed before gây bất lợi, followed by cho then finally the hindered person or thing. Such adjectives as... lớn |
| Eric: “big” |
| Hoang Anh: or đáng kể |
| Eric: “remarkable” |
| Hoang Anh: can be placed right after gây bất lợi to strengthen the meaning. gây bất lợi lớn means “cause big or major adverse effects” and gây bất lợi đáng kể means “cause remarkable adverse effects.” |
| Eric: Hoang Anh, can you give us an example using this word? |
| Hoang Anh: For example, Chấn thương của anh ấy gây bất lợi cho chiến thắng của toàn đội. |
| Eric: . “His injury prevents the whole team from winning.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Hoang Anh: cứ thế này |
| Eric: which means “if this continues” |
| Hoang Anh: cứ means “to continue,” or “to keep on” and thế này means “like this.” cứ thế này |
| Eric: This phrase literally means “if things like this continue to happen.” |
| Hoang Anh: cứ thế này is often followed by thì, which means “then,” and a clause. |
| Eric: You can use this phrase to make a prediction about something that is likely to happen. This thing is the possible result of another thing that has been happening for a long time. |
| Hoang Anh: thế này can sometimes be replaced with như thế này. They both mean “like this”. So cứ thế này and cứ như thế này have the same meaning and you can use them interchangeably. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. For example, you can say.. Cứ thế này thì đội chúng ta sẽ thua sớm. |
| Eric: .. which means “If this continues, our team is likely to lose soon.” Okay, what's the last phrase? |
| Hoang Anh: trước mắt |
| Eric: which means “at first,” or “first of all.” |
| Hoang Anh: trước means “before,” or “in front of” and mắt means “eyes.” trước mắt |
| Eric: So, it literally means “before one's eyes.” It often comes at the beginning of the sentence. |
| Hoang Anh: trước mắt, followed by a clause, is used to indicate an urgent thing that should be done first, before anything else. The clause after trước mắt often contains modal verbs such as cần or phải |
| Eric: meaning “need to,” or “have to” |
| Hoang Anh: nên |
| Eric: “should” |
| Hoang Anh: không nên |
| Eric: “shouldn't.” Hoang Anh, can you give us an example using this word? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. For example, you can say.. Trước mắt, chúng ta phải tìm cách bán hết số hàng tồn kho. |
| Eric: .. which means “First of all, we have to find ways to sell all the inventory goods.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn some phrases that will be useful for discussing changes in Vietnamese. Ok, Hoang Anh, first let's remind our listeners of the three main verbs that describe changes. |
| Hoang Anh: Good idea. The first one is...tăng |
| Eric: “to increase” |
| Hoang Anh: Next we have...giảm |
| Eric: “to decrease” |
| Hoang Anh: And finally...không thay đổi or không đổi |
| Eric: which means “remain unchanged” or “stay the same” respectively. Now, to discuss changes we definitely need adverbs that show degree. Hoang Anh, can you give us some examples? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. For example..nhiều |
| Eric: “much, greatly” |
| Hoang Anh: mạnh |
| Eric: “sharply” |
| Hoang Anh: đáng kể |
| Eric: “remarkably, considerably, significantly” |
| Hoang Anh: từ từ |
| Eric: “gradually” |
| Hoang Anh: hầu như không or gần như không |
| Eric: ...which mean “almost or nearly no.” Listeners, you can find a list of such adverbs in the lesson notes so please be sure to check them out. Hoang Anh, now that we've remembered verbs that describe changes and learned adverbs that show the degrees of change, how can we combine them? |
| Hoang Anh: That’s easy. Simply add an adverb right after the verb. However, this rule has an exception. hầu như không or gần như không which mean “almost or nearly no” should be placed before the verb. |
| Eric: Ok! Can you give us some examples? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. For example... tăng mạnh |
| Eric: “increase sharply” |
| Hoang Anh: giảm đáng kể |
| Eric: “decrease considerably” |
| Hoang Anh: tăng từ từ |
| Eric: “increase gradually” |
| Hoang Anh: hầu như không or gần như không giảm |
| Eric: “almost doesn’t decrease” |
| Hoang Anh: To build a sentence please use the following grammar structure- Subject + verb, describing changes + adverb + vào or trong, meaning “in” + time phrase. But the time phrase is optional. |
| Eric: Can you give us some sample sentences? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. Doanh số giảm nhẹ trong tháng 11. |
| Eric: “Sales decreased slightly in November.” |
| Hoang Anh: Số người sử dụng internet tăng nhiều trong hai tháng qua. |
| Eric: “The number of internet users has increased greatly over the past two months.” |
| Hoang Anh: Lợi nhuận giảm đáng kể vào cuối năm. |
| Eric: “Profits decreased significantly at the year end.” Great! And how can we compare changes between two different time periods? |
| Hoang Anh: That's really simple. Please use the following pattern. Subject + của, meaning “of” + time period 1 + verb, describing changes + adverb + so với, which means “compared with” + time period 2. |
| Eric: Can we hear some sample sentences? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure! Số người sử dụng internet năm nay tăng nhiều so với năm ngoái. |
| Eric: “The number of internet users has increased greatly compared with last year.” |
| Hoang Anh: Lợi nhuận của quý này giảm đáng kể so với quý trước. |
| Eric: “This quarter’s profits decreased significantly compared with those of the previous quarter.” |
| Hoang Anh: Số ca tai nạn giao thông trong tháng 7 tăng mạnh so với cùng kì năm ngoái. |
| Eric: “The number of traffic accidents in July increased sharply compared with the same time last year.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Hoang Anh: Tạm biệt. |
Comments
Hide