Learn how to define words "to be" and "to mean"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 21 - The Mysterious Language of Vietnamese Teens. Eric here. |
| Hoang Anh: Chào. I'm Hoang Anh. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about how to define a word in Vietnamese. The conversation takes place in the cafeteria. |
| Hoang Anh: It's between Tâm and Trang. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Vietnamese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Tâm: Này, con em chị nhắn tin cho chị mà chị chẳng hiểu nó viết gì. Em hiểu không, dịch cho chị với. |
| Trang: Đâu? Đưa em xem nào. À, "hôm nay em đi học thêm, không ăn cơm nhà đâu" |
| Tâm: Không biết bọn trẻ bây giờ học ở đâu cái thứ ngôn ngữ vớ vẩn này. |
| Trang: Chị đúng là đi sau thời đại. Cái này gọi là "teen code". |
| Tâm: Teen code là cái gì? |
| Trang: Teen code là ngôn ngữ của teen, là cách sử dụng từ ngữ mà chỉ có teen mới hiểu. |
| Tâm: Ôi chị già rồi, làm sao mà theo kịp được chúng mày. |
| Trang: Bố mẹ em còn biết teen code đấy. Chị học thử đi, vui cực kỳ. |
| Tâm: Thôi, thời gian đâu mà học mấy thứ này. |
| Trang: Chán chị quá. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Tâm: Hey, my little sister has just texted me but I didn't understand what she wrote. Do you understand? Translate it for me. |
| Trang: Where? Let me see. Ah, "Today I have an extra class, I won't eat at home." |
| Tâm: I don't know where kids today learn this nonsense language. |
| Trang: You’re really behind the times. This is called "teen code." |
| Tâm: What is "teen code"? |
| Trang: Teen code is teenagers' language, the way of using words that only teenagers understand. |
| Tâm: Oh, I'm old already. How can I catch up with you kids? |
| Trang: Even my parents know teen code. Try learning it, it’s super fun. |
| Tâm: No, I don't have time to learn such things. |
| Trang: I’m so bored of you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Hoang Anh, is there some kind of Vietnamese teen language? |
| Hoang Anh: Yes. We call it tin cốt, “teen code” in English. This language is used by young people, mostly teenagers, on the internet. |
| Eric: And in daily life? |
| Hoang Anh: No. Just when they chat online, text via mobile phones, or write updates on social networks. With the opening internet, Vietnamese society became more open and youth were attracted to and influenced by foreign culture and lifestyles. That explains why Vietnamese teen code is much shorter than standard Vietnamese, doesn’t use tone marks, and uses more English letters or words. |
| Eric: Can you give us some examples of this “teen code”? |
| Hoang Anh: Hm..for example...được, “fine” became dc, and biết không, which means “do you know?” transformed into bit k. |
| Eric: Teen code is fun and convenient to use online, so young people must love it! |
| Hoang Anh: I think you’re right. But older people think such language is harmful to the purity of the Vietnamese language. |
| Eric: 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: con [natural native speed] |
| Eric: denoting a girl in a disrespectful way |
| Hoang Anh: con [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: con [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: học thêm [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to study an extra class (outside official school hours) |
| Hoang Anh: học thêm [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: học thêm [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: cơm nhà [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a meal at home |
| Hoang Anh: cơm nhà [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: cơm nhà [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: bọn trẻ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: kids, children, young people |
| Hoang Anh: bọn trẻ [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: bọn trẻ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: thứ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sort, kind, thing |
| Hoang Anh: thứ [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: thứ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: vớ vẩn [natural native speed] |
| Eric: nonsense |
| Hoang Anh: vớ vẩn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: vớ vẩn [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: đi sau thời đại [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to be behind the times, out of date |
| Hoang Anh: đi sau thời đại [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: đi sau thời đại [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: còn [natural native speed] |
| Eric: even |
| Hoang Anh: còn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: còn [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: theo kịp [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to catch up with |
| Hoang Anh: theo kịp [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: theo kịp [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Hoang Anh: chúng mày [natural native speed] |
| Eric: you (plural) (very informal) |
| Hoang Anh: chúng mày [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: chúng mày [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Hoang Anh: con |
| Eric: This word denotes a girl in a disrespectful way. |
| Hoang Anh: con originally means “someone's child”. It can be followed by a pronoun or a person's name to refer to a girl who is very close to the speaker, such as...con em |
| Eric: “younger sister” |
| Hoang Anh: con bạn |
| Eric: “a female friend”. Listeners, please note, that this word is also used to denote a female in a very disrespectful way. |
| Hoang Anh: Right. Con is very impolite and informal, so unless you’re talking to your very close friend or family member, it’s better not to use it at all. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Hoang Anh: For example, you can say.. A says: Áo mới à? Đẹp thế! B answers: Ừ, con bạn tớ ở Mỹ vừa tặng đấy. |
| Eric: ..which means “A says : Is this shirt new? So beautiful! B answers: Yeah, a friend of mine in America has just given it to me.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Hoang Anh: còn |
| Eric: which means “even” |
| Hoang Anh: còn in this lesson is an adverb and often comes between the subject and the verb. |
| Eric: It has several meanings, right? |
| Hoang Anh: Yes. In this lesson, it’s used to express the meaning that “even someone can, has ..”. With this meaning, it’s often used in the phrase đến + person + còn. đến here means “up to” which emphasizes the limit or extreme. For example, đến cô ấy còn không hiểu |
| Eric: “even she can't understand” |
| Hoang Anh: In this example, “she” is someone who may be considered the smartest but even she can't understand. |
| Eric: Listeners, keep in mind that this word is used in daily conversation only. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. Câu hỏi này phức tạp quá, đến giáo sư còn không trả lời được. |
| Eric: .. which means “This question is so complicated that even a professor can't answer.” Okay, what's the last word? |
| Hoang Anh: chúng mày |
| Eric: which means “you”, plural and very informal. |
| Hoang Anh: mày or chúng mày is a very informal and disrespectful way to refer to another person. |
| Eric: It’s used by superiors to subordinates, by grandparents, parents to grandchildren or children, by older people to younger people who they are familiar with, or is used among friends. |
| Hoang Anh: chúng mày is very informal so don't use it when speaking with people you don't know well. |
| Eric: What’s an example? |
| Hoang Anh: You can say.. Chúng mày rảnh không? Tao nhờ chút. |
| Eric: ... which means “Are you guys free? Give me a hand.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to define a word in Vietnamese. |
| Hoang Anh: It’s really easy. First say the subject. “Subject” is the word to be defined. Then, add là or nghĩa là . là means “to be”, nghĩa là means “mean”. And finally add the definition of the subject. It can be a noun, noun phrase or clause. |
| Eric: Sounds simple. Can you give us some examples? |
| Hoang Anh: For example..“Mạng xã hội là một trang web hay ứng dụng cho phép người sử dụng tương tác với nhau bằng cách đăng thông tin, chia sẻ ảnh, bình luận, nhắn tin v.v” |
| Eric: ...which means “A social network is a website or application which enables users to interact with each other by posting information, sharing photos, commenting, or messaging etc.” |
| Hoang Anh: “Có chí thì nên” nghĩa là nếu bạn đủ quyết tâm, bạn sẽ tìm được cách đạt được điều mình mong muốn.” |
| Eric: “There’s a will, there’s a way” means if you’re determined enough, you’ll find a way to achieve what you want.” |
| Hoang Anh: “Xe ôm” là một dịch vụ chuyên |
| chở hành khách bằng xe máy phổ biến ở Việt Nam” |
| Eric: “Xe ôm is a passenger transport service by motorcycles which is popular in Vietnam.” Ok! That`s clear! What’s our next grammar topic? |
| Hoang Anh: It’s some common ways to ask what something means in Vietnamese. |
| Eric: To do this, you can use 3 grammar patterns. The first is... |
| Hoang Anh: Subject + là gì or là cái gì? |
| Eric: which means “What is …?” |
| Hoang Anh: “là cái gì” literally means “what thing is it”?, so it’s used to ask the definition of a thing only. For example..Mạng xã hội là gì? |
| Eric: “What is a social network?” |
| Hoang Anh: Phong thuỷ là gì? |
| Eric: “What is feng shui?” Another way to ask a similar question is... |
| Hoang Anh: Subject + nghĩa là gì? |
| Eric: In English, this means “What does … mean?” |
| Hoang Anh: For example..Có chí thì nên” nghĩa là gì ạ? |
| Eric: “What does “there’s a will, there’s a way” mean?” |
| Hoang Anh: P/S nghĩa là gì? |
| Eric: “What does P/S mean?” Great! And the last way is... |
| Hoang Anh: Subject + là sao or nghĩa là sao? |
| Eric: “What does … mean?”. This question also carries the connotation of the speaker’s feelings about the thing that he/she doesn’t understand, such as surprise or annoyance. |
| Hoang Anh: For example...LOL là sao or LOL nghĩa là sao? |
| Eric: “What does LOL mean?” |
| Hoang Anh: Xe ôm là sao or Xe ôm nghĩa là sao? |
| Eric: “What does “xe ôm” mean?” |
| Hoang Anh: Listeners, please don’t forget, that if you ask an older person, add “ạ” at the end of the question to show respect. |
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. |
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