Learn how to make an appointment
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner Season 1, Lesson 3 - Making An Appointment in Vietnamese. |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Brandon: In this lesson you will learn how to make an appointment. The conversation takes place on the phone and is between John and Nam. |
| Huyen: They are business partners, so they will be using formal Vietnamese. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| John: Lợi nhuận gần đây thế nào? |
| Nam: Không được tốt lắm. Tôi muốn hẹn gặp anh để bàn về vấn đề này. |
| John: Được thôi. |
| Nam: Khi nào thì tiện cho anh? |
| John: Chiều thứ năm được không? |
| Nam: Ok. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| John: Lợi nhuận gần đây thế nào? |
| Nam: Không được tốt lắm. Tôi muốn hẹn gặp anh để bàn về vấn đề này. |
| John: Được thôi. |
| Nam: Khi nào thì tiện cho anh? |
| John: Chiều thứ năm được không? |
| Nam: Ok. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| John: Lợi nhuận gần đây thế nào? |
| Brandon: How are profits recently? |
| Nam: Không được tốt lắm. Tôi muốn hẹn gặp anh để bàn về vấn đề này. |
| Brandon: Not so good. I would like to make an appointment with you to talk about this problem. |
| John: Được thôi. |
| Brandon: That’s fine. |
| Nam: Khi nào thì tiện cho anh? |
| Brandon: When is convenient for you? |
| John: Chiều thứ năm được không? |
| Brandon: Is Thursday afternoon okay? |
| Nam: Ok. |
| Brandon: Okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Huyen, could you tell us how to set up a meeting with a Vietnamese business partner? |
| Huyen: To meet with a business partner in Vietnam, it’s necessary to arrange it several weeks beforehand. It may take more time for a big company or corporation. |
| Brandon: What if we already know them? |
| Huyen: That would be easier, and you can schedule a meeting within one week then. It’s also essential to send related documents and information about the number of participants, and their position titles to your partner before the meeting. |
| Brandon: Are Vietnamese people punctual? |
| Huyen: Not always. It’s common to start a meeting 15 to 20 minutes later than scheduled. But you should be punctual. It’s better to wait for them than to make them wait for you. |
| Brandon: What about other business meeting etiquette? |
| Huyen: When you first meet someone, exchange business cards with both hands. You can shake hands with male partners, but remember to wait for your female partner to extend her hand first. Gifts aren’t necessary, but bringing something from your country is a good idea. |
| Brandon: Interesting. I’m sure this information will help our listeners to understand more about business etiquette in Vietnam. Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: The first word we shall see is: |
| Huyen: lợi nhuận [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: profit |
| Huyen: lợi nhuận [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: lợi nhuận [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: không được tốt lắm [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: not so good |
| Huyen: không được tốt lắm [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: không được tốt lắm [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: hẹn gặp [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to make an appointment |
| Huyen: hẹn gặp [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: hẹn gặp [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: bàn [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to discuss/to talk about |
| Huyen: bàn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: bàn [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: vấn đề [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: problem/issue |
| Huyen: vấn đề [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: vấn đề [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: được [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: fine, okay, nice |
| Huyen: được [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: được [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: khi nào [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: when |
| Huyen: khi nào [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: khi nào [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: tiện [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: convenient |
| Huyen: tiện [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: tiện [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Huyen: chiều [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: afternoon |
| Huyen: chiều [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: chiều [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. First we have… |
| Huyen: không được tốt lắm |
| Brandon: Meaning “Not so good”, or “not very good.” This phrase lets you express that something isn’t as good as you expected, when you don’t want to say directly that it’s bad. You can use the same structure with other adjectives or adverbs. |
| Huyen: The structure is: không được, plus an adjective or adverb and followed by “lắm”. |
| Brandon: Let’s give our listeners some examples. |
| Huyen: Không được đẹp lắm. |
| Brandon: “Not so nice” or “not so beautiful” |
| Huyen: không được vui lắm |
| Brandon: Not so fun |
| Huyen: Không được hay lắm |
| Brandon: “Not so good,” or “not so interesting” |
| Brandon: The second word is an adjective that we learned in the absolute beginner series. |
| Huyen: được |
| Brandon: This adjective is used to describe someone or something as being fine, okay or good. Because it can go with almost all nouns, it’s a very useful adjective. |
| Huyen: It’s often used with the adverbs “rất” or “lắm” which both mean “very” or “so”. |
| For example: Bộ phim này rất được. |
| Brandon: This movie is very good. |
| Huyen: Cô gái đó rất được. |
| Brandon: That girl is very nice. |
| Huyen: Món ăn này được lắm. |
| Brandon: This food is so good. |
| Huyen: Please remember that “được” is never used in an adjective-noun phrase. |
| Brandon: That means we will NOT translate “a good movie” as: |
| Huyen: “Một bộ phim được” but we’ll say “một bộ phim hay” |
| Brandon: And “a nice girl” is not translated as: |
| Huyen: “Một cô gái được” but as “một cô gái tốt” |
| Brandon: One more usage of this adjective is by itself in reply to an invitation, a suggestion or a request. In this case, it means “yes” or “fine”. |
| Huyen: The particle “thôi” is often used with “được” in this case to make the phrase: “được thôi”. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear a sample conversation. |
| Huyen: Mai đi xem phim nhé? |
| - Được thôi. |
| Brandon: “Let’s go to the cinema tomorrow. |
| - That’s fine.” Okay, the last word we have is: |
| Huyen: chiều, or you can say “buổi chiều” |
| Brandon: Meaning “afternoon”. In Vietnamese, there are five words to refer to different times of the day: |
| Huyen: sáng or buổi sáng |
| Brandon: morning |
| Huyen: trưa or buổi trưa |
| Brandon: noon |
| Huyen: chiều or buổi chiều |
| Brandon: afternoon |
| Huyen: tối or buổi tối |
| Brandon: evening |
| Huyen: đêm or nửa đêm |
| Brandon: Meaning “midnight.” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn about sentence structures used to make an appointment. |
| Huyen: Let’s get into it. In Tôi muốn hẹn gặp anh để bàn về vấn đề này. |
| Brandon: The key phrase is: |
| Huyen: “Tôi muốn hẹn gặp anh” |
| Brandon: “I would like, or, I want to make an appointment with you.” The equivalent of “you” will change according to who you are talking to. |
| Huyen: The speaker in this dialogue is talking with a male business partner, so the 2nd person pronoun “anh” is used. |
| Brandon: The key phrase can be followed by a phrase explaining the purpose. |
| Huyen: The phrase of purpose starts with “để” meaning “to,” or, “in order to” plus a verb phrase. |
| Brandon: In the sample sentence, the purpose is: |
| Huyen: để bàn về vấn đề này |
| Brandon: meaning “to talk about this problem” |
| Huyen: You can add a time phrase before the purpose if you want to set the exact time for the appointment, but it’s optional. |
| Brandon: The whole structure is: |
| Huyen: “Tôi muốn hẹn gặp”, followed by the second person pronoun, then a time phrase if any, and finally a phrase of purpose starting with “để”, then a verb phrase. |
| Brandon: Please note that this structure is more commonly used in business situations. |
| Huyen: For example: Tôi muốn hẹn gặp chị vào sáng thứ hai. |
| Brandon: Which is “I would like to make an appointment with you on Monday morning.” |
| Huyen: Tôi muốn hẹn gặp chị vào sáng thứ hai để lên kế hoạch marketing. |
| Brandon: I would like to make an appointment with you on Monday morning to make marketing plans. |
| Huyen: You can ask about the other person’s availability in a separate question. |
| Brandon: In the dialogue, you hear: |
| Huyen: Khi nào thì tiện cho anh? |
| Brandon: “When is good for you?” or “When is convenient for you?” |
| Huyen: The structure is: “Khi nào thì tiện cho”, followed by the second person pronoun. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear a sample conversation: |
| Huyen: Tôi muốn hẹn gặp anh để bàn kế hoạch hợp tác. |
| Brandon: “I would like to make an appointment with you to discuss our partnership plan.” |
| Huyen: Được thôi. |
| Brandon: “That’s fine.” |
| Huyen: Khi nào thì tiện cho anh? |
| Brandon: When is good for you? |
| Huyen: Thứ hai tuần tới nhé. |
| Brandon Next Monday, ok? |
Outro |
| Huyen: Well, that’s the end of this lesson. |
| Brandon: Please check the lesson notes for a review of what we have learned, and don’t forget to leave us a question or comment after this lesson. |
| Huyen: Thanks for listening, and see you in lesson 4. Tạm biệt! |
| Brandon: Bye! |
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