Learn about the Vietnamese tones
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What are tones in Vietnamese? |
| Nguyet: And why are they important? |
| Michael: At VietnamesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following scenario, Ben Lee is invited to a dinner at a restaurant with his friends' parents. When asked what he wants to eat, Ben replies, |
| "I would like to eat "butter."" |
| Ben Lee: Tôi muốn ăn bơ. |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Tôi muốn ăn bơ. |
| Liên Lê: Bò? |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Tôi muốn ăn bơ. |
| Michael: "I would like to eat "butter."" |
| Liên Lê: Bò? |
| Michael: "Beef?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Did you understand how the word changes when Ben Lee said |
| Nguyet: Bơ |
| Michael: instead of |
| Nguyet: Bò? |
| Michael: The only difference here is the tone. Tone is the use of pitch to differentiate the meaning of a word in a sentence. Vietnamese characters have tones, and it is important that you pronounce words correctly so people won't mistake what you're saying for a different word. Vietnamese has a total of six tones, and accent marks are used when writing to determine the sound of a letter. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says "I would like to eat "butter?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nguyet as Ben Lee: Tôi muốn ăn bơ. |
| Michael: Ben pronounces the character |
| Nguyet: ò |
| Michael: as |
| Nguyet: ơ, |
| Michael: which is a frequent mistake by many first-time learners of Vietnamese. What he meant to say was "beef" or |
| Nguyet: bò. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Lien Le says "Beef?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nguyet as Liên Lê: Bò? |
| Michael: The |
| Nguyet: ò |
| Michael: sound here uses a grave accent mark, which denotes a low pitch. The word |
| Nguyet: Bò, |
| Michael: means "beef." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far, we have learned about the function of tones in the Vietnamese language and why it is important to be familiar with them. Producing a wrong tone results in producing a completely different word. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: This time, let's discuss in detail the six Vietnamese tones. The first one is called |
| Nguyet: Ngang, |
| Michael: which has neither a high pitch nor a low pitch. An example is the word "ghost," or |
| Nguyet: ma. |
| Michael: The word bơ also has this tone. The second tone is |
| Nguyet: Dấu sắc. |
| Michael: This is the highest tone of the six and produces a high pitch. An example is the word "mother," or |
| Nguyet: má. |
| Michael: The third tone is called |
| Nguyet: Dấu huyền. |
| Michael: This one produces a pitch lower than that of the first tone. An example is the word used as "but," or "and," in Vietnamese, |
| Nguyet: mà. |
| Michael: The word bò in our dialogue uses this tone. Next, we have the tone called |
| Nguyet: Dấu ngã. |
| Michael: When producing this tone, there is an abrupt shift from nặng to sắc, with a glottal stop produced in between. An example is the word "horse," or |
| Nguyet: mã |
| Michael: Then, there's the tone |
| Nguyet: Dấu hỏi. |
| Michael: To produce this tone, you simply glide very quickly from huyền to sắc. The word "tomb" is one example, or, in Vietnamese, |
| Nguyet: mả. |
| Michael: Finally, we have the tone |
| Nguyet: Dấu nặng. |
| Michael: This is the lowest of the six tones and is produced by creating a sound from the throat like a glottal stop. One example is the word "rice seedling," or |
| Nguyet: mạ. |
| Practice Session |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the Vietnamese speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says |
| "I would like to eat "butter?"" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nguyet: Tôi muốn ăn bơ. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nguyet: Tôi muốn ăn bơ. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Tôi muốn ăn bơ. |
| Michael: And how Liên Lê says, |
| "Beef?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nguyet: Bò? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nguyet: Bò? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Bò? |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Michael: Vietnamese is a tonal language. As mentioned, it has a total of six tones. However, some parts of Vietnam do not use all of these tones. And, aside from tones, Vietnamese words are also pronounced with accents. This is shown by accent marks in Vietnamese writing, with some vowels having more than one accent mark. And, yes, you guessed it right! Many Vietnamese words consist of both a tone and an accent, but that's for another lesson. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! And don't forget to download the lessons notes for this lesson at VietnamesePod101! |
| Nguyet: Tạm biệt! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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