The purpose of this guide is twofold. First, it’s for learning sentence level pronunciation; a follow up to the basic pronunciation taught here. Secondly, it’s a primer for conversation. Allow me to explain a bit more.
I’m a native English speaker who speaks 14 foreign languages at an intermediate or better level, 7 of which are Asian. I've just started learning Southern Vietnamese. I’m not a linguist, but I’ve done lots of research on language learning and tried many different methods. Those are facts; everything that follows is merely my opinion. If you're in a hurry to start conversing, but you want to do it safely:
Before starting a regular conversation component of a language learning plan, you should learn 30 to 50 key sentences really well.
The sentences for Southern Vietnamese are below. Before you get to them though, I’d like to suggest how they fit into your learning plan:
1. Learn the writing system along with basic pronunciation.
2. (after learning the writing system and pronunciation)
Learn 30 to 50 key sentences really well
Start a reading component
Start a listening component
Start a writing component
Start a grammar learning component
Start a vocabulary review component
3. (after learning the sentences really well)
Start a conversation component
Continue the other components
In 2., it’s good to do some writing to reinforce other skills. But you can spend less time at it than you spend doing the other components, or drop it completely by the time you get to 3., depending on how important it is to you. In 3., the next component to be finished will be grammar, and eventually you’ll be able to stop reviewing vocabulary too. That will leave you with conversation, reading and listening, which are the skills most language learners are after. I won’t get into more detail here - this is a very brief description of a language learning plan, presented merely to show you where the sentences fit in.
After learning the sentences, how do you start conversations?
Take a daily conversation class. I recommend using online platforms like italki. The classes should be 100% Southern Vietnamese conversation, with no fixed topics. When the teacher says something you don’t understand, ask them to write it down. When you want to say something but don’t know how, ask the teacher how to say it and write it down.
After the lesson, curate a list of all unknown words and sentences, and put them in an SRS. I recommend Anki. The cards should be both Southern Vietnamese-English and English-Southern Vietnamese. The next day, do all your reps before class. When you start your reps, write the Southern Vietnamese answers out in a notebook. After writing at least five complete lines, you can put the notebook away and finish the rest of the reps without writing. Doing it this way takes care of your vocabulary and writing components at the same time.
If you do this every day, you should improve very quickly. The first 5 to 10 lessons should only be 30 minutes, because you are going to have a lot of things to write down, and you don’t want to get overwhelmed. When the number of new items becomes easy to handle, start taking 60 min lessons.
How to memorize the sentences:
There are many ways to memorize a list of sentences, but this is the way I’d do it:
a) Listen to the audio of the first sentence and repeat. Do it enough times to feel you are pronouncing it correctly, then move onto the next one. Do the same thing, then move onto the next one, etc.
b) Once you’ve done a group of three or four sentences, stop and hide the Southern Vietnamese. To hide items, you can either click them individually, or scroll to the top and use the "hide all" buttons. Glance at the English of the first sentence, and try to produce the Southern Vietnamese. Say it out loud with correct pronunciation. Play the audio to check. Do this for each of the sentences in the group. If any are incorrect, do all of them again, until you are able to produce the whole group correctly. Then do the next group of three or four. Do a total of 10 sentences the first day.
c) The next day review sentences 1-10 by hiding the Southern Vietnamese, glancing at the English, and making sure you can produce the sentences with the correct pronunciation. Then do steps a) and b) for sentences 11-20.
d) Repeat step c) for the next 10, for three more days or until you have all 50 sentences memorized. Remember to review all previous sentences every day. After that, come back every day and review all 50. The day that you can quickly, easily and correctly produce all sentences is the day that you are ready to start daily conversations.
Chào, tôi là Leo.
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Hi, I’m Leo.
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Bạn tên gì?
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What’s your name?
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Bạn khỏe không?
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How are you?
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Tôi khỏe, cảm ơn. Còn bạn?
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I’m fine, thanks. And you?
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Xin lỗi.
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I’m sorry.
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Bạn nói lại được không?
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Can you repeat that please?
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Tất nhiên!
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Of course!
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Bạn viết ra giùm tôi được không?
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Can you write that down for me please?
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Tôi có một câu hỏi.
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I have one question.
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Chờ tôi một chút nha.
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Wait for me a bit na.
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Vân vân.
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Etc.
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Bạn nói chậm lại một chút được không
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You please speak slowly a little. (Please speak a little slower.)
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“Dog” tiếng Việt nói sao?
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“Dog” in Vietnamese - how's it said? (What's "dog" in Vietnamese?)
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Nó có nghĩa là gì vậy?
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It has meaning is what then? (What's it mean?)
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Thôi, không sao.
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Enough, no problem. (Never mind.)
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Tôi đang học tiếng Việt.
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I’m learning Vietnamese.
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Tôi nói tiếng Việt không được giỏi lắm.
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I can’t speak Vietnamese very well.
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Bạn học tiếng Anh ở đâu vậy?
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Where did you learn English then?
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Tôi đang học tiếng Việt trên mạng.
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I’m learning Vietnamese online.
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Tôi đang học tiếng Việt ở Mỹ.
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I’m learning Vietnamese in the US.
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Cái đó tiếng Việt nói sao?
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That thing - in Vietnamese, how's it said? (What’s that in Vietnamese?)
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Tôi thích học tiếng Việt.
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I like learning Vietnamese.
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Tôi muốn học tiếng Việt.
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I want to learn Vietnamese.
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Quê bạn ở đâu?
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Where is your home town?
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Tôi đến từ Mỹ.
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I come from the USA.
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Bạn đã từng đi Mỹ chưa?
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Have you not ever(past) gone to the USA?
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Tôi chưa bao giờ đi Việt Nam.
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I’ve never gone to Vietnam.
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Tôi muốn đi du lịch Việt Nam.
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I want to go travel to Vietnam.
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Bạn ở đâu?
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Where are you?
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Tôi sống gần Seattle.
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I live near Seattle.
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Tôi sẽ ở Thái Lan một tháng.
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I’ll stay in Thailand for one month.
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Tôi thích đồ ăn Việt Nam.
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I like Vietnamese food.
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Tôi muốn ăn đồ ăn Việt Nam chính gốc.
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I want to eat genuine Vietnamese food.
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Tôi ăn rất nhiều món ăn Việt Nam rồi.
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I have eaten very many Vietnamese dishes already.
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Gặp lại sau!
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(Let's) Meet again later!
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Lớp học xong rồi, phải không?
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Class finished already, right?
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Tôi thích lắm.
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I like it a lot.
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Sở thích của tôi là học ngôn ngữ và du lịch.
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My hobbies are language learning and travel.
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Hồi còn đi làm, tôi cũng học ngôn ngữ.
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While still going to work, I also studied languages.
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Tôi nói được mười bốn thứ tiếng.
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I can speak 14 languages.
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