Making friends to learn from each others

Hi gloryhuynh,

I'm not a foreigner but I have the same purpose with you. I work in a tourism company, so I must to improve my English, and so I want to have friend so that we can help each other practise and improve step by step our English skills.

Hoping receive your reply soon at nick yahoo: trung_nt3

Thanks and wish you have a nice weekend!

Trung

I am not a foreigner but I can help you to improve English, I can teach English and my communication skill is quite good. In the place I am working,70 % of employees are foreigners. By the way, I really want to have some friends to hang out and share anything in life. I have found myself so stressed out. I think I should join some club or make new friends.
Thanks and regards,

It's nice of you to help me to improve my English. My yahoo nick is glory.huynh.
Hope to be a friend of yours

Hi Huynh , I have the same purpose , would love to hang around with you to practice speaking English .

I'm really glad you guys are trying to help each other but please find at least a native speaker as a guide.  The correct pronunciation is key.

"Can we get tree cups of coffee here?"
"Our company would like to order tree thousand widgets."

Learning English from each other would be like a bunch of expats getting together learning Vietnamese from each other.  Yah, we might get somewhere but it's slow and there's no "checker" to tell us if we're doing it right.

You might try the park next to the Notre Dame Cathedral to find some foreigners.

It's nice!
i would like to join, too

Having a foreigner is great but this has no relation with whether our pronunciation is right or not. If we know pronunciation signs, we can speak English right.
First I would like to meet those who are concerned and let me see !! Then, I will ask a foreigner to come if you like.
How about one evening at the park near Notre Dame Cathedral ?? Tell me what day can you all be free!

elena2710 wrote:

Having a foreigner is great but this has no relation with whether our pronunciation is right or not. If we know pronunciation signs, we can speak English right.
First I would like to meet those who are concerned and let me see !! Then, I will ask a foreigner to come if you like.
How about one evening at the park near Notre Dame Cathedral ?? Tell me what day can you all be free!

ALL...I wouldn't exactly call myself a "foreigner" but I have been living in the US for almost 40 yrs. I used to teach ESL to VN refugee (back in early 1990's) as a volunteer. A couple of things I noticed during the conversations are the "inflections; Pronunciations; accents; slurs" that immediately identify the speakers as Vietnamese. Getting rid of these issues and people think that you are 100% American born. This is what I try to teach.

I will arrive in HCMC on Nov. 2 and stay for a month there. I will be in hotel on Pham Ngu Lao (BIG park across the street). I have two people (one wants to learn English; the other is an ex-pat who wants to learn Vietnamese). Let me know how I can help while I am here....please keep in mind that my wife and I will plan a couple of visits outside HCMC while we are here.  I'll provide my cell phone once I arrived and updated my SIM card in HCMC. Use our private email: thuy4tien(at)yahoo(dot)com

THANKS,
TT

ya having a coffee near Notre Damn is a good idea. How about this Friday? Contact to me by my cell phone number: [Moderated: pls send your personal details via a private message for safety reasons]

I can not make it on this Fri . How about Sat and Sun . is anyone up for hanging out this weekend ?

It would be great if we can learn something useful from you to improve our speaking skill. When you arrive HCMC, do not forget to contact me. Hope you will enjoy your visits here !

I will arrive in HCMC on Nov. 2 and stay for a month there. I will be in hotel on Pham Ngu Lao (BIG park across the street). I have two people (one wants to learn English; the other is an ex-pat who wants to learn Vietnamese). Let me know how I can help while I am here....please keep in mind that my wife and I will plan a couple of visits outside HCMC while we are here.  I'll provide my cell phone once I arrived and updated my SIM card in HCMC. Use our private email: thuy4tien(at)yahoo(dot)com

elena2710 wrote:

It would be great if we can learn something useful from you to improve our speaking skill. When you arrive HCMC, do not forget to contact me. Hope you will enjoy your visits here !

We are good to meet this Saturday, 7 Dec,2013 at Tao Dan cafe at 08h30 to practice English.

Hi, Huynh!
Hope your English is improving everyday and have more foreigner frineds!

Seconding THD.  there are some very basic differences in pronunciation between Vietnamese and English.  I have a good vocabulary but nobody understands me unless we've gotten acquainted.  I meet Vietnamese who write so well I'd swear they were from the USA but whom I can't understand at all, then others who sound native.

Hey, guys, to the Vietnamese: we are trying, ok?  We aren't like those drunkards who haven't learned a word in twelve years.  If we aren't clear, don't just say so.  Explain how, tell us what we're doing wrong.

ChrisFox wrote:

Seconding THD.  there are some very basic differences in pronunciation between Vietnamese and English...
Hey, guys, to the Vietnamese: we are trying, ok?  We aren't like those drunkards who haven't learned a word in twelve years.  If we aren't clear, don't just say so.  Explain how, tell us what we're doing wrong.

How can you get it right when the Vietnamese are NOT sure!!!
There is a Northern, Central, HCMc + Mekong.
Nothing Standardised.
They will get it right... some day.

I speak Northern.  Deliberately.  My teacher in USA was university educated in Hanoi.  That's what they hear on TV, they can understand it. 

Let's face it, we are living in rural Alabama here.

hELLnoi wrote:

ChrisFox wrote:

Seconding THD.  there are some very basic differences in pronunciation between Vietnamese and English...
Hey, guys, to the Vietnamese: we are trying, ok?  We aren't like those drunkards who haven't learned a word in twelve years.  If we aren't clear, don't just say so.  Explain how, tell us what we're doing wrong.

How can you get it right when the Vietnamese are NOT sure!!!
There is a Northern, Central, HCMc + Mekong.
Nothing Standardised.
They will get it right... some day.

If they can say "your pronunciation is wrong" then they can say how it's wrong or they can STFU.  I'll help them with English, I won't just waggle my goddamn hand and say cow hoo.

I mean, that really ticks me off, in case you hadn't perceived that.  Some are brazenly rude about it, and it's a crushing, defeated feeling; some tell me, flat out, you speak Vietnamese, we can communicate now.  Then someone else pretty much tells me I should just give up, I'm doing it all wrong.  Wrong how?  No answer.

Here in Cần Thơ there is so much variance in accent that I can go for hours and not understand a word, between the speed and the slurring.  Then I talk to someone I know and I get 90%.

Hi everyone Xin Chao tat ca!

Just arrived in HCMC this week. I taught maths in London for a number of year and native English speaker with Vietnamese parentage. I see a lot of post regarding speaking English and would like to help. At the moment looking for a teaching job and finding my feet in HCMC. I am a very social person so feel free to pm me to meet up for a chat. I  am bilingual but will refrain from speaking in Vietnamese to help you with your conversational English. No love or romance just friendship and fun and may be a bit of harmless flirting with the right type of girls! lol One of my many passions is reading and I used to organise a book club with similar like minded souls. The other one is teaching Filipino Martial Art (FMA) So any serious MA out there who would like to train and spar, I should have a small gym set up by the end of this month. BTW FMA is a bladed martial art meaning a lot of learning on using sticks,knives machetes etc. and a good way to keep fit. So if anything i mentioned appeal to you pm me. Check out my advert and also doce pares in wiki. or youtube

LOL just seen a few posts regarding accents and pronounciation. I dont think it is that important because you should have an accent since you all speak English as an additional language. The point about 'native speaker' is interesting as in native to where? Australia? New Zealand? US or Canada (which states or provinces?) Ireland? Northern Ireland? Scotland? Wales? S Africa? Or dare I said England coz thats where I am from!

I was recently criticised by my interviewers that I do not possess an American accent when I speak 'native English' WTF? I thought what kind of BS is this? Thats coz I COME FROM LONDON, ENGLAND!!!?

Unlike my silly 'ignorators', most Americans would perceive that my accent as posh, educated and adorable! (hmmm I would beg to differ but hey cant really complain) Moreover, I would be more likely to pick up a girl in the bar in the US than in the UK due to my 'adorable posh' accent (speaking from experience!). FYI The upper echelon of American high society usually send their kids to boarding schools in England where they learn to speak with a posh English accent. So I like my English accent from England just fine thank you very much and FCUK to you too!!!! LOL

Anyway, I have serious issue with people who like to emphasise on the nativeness of the accent coz it does really sound arrogant and elitist to the point of being racist where I am from when one speaks of an accent. So shut up and put up unless you happen to speak like the Queen of England or studied at Eton! Please do not be afraid, feel bad or let others put you down regarding your accent as long as the person you converse with can understand your version of English. You will be fine, I promise. More importantly, dont be afraid to learn from your grammatical mistakes and have confidence in yourself to speak and practice your version of colloquial Venglish!!!

The word PHO was recently added to the Oxford Dictionary! I challenge any non-Vietnamese to pronounce this word properly in 'native Vietnamese'. I rest my case.

Peter Tuan Huynh
ps You probably notice lots of grammatical errors in this post. My only defence was I went to a Grammar School in England where believe it or not they never taught grammar in any English Lessons . I kid you not! Hahaha Life s full of little ironies (or is that irony?)

Hi Emmy,
I do not know how is your English skills. If your English is goods, can you help me to improve it?
I would like to make friend with you? Are you ok?