Huế accent.

My english teacher is from Hue, I love her voice and her accent, She couldn't keep her Hue accent though from hearing the words pronounced differently around her everyday (She got married and has been living in Ha Noi for years).

Thank you, Funnybear92. I am glad to hear I am not the only one who's fascinated with the huế accent.

TC0088 wrote:

Thank you, Funnybear92. I am glad to hear I am not the only one who's fascinated with the huế accent.

I'm actually fond of Hue accent Sounds soft, and yes you're not the only one, at least most of my friends are fascinated with this accent Do you know anyone who is from Hue?

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone from huế.
I heard the huế accent on my last visit while staying at a resort in Phú Quốc Island. She worked as a booking agent. But she said she was leaving the resort to go home to look after her family in Huế.

I will consider relocating to the city of huế if needed to learn the accent.

TC0088 wrote:

I would like to brush up on my Vietnamese with the Huế accent. Yes, I do have a lot of time on my hand. Seriously, I do find the accent very therapeutic.

TC0088 wrote:

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone from huế.
I heard the huế accent on my last visit while staying at a resort in Phú Quốc Island. She worked as a booking agent. But she said she was leaving the resort to go home to look after her family in Huế.

I will consider relocating to the city of huế if needed to learn the accent.

Yes you do.  The head nun at the Orphanage we went to last Sunday is from Huế.  As is most of her other nuns.  The bigger kids go to the Huế School of Pharmacy when they graduate high school. 

You still have her card?

Here's the YouTube video I found that has the head nun speaking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHjo3lKwxkk

TC0088 wrote:

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone from huế.
I heard the huế accent on my last visit while staying at a resort in Phú Quốc Island. She worked as a booking agent. But she said she was leaving the resort to go home to look after her family in Huế.

I will consider relocating to the city of huế if needed to learn the accent.

Or you can just go to the orphanage every Sunday and yak it up with the head nun there, Sư Cô Huệ Đức.

Hey THD,

You are right! I forgot all about her. She did have the Huế accent but in a subdue lower tone. Like you, I have no clue what she said when she speaks.

And because of her status as a "preistess" of some sort or as you put it a head nun, I doubt it's appropriate for me to consider her someone I know.

Seriously, can you help?

By the way, I love the orphanage run. It took me a couple of days to recover from the heat exhaustion, but worth it. I am going to get better riding equipment for the next run.

I'm Vietnamese, I'm fond of this accent but I (and most of my friends) find it really hard to imitate (even though we can imitate southern accent).
But you should stick to your goal, it's worth trying

TC0088 wrote:

...

By the way, I love the orphanage run. It took me a couple of days to recover from the heat exhaustion, but worth it. I am going to get better riding equipment for the next run.

Holy crap...I did mention to Naniwag that I was concerned you'd get sunburned.  Happened to me when I first got here too.  This is why Vietnamese women wear the jackets when driving motorbikes.  It protects from the heat. 

Buy yourself a cheap windbreaker (and I do mean cheap like around $7 (140,000 VND) since any expensive ones get stolen from your motorbike when you park it) to protect your arms, shoulders and back for when you ride a motorbike.

No sh*t!
Now you know why I can't sleep last few nights: I was glowing in the dark!

TC0088 wrote:

No sh*t!
Now you know why I can't sleep last few nights: I was glowing in the dark!

I see. It took a little heat to have you all turned on lol

Anniest wrote:

TC0088 wrote:

No sh*t!
Now you know why I can't sleep last few nights: I was glowing in the dark!

I see. It took a little heat to have you all turned on lol

Will you believe me now when I tell you I am a super-sensitive guy!

How did we ended up here?!

Focus: Huế Huế Huế ... Huế ... Huuếế.ế ...

Urgg.. I can't get a word with Hue accent. I would prefer to Hanoi accent. South accent sounds like they are arguing.

Ah Ah! Glad to see another fan of Hue accent! Maybe you can learn a little Vietnamese then find the group of Hue people in HCM to challenge yourself

Only heard Huế a few times, didn't even recognize it as Vietnamese.  My teacher in USA (gốc Hà Nội) says a lot of Vietnamese can't understand it at all.  It sounds to me like every syllable has a dấu nặng Bắc underneath it, very staccato.

I too prefer the northern accent; consonants and tones are more distinguishable, there is less variation in pronunciation, and people seem to yell a lot less.

Ah, the language of the royals.

Growing with a Hue family as a neighbor, I have never had problem understanding it, so don't know what all the fuss is about .
But I also grew up in a Northern family in the South with family member with a strong Quang Nam accent, so all the dialects are just Vietnamese for me, no difference.

So what is my point? Be just like a child, just try to understand it, you'll get a hang of it eventually. Easier said than done, I know.

Just a tidbit for those who don't know. If a man's family name is Tôn Thất, like Tôn Thất Tùng, Tôn Thất Đính,... he is from the Nguyen royal ancestry, and often speaks Hue accent.

Same goes for a lady with "công tằng tôn nữ" or just "tôn nữ" in her name.

Thanks, that an interesting cultural tidbit

My wife is from Dong Ha and don't know if she has a Hue accent or not but when she is talking with others from her home town I can definitely hear a difference in her voice.

VungTauDon wrote:

My wife is from Dong Ha

Dong Ha is in the province of Quang Tri. They have yet another accent (tiếng Quảng which I mentioned earlier), which for many Vietnamese is a even more difficult accent.

As you noticed, the people from those areas often adapt their speech both to get understood more easily as well as to "hide" their origin.

These central regions are poor, so Vietnamese from other regions (normally) don't have a favorable impression of people from there.

Anatta wrote:

Ah, the language of the royals.

Growing with a Hue family as a neighbor, I have never had problem understanding it, so don't know what all the fuss is about .
But I also grew up in a Northern family in the South with family member with a strong Quang Nam accent, so all the dialects are just Vietnamese for me, no difference.

So what is my point? Be just like a child, just try to understand it, you understand it. Easier said than done, I know.

Just a tidbit for those who don't know. If a man's family name is Tôn Thất, like Tôn Thất Tùng, Tôn Thất Đính,... he is from the Nguyen royal ancestry, and often speaks Hue ancentry.

Same goes for a lady with "công tằng tôn nữ" or just "tôn nữ" in her name.

Good to know. My dentist's name is"Ton nu le ba".  With your information, thinking back, she did have a bit of hue accent. I can only guess that she loses her accent so she can communicate easier with customers.

Friend of mine in the USA and I used to meet at a phở place to practice.  The owner started joining us and she was amazing with accents, she knew all the major ones and could switch into whichever she wanted.

She's one of a few friends from the USA I've met over here.  Wish I could get to her now to fine down some of the things I'm doing wrong.  A very tiny change in pronunciation made a vast difference a few weeks ago, I bet there are at most 2-4 more like that and I will be perfectly understood.  She could probably get me There in like ten minutes.

Chris
Just that you know. Imitate other accents is often a no-no in Vietnam, especially if you do it for fun.
Vietnamese is quite sensitive there.

There is a popular saying "Chửi cha không bằng pha tiếng" which can be roughly translated as "telling another's father to fuck himself is not as serious as mixing his accent (in your speech)"

There is a fine line though.
If you want to hide your (inferior) accent, it may be ok, but if your accent is acceptable (North or South), and you mix it with another, it is seriously frowned upon (if you do it consciously). Fistfights and deaths have happened in the past because of it.

Having read northerners and southerners going at each other online, I have NO trouble believing this. 

I don't mimic accents, make fun of them, but I can shift between them if I want, though it's hard.  I hear a lot of northerners sort of slide into southern consonants while maintaining northern tones and most of them have all their teeth. 

I've also noticed that people trying to help me learn shift into northern .. BAY-yuh becomes BAY-zuh.

ChrisFox wrote:

I hear a lot of northerners sort of slide into southern consonants while maintaining northern tones and most of them have all their teeth.

I, for one, as well as many belong to that category, but I don't think I get blamed for that since I do it unconsciously, i.e., without intent or awareness of doing so. For a pure Northerner, I (appear to) use Southern accent. For a Southerner, I appear to speak Northern accent.

However, we all see when someone try consciously to do so, it'll sound forced and pretentious to the listeners (not to mentioning the perception of being malicious mentioned in my previous posts).

I know the government wants everyone to speak the Hanoi dialect and I know they have their work cut out for them, too. 

I remember the HK takeover, everyone saying "I'm NOT learning Mandarin, I speak Cantonese!!" and the day after the takeover everyone enrolled for Mandarin classes.  They'll be like the rest of China, speaking Mandarin at work and Cantonese / Toisan / Teochow / whatever at home. 

But those really are dialects.  Here it's more like accents with a few words, which isn't that different from New Jersey and Mississippi.

ChrisFox wrote:

I know the government wants everyone to speak the Hanoi dialect and I know they have their work cut out for them, too.

Ha ha. Just to paraphrase a popular saying from the gun enthusiasts in the US "Take over our accent. Over our dead bodies ", and this is from one who speaks "quasi" Northern accent like me .

Don't get me started on the "cold dead fingers" crowd .. don't people get pissy hearing newscasts on TV all in Hanoi?

Aha, Hanoi accent, my pet peeve
Here is what I wrote in this forum a few years back in this forum
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=133435
I requote part of it here below for everyone's convenience.

...
Concerning the dialect and language use, you are picking on my pet peeve:).
Just as an introduction which not all Vietnamese know about:

Yes, the Vietnamese language has several strong dialects. The most distinct dialects are from the central part, especially the Nghe An/Ha Tinh/Quang Binh areas. Each area has their own words for certain popular objects. The Southerners make fun of the Northerners for those words and vice versa.

In addition, there are languages for the minority groups in Vietnam. Each speaks a different language. The Thai minority group speaks (and writes) a variance of the Thai language used in Thailand, which does resemble the Vietnamese language at all. Ban Me Thuot where you live is famous in the modern Vietnamese history because of the struggle of those minority groups (try google FULRO)

While the Hue dialect was considered the dialect of the royalty a couple of hundred years ago, the Northern dialect (or more correctly, the Hanoi dialect) has traditionally been considered the standard pronunciation, like the Queen's English, both because of its polite expression and 'proper' pronunciation.

I should probably have said 'was considered' instead of 'has been considered'. You see, for the linguistic connoisseurs, the standard pronunciation is the kind used by the Northerners about 60 years ago.

Since the existing regime took place, several changes took place.

1. A completely new vocabulary set was invented to replace the old vocabulary. If you have not read the '1984' novel by George Orwell, do it then you will understand.

2. In addition, the cadres speak into a completely new way. Try like listen to some of the so-called management 'gurus' or television evangelists in the West and you may get the same feeling.

3. At last, the pronunciation is also changed. The young Hanoians today have a different pronunciation and tonal rhythm than their grandparents' or at least than the one used by the Northerners who moved to the South in the 1950's thus not influenced by the 3 above-mentioned factors.

Those three factors were the things that the GE American did which I referred, not the 'intrinsic' dialect differences you mentioned.

Thanks for the info.  I remember my teacher ranting about the word changes almost as vehemently as my Chinese coworker about Simplified Chinese.

i freaking love hue food that's for sure!!

I don't think I've ever heard the "Hue accent"? My mom's best friend is from Hue. When she speaks, my mom says she can't understand much of her Vietnamese and when speaking English, I can't understand what she is saying. Sometimes, she's speaking Vietnamese and English all together! Nevertheless, she is a good natured person and the Hue cuisine is great!

Mam Tom Hue is the best!

Annata, there was a novel out a few years ago with a plot that involved FULRO and the Jarai. Called: "The Dega: A MIKE Force novel". It got some good reviews on Amazon, if you're interested. The Vietnamese commander of the unit it's set in was a Major Ton That Thuan, killed at Bu Prang on 11 November 1969. For some reason he's listed as from Go Cong, so I presume his branch was sent South sometime in the 1800s. Unless, of course, Go Cong refers to a school.

How about the word for island: Cu Lao. My new dictionary says it is Hon Dao. SOmewhere n the back of my mind I remember something to the effect that Cu Lao, used in the Center and South, was a Cham term. All the changes couldn't have been bad. I find Buu Dien for Post Office easier than Nha Giay Thep but Nha Tuong easier for hospital than Benh Vien.

lirelou
Thanks for reference.

cù lao vs. cồn đảo. Those words are non-political, so the difference is more due regional uses.

In general, cồn đảo (not to mix Côn Đảo which is the name of a well known island) is used for an islet, often created by a natural process of accumulation of sediments.



cù lao is often used for them, but also in addition, often means any islet at sea.



They are used interchangeably, so you are not wrong by mixing them.
I don't know whether cù lao is originally a Cham term. By the sounds of it, it is likely. There is a Cù Lao Chàm (Cham Island), but it does not mean necessarily that the term comes from Cham.

Nhà Thương is often used used in Nhà thương điên (mental hospital). Benh Vien is a more general term (also in the "new" language). I am ok with both.

However, a new term by the communists which I find crude is "nhà đẻ" for nursery. It is because đẻ is a quite coarse term for the act of giving birth. It is similar to start calling a nursery a breeding site .

Just a few words for now because of time shortage.

I love you guys so much  , reading all comments you made in this topic on Hue accent. I come from Hue and now live in Sai Gon so I'm very happy to speak Hue accent with you guys and even teach you (just for fun because I am not Vietnamese teacher) if you want to.

Phan Bamboo, a quick question: Years ago the Central girls I knew wore their hair long even after marriage. But when they went out of the house, they had a way of knotting it up so it wouldn't hang down, like when they were single. My wife, a Nam person, always criticized them, saying it was not respectful of marriage. They replied that it was a Central custom. I note that single Cham muslim girls, even today, wear their hair long, gathered up in hair nets that still show their hair off while (I suppose) meeting Muslim standards for modesty.

Hi Lirelou,
Don't know clearly your question yet but I guessed you asked me if the girls' saying was true when the girls going out with the long hair down was central custom.
As far as i know, there was a traditional thought that women who got married should behave in a certain way as they were supposed to be, e.g knotting their hair up. But this tradition happened in a lot of provinces in Vietnam, not only in the Central. At that time, if married women went out without knotting their hair up, people, who knew they already got married, would disrespect them.
So, I don't think we used to have the custom of going out with long hair as the girls explained to you.
Anyway, it was ancient custom. These days, we can see many women with variety of hair styles go out whether they got married or not.

if you love spicy food theres no food better than bún bộ huế.   i could eat it everyday but my digestive system would protest violently.  my mom is from Hue.  she has lost her accent slightly over the years.  but when she has a conversation with another Hue native she lights up and i have trouble understanding them.   i visited Hue several years ago and noticed they add the word "mồ" at the end of their sentences often.  anybody know why?

Hi OBB,
It's not "mồ", but "mô". You can hear this word in almost all the conversations of Hue people such as:
- Có mô --> Có đâu (in South) means I don't mean that or I don't know.
- Có chi mô --> Có gì đâu (In South) means You're welcome.
- Đi mô--> Đi đâu vậy? --> Where do you go?
- Khi mô? --> Khi nào? --> When?
-...