ChrisFox wrote:Well one thing I have to say in their defense is that a lot of westerners think the tones are secondary features of the language, almost optional. I have a friend from the USA studied with the same teacher who lives in Saigon ... I was blown away at how well he spoke Vietnamese back in 2009, wow, the words just come out! "Tay a!!"
Later I noticed he wasn't getting a lot of traction at being understood .. and later still I learned the tones and noticed he wasn't really using them at all. I knew the tones were fundamental and worked hard at them, and most of the time, exceptions noted with clenched fists above, I am understood.
If you say "banh mi" without the right tones, you might as well be saying "sell noodles" or "American friend." They WILL not understand and they aren't being insular or snotty.
But I say the tones right. Now: where it gets sticky .. for us the tones sound like a modification, like retrofitting a garage onto a house, in reality they are the foundation. All the words I learned wrong before taking up the study of the language are words I still have problems with, mostly words connected with food. It's hard to break the habit of saying "nương" without the dấu sắc, "nướng." My friend in Saigon has hundreds of words he has to learn to say right.
Totally agree with you. Vietnamese is all about the tone. A word can have 5 meanings.
As a foreigner you can learn how to write and read perfectly but its hard to hear and speak tonal differences.
In your eyes you believe that you spoke it correctly but just a slight tonal change can have another meaning. This might cause all the confusion.
My American Friend started to talk Vietnamese and I didn't understand him because he didnt pronounce it correctly. He studied it for a whukeand its really good(written and vocabulary) but hard to understand if you dont concentrate. Locals dont focus on what you are saying since they are surprised.
Your teacher and friends might understand you because they focus but dont expect any other here.
My recommendation: go over your tonal pronunciation. Its hard but dont give up.even I as a viet kieu have problems hitting the ton.
Ordered a "oil" smoothie instead of a strawberry smoothie... Luckily the lady understood me since im a regular.