Best way to learn Vietnamese language quickly

There is no way to learn Vietnamese quickly.  If you are under 30 you might have a chance but only if residing in the country.   The subtleties of the tonal distinctions are too difficult to be learned through a computer or cell phone speaker.

If you are over 30 you probably have experience very subtle hearing loss whether you realize it or not, and will never be verbally fluent.  You may be aurally fluent but not orally.

As with any language, the best way to learn it is to submerge yourself in the culture where you are surrounded by it all day, every day... but even then there is no "quick" way to learn it.

The best way to learn Vietnamese is on the bedroom plan.

Jim-Minh wrote:

The best way to learn Vietnamese is on the bedroom plan.

I'm unsure it's the best ......... but it's probably the most fun.

First for all, thank you all for your replies.

By the way, did anyone learn Vietnamese as a second language here already? How much time it took and what were the challenges and any tips/tricks?

Learning from YouTube videos are one thing that I am doing these days... It's working slowly... But thing is unless it is practiced regularly with someone who corrects your errors, then I just might be learning the sounds wrong.
But yes the written language is not that difficult. Only the tones are difficult. The good thing is that unlike Chinese language which have their own script of a zillion characters, Vietnamese is in Roman script (Thank God to that French guy!)

And also the clues to the tones is in those signs on top of the vowels. So, I guess just need to do... "mà, mả, mạ"

tôi là jatinder. tôi thích học tiếng việt

Jatinder05 wrote:

By the way, did anyone learn Vietnamese as a second language here already? How much time it took and what were the challenges and any tips/tricks?

Why don't Vietnamese understand Vietnamese spoken by a foreigner?
This old (still relevant) thread could be an eye-opener for you.

What I have seen over the years is that those who learn the northern (Hanoi) accent can pick up the language fast and some of them became confident enough to give TV interviews in V'namese after just 2-3 years in Vietnam.
Nothing is impossible. Don't give up your sincere efforts. Sooner or later that'll surely pay off.
Good luck!

Jatinder05 wrote:

tôi là jatinder. tôi thích học tiếng việt

You are not jatinder

Your name is jatinder

tên tôi là jatinder -or- tôi tên là jatinder -or- tôi tên jatinder

tên = name

tôi can be modified by tên and vice versa and là is not essential

Thanks for correcting me ! :-)

The northern dialect is the standard and is easier to speak and understand.  Once you understand the northern dialect, picking up the southern dialect is easy. Learning the central dialect is different in many aspects of both pronunciation and vocabulary.

I am having very little trouble being understood this trip. If I have the vocabulary to support what I want to say I am good to go. And I am here to tell you that is a good feeling. And I am also getting interesting reactions from the people I talk to. Not many foreigners take the time to learn the language and it is really appreciated.

Jim-Minh wrote:

The northern dialect is the standard and is easier to speak and understand.

... also has the most correct pronunciation.  The most common mistakes: many Northerners cannot differentiate s/x, tr/ch, and do not roll the r so the sound is more like d or gi instead. 

Very important:  People in Ninh Binh province cannot differentiate I and n, so during conversation, you have to listen carefully to the entire sentence to make sense of what they're saying.

Southerners in all parts have a lot more problems in pronunciation than Northerners, which many times result in giving the words completely different meaning.

Central Vietnam is a whole continent by itself in regard to dialects (plural intended).

Jatinder05 wrote:

And also the clues to the tones is in those signs on top of the vowels. So, I guess just need to do... "mà, mả, mạ"

You might take a look at ways people learn and see what fits you:

The four different types of learners

https://blog.prezi.com/the-four-differe … fographic/

I learn best by vision. I see the word in my mind and then read it, especially new words.

Google Translate helps me very much by hearing the phrase, or reading the English and then displaying the translation complete with the diacritical marks. I see the result and it sticks with me.

Jim-Minh wrote:

The best way to learn Vietnamese is on the bedroom plan.

Pillow Talk turns into Baby Talk - in more ways than one.   Kidding aside, Vietnamese, especially the Northern Dialect is one of the most difficult languages to learn.............during the Vietnam war era, we had Intel translators that had been studying 18 months, 9 hrs a day, 6 days a week and still had difficulties once they got to Southern Vietnam.......they could read and write like a champ, but locals had trouble understanding them, unless they were from the North  -  I know an American Chinese diplomat linguist - tested 4/4 in Simple Chinese which is admirable, tried to learn Vietnamese or an assignment to Hanoi and barely passed the test.

Immersion  and conversation, you will learn to read far faster than be able to converse.   myself, I speak Thai fairly well, but struggle with Vietnamese tones, partially due to a deaf left ear, been carrying a phrase book for years and years, can get me almost anything I want.

Hi Jatinder05,

Learning Vetnamese quickly? As several respondents here already pointed out, the tones make it just about impossible, at least quickly.

I'm not sure to what extent I'm allowed to post links on here, but here's a story I wrote for citypassguide.com in Saigon about why I gave up:
https://www.citypassguide.com/en/living … -forget-it

Learn at least the basic phrases, always helpful and appreciated. Everyone in Vietnam now has compulsory English at school (there's even talk of making it the second official language), but most of the people you deal with do not speak it -- the tuition is atrocious. As my (Australian) wife points out, those who do speak English, don't work as lowly shop assistants, taxi drivers, guards and what have you. Occasionally you'll encounter staff at a Circle K (7 Eleven) store who do speak it, but they'll be students at an English-language university earning a bit of extra money.

Good luck. You can't help but love the country in any case.

try a language exchange website - like  'my language exchange' there are plenty of people who are interested in English / Vn exchange.

THIGV wrote:

If you are over 30 you probably have experience very subtle hearing loss whether you realize it or not, and will never be verbally fluent.  You may be aurally fluent but not orally.

So you are saying someone over 30 cannot fluently pronounce Vietnamese due to "very subtle hearing loss", but can nonetheless can understand everything just fine?

Please explain why I someone >30 can "Never" be verbally fluent in Vietnamese due to subtle hearing loss...can you site any legitimate literature to support your claim?

Over <30?    'Practice makes Perfect'

..but spice helps us Appreciate life...     

***

Hi everyone,

Just to inform you that we have removed some posts from this thread ( off topic + insults )

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com team

robvan wrote:

Everyone in Vietnam now has compulsory English at school (there's even talk of making it the second official language), but most of the people you deal with do not speak it -- the tuition is atrocious. As my (Australian) wife points out, those who do speak English, don't work as lowly shop assistants, taxi drivers, guards and what have you. Occasionally you'll encounter staff at a Circle K (7 Eleven) store who do speak it, but they'll be students at an English-language university earning a bit of extra money.

Remember that it will take a generation for compulsory English to filter through society and certainly longer in rural areas.  I expect that in 20 years, national English proficiency will be at quite high levels.

I have read that the Philippines is going the other way.  English was once taught nearly universally as a de-facto common language.  However about a decade ago, Tagalog was declared the official national language and so was taught instead of English particularly in the provinces that spoke other languages.  I have employed many Filipino farm workers who had just arrived in the US with at best a high school education who spoke perfectly adequate English.   I believe that English proficiency in the Philippines, which was very high, is dropping already and that in a full generation it could be a lot lower.  The anti-American stance of the current government is not helping.  Ironically by contrast, the government in Hanoi seems to be very pro-American.

You are now claiming, in yet another off-topic post, that Tagalog and English are not the official languages of the Philippines.  Source?

Goulet wrote:

in yet another off-topic post,

Would you please stop trailing everybody to gripe about off-topic posts already? 

A great majority of threads on the Vietnam forum are off topic, AFTER the original question has been answered and explained to death.   Most of the time, the off-topic posts are shirttail relatives to the original subject because many people do think laterally, not linearly.

Mods do not delete off-topic posts unless they're waaay off field and exist for the purpose of antagonizing, insulting, or attacking.

Join Thorn Tree if you want all threads to stay within rigid confinement.  This forum, thank goodness,  has yet to become another tightly-controlled product of LP, but if self-proclaimed off-topic police keeps shadowing our every step to find faults and start arguments, I think good contributors will not bother staying for much longer.