BASIC VIETNAMESE PRONUNCIATION

Vietnamese uses an alphabet similar to our own. Many of the letters are pronounced the same, but some are different. The following are just a few of the major differences.

Consonants

1. 'D' is pronounced like 'z' in the English word 'zoo'.

2. is pronounced like 'd' in the English word 'dog'.

3. 'X' is pronounced like 's' in the English word 'sun'.

Consonant combinations

1. 'Nh' sounds similar to 'ni' in the English word 'onion'.

2. 'Th' sounds like 't' in the English word 'today'.

Vowels

1. 'Â' sounds like 'u' in the English word 'but'.

2. 'Ê' at the end of a word sounds similar to 'ay' in the English word 'bay'.

3. 'I' usually sounds like 'ee' in the English word 'feet'. However, if it comes before the sound /k/ or /ny/ like in the word canyon, then it sounds like 'i' in the English word 'bit'.

4. 'O' sounds like 'aw' in the English word 'law'.

5. 'Ô' sounds like 'o' in the English word 'no'.

6. sounds like a cross between 'e' in the English word 'get' and 'oo' in the English word 'food'.

7. 'U' sounds like 'oo' in the English word 'moon' when it is at the end of a word. If it is not at the end of a word, it sounds like 'oo' in the English word 'foot'.

8. sounds like a cross between 'ee' in the English word 'feet' and 'oo' in the English word 'food.'

Vowel combinations

1. 'Gi' is pronounced like 'z' in the English word 'zero'.

Vietnamese is a tonal language (different from the other languages on this website). This means that each word has a special voice pitch to help give it meaning. For example, depending on how you say the word 'ma', it can mean 'ghost', 'cheek', 'but', 'tomb', 'equus', or 'rice seedling'. There are six tones in Vietnamese and they are called: mid level, high rising, low falling, low rising, high broken, and low broken.