Vietnamese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with approximately 90 million native speakers. It is the official language in Vietnam and is also widely spoken in places where Vietnamese have immigrated, such as the United States and Australia. Vietnamese grammar is very simple: nouns and adjectives have no genders and cannot be conjugated. Vietnamese is a tonal language; the meaning of a word depends on how high or low your voice is. Vietnamese is not related to Chinese, although it contains many borrowings from the Chinese language due to centuries of Chinese domination of Vietnam, and even used Chinese characters as a writing system called "Chu Nom" until Vietnam was colonized by the French.
Russian-Vietnamese phrasebook
| Russian-Vietnamese phrasebook | ||
| In Russian | Pronunciation | In Vietnamese |
| Yes | tso, wang, yes | vâng |
| No | hong | không |
| Thank you | cam he | cảm ơn bạn |
| Please | hong tso chi | xin |
| Sorry | hin loy | xin lỗi |
| Hello | hin chao | chào |
| Goodbye | there's a beat there | tạm biệt |
| Bye | dy nhe | trong khi |
| Good morning/afternoon/evening | hin chao | Chào buổi sáng. ngày. buổi tối |
| Good night | chuts ngu ngon | tốt đêm |
| How to say this by [: ...]? | tsai nai tieng noi te nau... | Làm thế nào để bạn nói không? |
| Do you speak-… | ankh (m)/ chi (f) tso noi tieng hong? | Bạn noi |
| English | ankh | Anh |
| French | fap, thai | Phap |
| German | duts | Đức |
| I | Toy | tôi |
| We | chung toy | chung toi |
| You | ong (m), ba (f) | anh |
| They | xo | họ |
| What is your name? | ten anh (chi) la gi? | Tên của bạn là gì? |
| Fine | That | tốt |
| Badly | how, hong tot | kem |
| So-so | There there | so-so |
| Wife | in | vợ |
| Husband | cho"ng | chồng |
| Daughter | tsong guy | con gái |
| Son | tsong trai | con trai |
| Mother | meh, ma | mẹ |
| Father | cha, bo, ba | cha |
| Friend | ban | người bạn |
| Numbers and numbers | ||
| zero | hong | không |
| one | Mot | một |
| two | Hai | hai |
| three | ba | ba |
| four | Bon | bốn |
| five | On | năm |
| six | sai | sáu |
| seven | Bai | bảy |
| eight | There | tám |
| nine | Chin | chín |
| ten | muoi | mười |
| eleven | Muoi mot | mười một |
| twenty | Hai muoi | hai mươi |
| twenty one | muoi | hai mươi mốt |
| thirty | Ba muoi | ba mươi |
| fourty | Bon muoi | bốn mươi |
| fifty | Na muoi | năm mươi |
| one hundred | motor tram | một trăm |
| thousand | mot ngan | ngan |
| Shops and restaurants | ||
| How much does it cost? | Tsai nai gia bao nhieu? | Nó có giá bao nhiêu? |
| What it is? | Tsai gi ddai? | Nó là gì? |
| I will buy it | toi mua tsai nai | Tôi sẽ mua nó |
| Open | mo, tsua | cong khai |
| Closed | dong cua | đóng cửa |
| A little, a little | it | Oh, Little |
| A lot of | nhie"u | nhiều |
| Breakfast | a n sang | bữa ăn sáng |
| Dinner | a n troyes | bưa trưa |
| Dinner | and that one | bữa ăn tối |
| Bread | banh mi | bánh mì |
| Drink | before" yung | ly |
| Coffee | cafe | cà phê |
| Juice | Nuots Trai Tsau | nước trái cây |
| Water | Nuots | nước |
| Beer | Bia | bia |
| Wine | ruou | vang |
| Meat | Titus | thịt |
| Vegetables | rau | rau |
| Fruits | trai tsau | trái cây |
| Ice cream | By whom | kem |
| Tourism | ||
| Where …? | oh-dow | Ở đâu...? |
| How much does the ticket cost? | gia ve la bao nhieu? | Bao nhiêu là vé? |
| Ticket | Ve | ve |
| Train | heh lua | xe lửa |
| Bus | heh bass | xe buy |
| Metro | tau dien nga"m | tàu điện ngầm |
| Airport | san bai | san bay |
| Railway station | ga he lua | ga xe lửa |
| Bus station | ben he bass | trạm xe buýt |
| Departure | di, ho hanh | ra đi |
| Arrival | Dan | đến |
| Hotel, Hotel | khach san, wanted | Khách sạn, khách sạn |
| Room | fong | phong |
| Passport | ho chieu | hộ chiếu |
| How to get | ||
| Left | Tray | trái |
| Right | Fai | ngay |
| Directly | Tang | ngay |
| Up | Linen | lên |
| Down | Huong | xuống |
| Far | Ha | xa |
| Close | ga"n | Đóng cửa |
| Map | ban ddo" | bản đồ |
| Public areas and attractions | ||
| buu-dien | thư | |
| Museum | bao tang | bảo tàng |
| Bank | ngan hang, nha bang | ngân hàng |
| Police | do"n tsankh sat | lực lượng dân quân |
| Hospital | benh vien, nha tuong | bệnh viện |
| Pharmacy | Hieu Tuoc | Dược |
| Shop | tsua hang | cửa hàng |
| Restaurant | Nha Hang, Quan An | nhà hàng |
| Street | Duong, Pho | đường phố |
| Square | Quang Truong | khu vực |
| Dates and times | ||
| What time is it now? | Mau gio ro"i nhi? | Thời gian được? |
| Day | ngau | ngày |
| A week | tua"n | tuần |
| Monday | tu hi | Thứ Hai |
| Tuesday | tu ba | Thứba |
| Wednesday | tu tu | Thứ tư |
| Thursday | that to us | Thứ năm |
| Friday | that sau | Thứ sáu |
| Saturday | bye bye | Thứ bảy |
| Sunday | chu nhat | Chủ Nhật |
| Spring | mua huang | mùa xuân |
| Summer | mua he (ha) | mùa hè |
| Autumn | mua tu | mùa thu |
| Winter | muah dong | mùa đông |
Language is a means of communication. Language allows people to understand each other. At the same time, language can be a serious barrier to understanding, since there are thousands of different languages on our planet.
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Learning Vietnamese
The study of foreign languages is more relevant today than ever due to the fact that the borders between states are becoming more and more blurred, attracting foreign partners to do business is becoming more and more realistic, people are starting to travel more to other countries, etc. As a rule, language learning begins with English as the language of international communication, which is relevant everywhere and in any developed country in the world, which will provide an opportunity to solve a particular problem and not feel isolated.
But no less promising is the study of rare foreign languages. This is due to the fact that the demand for specialists who speak a rare exotic language is very high and therefore a linguist will always be able to find a job. The more exotic the language, the higher the level of payment a specialist who speaks it can expect.
The Vietnamese language today is known by a very small number of people (excluding native speakers); it belongs to the Australasian group of languages, which is widespread in countries such as Thailand, Laos, New Caledonia, Cambodia, etc. This language is not very widespread and is mainly used only in these countries and by a small Vietnamese diaspora. However, the world community pays serious attention to the problems of developing countries - people in Cambodia, for example, are trying to provide food and build reliable frame houses using Canadian technology , deliver medicines, etc. Therefore, for any volunteer organization, the United Nations, a person who knows Vietnamese is a real godsend.
Vietnam was under Chinese rule for a whole millennium and this had a significant impact on the language. Today, more than two-thirds of all words in the Vietnamese language are borrowed from Chinese. But, unlike Chinese, Vietnamese is a relatively simple language, since words here do not change and do not have suffixes or endings.
The peculiarity of this language is that oral speech is much more complex than written language, since the same words, but pronounced with different intonations, can have completely different meanings. It is precisely because of this feature, which classifies the Vietnamese language as a tone language, that its study is significantly difficult, since for Europeans, distinguishing the meaning of speech solely by intonation coloring is very unusual. Experts say that the fastest person to master a language is someone who has an excellent ear for music and an equally good musical memory.
But written translation from Vietnamese and vice versa does not pose any difficulties. Due to the fact that the language is quite simple, the words in it do not change, and the Latin alphabet familiar to Europeans is used, the written language can be learned quite quickly. The written language is a modified Latin alphabet consisting of 29 letters. The main difference from the Latin alphabet is the addition of diacritics to vowel letters to indicate tones. If you have a good textbook and the help of a tutor, learning a language is quite possible.
All tourists who want to visit this country are interested in what language they speak in Vietnam. And recently, the number of people who travel to this southeastern state has only been increasing. Vietnam attracts with its exotic nature, inexpensive holidays and the hospitality of the local people, with whom you want to exchange at least a few words in their native language.
Official language
Vietnam is a multinational country. It has both official and unrecognized languages. But still, when finding out what language is spoken in Vietnam, it is worth recognizing that the majority prefer Vietnamese. It is state-owned, and part of the population speaks fluent French, English and Chinese.
The official language of Vietnam is used for education and international communication. Besides Vietnam itself, it is also common in Laos, Cambodia, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, France, USA, Germany, Canada and other countries. In total, it is spoken by about 75 million people, of which 72 million live in Vietnam.
This language is spoken by 86 percent of the population in Vietnam. It is interesting that until the very end of the 19th century it was mainly used only for everyday communication and writing works of art.
History of Vietnam
When telling what language is spoken in Vietnam, it should be noted that the history of the state has left its mark on this. In the 2nd century BC, the territory of the modern country to which this article is dedicated was conquered by China. In fact, the Vietnamese remained under the protectorate of the Chinese until the 10th century. It is for this reason that Chinese served as the main language for official and written communication.
In addition, the Vietnamese rulers paid close attention to competitive examinations when appointing a new official to a particular position. This was required to select the most qualified employees; exams were conducted exclusively in Chinese for several centuries.
How did the Vietnamese language appear?
Vietnam as an independent literary tradition began to emerge only at the end of the 17th century. At that time, a French Jesuit monk named Alexandre de Rod developed the Vietnamese alphabet based on the Latin one. In it, tones were indicated by special diacritics.
In the second half of the 19th century, the French colonial administration, in order to weaken the traditional influence of the Chinese language on Vietnam, promoted its development.
Modern literary Vietnamese is based on the northern dialect of the Hanoi dialect. In this case, the written form of the literary language is based on the sound composition of the central dialect. An interesting feature is that in writing each syllable is separated by a space.
Now you know what the language is in Vietnam. Nowadays, it is spoken by the vast majority of residents of this state. At the same time, according to experts, there are about 130 languages in the country, which are more or less common in this country. Vietnamese is used as a means of communication at the highest levels as well as among ordinary people. It is the official language in business and education.
Features of the Vietnamese language
Knowing what language is spoken in Vietnam, it is worth understanding its features. It belongs to the Austroasiatic family, the Vietnamese group. Most likely, in its origin it is close to the Muong language, but was originally classified as a group of Thai dialects.
It has a large number of dialects, of which there are three main ones, each of which is divided into its own dialects and dialects. The northern dialect is common in the center of the country; the southern dialect is popular in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas. They all differ in vocabulary and phonetics.
Grammar
In total, the Vietnamese language has about two and a half thousand syllables. Interestingly, their number may vary depending on belonging to a particular dialect. It is an isolating language that is at the same time tonal and syllabic.
In almost all languages of this group, complex words are simplified to monosyllabic ones, often this also applies to historical words, although recently a reverse trend has begun. The Vietnamese language lacks inflections and analytical forms. That is, all grammatical relations are built solely on the basis of function words, and prefixes, suffixes and affixes do not play any role in this. Notional parts of speech include verbs, adjectives and predicates. Another distinctive feature is the use of cognates instead of personal pronouns.
Word formation
Most words in standard Vietnamese are formed using affixes, mostly of Chinese origin, as well as adding roots and doubling words or syllables.
One of the key features of word formation is that all components involved in the formation of words are monosyllabic. Surprisingly, one syllable can have several meanings at once, which can change depending on the intonation when they are pronounced.
A sentence has a fixed word order: the subject comes first, then the predicate and object. Most Vietnamese words are borrowed from Chinese, from different historical periods, and there is also a lot of Austroasiatic vocabulary.
The names of people in Vietnam are made up of three words - the mother's or father's surname, nickname and given name. The Vietnamese are not called by their surname, as in Russia; most often they are identified by their name. Another feature of Vietnamese names in earlier times was that the middle name clearly indicated the child's gender at birth. Moreover, if a girl’s name consisted of one word, then for a boy it could be several dozen words. Nowadays, this tradition has disappeared.
Popularity of the Vietnamese language
Due to the fact that this language is spoken in many Asian and European countries nowadays, it is not surprising that its popularity is growing every year. Many people learn it in order to open a business in this rapidly developing country.
Certain goods from Vietnam are now not inferior either in quality or in cost, and the culture and traditions are so interesting and amazing that many strive to join them.
In Vietnam itself, English, French and Chinese are actively used in the tourism sector; quite a lot of Russian-speaking personnel can be found, especially among those who received education in the USSR in Soviet times. Those who master this language note that it is very similar to Chinese. In both languages, syllables carry a special meaning, and intonation plays almost a decisive role.
This is a rather rare language in Russia; there are only a few schools that will help you master it. If you still decide to study it, then be prepared for the fact that classes can begin only after the group has been recruited; you may have to wait quite a long time, so it is better to initially focus on meetings with an individual teacher.
Common phrases in Vietnamese
So it is not easy to learn this language. At the same time, you often want to build communication in Vietnam in your native dialect in order to win over the local residents. It's easy to pick up a few popular phrases that will demonstrate in conversation how immersed you are in the local culture:
- Hello - Xing Tiao.
- Dear friends - like ban than mein.
- Goodbye - hyung gap lai nya.
- Where will we meet - tyung ta gap nyau o dau?
- Bye - dy nhe.
- Yes - tso, wang, yes.
- No - hong.
- Thank you - cam he.
- Please - hong tso chi.
- Sorry - hin loy.
- What is your name - an tein la di?
- My name is... - toy tein la...
We hope you learned a lot of interesting things about the language and culture of Vietnam. We wish you interesting travels to this country!
Ulyana Makhkamova- journalist, photographer and traveler. She spent the fall and winter working as a tour guide in Vietnam. I learned to speak loudly, drive a bike and cook squid. But I missed leisurely music, Bergman films and writing articles. Ulyana shared her experience of communicating with local residents with GL readers.
I was driving a bus loaded with Russian tourists along a mountain serpentine road. They looked at the signs in Vietnamese and laughed. “Gentlemen, it is very politically incorrect to call diacritics “crackers,” I rattled into the microphone. “The icons indicate the pitch of the vowels. For example, if you mispronounce the name of the old Saigon market, Cho Ku, you will get a penis.” At the word “penis,” the tourists stopped laughing and put down their lunch bags.
I was delighted by the attention and rushed to talk about the history of Vietnamese writing. How at first many Vietnamese tribes spoke each in their own dialect and this multitude did not understand each other, and then the Chinese came and for ten centuries in a row they taught everyone to write in their own hieroglyphs. They taught for free, but those who did not learn well were punished with a hot iron.
Then the Chinese were defeated, and the language of the invaders was replaced by a language for perverts, where two icons were needed to write one single word: Chinese characters indicated the meaning of the word, and Vietnamese characters showed how to get to this meaning - they explained the pronunciation. In the 16th century, one compassionate monk decided to help the Vietnamese and came up with a new alphabet for them - with Latin letters. Such a language was understandable to any European colonialist and ensured the rapid enslavement of Vietnam by the French. “This alphabet consists of 29 letters, and the Vietnamese still use it to this day,” I finished cheerfully. The tourists were sleeping peacefully.
A couple of days later I went to see new excursion sites, among which was an old railway station. The guidebook promised that it was “a wonderful example of Art Deco and a nice copy of the station of Norman Deauville.” The taxi driver, unlike the guidebook, did not promise anything - he glanced with his long eye at the piece of paper with the address and rushed off somewhere.
We drove for 5 minutes, 10, then another 20. Then I realized that we were driving in circles. I poked the taxi driver in the eye with the address again. The man smiled and began to twirl his palm - by that time I already knew what this gesture meant. Depending on the situation, this is either refusal or denial. In my case, this meant that we had been running the meter for half an hour, because the taxi driver decided to guess where the end point of the route was. “Do you know where’s this place?” - I shouted to a man for whom English is just a funny combination of sounds. He smiled again and continued to circle us around the city.
I shouted strange English words that I associated with the station and trains. They only made the taxi driver smile. I pretended to be a steam locomotive: I puffed out my cheeks, spun my arms like wheels, blew smoke out of my ears, and blew a horn. The man behind the wheel turned away out of politeness, thinking that I was not feeling well. Finally, the heavy artillery was used - a pen and a notepad. I drew the train in the tradition of the minimalists; even a child would understand me. The taxi driver also thought about the children and drove up to the amusement park: at the entrance there was a multi-colored steam locomotive. Mickey Mouse's head was sticking out of the window of the locomotive, or rather, it was how the Vietnamese imagine him.
I was tired and wanted to disappear unnoticed - the meter showed three hundred and something dong, about 15 dollars. Apparently the taxi driver understood this. And then a miracle happened. He took out his cell phone, shouted into it a little and gave the phone to me. “Hello, Madam! Where do you need to go?” - poured from there. The next day I bought a phrase book.
I would never buy a phrase book in China. Because hieroglyphs are scary. And the Vietnamese with the usual Latin letters seemed like an old acquaintance who had temporarily changed into designer clothes, but we all know that he is a normal guy. The phrasebook we bought was in English, and this made the transcription cosmically incomprehensible.
In general, the book is compiled competently - in transport, shopping, food. There are even sections that help you socialize: “pick-up”, “sex”, “leaving” - and in exactly that order. I don’t know how strong the passion for the language must be to remember the phrase “I will not do this without protection” - in Vietnamese it is a dozen and a half words. Apparently, the author of the dictionary did not have a very positive sexual experience if he included sentences like: “Don’t worry, I’ll do everything myself” or “Let’s treat it with humor.”
However, I digress. A few days later it became clear: no phrasebook would help me. Because if you know how to spell a Vietnamese word, then it’s worse for you. Because those letters that you see actually don’t exist. Half of the consonants are read as “r” or “z”, the other half is not pronounced, but is squeezed out by the nose. As for vowels, it is almost impossible to remember and learn to use all keys without musical education.
At gas stations they ignored me, in stores they laughed, and in restaurants they simply mocked me: “Bi sin loy soup,” I asked for my favorite pumpkin soup. She asked politely. After all, I came to this eatery specifically because of the soup, which smelled of dead turtles.
A minute later the waiter brought beer instead of soup, beer. The Vietnamese word for pumpkin is “bi,” but apparently my dark circles under my eyes are more a sign of beer drinking than a healthy eating habit. Looking longingly at the sweaty bottle, I repeated ten times that I wanted “bi soup.” This time I didn’t have a notepad with me, so I explained it on my fingers. Like this? The waiter didn’t understand either. But half an hour later he proudly brought out a plate of broth with pieces of meat. "Soup beef!" - he announced proudly. I swallowed both the insult and the soup.
As time went. The language barrier has already begun to affect work. One day I needed to translate a menu. Google translator produced amazing things like “rice with boogers” and “soup made from highly processed petroleum products.” But I managed to get through 20 pages. They say Russians never go to that restaurant.
“Get yourself a local guy,” one Vietnamese guide advised me. “In a week you’ll speak and there will be no accent.” History proved the opposite: Russian guide Natasha married a Vietnamese man and for 8 years there was no boom-boom. More precisely, there was a boom-boom, but different - that’s what they call sex here. Natasha was silent as a fish, swearing at her husband exclusively in Russian. And only when it was time to give birth, she burst. In the maternity hospital, she remembered all the words she had heard before. Natasha's child speaks Vietnamese to her. I don't want to give birth to a Vietnamese lover. And my friend probably won’t allow it.
Finally, providence itself wanted me to start learning Vietnamese. And it sent some weirdo into the oncoming lane. The bike is broken, I lie on the side of the road and explain to the orderlies that I cannot be dragged onto a stretcher by my legs. More precisely, I yell obscenities, and they embarrassedly continue to pull my broken leg.
It was no better at the clinic. “Sho kalaso!” - the doctor smiled, rejoicing at the new patient. Sutures were placed in six hands and the same number of eyes - medical school trainees studied the body structure of a white woman. “Syo kalaso!” - the happy doctor patted me as hard as he could on my sore leg.
Over the several days I spent in the clinic, I was never able to explain to him what was hurting me. In addition, the doctor turned out to be a military surgeon - there is no need to explain how funny the sores of a person with a full set of arms and legs seem to him.
Happiness is when you are understood. And when not, it hurts. I didn’t just come to Vietnam for the winter, I really like these short, stubborn people who can smile like angels. Who defeated the Chinese and Americans. Which can work in 35-degree heat. Who, over half a century, built a thousand temples and erected dozens of different-sized Buddhas. Who speak their complex language so quickly and so loudly.
And I will learn this language. My future Vietnamese language teacher, Binh, is about thirty and speaks Russian well. His name is not actually Binh. He just lived in Moscow for eight years and heard his name every day - in the subway, at work and even in Lenin’s mausoleum. This is a favorite three-letter Russian word that is dotted with all Russian fences. By the way, it is translated from Vietnamese as “commander”. So that.