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andwar · Joined: 09 Apr 2011 Posts: 44

Which dialect of Vietnamese is easier for Native English speakers to learn, Northern, Central or Southern? I've heard that learning to speak Vietnamese in HCMC is particularly challenging because of the mix of different accents.

just noel · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 168

bludevil96 · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 82

The southern dialect is the equivalent of the American English in the English world. When they sing, the north or central region will sound like the southern accent with the exception of the "r" and "d" which is pronounced as a "z" instead of its respective sound. The northern & central accent is like that of the British English accent with its own set of different names for certain things.

The standard or mainstream accent spoken by news anchors is that of the educated southern accent since the southern slang of the "r" is "g" and the "gi & v" sounds like the English "y" instead of it's respective sound of "Z" and "V". Much like the television anchors in the U.S. southern States, the pronunciation of English has to be mainstream so therefore, mainstream Vietnamese is southern.

Mattingly · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 249

andwar · Joined: 09 Apr 2011 Posts: 44

Well...which dialect has more foreign speakers? I've heard of a few Tay in HN who have mastered Vietnamese to some degree; one chap in Da Nang who can speak the central dialect well; but nary a soul in HCMC!

bludevil96 · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 82

The standard Vietnamese on the news is the northern Hanoian accent.

The "northern" dialect is considered standard. It's the prescriptive dialect, and it's taught in schools, even in Saigon.

This is why a Saigonese or Mekong Delta person can understand a Hanoian but a Hanoian won't understand a southerner very well.

One question:

Why do some southerners pronounce the "s" as "sh?"[/quote]

Sorry but you're completely misinformed. The standard mainstream accent is what I've stated above and is NOT taught in school outside of the central regions on down (Danang -->Ca Mau). It is also the opposite of your assumption in terms of who can understand whom. The northerners CAN understand the southerner but not vice versa.

In Vietnamese, the X is pronounced the same as the English S while the "sh" is pronounce the same as the English S. The English T is pronounced as "th" and the Vietnamese P is pronounced as B as in "Pede" meaning a gay male. Vietnam does not have an individual sound for the P except in the combination of the PH to sound like an F as in PHO.

bludevil96 · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 82

andwar wrote:

Well...which dialect has more foreign speakers? I've heard of a few Tay in HN who have mastered Vietnamese to some degree; one chap in Da Nang who can speak the central dialect well; but nary a soul in HCMC!

I may be bias but for a foreigner, they should invest in the southern dialect because it's understandable to both the central and northern regions. If you speak with a Hue dialect in Saigon, you might as well be speaking in German.

Danang is where the dialect begins to transition into the southern tone but with a twang or drawl in certain words. This is similar to Phan Thiet where certain sounds like the oi is pronounce like au e.g. troi is trau, otherwise will sound completely southern. Quang Nam will for example turns the sound of the "a" in the Vietnamese language into the "o" sound therefore, they will say Viet Nom instead of Viet Nam.

Mattingly · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 249

bludevil96 · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 82

"Bluedevil,

You are wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong,

No offense.

You've got it backwards.

Also, my comment was about the "s" being a "sh" which is what university graduates in parts of the south with pronounce.

I did not ask about the "x."[/quote]

I guess the best way to resolve this is to have some Viet kieus to verify who is right. you've missed the point of my explanation about the sound of the x/s. The problem with most Vietnamese is that in the Vietnamese language, the "s" is pronounced like our "sh" digraph. Visually, when they see the "s", they pronounce it as "sh". Interestingly, they can pronounce the word Saigon with an "x" sound in Vietnamese when it should be "shai gon". Most southerners don't pronounce the "Q" correctly in addition to the "gi" and "r" and "v" while the northerners will mispronounce the "r" and "d".

If you are Viet Kieu then you need to study your language more closely but if not, then take my word for it...I'm right about this. I can also