New member here!

[NisAznMonk]

Hi!

I'm new around here so please be kind when I ask n00bish questions

I was born in Philadelphia, PA back in 1978, but I now claim Houston, TX since my family moved there in 1979. I'm now living in Okinawa, Japan and am looking to learn the vietnamese language over the next several months. Sadly to say I lost my vocabulary when I hit middle school because I rarely ever used it.

I'm hoping to find new friends and alot of help in this process mainly because I have an opportunity to go to Vietnam on a 4week paid education trip if I meet the minimum standards. So I guess I could start off with an ice breaker.... Hola! Como te llamas? Me llamo es Nam Nguyen

[carolton67]

Hi NisAznmonk,

Let's see you live in Japan, want to learn Vietnamese, and introduce yourself in Spanish. Ok. To answer your question on learning Vietnamese, it would depend on your goal. Do you just want to learn conversational Vietnamese to use while you're in Vietnam? or do you want to learn to read and write and be fluent in Vietnamese? The way to learn Vietnamese is the same as in any other language by total immersion. Listen to Vietnamese on audio whether it is music, movies, radio, television. If the programs for adults are too hard to understand get programs geared for children to start off with to build your vocabulary and knowledge. To learn any new language, you have to start from the basics, which is from the beginning; that's where the material for children come in. There are also English/ Vietnamese phrase books you can buy for conversational Vietnamese while traveling. Don't be afraid to speak it as much as you can and have someone correct your pronunciation. Those who learn a foreign language the quickest are the ones who are not afraid to speak it and the ones who ask for help. I bet if you go to Vietnam and stay there for 3 months you will pick up the language again; you will have to, out of necessity.

[NisAznMonk]

Total Immersion isn't possible at this point. I'm in Japan because of the career field I'm in, but I want to take advantage of the learning abroad programs that are available. Vietnamese is the one language I know I could grasp if I knew what materials I could get to study (reading, writing and speaking). Do you have any recommendations? I've considered both Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur, but I'm undecided on either one at this point.

[carolton67]

There are a few websites you can go on that will give you links, resources, and materials to learn Vietnamese. You can purchase CDs, DVDs, audiotapes from sites like Amazon, www.alphasoft.cc/store/vietnamese-language.html; www.digitalriver.com

Check these online sites out first, they're free:
/www.public.asu.edu/~ickpl/vnonline/
http://www.wannalearn.com/Academic_S...es/Vietnamese/
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Vietnamese have several e-books for learning language
/www.phrasebase.com/learn/vietnamese and
/www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Vietnamese.asp
The last 2 sites have a good approach to learning conversational language. They have a Vietnamese Language Exchange Partner you can practice conversing with in a chat room. You can do this through live webcam video

The 2 programs you mentioned are popular too. Rosetta Stone uses both audio and visual so you will need a computer. Pimsleur is entirely audio, so can listen on a Cd. However, I've heard from some people who were not happy with Rosetta Stone because they could not learn to develop sentence structure.

Good luck

[tran_ngocph]

my name is laura .i just read your introduction .it is very good change for you if you have change to come to viet nam .you can see how is viet nam change .as if you heard about viet nam on newspaper or television , now you will you see it by your self . viet nam is open now , it is totally difference. i'm vietnmamese ,and i live in ho chi minh city. we have also two part ,north and south .if you want learn vietnamese ,you have to come south part because they have voice action is soft and very easy to talk ,listen..i think you will enjoy in viet nam .nice to talk with you.

[camdorac_likom]

I am so nice to hear that you want to learn Vietnamese. Do you want to read a poem in Vietnamese for children what is written by Pham Ho( Phạm Hổ ) ?
I present to you the poem named Kim đồng hồ( hands )

Kim đồng hồ
-Sao hai kim đồng hồ
Cái chạy nhanh chạy chậm?
-Vì cái này chân dài
Còn cái kia chân ngắn...!
Enjoy, if there is something difficult to understand , you can ask me .I think it's not so hard to read and understand.It's cute.

[overseastudent]

you should write the poem in English too so her can understand it and learn Vietnamese faster

[camdorac_likom]

Why two handsne's fast , one's slow
Because , one is longer than the other .

That following poem is just for children. I think she should read To Huu 's poems since they are worth reading, she'll feel all the beauties of Vietnam from To Huu 's poems. Believe me because it's true.

[camdorac_likom]

Because one hand has the longer leg than the other's so it runs faster than the other.

[camdorac_likom]

Have you ever listened the song named SOLEDAD that performed by Westlife?
I think you've . So anyone can tell me the meaning of that song's title in Vietnamese , i couldn't find it out when i used the dict.