Post on 06-Jul-2015
+
Vietnamese vs. English
Ashley E. White
ESL 502
+Subject Of Investigation
Vietnamese female, 34 years old
From the mountains north of Ho Chi Minh City
Received some schooling while growing up in Vietnam.
Has lived in the U.S. for 10 years
Currently works as a nail technician/store manager
Has learned English through her interactions with customers
but mainly studies and attempts to read the closed caption
provided during TV shows and movies.
+Key Features of the Vietnamese
Language
ALL words consist of one syllable
The language is tonal: different tones coupled with a word
signal a difference in meaning.
Tones are represented in writing by diacritic marks
Roman alphabet with a 1:1 sound to letter correspondence
Monosyllabic words contain ONE vowel.
Has 3 well-known dialects: Northern, Central, and Southern.
+Similarities Between Vietnamese &
English
Roman, phonetic alphabet
Inclusion of vowels
Similar handwriting systems
Similar punctuation symbols
+Phonetic Differences
Consonant clusters or blends such as str-, spl-, and tr- do NOT
exist!
No equivalents for the sounds /th/ and /zh/ as in “pleasure.”
In the Vietnamese alphabet letters such as “ch” exist and
denote one sound.
My subject had a very difficult time pronouncing blends and
digraphs. In many cases, the blends and digraphs are
simplified (example str- might be pronounced /tr.). This
mispronunciation is a direct result of the nonexistence of
clusters in my subjects‟ L1.
+Morphological Differences
Vietnamese does not contain suffixes such as : -ing, -s, -
es, „s, -er, and –est.
Vietnamese rely on context to indicate plurals, possession, and
comparisons.
The absence of suffixes may have contributed to my subjects‟
tendency to drop the final –s or –es sound when denoting
plurals during our conversation.
+Semantic Differences
The English verbs “to do”, “to work” and “to make” have ONE
equivalent in Vietnamese: lam.
This finding may explain why my subject had great difficulty
employing these verbs appropriately during conversation.
Vietnamese is a tonal yet language, English uses intonation to
emphasize mood and urgency.
Vietnamese speakers often have difficulty interpreting and
using intonation appropriately if they are not directly taught
appropriate intonation (Center for Applied Linguistics).
+Syntactic Differences
Vietnamese speakers have difficulty with word endings that
change the grammatical category of a word.
In Vietnamese the verb “to be” only precedes nouns. This may
explain why the verb “to be” is often missing in statements in
which there is no noun at the end.
-Example “ We on the left” “I sorry”
+Instructional Implications
To help Vietnamese learn appropriate pronunciation and intonation teachers should provide multiple opportunities for learners to listen to native speakers through read alouds, listening centers, poetry studies, and interactions with native speakers.
Minimal pairs can also be used to improve pronunciation.
Exercises that involve watching one‟s tongue in a mirror may also be useful to help teach Vietnamese students consonant clusters.
Direct instruction and multiple practice opportunities are a necessity when it comes to teaching proper use of verbs as well as using word endings to indicate plurals, possession, and tense.