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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.