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Vietnamese: HaNoi vs SaiGon dialect | ||
Tags: Vietnamese | Dialect | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Slmndr13 Newbie United States Joined 4879 days ago 21 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Studies: Vietnamese | Message 1 of 9 29 August 2011 at 7:37pm | IP Logged |
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I am a native English speaker and an advanced beginner (or VERY low intermediate) student of Mandarin
Chinese. I have had good luck with the Pimsleur method for Chinese and a tiny bit of Russian, but I just want to use whatever is most efficient. I want to start learning Vietnamese ASAP. I have downloaded all of the FSI and DLI material I could find. That is geared towards Saigon dialect. There is a substantial S. Vietnamese population in my city. A South Vietnamese tutor would be easy to find.I also have access to an old course geared towards Saigon dialect (Spoken Vietnamese, Robert Jones) and the accompanying cassettes. I may order Jake Catlett's Vietnamese for Beginners which is also for learning the South Vietnamese dialect. The consideration and gathering of these resources has been undertaken because I will have far more opportunities to converse with people from South Vietnam than I would with people from the North. That having been said, two things are nagging at me right now.... 1. I will be spending two weeks in North Vietnam in November. This could be a big short term motivator for the next 75 days or so. 2. I can't help but wonder if there is a logical reason to start out with the Hanoi dialect and learn the Saigon dialect later. An example of this sort of logic would be the learning of traditional chinese characters first because one who knows traditional characters will find it easier to switch than someone who started with simplified characters. I know Hanoi dialect is considered standard and it seems like there are more resources available (eg assimil, pimsleur - I have access to the latter). So, should I concentrate on Saigon dialect, or start with the Hanoi dialect? Thank you for reading this and offering your opinion! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Thuan Triglot Senior Member GermanyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6929 days ago 133 posts - 156 votes  Speaks: Vietnamese, German*, English Studies: French, Japanese, Romanian, Swedish, Mandarin | Message 2 of 9 30 August 2011 at 2:49pm | IP Logged |
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As your material is teaching you the Saigon dialect, I would advise you to start with the Saigon dialect. You will still be able to use your Vietnamese in Hanoi as the dialects are mutually intelligible. So, there's no reason to switch dialects later on.
The situation would be different, if you were to stay in Hanoi for a year or longer. In this case I would have recommended you to study the Northern dialect. Another plus for the Southern dialect is your location. The majority of Vietnamese in America came from South Vietnamese, so you will have much more chances to practice the Southern Dialect. Also, a large part of the popular Vietnamese entertainment products (music, variety shows, etc.) are produced in America, therefore in the Southern dialect. If you go to Vietnamese stores or speak to Vietnamese, you will often hear them talk about Shows like Paris by Night (the most popular musical Variety show among Vietnamese) - these are usually in the Southern dialect. As I said, the situation would be different if you were to move to Vietnam. News anchors in Vietnam usually use the Northern Dialect and I do believe that most movies in Vietnam use the Northern dialect (I'm not sure, I don't watch Vietnamese movies). But people in South Vietnam still speak the Southern dialect (what else?). Just don't move to Central Vietnam to study Vietnamese; you won't find any textbooks for that dialect (my father is from Central Vietnam). But again, most Vietnamese movies are rather cheap, and all of the well-known Vietnamese movies in recent years were produced by overseas Vietnamese and usually had overseas actors as leads. In the end, it doesn't really matter which dialect you choose as they're not as far apart as Mandarin and Cantonese (you will need time to tune your ear for the other dialect, but the Vietnamese will understand you provided your pronunciation is decent). I have used the Assimil series for most of my languages, so I would have probably used the Assimil course for Vietnamese. On the other hand, FSI and DLI are two of the most comprehensive courses for Vietnamese and can take you much further than Assimil can. I would just tell you to go with the material you like best. Edited by Thuan on 30 August 2011 at 2:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5414 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 3 of 9 30 August 2011 at 6:08pm | IP Logged |
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The northern dialect is supposedly easier to learn because the tones are more distinctly articulated, whereas the southern dialect allegedly often slurs them, making it hard for a learner to follow the tonal patterns.
That said, I'd just go with whatever resources are the most helpful, and whatever dialect they may be in, so be it. As Vietnamese mass media blossoms, the country will become more linguistically unified, so you may as well get a head start by exposing yourself to both ends of the spectrum, with both yourself and the country eventually converging toward the middle. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Thuan Triglot Senior Member GermanyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6929 days ago 133 posts - 156 votes Speaks: Vietnamese, German*, English Studies: French, Japanese, Romanian, Swedish, Mandarin | Message 4 of 9 30 August 2011 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
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Southern Vietnamese has only five tones, compared to the six tones in Northern Vietnamese.
And I agree with nway: You will have to understand both dialects if you're serious about Vietnamese as you will encounter both wherever you go. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Nguyen Senior Member Vietnam Joined 5092 days ago 109 posts - 195 votes Speaks: Vietnamese | Message 5 of 9 31 August 2011 at 5:15am | IP Logged |
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You will encounter both dialects in the North. If you try speaking with a Southern dialect don't be surprised if people will want to correct you. The Central dialect is completely different, alot of different vocabulary etc. Many Vietnamese who return to Vietnam after living abroad often speak in a very dated style. Second generation kids are usually pretty poor at speaking, so choose a language partner carefully. It is true though, that North and South can communicate easilly. Official broadcasts and News are northern, while alot of entertainment is from the South. Movies are usually from outside and are typically dubbed in Northern Vietnamese. The Northerners usually speak slower and are easier to understand for foreigners.
Good Luck. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| emptysilo3 Newbie United States Joined 5073 days ago 6 posts - 8 votes | Message 6 of 9 31 August 2011 at 7:18am | IP Logged |
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The DLI course posted on this site is based on the Northern Dialect, though I think some of the word choices have a
southern flavor. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Slmndr13 Newbie United States Joined 4879 days ago 21 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Studies: Vietnamese | Message 7 of 9 06 September 2011 at 5:33am | IP Logged |
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Thank you all. I am going to pursue Northern dialect first and then work on Southern later. Your advice was very helpful.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| baokieu Newbie Vietnam LangReviews.com Joined 4640 days ago 18 posts - 19 votes Speaks: Vietnamese* Studies: EnglishC2 | Message 8 of 9 31 May 2014 at 11:30am | IP Logged |
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@Thuan: Agree with you in most parts
@slmndr13: just want to tell this story: Recently, I teach Vietnamese for an American. He learned Vietnamese for a year or so in Hanoi (Northern dialect) 10 years ago. Then, he stopped, turned to 2 or 3 other languages when he moved out of Vietnam. He came back Vietnam 2 years a go. He is living in Saigon and learning Vietanmese again, this time Southern dialect. For some words he kept speaking with the northern dialect although he has been trying to correct them. (it's amazing because that is 10 years ago) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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