My Vietnamese Tutor

When I started teaching the English class at the bank a few months ago, I expressed interest in learning Vietnamese. One of the students introduced me to Phuong, & we have been meeting every Saturday since.

She picks me up at 2:00 & takes me to her house, which is surrounded by plants & flowers. Her familly is warm & generous, & they have a very sweet dog. It's a great place to spend the afternoon.

Phuong speaks very good English & has traveled outside Vietnam several times. We spend the afternoon studying Vietnamese, as well as chatting in English about movies, travel, books, & living healthy. Her mother always makes me something delicious: fresh fruit juice, homemade soy milk, whole grain rice & tofu with vegetables. & they always send me home with a bag full of yummy goodies.

I'm so lucky to have met her. Our Saturday meetings are one of the highlights of my week.

Phuong's house

Phuong is shy, so this is the only photo I have of her so far. She's trying to get out of the way so I can take a photo of her courtyard.

The dog is much more accomdating of photographs :)

10 Things I Say Every Day in Vietnamese

1. cảm ơn = thank you
2. đẹp = beautiful
3. cà phê đá = iced coffee
4. ống hút = straw
5. em ơi! = hey you!
6. tính tiền = bill/check
7. ba mươi tám = 38
8. người Mỹ = American
9. là gì? = what's that?
10.không hiểu = I don't understand

I Found a Vietnamese Tutor!

I'm finally making some headway in my attempt to learn Vietnamese!

I've been living in Vietnam for almost four months now, but I haven't learned much of the language because I haven't had any direction in my studies. I've just been using my Vietnamese-English dictionary to look up words here & there, & pointing to various objects & asking for the word in Vietnamese. Most people that I meet will tell me a few words, but they are more interested in practicing their English skills than wading through my rudimentary Vietnamese.

Last week I finally broke through the language learning barrier when Marcus, another English teacher, got me a copy of Pimsleur's Vietnamese lessons. There are ten 30-minute lessons & I've already gone through two of them. Miss Hang, my coffee shop friend, was impressed when I tried out my new phrases on her.

Then last Friday, I went to teach my class at one of the local banks here in Bien Hoa. One of the students in the class introduced me to a co-worker, Phuong, who speaks English very well. She offered to help me learn Vietnamese, & we exchanged phone numbers. I met with her for two hours on Saturday & left very encouraged. She had all kinds of great information to help me learn Vietnamese. She even printed up three lessons for me to study during the week.

Phuong studied at a university in Bangkok, where all of the classes were in English. She's married to a Chinese man, who she met while she was studying in Thailand. Because of this, she seems to be much more open to making friends with foreigners = me! I'm planning on meeting with her again this Saturday.

To top if off, one of the students in my favorite English class gave me a book & CD: Vietnamese for Beginners 1. He said there are four levels & to let him know when I'm ready for the next one.

I'm so excited to finally start learning Vietnamese for real!

Pimsleur Vietnamese

I just got a copy of Pimsleur's Vietnamese audio program & I'm thrilled! Now I can finally learn this silly language.

I've been using Pimsleur to study Mandarin Chinese for a few years now, & I love it. It's the only self-study language program that I have found that actually teaches you the language. Most other programs give you vocabulary & phrases, sure, but they don't teach them to you. With those other programs, you still have to teach yourself. Not so with Pimsleur. You just listen & learn. It's awesome.

The program is narrated by an English speaker, with native speakers presenting the target language. The method is unique in that it teaches you to form your own sentences that are not on the CD, & forces you to think in the target language.

For a simple example, you will hear the word for "I" & the word for "understand". Then they put it together in a sentence for you: "I understand". Next, they will teach you how to say "you". Then they ask you to form your own sentence: "You understand". You have to decide on your own how to put the words together, & only after that will you hear the correct sentence. In this way, you start thinking in the target language from the very beginning, which is so important when learning a new language.

I'm so excited to finally be learning Vietnamese!

All's Quiet at the Buddhist Temple

I went back to the Buddhist temple on the island today. I was looking forward to hanging out with the nuns & exchanging language lessons. Today, however, not many nuns were there. Perhaps it was because the Hungry Ghost Festival is over & they were resting up from the festivities.

The young man that I had met the last time I was there was waiting for me, though. He had brought his English dictionary & a notebook, & we spent a couple of hours practicing English, & I was able to add a few words to my growing Vietnamese vocabulary list.

An older nun sat down with us after lunch & spoke with my new study partner. He translated for me, saying that the nun wanted me to return next Sunday to hold a formal English class with some of the nuns. That should be fun.

Language Lessons

I asked some of the other teachers at KTV where I'm teaching English how I would find Vietnamese classes to take. They all looked at me like I was from another planet & asked "Why would you want to do that?!" Hm.

Okay, so I decided to take my own advice & use my surroundings as my language lesson. I took the room service menu at the hotel & my Vietnamese dictionary (courtesy of my friend Scott W. - thanks, Scott!), & set to deciphering it. I think I got most of it, except two things: "beef butt" & "buffalo thing", both under the beverage column. I must have gotten an accent wrong!

Next task: the headlines in the newspaper.