Toi Biet Noi Tieng Viet: Teaching Vietnamese to the Non-Speaker

Jessica and James

My cousin Jessica and her boyfriend James have been together since 2005. James has managed to learn most of the formal titles in Vietnamese. That’s quite impressive, considering most of us don’t know them all ourselves. There’s no informal and universal translations of “I,” “you,” “me,” “they,” “we,” etc. Everyone has a title. Personally, I think the most difficult things to teach a non-Vietnamese speaker are titles and how to use each one properly. Because there are so many different types of titles, how do you know which one to use without offending someone—which ones do you teach first? The easiest to teach first, are the differences between em, anh, chi, co, chu, bac, ba and ong. James also picked up “yes” and “no” quickly, “hurry up,” or “mao len” and the numbers one through ten.

I tried teaching my boyfriend these titles when we first started dating, and it was a world of confusion. “Em” refers to someone who is your generation and younger than you despite gender. “Anh” is an older male who is in your generation and “chi” is an older female in your generation. “Co” is a woman who is a part of your parents’ generation but younger than them. “Chu” is a man who is in your parents’ generation but younger than them. “Bac” is a man or a woman who is in your parents generation but older than them. “Ba” is a woman a part of your grandmother’s generation and “ong” is a man a part of your grandfather’s generation. Wow… that was an earful, so you can understand how it’s something difficult to pick up quickly… not like the words, “di” and “an.” The best thing to do is explain that there are different titles for different people, and as your significant other begins meeting these people, you can teach him or her and explain what and why that person gets a certain title. The most obvious is how he or she would refer to your parents, if they want to be called by their Vietnamese names with a formal title—even though with modern age, we’re on a first name basis. Should your parents be addressed as “bac” or “co” and “chu”? It’s up to you.

Jackie and Phil

Jackie, a cousin, has been with her fiancé, Phil, since 2005. Jackie tries to make learning Vietnamese fun for Phil and the simplest way to do it is not to sit him down like in a classroom, but just to translate everyday words a little at a time. The easiest thing to teach are words that you use everyday. Simple words include, “mi,” “kiss,” and even fun words like “danh don,” “spanking.” Jackie says, “I’ve taught him animals, but it’s hard for him to remember because when they’re not used daily.”

Vietnamese is a very difficult language to learn. It’s even a difficult language for Vietnamese children whose parents speak Vietnamese to learn, and it’s probably more difficult for those who come from non-Vietnamese people, but if you want to teach them and they want to learn—what do you teach first? How do you begin the lessons? It’s a great language to pass on because it is our own. Informally teaching Vietnamese as an amateur can make it even more difficult, but it can be fun and rewarding for both parties. Deciding what to teach and how to teach it is all up to you and your relationship. How do you teach, and what words do you teach first to those who want to learn Vietnamese?