From Marianne
Huy's lesson today, as we rode the bus to visit a small village, was about the Vietnamese language.
Vietnamese is a very musical language. It has six different tones. If one pronounces "Chao" with a descending tone, it means "Hello"; with an ascending tone, it means "I'm hungry."
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks (which show how a syllable should be pronounced) change the meaning of a syllable. Huy gave us an example using the word, "ma." He said it six different ways and the words meant ghost, mother, horse, tomb, young rice or what if, depending on the tone he used. A group member suggested that using the same syllable we could say "What if mother's horse and young rice are in the tomb?"
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks also change the meaning of words. Example: by changing the accent marks the sentence "I'm waiting for you at school" becomes "I'm naked waiting for you."
Thirty percent of Vietnamese vocabulary is borrowed from the Chinese. The word's pronunciation is kept, but the meaning of the word is different in Vietnamese.
There are different regional and provincial accents. The Hanoi accent is used as the standard accent and is used in singing. Huy explained that radio and TV news programs use announcers from different regions on a regular rotation in order to be fair to the regions. Mondays may have an announcer from Hanoi; Tuesdays may have an announcer from the central or southern region.
The danbau is a unique Vietnamese instrument with one string. Its sound is core to the Vietnamese people; it's like the call of the homeland. Huy noted the link between music and language.
Huy's lesson today, as we rode the bus to visit a small village, was about the Vietnamese language.
Vietnamese is a very musical language. It has six different tones. If one pronounces "Chao" with a descending tone, it means "Hello"; with an ascending tone, it means "I'm hungry."
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks (which show how a syllable should be pronounced) change the meaning of a syllable. Huy gave us an example using the word, "ma." He said it six different ways and the words meant ghost, mother, horse, tomb, young rice or what if, depending on the tone he used. A group member suggested that using the same syllable we could say "What if mother's horse and young rice are in the tomb?"
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks also change the meaning of words. Example: by changing the accent marks the sentence "I'm waiting for you at school" becomes "I'm naked waiting for you."
Thirty percent of Vietnamese vocabulary is borrowed from the Chinese. The word's pronunciation is kept, but the meaning of the word is different in Vietnamese.
There are different regional and provincial accents. The Hanoi accent is used as the standard accent and is used in singing. Huy explained that radio and TV news programs use announcers from different regions on a regular rotation in order to be fair to the regions. Mondays may have an announcer from Hanoi; Tuesdays may have an announcer from the central or southern region.
The danbau is a unique Vietnamese instrument with one string. Its sound is core to the Vietnamese people; it's like the call of the homeland. Huy noted the link between music and language.
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