The
following letters:
b,
c, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, t, v
are
basically pronounced the same in Vietnamese as in English (though 'c'
is always hard - “cold”, not “cider”).
The
letter 'd' is pronounced like English 'y' in the standard Northern
form of Vietnamese, and pronounced like 'z' in the Southern dialect
(which is also quite common). Pronounce it like 'y', but also
recognise the Southern 'z' pronunciation – you will hear it.
The
letter 'đ' is
pronounced like English 'd'.
The
letter combination 'gi' is pronounced exactly like Vietnamese 'd' –
English 'y' in the North and 'z' in the South.
The
letter combination 'kh' is pronounced almost exactly like 'k'. The
subtle difference is beyond the scope of this primer.
The
letter combination 'ng' is pronounced exactly the same as in English,
but in Vietnamese it often appears at the start of a word. To get
used to this, try saying “singer” and then repeating it without
the “si”.
The
letter combination 'nh' is pronounced 'ny'. For speakers of British
or Australian English, this is the sound at the beginning of words
such as “new” and “numerous”; for speakers of American
English, it is the sound at the beginning of “nyah”.
The
letter 'r' is pronounced like the English 'r' in the North, but is
pronounced 'z' in the South.
The
letter 's' is pronounced 'sh' in Northern Vietnam, and 's' in
Southern Vietnam.
The
letter 'x' is pronounced like the English 's'.
The
above pronunciations are not all phonetically precise, but they are
at least fairly accurate. They are all perfectly adequate for
everyday conversational use of the language, though advanced students
may develop more nuanced pronunciations of some.
Stopped
consonants in Vietnamese are not particularly important in speaking.
Especially at the ends of words, such consonants (c,k,p,t) are very
often dropped or mispronounced by native speakers - “việc”
and “Việt”, for instance, are often
pronounced interchangeably (though there is no particular reason why a student of Vietnamese shouldn't pronounce them correctly). Note also that when 'nh' appears at the
end of a word it is pronounced almost exactly like 'n'.
See
also Vowels.
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