In the past week, I have been focusing more on diction just as I said I would. In my free time, I would either jot down words or phrases that I heard while listening to Vietnamese broadcasts or music. As expected, due to speaking habits, I still have a lot of trouble distinguishing between similar sounding (mostly voiced versus voiceless sounds) syllables like gi [z] and d [j] that, unlike the Northern dialect, does not have a clear distinction in the Southern dialect -- the [z] sound is not used in the Southern Dialect at all, instead both d and gi utilizes the same [j] sound. It is clear that I will need a lot more practice before I can make any substantial improvement in this area. If I do not make any improvement soons, I will definitely be asking for help in this area.
On a less serious note, I have been really into Vietnamese Pop music lately due to my diction practice. Korean pop has been really popular in Vietnam lately and that has led to somewhat of a ‘revival’ for the music industry in Vietnam. Growing up, my taste in Vietnamese music was heavily influenced by things like Ca Trù, Chèo, Hò -- which are various forms of Vietnamese folk music, Cải Lương -- vietnamese theatrical music that was heavily influenced by China, classical music, and ballads because my family often watched Vietnamese musical shows like Paris by Night or Vân Sơn Entertainment. Things like Vietnamese hip-hop and Vietnamese pop music never really took interest in me because I usually couldn’t understand them often due to the excessive usage of slang. It is also significantly faster than the music I was so used to. However, I have come across some very captivating, modern Vietnamese (hip-hop and pop) songs that I have been using for diction practice. The words, while more difficult to understand, are easier for me to hear because there are no unnecessary stressed or elongated words as there are in Vietnamese folk, theatrical, and ballad music. Meaning aside, I think it is an effective way for me to not only practice my diction but also understand the slang culture that is taking unexpected popularity in Vietnam.
My previous finding led me to a realization that learning Vietnamese is fine but there are things that just cannot be taught or learned in a traditional or nontraditional classroom setting. That is, there are a lot of cultural things that I will have to learn from observing and socializing with native speakers. As a result, I have started to watch Vietnamese programs such as game shows, reality TV, and interviews that were introduced to me by my partner where more uncommon usage of words that I am familiar with are more likely to make appearance. This, I believe will at least help me learn some cultural usage of Vietnamese that isn’t common in day-to-day language by providing contexts.
I have also attached some of the music that I have been enjoying and listening to for my diction practice below.
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