My partner and I have been wrapping up our semester by going over the extensive list of vocabulary that we have accumulated since we first began studying two whole semesters ago. I am amazed to say that over the last three semesters, we have made an Anki deck of Vietnamese vocabulary with over 430 entries.
In addition to that, we have also been talking about my future plans during the drill sessions. It was something similar to that of an interview session.
I am graduating in the next couple of weeks and I fully plan on continuing my study of Vietnamese. I am currently making my way through the Duolingo and Mango Languages courses as a way to supplement my learning and improve my grammar. I have also been interviewing for jobs that would put my Vietnamese language skills to use and have been successful in finding a couple positions in the community that I live in.
We also talked about Logan’s future plans. He is currently towards a degree in Economics with a concentration in Accounting. As a graduating Economics major, I gave him some pointers, although I had a lot of trouble with economics-related vocabulary so most of our conversations regarding this topic was done in Viet-Lish. The drills for these past sessions were very interview-like and I greatly enjoyed it despite being quite bad at articulating the words. However, thanks to that, I was able to pick up another couple of vocabulary words for the Anki Deck:
- Kinh tế học [kɨn˧˧ te˧˥ hawk˨˩˨] : Economics
- Chính sách tài khóa [ʨɨn˧˥ ʂat˧˥ taːj˨˩ kʰwaː˧˥] : Fiscal Policies
- Kế toán [ke˧˥ twaːŋ˧˥] : Accouting
- Tổng sản phẩm trong nước [təwŋ˨˩˦ ʂaːŋ˨˩˦ fəm˨˩˦ tʂawŋ˧˧ nɨək˧˥] : Gross Domestic Products
- Chính phủ [ʨɨn˧˥ fu˨˩˦] : Government
It was during one of the sessions that we found there are different Vietnamese words for the various meanings of the word “Economy”
- Economy as in sparing or careful usage is Dành Dụm [jan˨˩ jum˨˩˨]
- Economy as in the wealth and resources of a country or region is Nền Kinh Tế [nəːŋ˨˩ kɨn˧˧ te˧˥]
- Economy as in cheap is Hà Tiện [haː˨˩ tiəŋ˨˩˨]
- Apparently this word has a heavy negative connotation and should only be used in extremely informal occasions and not to refer to someone of a higher status as it can be seen as disrespectful.
Something else that we also talked extensively about is how I will continue my learning from now on. I plan to continue consuming Vietnamese media to keep up with my exposure to the language. Logan also recommended that I try to keep in touch with him or someone else my age to keep the conversations going since it might be difficult or awkward to practice with my parents. I have also considered the possibility of even teaching or helping someone else learn Vietnamese as a means of practice. Afterall, teaching is a form of learning and I believe it can help me further internalize the language on a level higher beyond memorization and repetition.
Comments
I think it is so cool how you and your language partner were able to help each other out by discussing a meaningful topic in Vietnamese such as future plans. Especially since you both have the same major- what a great way to end the semester! When learning any language, it is definitely important to choose relevant topics in order to increase engagement and learn practical vocabulary. Congratulations on graduating and surviving this difficult year, I wish you the best of luck!
Woah, that's so impressive the amount of vocabulary words you've learned throughout your semesters in SDLC! Great job! I can't believe I haven't even thought about using flash cards to study vocabulary this semester, so I'm definitely going to try that as I continue my language learning. Also, I totally agree about teaching as a form of learning. It was so fun to teach the Korean alphabet to my classmates for one of my SDLC presentations this semester, and it really makes you realize all the progress you've made throughout your language learning journey!
Hi Han, congratulations on your progress this semester and for graduating soon! It’s really cool how you’ve been studying specific vocabulary related to fields that you could work in one day. I am also graduating and plan on continuing my Korean studies after graduation. I think listening to music and watching shows in your target language is a fun way to stay familiar with it. Best wishes for your future endeavors with the Vietnamese language!