In the past two weeks I had hoped to learn the Vietnamese alphabet and get a gist of how to use the tonal marks. I think that I have achieved both goals. With my language partner we’ve gone over the alphabet, practicing the sounds associated with the letters. We’ve also practice reading the sounds associated with two and three letter syllables that are commonly seen (ex. ăm and ươn). For tonal marks, my language partner showed me a few graphs for how your tone goes up or down depending on the mark. The visual aid was particularly helpful for me especially with the period tone (ex. Ấn Độ meaning India).
Now, we are working on expanding my vocabulary, becoming comfortable speaking in Vietnamese, and practicing my reading. My language partner has been giving me new vocabulary relating to country names (ex. Campuchia for Cambodia) and I am quizzed on them the next class. Additionally, we are reading news articles to practice my reading. I think this is useful for me as it reinforces my knowledge of the alphabet and tones. It also helps add to my vocabulary. For example, we spent half an hour reading an article on emerging markets in Vietnam (https://startup.vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/xu-huong/nhung-tai-nang-cong-nghe-dua-viet-nam-len-ban-do-khoi-nghiep-the-gioi-3874887.html). The article was just the right level of challenge where there were words I didn’t know, but it wasn’t so challenging I had no idea what I was reading. Some of the vocabulary on that article was added to my vocabulary list to learn as well. Another activity we’ve been doing is free-talk where we spend 15 minutes talking about anything in Vietnamese. This helps me to be comfortable speaking and I think is useful in pointing out where the gaps in my vocabulary are to my language partner. For example, when we talked about food my language partner realized I don’t need as much vocabulary related to food vs. vocabulary related to school subjects. However, I think a more guided free talk will be more useful to avoid using the same vocabulary over and over.
For the next two weeks my language partner and I will continue practicing reading and expanding my vocab. Knowing that I am weak in the name of school subjects, I think the next few rounds of vocabulary will be relating to that. Furthermore, knowing that the article reading is good reading practice I think we will continue with this activity. As for the free talk, I think we should build on that by having a specific topic each class (ex. family, vacation, career, etc.).
Overall, I’ve enjoyed the past two weeks of language learning. My language partner has made the lessons really fun and relaxing. She’s also been extremely encouraging and friendly and through our conversations I feel like I am learning more about Vietnamese culture.
Comments
Hello! Sounds like my first week of discussion with my language partner went similarly. We did some reading and I noted unfamiliar vocabulary. Aside from traditional flashcard studying for vocabulary, have you utilized any more innovative methods for studying? I use a flashcard app but would love to find something more enjoyable. Thanks!