Bai Van hoa - Khoa hoc

Híng dÉn c¸ch ph¸t ©m
Notes on pronunciation

I. Consonants (C¸c phô ©m)

b sounds like   b       in bank          e.g. ba   (three)
c         "             c          " call               " con   (child)
ch       "           ch          " chance          "   cho   (give)
d         "             z          " zoo               "    da     (skin)
®         "            d           " down            "   ®i      (go)
g         "            g           " gun               "    gan   (liver)
gh       "          gh           " ghost            "   ghen (jealous)
gi        "            z           " zone             "   giao (entrust)
h         "            h           " how              "    ho (cough)
k         "            k           " keep             "   keo (glue)
kh      "           q[k']       " quite             "   khi (when)
l          "           l             " levy               "    len (wool)
m        "           m           " make             "   men (enamel)
n         "           n            " nose              "    mo (full)
ng       "           ng          " learning         " ngu (stupid)
ngh     "           ng          " long               " nghi (doubt)
nh       "             n          " nymphet        " nhai (chew)
p         "             p          " park               " pin (battery)
ph       "          ph           " philology       " phai (fade)
qu       "          qu           " quality            " qua (pass)
r          "            r           " reserve           " ra (go out)
s          "           s            " send               " sau (behind)
t          "            t            " tank                " to (big)
th        "           th           " Thailand         " theo (follow)
tr         "           ch          " chalk              " tr¨n (python)
v         "            v           " van                " vui (happy)
x         "            s           " sad                " xa (far)

II. Vowels (C¸c nguyªn ©m)

a         is like         a       in bask                        eg. ga (gas)
¨             "            u         "   hut                            " l¨n (roll)
e             "            e         "   end                           " kem (cream)
ª             "            e         "    hello                        " lªn (go up)
i              "            i         "    idiom                       " chim (bird)
o             "            o        "    long                         " to (big)
«             "           a         "    ball                          " kh« (dry)
¬             "           o         "    lion                          " t¬ (silk)
u             "           u         "    put                           " phun (eject)
             "           ai        "     mountain                 " th (letter)
©             "           ¬    but pronounced shortly     " m©m (tray)

Diphthongs (C¸c nguyªn ©m ®«i): iª, ¬, u«.

Notes:

ia is pronounced like iª
a " " ¬
ua " " u«

III. Tones (C¸c thanh ®iÖu)

1. The first tone is called thanh kh«ng or kh«ng dÊu. It is the level tone, without any mark on the syllable.

Example: ®i (go), n¨m (year)

2. The second tone falls gradually. This tone is written with the diacritical mark [\] above the vowel. It is called thanh huyÒn or dÊu huyÒn.

Example: bµ (grandmother), vÒ (go back)

3. The third tone is a rising tone. It is written with the diacritical mark [/] above the vowel. It is called thanh s¾c or dÊu s¾c.

Example: chÝn (nine), s¸u (six)

4. The fourth tone is called thanh nÆng or dÊu nÆng. This tone is sharp falling tone and has a heavy glottal stop. It is written with the diacritical mark [.] under the vowel.

Example: mét (one), nÆng (heavy)

5. The fifth tone is a falling - rising tone. It is written with the diacritial mark [?] above the vowel. This tone is called thanh hái or dÊu hái.

Example: b¶y (seven), phñ (cover)

6. The last tone is named thanh ng· or dÊu ng·. This tone is a broken - rising tone and it has a glottal stop. It is written with the diacritial mark [~] above the vowel.

Example: sÏ (will), vÏ (draw)

IV. Alphabet (B¶ng ch÷ c¸i)

There are 29 letters in the writing system of the Vietnamese language.