Customer Reviews

Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners (Book + CD) (Southeast Asian Language Series)

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A pretty good overview of the Northern dialect. The accompanying audiotapes are not very extensive or of particularly high quality

I found this text rather disappointing. My Vietnamese teachers, who are both Northern and Southern, pointed many flaws in the dialogues, mixing formal and informal idioms which is inappropriate, the use of idioms that no one else apparently has ever heard of, and a failure to cover important basics. We used the text, but it was really the skill of the teachers that made it workable. This text appears to be supported by various organizations, but I am not sure why, quality does not appear to be the reason.

I have since discovered Ngo's text, which seems much better.

The content of this book relates much to North Vietnam. Some of the vocabulary are outdated (read: ancient) in the modern parts of Vietnam, for e.g., Ho Chi Minh City. Any information about Vietnam learnt from this book must be taken with a pinch of salt. Vietnam is a long country... and local cultures vary somewhat. It'll depend on your teacher to make lessons interesting and relevant, especially if you are to travel to a specific area of Vietnam.

i used this textbook while studying at hanoi national university as part of hobart and william smith college's study abroad program. this book is well written and easy to follow. i purchased the book without the tapes so i do not know how they are.

I used this book for my first year Vietnamese class. While the dialouges are good and some passages toward the end are funny, the book as a whole does not teach the basic pronunciations, alphabet, colors...basics for any language. There are better books out there such as Binh Ngo's text. Stay away from this one!