Teach Yourself Vietnamese [Paperback]

Dana Healy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0844237078 | ISBN-13: 978-0844237077 | Edition: 1st

This is a comprehensive course in spoken and written Vietnamese. Dana Healy has created a practical course that is both fun and easy to work through. She explains everything along the way and gives readers plenty of opportunities to practice what they've learned. The course structure means that readers can work at their own pace, arranging their learning to suit their needs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 1st edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844237078
• ISBN-13: 978-0844237077
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,127,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Vietnamese

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Standard Vietnamese, but not as useful as Saigon dialect., April 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Teach Yourself Vietnamese (Paperback)

I totally agree with the reviews by the reader in Oakland, California and the reader in Portland, Maine. I want to point out that this book (actually all those books teaching Vietnamese) teaches Standard Vietnamese (defined as the language spoken by an educated person from the Hanoi area), which has six tones. But the fact is most Vietnamese living overseas speak Saigon dialect (it is at least true in Sydney), maybe because of the a large percentage of the refugees were from Saigon area and Saigon has been the most important city in Vietnam. Saigon Vietnamese has only five tones (thanh sac and thanh hoi are pronounced the same way), and most of the tones are pronounced somewhat differently from the Hanoi standard. Some of the consonants (like 'd' in 'da', 'r' in 'rat') and some of the vowel-consonant combinations (like 'in' in 'xin') are pronounced differently. Some of the usages and expressions are different too. So if you want to learn the language in order to speak to overseas Vietnamese instead of going for a trip in Vietnam, you'd better find a native speaker to teach you the pronunciation and help you with the expressions as well.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The tape doesn't follow the book, October 9, 2000

By 

Jonathon Morris (Seattle, wa USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vietnamese : A Complete Course for Beginners (Book & Tapes) (Audio Cassette)

After reading through the book, then listening to the tape I found myself very confused. The tape starts out following the layout of the book, but quickly starts moving around to different sections (some even on other pages) and then returning without any warning. I had to have a native speaker assist me in figuring out where the tape was reading from, and make marks in the book. I also felt this went to fast, and didn't cover basics such as syntax. This book also jumps into full dialogue much too fast, and doesn't give proper instruction. This is my first attempt at learning Vietnamese, and if I didn't have a native speaker to help me I would probably give up after trying this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I agree - the tape doesn't follow the book, August 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Teach Yourself Vietnamese (Paperback)

I agree with the previous reviewer that the tape is terrible. It infuriates me that a publisher can get away with distributing a tape that does such a terrible job following the book. If a publisher distributed a book with several chapters missing, people wouldn't stand for it. But the book/tape interface here is the equivalent - whole sections of aural instruction referred to in the book are missing from the tape. It's also worth noting fully half of the first side of 1 of 2 tapes is taken up with the basic introductions - the vocal equivalent of a title page.