Customer Reviews

Vietnamese: Learn to Speak and Understand Vietnamese with Pimsleur Language Programs

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I have had good luck with Pimsleur programs in several languages, including Vietnamese. I've found them easy and better for learing basic phrases through repetition than other materials. Further, since the vast majority of the program is auditory, I was able to listen in the car or on a portable device and learn phrases without having to folllow in a book.

My big concern with the series is that they are pitched to male travelers and there is a certain amount of sexism in the dialogues (for example, dialogues where "you are an older American man talking with a younger Vietnamese woman" and the dialogue concerns drinking beer or wine "at my place."

In the case of the Vietnamese CDs, the pronunciation is Northern, which is somewhat different from the Southern.

I'm not sure why another reviewer was told that "chi" was impolite or incorrect for a female; while it literally means "older sister," it is used to a "youngish woman" (Rough Guide Vietnamese Dictionary-Phrasebook). It is how I was addressed by my native Vietnamese language instructor, a woman somewhat younger than myself, and by my Vietnamese-speaking students who are younger than I. Because of my age and status relative to these speakers, I am a woman for whom "ba" is not appropriate. I note that "ba" with an accent (low falling tone) is used for an older woman, where "ba" without an accent (and pronounced with a mid-level tone) means "dad." Perhaps this is the cause of the confusion.