Vietnamese

Study the whole book, but also pay special attention to the topics outlined below. These are common areas of difficulty for native Vietnamese speakers.

Consonants

Voiced and Voiceless Consonants

There is a tendency for Vietnamese speakers to change voiced consonants into voiceless ones. Review voiced and voiceless consonants in Chapter Three.

Pay special attention to words with g particularly when the g is followed by an r as in great and graduate. Make sure that you fully release the back of your tongue after it touches the back of the mouth so that the g can be clearly heard. Otherwise, great may sound like “crate” or even “rate.”

Word Contrasts for Practice

Make sure you pronounce the two words in each pair below differently.

The th Sound

Review Chapters Three and Four to learn the correct pronunciation of this sound. A common mistake is to substitute a /t/ or a /d/ for th.

The /n/ Sound

Pay special attention to n when it is in the middle or at the end of a word. When the tip of your tongue makes contact with the gum ridge, make sure that you are continuing to produce sound by allowing air to come out through your nose. Otherwise your n will be silent.

Words for Practice

1. one
2. invent
3. financial
4. man
5. convent
6. attention
7. nine
8. pronounce
9. mention
10. nineteen
11. content
12. consonant

Vietnamese speakers also tend to drop the n before another consonant. To fix this error, make sure that you fully produce n before you begin saying the following consonant. Feel the vibration of air in your nose as the tip of your tongue touches the gum ridge. Common mispronounced words include understand, friend, instant, importance, and sense.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Make sure that you pronounce the two words in each pair below differently.

Confusing /n/ and /l/

Make sure you do not confuse /n/ and /l/, especially with words like analysis or only that contain both of these sounds. The primary difference between the two sounds is the location of the air flow. For /n/ the air is coming out through your nose, whereas for /l/ the air is coming out through the sides of your mouth. The tongue position is very similar for these two sounds except the tip of the tongue is a bit flatter for the /n/. For the /l/, the jaw needs to open more to create space for the air to come out through the sides of the mouth. Be careful with words such as only and unless.

The “r” Sound

Learn to pronounce the correct American /r/ sound by studying Chapter Three and by doing all the /r/ exercises in Chapter Four. Remember, the /r/ is never silent in Standard American English, whereas in British English it sometimes is.

Word Pairs for Practice

Make sure you don’t pronounce these pairs of words the same:

Consonant Clusters

There’s a tendency for Vietnamese speakers to pronounce only the first consonant in a group or cluster. Therefore, card can sound like “car” and extra* can sound like “estra.” When there are two or more consonants next to each other, make sure you pronounce every consonant. Review the section on consonant clusters in Chapter Four.

*Remember, the letter x represents two sounds: /ks/

When an s is followed by a consonant, make sure you pronounce the /s/. Otherwise the word sister will sound like “sitter.”

Final Consonants

Make sure you pronounce all of the final sounds of words, particularly those ending in s, v, k, d, and t.

Vowels

It is recommended that you study all of the American vowel sounds in detail. (See Chapters One and Two.) However, pay special attention to the vowel sounds highlighted below which are the most problematic ones for Vietnamese speakers.

Confusing /æ/ and /ɛ/

The sounds /æ/ (as in bad) and /ɛ/ (as in bed) are often confused by native Vietnamese speakers. Review Chapters One and Two to master the differences between these two sounds.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Make sure you pronounce the words in each pair below differently.

The /ɔ/ Sound

Be careful that your /ɔ/ sound (as in saw) is not influenced by the very different British version of this sound. In British English pause sounds almost like “pose,” but in American English it sounds much more like /pɑz/, and has the same /ɑ/ sound as in father or watch.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Don’t pronounce the two words in each pair below the same way.

The /eɪ/ Sound

Vietnamese speakers commonly pronounce /eɪ/ as /ɛ/ or as /æ/. This makes the pronunciation of pain, pen, and pan all sound the same. Also, sale and sell will often sound the same when pronounced by a Vietnamese speaker. The words take, available, break, and famous are also commonly mispronounced.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Make sure you pronounce the words in each pair below differently.

Linking

Vietnamese speakers of English tend to pronounce each word separately, which makes their speech sound choppy and mechanical. The section on linking in Chapter Eight is one of the most important things to study to help you sound more American.