Is it necessary to learn Vietnamese tones at the beginner level. Why?
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning. Although some languages use pitch to express emotion, to emphasise, to compare or contrast ideas, tones in Vietnamese are used to distinguish words. That means the very tone attached to each word can fundamentally change the meaning of that word. Tonal phonemes in Vietnamese are called tonemes.
For example, one word with exactly the same spelling with a rising tone conveys a completely different meaning from similar word with a low – broken tone.
As a result, in learning Vietnamese, it is very crucial that the learner must try to memorise all the tones, how to pronounce them and write the tone correctly.
If the learners try to memorise the words in Romanised version (as in Lonely Planet), it may help the learner a bit in the first few weeks, but will not help in the long run. When the learner cannot remember to record the tones in the writing system, it is also very difficult for him/her to recollect the pronunciation and how to say the word correctly.
As each change in the tone will carry a different meaning of the word, the incorrect tone will seriously affect the meaning and the listeners’ comprehension of a sentence.
Therefore, always remember to memorise your tones if you want to learn Vietnamese seriously and not for a few weeks just to survive in the country 😉
Some facts about Thai Language
Sa-wad-dii ka! Hello!
My name is Shaye, I’m teaching Thai in Sydney Language Solution for while now and here’s my first blog on this Website. I used to write several blogs before I moved overseas and maybe it started my interest in language.
For my first blog entry, I’d like to tell you several facts about Thai Language.
1. Thai is a tonal language
I’m pretty sure many people and schools talk about this. Getting the tone right is very important in our language. It’s not just about the accent but it’s about the actual meaning of the word. We have many jokes about how people get the tone wrong and it got translated into something totally weird (or extremely funny). The most common one is:
maa1 (มา) means to come
and
maa5 (หมา) which means dog.
Now that you know about this fact, you better not get the tone wrong – ever!
So, if you are thinking of getting your own lessons, make sure those books have tone marks on them.
2. Thai words are repetitive
I did not realized this until one day; I got a requested from a friend to translate a beautiful Thai song. The translation was so cheesy and repetitive in English and it just sounds awful. My students also pointed this out, and so what I told them was…
“Thai language is very repetitive and exaggerative.” – it’s true, we love it!
In Thai, you can repeat adverbs and adjectives as much as you want until you are happy with how you want to exaggerate the situation or story. Such as;
I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so hungry – and more. Also, sometimes we drag the word longer, in order to exaggerate it.
3. Speaking Thai and Writing Thai are not the same – mostly.
There are many reasons why you should learn Thai with a native speaker and not with books or recorders but one of the most important reason why is because the way we write and speak are not the same. You could still use any books out there to learn Thai or from many clips on Internet these days, but after a long search I’ve found that over 90% of them are not useful for speaking.
You will be able to understand, but you will hardly hear us speak that way – so why waste it in learning those?
4. Thai language is all about culture, emotion and respect.
Now, since I talked about speaking Thai and writing Thai, I cannot miss talking about what our language is based from. If you know a little bit about Thai language, you’d know that we have a polite particles (ka – for girl and krap – for guy) we put in the end of sentences (there are many others ending particles but polite particles are only these two). We will change the way we speak (wordings and sentences structure) depending on who we are talking to or the situations we are in. Casual talk, is one thing, Family talk is another thing and talking to Monk is totally different. But mostly, all of them based on respect you have towards another person.
Once you learn it, you’d be amazed in how many cultures we’ve putting in our language. Personally, I’d say that people who able to learn Thai effectively are people who understand our culture base.
So, learning in class together with other students are the perfect way of learning Thai effectively. I enjoy explaining the class about our cultures and situations a lot. It’s probably one of the best parts about teaching Thai to foreigners. If you’re gonna learn it, I hope people would learn them right. If there’s any questions about Thai language, I’m more than happy to answer and explain to you!
That’s it for now! Bye-ka!
Shaye.
Tips & Tricks in Learning Persian
Im the Iranian Persian teacher at SLS, born in Tehran the capital of Iran and Im happy to be the first one writing on the SLS blog 🙂
Here is some tips about Persian Language:
There are 4 skills in every language
1-Writing
2-Reading
3-Speaking
4-Listening
Try to improve the four skills at the same time…
Why?
Most of the language learners are more interested to improve their speaking skill, but the right way to learn a language is to learn how to communicate with others sufficiently by knowing and using all of the skills when you need.
For instance you may need to write a formal letter to a company or an informal letter to a friend of yours, or simply a short sentence like "I love you" 😉 on a birthday card! Then you need writing skill, besides it helps you pronounce a word or phrase correctly.
You need reading skill when someone writes a letter (or that "I love you") to you. Moreover, you can learn more words and phrases by reading new articles and improve your language more and more. On the other hand, it helps you not forget what you have learnt.
Just imagine you can speak a language very well but you cant understand what others say, funny, innit?! Then you need listening skill as well.
Formal and Informal:
Tell your teacher (whether Im your teacher or someone else) to teach you both formal and informal communication. Sometimes it looks funny if you use a formal word or phrase when you should use the informal one and vice versa.
Farsi Dari, Persian, Farsi OR Parsi?!
Generally I could say that all are the same but you can find more information here
If you have any question about Persian course at SLS just ask me. I`ll be happy to help you find the answer 🙂
Kian
The OET speaking task – becoming a good communicator
Welcome to the OET speaking test. You have 5 minutes to complete your task. Begin.
Nurse: Good morning, I hope you had a good sleep. Could you please take your medication now?
Patient: Please go away. I am tired. I just need sleep, I do not want to take the medication.
Nurse: But I need you to ta-
Patient: I said leave me alone.
Nurse: (on the verge of tears) – ok… bye.
A significant factor for success in the OET speaking test is to be prepared for situations such as this. While your grammatically spoken English may be excellent, you are also being tested on your ability to communicate, especially with difficult patients.
As health professionals, it is part of our job to approach these circumstances with tact and professionalism, while at the same time displaying assertiveness and confidence. And in the OET test, it just might be your job to communicate with a role player who has been instructed to refuse all your advice and act upset.
This can make you nervous. This can make you forget your lines. This can make your face flush beetroot red and wish that you were at home in the safety of your blanket, away from the OET test. But there are many strategies you can use to turn this type of situation to your advantage, and instead showcase your excellent communication skills.
Remember – practice makes perfect!
For more information about the OET test, feel free to contact any of the SLS OET teachers. We are always happy to help.
Jaime
Latest Comments