The Vietnamese language has evolved from several different languages, as have many modern languages. The country has a long history of occupation by other countries, most notably Japan, China, and France, and this shows up in the language. Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language, and sometimes I think it has more diacritical marks than words! The alphabet is the same one we use in the West, but there are 17 consonants and 12 vowel sounds. Think that it doesn't sound too bad? Well those 17 consonants have 28 sounds! We're not finished yet: there are also almost 40 dipthongs, or blends of more than one vowels sounded together, as in the English word oil. Finally there are the six different tonemes, which we don't have in English. They are shown by diacritical marks, and tell the speaker if the syllable should have a high, low, mid-,broken, rising or falling sound. Inflection is very important, and the diacritical marks tell when the word should be spoken with a raising or lowering of the voice. In English, the two words "She's here" can be spoken in different ways to indicate different emotions, as:
She's here.
She's here.
She's here?
She's here!
In Veitnamese, the emotion comes from the context and body language more than from the voice inflection, because changing the way a word is spoken changes the meaning of the word. Nam with one intonation means the number five, but with another intonation can mean the word man.
Because I have studied French, I can sometimes hear the French influence in the words, and on some occasions it helps me figure out what people are saying to me. Pho mat (needs diacritical marks, which I don't have) is pronounced "fo my", similar to the French "fromage". Some people in thier sixties or older had to study French in school during the time Vietnam was occupied by the French, and here and there one can find someone who still speaks it. One experience where the language almost didn't work for me was soon after I discovered a yarn shop. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stay away from yarn! I tried to tell the woman what I wanted, but she had no English and I had no Vietnamese. Her shop is in a large market and I left her stall and was browsing at another one when she came running to me. In French, she asked if I spoke French and I told her I did. She led me back to her stall, we conducted our business in French, and now I go there often and am able to makes myself understood perfectly well.
I haven't learned very much of the language, because the Vietnamese make it easy for me to be lazy about it. English is spoken all around me. I am amazed at how many people speak English! Sometimes I'm on a motorbike, stopped at a light, and the people on the bike beside me notice I'm a foreigner and yell "Hello!" just to practice their English skills. Even in restaurants with no English speaking wait staff, there will usually be a menu somewhere written in enough English that one would not need to go away hungry. On occasion I have had difficulty telling a taxi driver where I want to go, but then I just ask for a pen and paper to write the address down and we're both happy.
One of the guards here at the complex where I live also speaks some French. A few days ago he asked if I live in Canada. I told him I did, and he went on to ask what province I was from. Now I know that if I need something and he is working, he's my 'go to' guy.
Everywhere I've lived I've found that if I make an effort to speak the local language, the residents are more than happy to help, simply because I'm trying. My attempt may bring a smile to their faces, but at least I've tried.
