Vietnam Vietnamese Pronunciation Guide

Vietnamese is a tonal language; the meaning of a word is determined by the pitch at which it’s said. Each vowel assumes one of six different tones, which are indicated by the diacritical over the vowel.

A (No Tone Mark)	Spoken In A Constant Tone In One’S Upper Range.
á (rising)	Spoken in a rising tone of voice, beginning in the middle of one’s vocal range.
à (falling)	Spoken in a falling tone, beginning in one’s lower range.
å (low glottal)	Very short, beginning in one’s lower range and falling off abruptly.
ã (rising glottal)	Short, beginning mid-range, hitting a stop, and then rising abruptly.
= (“falling-rising”)	Begins mid-range and falls quickly; if a final syllable, the vowel ends in a rising tone.

Vowel And Consonant Sounds

To further complicate things, some of the characters in written Vietnamese are pronounced differently than they would be in English, and certain vowels can be given additional diacriticals that change the vowel sound instead of the tone.

A	The Vowel In “Hat”	C	“K,” But Not Aspirated; Sounds A Cross Between “K” And “G”
	the vowel in “hat” with a schwa (“uh”) on the end	d	northern dialect: “z,” as in “zounds!”; southern/central dialect: “y,” as in “yow!”
ñ	the vowel in “bun”	Œ	“d,” as in “darn”
e	the vowel in “bend”	gi	northern dialect: “z,” as in “zounds!”; southern/central dialect: “y”, as in “yow!”
ˆ	the second vowel in “cafe”	kh	“ch,” as in a German person saying, “Ach!”
i	the vowel in “bee”	ng/ngh	“ng” with one’s lips closed; sounds a cross between “ng” and “m”
o	the vowel in “law”	nh	“ni,” as in “bunion”
®	the vowel in “phone”	ph	“f,” as in “fight”
£	the vowel in “mud”	r	northern dialect: “z,” as in “zounds”; southern/central dialect: “r” as in “rue”
u	the vowel in “boot”	t	“t,” but not aspirated; sounds a cross between “t” and “d”
™	the vowel in “cool” with a schwa at the end	th	“t,” as in “terrible”
y	the vowel in “bee”	tr	northern dialect: “ch,” as in “checkmate;” southern/central dialect: “tr,” as in “trap”
yˆ/iˆ	the vowel combination in “the end”	x	“s,” as in “salty”
u®	the vowel combination in “two one”	-ch	“ch,” as in a German person saying “Ach!”
™£	the vowel combination in “you uh”	-nh	“ng” as in “bang”