Languages · Tiếng Việt
Video Chat with Vietnamese Speakers
Vietnamese tones are almost impossible to learn from a page, because the difference between ma (ghost) and mà (but) lives in your voice, not on paper. The best way to practice Vietnamese with native speakers is out loud, with someone who can tell you what they heard, and Omlet lets you do that face to face, for free, in your browser and without an account.
Omlet has no language matching and its interface is in English. To meet Vietnamese speakers, set the country filter to Vietnam (your first day is free, then it's $3 one time for that device and browser), or ask the people you meet: Bạn nói tiếng Việt được không? The free day starts with a card, and the $3 is charged once when it ends unless you cancel in Settings. (Can you speak Vietnamese?)
In the pronunciation guides below, each syllable gets a simple tone label in brackets, and syllables without a label are level. They follow the northern (Hanoi) accent; the section on accents explains what changes in the south.
Where people speak Vietnamese
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt) is an official language in 1 country or territory. To meet people from one of them, pick it with the country filter.
Useful Vietnamese phrases for video chat
Short, natural phrases you can use in your first minute on camera. The pronunciation is a simple English-style guide; stressed syllables are in capitals.
| English | Vietnamese | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Hi (to someone your age) | Chào bạn! | chow (falling) bahn (heavy) |
| How are you? | Bạn khỏe không? | bahn (heavy) khweh (dipping) khohng |
| I'm fine, thanks. | Mình khỏe, cảm ơn. | ming (falling) khweh (dipping), kahm (dipping) uhn |
| What's your name? | Bạn tên là gì? | bahn (heavy) ten lah (falling) zee (falling) |
| My name is … | Mình tên là … | ming (falling) ten lah (falling) … |
| Where are you from? | Bạn đến từ đâu? | bahn (heavy) den (rising) tuh (falling) doh |
| Nice to meet you. | Rất vui được gặp bạn. | zuht (rising) vooy duhk (heavy) gap (heavy) bahn (heavy) |
| I'm learning Vietnamese. | Mình đang học tiếng Việt. | ming (falling) dahng hok (heavy) tyeng (rising) vyet (heavy) |
| Can you speak more slowly? | Bạn nói chậm lại được không? | bahn (heavy) noy (rising) chuhm (heavy) lai (heavy) duhk (heavy) khohng |
| How do you say … in Vietnamese? | … tiếng Việt nói thế nào? | … tyeng (rising) vyet (heavy) noy (rising) teh (rising) now (falling) |
| What do you do for work? | Bạn làm nghề gì? | bahn (heavy) lahm (falling) ngeh (falling) zee (falling) |
| What time is it there now? | Bây giờ ở đó mấy giờ? | bay zuh (falling) uh (dipping) daw (rising) may (rising) zuh (falling) |
| Sorry, I don't understand. | Xin lỗi, mình không hiểu. | sin loy (broken), ming (falling) khohng hyew (dipping) |
| Goodbye, see you again! | Tạm biệt, hẹn gặp lại! | tahm (heavy) byet (heavy), hen (heavy) gap (heavy) lai (heavy) |
Tips for practicing Vietnamese on video chat
- Vietnam is on UTC+7 with no daylight saving time, so 8 pm in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City is early afternoon in London and morning on the US East Coast.
- Ask your partner to type new words in the chat with all their marks. Without diacritics, many Vietnamese words look identical, and the marks tell you the tone.
- The kh in khỏe and không is a soft rasp, like the ch in Scottish loch, and đ (with a bar) is a plain d. The letter d without a bar sounds like z in the north.
- Food and coffee are easy, friendly topics. Ask about a dish from their hometown or how they take their coffee; cà phê sữa đá (iced coffee with condensed milk) is a good phrase to know.
- Keep a translator open on your phone for emergencies, since Omlet doesn't translate. Our guide to talking without a common language has tricks for when both of you are stuck.
Six tones, simply
Northern Vietnamese has six tones, each shown by a mark over or under a vowel. The same syllable with a different tone is a different word, so tones matter more than a perfect accent.
| Mark | Label used here | How it sounds | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| none: ma | level | Flat and steady, mid to high | ma (ghost) |
| grave: mà | falling | Starts low and drifts lower, relaxed | mà (but) |
| acute: má | rising | Starts mid and rises sharply | má (cheek; mom in the south) |
| hook: mả | dipping | Dips down, then comes back up a little | mả (grave, tomb) |
| tilde: mã | broken | Rises with a catch in the middle | mã (code; horse in the zodiac) |
| dot below: mạ | heavy | Short, low and cut off sharply | mạ (rice seedling) |
Exaggerate tones while you learn. Native speakers find an overdone tone far easier to understand than a flat one.
Bạn, anh, chị, em: pronouns by age
Vietnamese has no single neutral you. People choose words based on relative age and relationship: anh for a man older than you, chị for a woman older than you, em for someone younger, and they refer to themselves to match.
On a video chat with someone new, bạn (friend) is a safe, neutral you, mình is a casual I, and tôi is a neutral, slightly formal I. If your partner starts calling you anh, chị or em, follow their lead and reply in kind.
Northern, central and southern accents
- North (Hanoi): the standard in most courses. D, gi and r all sound like z, and all six tones are distinct.
- South (Ho Chi Minh City): d and gi sound like y, the dipping and broken tones merge into one, and some final consonants blur together.
- Central (Huế and nearby): a distinctive accent and melody that can take learners longer to tune into. Asking for a slower repeat is completely fine.
You can't choose a region with the country filter, so you'll hear a mix. That's useful practice: ask Bạn ở miền nào? (Which region are you from?) and notice how their sounds differ from your course.
Tone drills before you press Start
- Say ma, mà, má, mả, mã, mạ in order three times, exaggerating each one.
- Read three phrases from the list above slowly, checking each tone label.
- In the chat, use one new phrase and ask Mình nói đúng không? (Did I say it right?)
- When you're corrected, repeat the word twice, then use it in a short sentence.
- After the chat, write down the words you mispronounced, tone marks included.
Thai is tonal too, and the Thai page explains its five tones if you're curious. To make practice a two-way exchange, see language exchange on Omlet.
Practice Vietnamese with the country filter
Omlet's interface is in English only, and it doesn't match people by language or translate anything. There are two easy ways to find Vietnamese speakers:
- Use the country filter. Press Country, pick a country where Vietnamese is spoken (for example Vietnam), then press Start.
- Ask whoever you meet. On Worldwide matching, a quick "Do you speak Vietnamese?" costs nothing to try.
The country filter's first day is free (you add a card to start, and can cancel in Settings before the charge). After that it's $3 one time for that device and browser, with no subscription. It can make matching slower when fewer people from that country are online; if a match takes a while, try another country or switch back to Worldwide.
Say you're practicing Vietnamese in your first sentence and ask your partner to slow down or correct you. It's a normal request.