The challenges of speaking Vietnamese and understanding them when they speak English

Vietnam flag.

Problem
First, where can you learn a few words? I was disappointed not to find a list of common words and phrases on the VietJet plane from Singapore's Changi airport to Hanoi. They missed an opportunity.

 I looked at Wikipedia (too complicated).

I tried Duolingo which is useful on easy languages such as Italian and Spanish. But Duolingo starts teaching words you rarely need such as bat and horse.

The Hanoi book cafes have books in Vietnamese, no English. Great for local students and schoolchildren. Not for tourists.

The bookshops and souvenir shops don't seem to offer phrase books.

Solutions

After a week in Hanoi we had dinner at Gourmet Corner restaurant. I picked up the house magazine of the hotel group. On the back inside page was what I had been looking for - a list of handy phrases.

The first thing I needed to learn was the greeting.  I needed a way of remembering it. Sin chow, sound like sin and a chow dog. So I imagined seeing a chow dog which was doing something naughty and shaking my head and smiling and saying to it, not 'naughty doggie' but 'sin chow'.

That is how you pronounce it. Go into Google translate and type in hello in the English and in the other box after you type in Vietnamese it gives the correctly written version, xian (like the Chinese Xian is Shan or She-ann). The sound chow is written Chao and has a downward accent on the a. I reckon if I learn only one word a day, at least I can speak half a dozen words at the end of a week.

When you make even the most basic attempt at learning to read signs, you need to understand the writing.

I stood waiting for a hotel lift and read two emergency exit in fire signs in Vietnamese. I was hoping to see a repeated word such as 'please' or 'don't' but could not spot any.

I noticed that some of the letters have underlines as well as signs above. Some of the letters have not one but two dotty signs above.

However, I did pick up one interesting and vital piece of information. In emergency for the fire brigade you dial 114. I noticed that in the longer vertical notice. Then on the other horizontal sign
I spotted the number in the middle of the old-fashioned phone symbol.


On closer inspection I see a repeated word which without accents is chua chay.

In google translate I went forwards and backwards until I found for
fire
fighting
fire fighting

ngọn lửa trận đánh chữa cháy


More Information From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Joseph's_Cathedral,_Hanoi
Travel information
For hotels
booking.com
Comparison site:
https://www.clicktripz.com/rates/search/index
For airlines
travelok.com
vietjetAir.com (Comprehensive list of budget airlines in Wikivoyage.)
For transport
https://www.grab.com/vn/en/

Language
Duolingo.com 
(Remember to click on the sound symbol to hear how words are pronounced.) 

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Please share links to your favourite posts. I have several more on Hanoi, Halong Bay and Vietnam.

Beef in Bamboo at Gourmet Corner in Hanoi, Capital of Vietnam

Part of the set dinner in the high floor Gourmet Corner restaurant in La Siesta Diamond hotel in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.

Service With Smiles
This place wins on service. The hotel receptionist greeted us immediately and phoned upstairs to the restaurant. She escorted us to the lift. At the restaurant we were met by somebody who was expecting us and showed us to our table. The menus came up immediately.

Oh - and near perfect English. Nothing special in London. But in Hanoi we have endured tour guides who had to say everything twice or three times.

The set meal made life easy for me. As soon as I announced that I was allergic to prawns in the salad, the waiter suggested the avocado salad.

I asked for toothpicks and paper serviettes and both appeared immediately.

My starter was chicken soup. My companion had French onion soup. They packed up my leftover soup so I could take it home.

The dessert was the weak point. First, two different desserts looked identical. Both had a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a chocolate half bowl. You have to make vanilla ice cream really taste of vanilla for it not to be just a lot of unnecessary calories with no flavour.

The chocolate was the waxy tasteless chocolate which Americans like, the sort which stays brittle in hot countries. Not the milky, silky chocolate made by Lindt, the Swiss, the Belgians, the French and British Cadbury's.

They asked what I thought of the beef after I took my first bite and choked on one of the black peppercorns. They brought me a free pot of tea to soothe my throat - I chose ginger tea which came with a small jug of runny honey.

Afterwards they asked if we would like to see the Sky bar upstairs. Yes. It was partly open air.

Breakfast is served in the upstairs restaurant with the view of the lake to one side. Our hotel, Sunline Paon, had a ground floor restaurant with no windows, but a rooftop swimming pool.

Hanoi also has several hostels equally conveniently placed. So Hanoi offers food at all prices, and rooms and restaurants at ground level and one up for the nervous, or you can dine at dizzy heights.

(more text and photos shortly.
Travel information
For hotels
booking.com
Comparison site:
https://www.clicktripz.com/rates/search/index
For airlines
travelok.com
vietJetair.com (Comprehensive list of budget airlines in Wikivoyage.)
For transport
https://www.grab.com/vn/en/

Language
Duolingo.com 
(Remember to click on the sound symbol to hear how words are pronounced.) 

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Please share links to your favourite posts. I have several more on Hanoi, Halong Bay and Vietnam.