Like the majority of South East and East Asian languages, Vietnam is a tonal language. This means that for each syllable there are six different tones that can change the meaning of a phrase.

This can be unusual for Westerners since there are times we have a natural inclination to change the tone of our speech - the most common is raisinng the pitch of your voice when asking a question. Don't let it put you off though - once you have mastered the pronunciation, Vietnamese is a satisfyingly straightforward language, with a grammar system that is much easier than that of a language like French.

Another great advantage learners of Vietnamese have over those studying other Asian languages is that the Vietnamese alphabet is essentially a modified version of the Roman alphabet, making it easy to read signs and addresses when travelling around.

Tones

* This tone is very strong in the North around Hanoi where there is a perceptible 'cut' in the sound. In the South around Saigon people tend to speak in a more 'smooth' manner, and many would say this tone becomes almost identical to the low, rising tone above it ('Ye-es, M'lud'')

Vietnamese Alphabet

Although the Vietnamese use the same alphabet as Latin languages such as English and French, some of the sounds are fairly different to their English equivalent. There are a few similarities with French, however. To hear the sounds described here, see http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Vietnamese/Guide_to_Pronunciation/alphabet/alphabet_system.htm

Consonants

Vowels

One rule to pronouncing vowels in Vietnam that is very useful to remember is that whenever you get two vowels together - for example 'ui' - the first vowel should have much more emphasis than the second - 'ui'