Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone. I’m Becky. Welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com This is the Absolute Beginner series, Season 1, Lesson 12 - Ordering A Delicious Vietnamese Meal.
Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen.
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to order food and drinks in Vietnamese. The conversation takes place at a restaurant and is between An, Mary, and the waiter.
Huyen: An and Mary are friends, so they’ll be using informal Vietnamese with each other, but formal Vietnamese with the waiter.
Becky: Now let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
An: Anh ơi, cho xem cái thực đơn.
Waiter: Đây ạ.
An: Cảm ơn. Mary, bạn muốn ăn gì?
Mary: Tớ ăn phở bò.
An: Tớ cũng vậy.
Mary: Anh ơi!
Waiter: Chị gọi món gì ạ?
Mary: Cho hai bát phở bò.
Waiter: Vâng, có ngay.
An: Waiter, menu please.
Waiter: Here you are.
An: Thank you. Mary, what do you want to eat?
Mary: I want rice noodles with beef.
An: Me too.
Mary: Waiter!
Waiter: What food would you like to order?
Mary: Two bowls of rice noodles with beef, please.
Waiter: Yes, in a minute.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Huyen: Becky, have you ever tried Pho?
Becky: Yes, I love it. It’s very delicious! I believe Pho is the most well-known Vietnamese food among foreigners. Can you tell our listeners what is special about these rice noodles?
Huyen: Well, it’s the soup that makes it special.
Becky: What are the ingredients?
Huyen: The soup is often made with beef, phở bò, or chicken, phở gà, with baked onions, ginger, basil, and cinnamon.
Becky: And I’ve seen some Vietnamese people adding lime juice or garlic vinegar, chilli sauce, and some herbs when they eat Pho.
Huyen: Right, that makes the taste special.
Becky: Vietnamese people living overseas must really miss this food.
Huyen: Yes, but I’m sure you can find it at Vietnamese restaurants around the world.
Becky: So give it a try, listeners! Okay, let’s move onto the vocab.
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let’s look at some of the words and phrases used in this lesson. The first word is...
Huyen: ...Anh ơi.
Becky: It’s similar to “Hey man” or “Hey bro” or it may sound more like "Excuse me!" as Vietnamese people use this phrase to get someone’s attention. They don’t say “waiter!” in a restaurant. Instead, just say...
Huyen: ...anh ơi.
Becky: To call a waitress, say...
Huyen: ...em ơi...
Becky: ...if they are young and ...
Huyen: ...chị ơi...
Becky: ...if they look older than you. So basically, choose the pronoun to address the waiter/ waitress then add...
Huyen: ...ơi…
Becky: ...after that. This can also be used to catch other people’s attention in general, not only in restaurants. Let’s put this phrase into a sentence.
Huyen: Anh ơi, đi đây đấy?
Becky: “Hey bro, where are you going?”
Huyen: Next we have gọi...
Becky: …which means “to order”. Last time we learned that this word means “to call”. But when it comes to food or drink, it means “to order”. Vietnamese people often use the compound word...
Huyen: ...gọi món...
Becky: ….to mean ordering food in general.
Huyen: For example, Tôi sẽ xem thực đơn rồi gọi món sau.
Becky: “I’ll look at the menu and order food later.” Okay, now onto the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn how to order food and drinks in Vietnamese. In the dialogue, we hear...
Huyen: Cho hai bát phở bò.
Becky: “Two bowls of rice noodles with beef, please.” When you want to order food or drink, simply say...
Huyen: ...cho, then the number, then the classifier, and then the name of the food or drink. Cho means “to give”...
Becky: ...so this sentence literally means “give me something”.To make it more polite, you can say...
Huyen: ...Làm ơn cho tôi, then the number, then the classifier, and then the name of the food or drink. So, you add làm ơn, which means “please”, at the beginning and the pronoun tôi after cho.
Becky: Let’s make the sentence in the dialogue more polite.
Huyen: Làm ơn cho tôi hai bát phở bò. The word bát here is a classifier meaning “bowl”.
Becky: So the whole sentence means “Please give me two bowls of rice noodles with beef.” Now, let’s hear some more examples.
Huyen: Cho hai cốc trà đá.
Becky: “Two glasses of ice tea, please.”
Huyen: And more politely, Làm ơn cho tôi hai cốc trà đá.
Becky: Another example is...
Huyen: ...Cho một đĩa cơm rang.
Becky: “A plate of fried rice please.”
Huyen: And more politely, Làm ơn cho tôi một đĩa cơm rang.
Becky: Alright. Now you are ready to go to a Vietnamese restaurant!
Huyen: For a review of this lesson, please read the lesson notes.

Outro

Becky: If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to leave us a comment. Thanks for listening, and see you next time.
Huyen: Tạm biệt!

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