Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Vietnamese Season 1, Lesson 8 - Talking About Your Age. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask someone's age and to say yours in Vietnamese.
Body
Eric: Here's the informal way to ask "How old are you?" in Vietnamese.
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Bạn bao nhiêu tuổi?
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "you"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] bạn [Slow] bạn
Eric: Next is the phrase meaning "how many, how much"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] bao nhiêu [Slow] bao nhiêu
Eric: Last is the noun meaning "age” or “years old"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] tuổi [Slow] tuổi
Eric: Note the rising intonation. Listen again to the informal question meaning "How old are you?"
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Bạn bao nhiêu tuổi? [Normal] Bạn bao nhiêu tuổi?
Eric: Now, imagine you're speaking to a stranger. Here's the formal way to ask, "How old are you?"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Anh bao nhiêu tuổi?
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "you" for a man
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Anh [Slow] Anh
Eric: Next is the phrase meaning "how many, how much"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] bao nhiêu [Slow] bao nhiêu
Eric: Last is the noun meaning "age” or “years old"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] tuổi [Slow] tuổi
Eric: Note again the rising intonation. Listen again to the formal question meaning "How old are you?"
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Anh bao nhiêu tuổi? [Normal] Anh bao nhiêu tuổi?
Eric: Here's a response meaning "I am 17."
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi mười bảy.
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi [Slow] Tôi
Eric: Last is the number "seventeen"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] mười bảy [Slow] mười bảy
Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "I am 17."
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Tôi mười bảy. [Normal] Tôi mười bảy.
Eric: Here's a response meaning, "I am around 30."
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi gần ba mươi.
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi [Slow] Tôi
Eric: Next is the adverb meaning "about, nearly"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] gần [Slow] gần
Eric: Last is the number "thirty"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] ba mươi [Slow] ba mươi
Eric: Listen again to the response, "I am around 30."
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Tôi gần ba mươi. [Normal] Tôi gần ba mươi.
Cultural Insight
Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight.
Hoang Anh: Asking people’s ages is very common in Vietnam, and isn’t considered rude. The reason is because age is used to determine the pronoun used when addressing someone. Also, Vietnamese people add a year to their real age since it’s believed a baby is already 1 year old at birth. So to know the exact age, they ask Bạn sinh năm bao nhiêu? It means “In what year were you born?”

Outro

Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson!
Hoang Anh: Tạm biệt.

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