Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 16 - Is That a Rare Vietnamese Book You’re Reading? Eric here.
Hoang Anh: Xin chào. I'm Hoang Anh.
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask people of different ages for permission and to answer permission questions. The conversation takes place in a park.
Hoang Anh: It's between Tùng and Trang.
Eric: The speakers are strangers, so they’ll use formal Vietnamese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Tùng: Chào bạn, cho phép mình hỏi bạn một câu được không?
Trang: Được, bạn hỏi đi.
Tùng: Cuốn sách mà bạn đang đọc, bạn đã mua ở đâu vậy?
Trang: À, sách này là do người quen của mình gửi từ nước ngoài về.
Tùng: Thảo nào. Đó là cuốn sách mình rất thích nhưng mình đã tìm khắp nơi mà không thấy
Trang: Hình như ở Việt Nam chưa có nhà xuất bản nào mua bản quyền sách để dịch sách này.
Tùng: Xin lỗi, nhưng...mình có thể mượn sách của bạn để phô tô không?
Trang: Cái này thì...không được bạn ạ. Mình rất tiếc.
Tùng: Mình hiểu. Xin lỗi vì đã đòi hỏi vô lý. Chỉ vì mình thích nó quá.
Trang: Không sao.
Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Tùng: Hello, can I ask you a question?
Trang: It's fine, go ahead.
Tùng: The book you’re reading, where did you buy it?
Trang: Well, this book was sent to me by an acquaintance from overseas.
Tùng: No wonder. That’s my favorite book, but I’ve been searching everywhere and can't find it.
Trang: It seems that no publishers in Vietnam have bought the translation copyright for this book.
Tùng: Sorry, but...can I borrow your book to photocopy it?
Trang: That...isn’t possible. I'm so sorry.
Tùng: I understand. I'm sorry for my unreasonable request. It’s just because I like it too much.
Trang: No problem.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Hoang Anh: Listeners, we have learned that the general pair of pronouns we can use in the first meeting is tôi - bạn, which mean “I,” “me - you.”
Eric: These pronouns are fine for a formal meeting but sound quite rigid in daily life. Unless it’s a very formal situation, Vietnamese people tend to get close to each other quickly.
Hoang Anh: So in daily life, instead of tôi - bạn, we use mình - bạn more commonly. Mình also means “I,” or “me” but it sounds more intimate and friendly. However, please note that both tôi - bạn and mình - bạn can only be used to talk with someone who looks to be near your age.
Eric: For people with a bigger age difference, you can stick to the pair of pronouns that we learned in the beginner's level. Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Hoang Anh: do [natural native speed]
Eric: by
Hoang Anh: do [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: do [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: người quen [natural native speed]
Eric: acquaintance
Hoang Anh: người quen [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: người quen [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: khắp nơi [natural native speed]
Eric: everywhere
Hoang Anh: khắp nơi [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: khắp nơi [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: thảo nào [natural native speed]
Eric: no wonder
Hoang Anh: thảo nào [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: thảo nào [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: nhà xuất bản [natural native speed]
Eric: publisher, publishing house
Hoang Anh: nhà xuất bản [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: nhà xuất bản [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: bản quyền [natural native speed]
Eric: copyright
Hoang Anh: bản quyền [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: bản quyền [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: phô tô [natural native speed]
Eric: to photocopy
Hoang Anh: phô tô [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: phô tô [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: đòi hỏi [natural native speed]
Eric: to demand, to require
Hoang Anh: đòi hỏi [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: đòi hỏi [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Hoang Anh: vô lý [natural native speed]
Eric: unreasonable
Hoang Anh: vô lý [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: vô lý [natural native speed]
Eric: And last..
Hoang Anh: chỉ vì [natural native speed]
Eric: just because
Hoang Anh: chỉ vì [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Hoang Anh: chỉ vì [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Hoang Anh: thảo nào
Eric: which means “no wonder.” You can use it as a conjunction and place it at the beginning of a sentence.
Hoang Anh: thảo nào can also stand alone as a single phrase or can be followed by a clause.
Eric: You can use it to confirm your understanding of what has been said before by someone else.
Hoang Anh: We only use thảo nào in daily conversation.
Eric: Hoang Anh, can you give us an example using this word?
Hoang Anh: Sure. For example, if A says Sáng nay tôi để quên điện thoại ở nhà. B answers Thảo nào tôi nhắn tin cho anh mà không thấy trả lời.
Eric: ..here A says “I left my phone at home this morning” and B answers “No wonder, I sent you a message but got no reply.” Okay, what's the next word?
Hoang Anh: phô tô
Eric: which means “to photocopy”
Hoang Anh: phô tô is a short version of the phonetic transcription of the English word “photocopy”.
Eric: You can use it as a verb and it’s followed by a noun or noun phrase.
Hoang Anh: You can use phô tô when you want to photocopy something. phô tô is an older usage and it’s only used in daily conversation now. In written documents, please use “photocopy” or “copy.” Keep the English word as it is.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Hoang Anh: Sure. For example, you can say.. Công việc chính của tôi là phô tô tài liệu cho các cuộc họp của công ty.
Eric: .. which means “My main job is to photocopy documents for the company's meetings.” Okay, what's the last word?
Hoang Anh: chỉ vì
Eric: which means “just because”
Hoang Anh: chỉ means “only”, or “just” and vì means “because.” chỉ vì is a conjunction.
Eric: You can use it at the beginning of a sentence followed by a clause, or as a connecting word between two clauses of a compound sentence.
Hoang Anh: chỉ vì is used to express the main or the only reason the speaker does something. You can use chỉ bởi vì interchangeably with chỉ vì.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Hoang Anh: Sure. For example, you can say.. Tôi học piano chỉ vì bố mẹ tôi muốn vậy.
Eric: .. which means “I study piano just because my parents want me to do so.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask people of different ages for permission and to answer permission questions. Ok, let's first learn how to ask people of different ages for permission.
Hoang Anh: To do this, you can use the following grammar structure- Cho phép, which means “to allow” + first person pronoun + verb + optional object + được không, which means “is it ok”?
Eric: Ok, to recap here we have….
Hoang Anh: Cho phép….first person pronoun... verb...an optional object... được không?
Eric: It means “Would you allow me to … ?” The first person pronoun can be changed depending on the relationship between the two speakers.
Hoang Anh: If the speaker is talking with an older person, the particle ạ is added at the end of the question.
Eric: It’s a particle used at the end of a sentence as an indication of politeness or respect, but it doesn’t mean anything on its own. Listeners, this question is very polite so it isn’t used in informal situations or among those who know each other very well. It also shouldn’t be used to ask a younger person something. Hoang Anh, can you give us some examples?
Hoang Anh: Sure. Cho phép tôi dùng bút của bạn được không?
Eric: “Would you allow me to use your pen?”
Hoang Anh: Cho phép em phỏng vấn anh vài phút được không ạ?
Eric: “Would you allow me to interview you for a few minutes?”
Hoang Anh: Cho phép cháu xin tên và địa chỉ của chú được không ạ?
Eric: “Uncle, may I have your name and address?” Great! Now, let's move on to our next grammar point - how to answer permission questions.
Hoang Anh: To answer permission questions you can use the following phrases. The first one is...Được or được chứ
Eric: which means “OK” or “That’s fine.”
Hoang Anh: Next we have...Tất nhiên là được
Eric: which means “Of course, yes.”
Hoang Anh: After Được or được chứ and Tất nhiên là được you can then add more information if necessary.
Eric: And if we want to give a negative answer?
Hoang Anh: In this case you can say...Xin lỗi, which means “sorry” and then give a reason why you don’t agree to give permission.
Eric: Ok! Let's summarize what we've learned and see some examples.
Hoang Anh: First, A says Cho phép tôi dùng bút của bạn được không? and B answers Được chứ or Tất nhiên là được. Bạn cứ tự nhiên.
Eric: which mean “- Would you allow me to use your pen? - “and “Sure, go ahead.” respectively.
Hoang Anh: Bạn cứ tự nhiên, which means “Go ahead, do as you wish” is very commonly used as a reply, especially when the first speaker asks for the permission to use something.
Eric: Ok, another example is...
Hoang Anh: A asks Cho phép em phỏng vấn anh vài phút được không ạ? and B answers Xin lỗi, bây giờ anh đang bận. Một tiếng nữa được không?
Eric: Which mean “-Would you allow me to interview you for a few minutes?” and - “Sorry, I’m busy now. Is it okay to do it in an hour?” respectively.

Outro

Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Hoang Anh: Tạm biệt.

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