Lesson Notes
Lesson Focus
The focus of this lesson is Self Introduction in Vietnamese
Topic 1: How to introduce yourself in an informal situation
Sentence from the lesson:
Xin chào, tôi là Giang. Rất vui được làm quen với bạn.
"Hi, I'm Giang. Nice to meet you."
- Start by saying Xin chào. Xin chào means "Hi" or "hello" and it is used in both formal and informal situations. It can also be used at any time of the day. Though the equivalents of "good morning, good afternoon" and "good evening" do exist, Vietnamese people don't normally use them in their daily conversation. So you have to remember only two words Xin chào.
- Say Tôi là and your name. Xin chào, tôi là Giang. Tôi là ... is similar to "I am" and you simply need to add your name to this. Using Tôi là + "your name" is neutral and sounds ok in any circumstances.
- You say Rất vui được làm quen với bạn. Rất vui means "I'm very happy" and được làm quen với bạn means "to get to know you." or "to get acquainted with you." Vietnamese people usually look forward to a closer relationship in the future, so they tend to say "I'm happy to get to know you" rather than just "I'm happy to meet you."
Topic 2: How to introduce yourself in a formal situation
Sentence from the lesson:
Xin chào. Tôi tên là Giang. Rất hân hạnh được làm quen với bạn.
"Hi, I'm Giang. Nice to meet you. "
- The word Xin chào doesn't change.
- The way you say your name is longer. One more word is added Tôi tên là instead of Tôi là. So instead of saying "I am," you say, "My name is...." Tôi tên là Giang: "My name is Giang."
- The last sentence: Rất hân hạnh được làm quen với bạn. means "It's my pleasure to get to know you." So hân hạnh means "my pleasure." It should be noted that the formal way is mostly used in business situations, rather than in daily conversations. So unless you go to Vietnam for business, it is advisable that you stick to the previous introduction.
Language Tip
Vietnamese people are not familiar with personal touches when meeting each other. So kissing or hugging is not recommended though business people and male friends do shake hands when they meet. For the first meeting, simply introducing yourself with a smile is the best way to get to know a Vietnamese person.
23 Comments
HideTry introducing yourself in Vietnamese!
You are very good in your teachings !
Hello René,
Thank you very much for your nice comment.
We hope you find our lessons useful and please feel free to ask if you have any question.
Let's make learning Vietnamese be interesting. You'll see it is not as difficult as you think.
Best regards,
Nguyet Nguyen
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Hi,
The first impression for me is that the language is very difficult. I learned a little Thai and little English. I like Asia very much. And there are many Vietnamese and Thais in Berlin. I have been to Thailand twice and this time I go back to Thailand and a week to Laos. I have to go to Vietnam once. Just because of the friendly, open nature of the people there. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn the language here.
Best Regards
Chào Adel,
Welcome to our website! We have both Southern and Northern series. In this lesson, we use Northern accent. The Southern series will be named with the phrase "Southern".
So, please feel free to use these series to practice Northern accent.
Hope you enjoy!
Best,
Huyền.
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Im sorry I had written it erroneously. I wanted write that I want to learn north accent. My bad. :sweat_smile:
Hello, I'm totally new in this and I heard that south and north accent are very different. Can I ask which accent do you use? Because of place where I will be traveling I want to learn south accent :)
Chào Allison,
We keep the foreign names as they are and do not change anything. But we may pronounce them incorrectly, so it would be great if you could tell the person who is talking with you how to pronounce your name correctly.
Cheers,
Giang
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Chào
Is Allison in Vietnamese just Allison? or do you say it a different way?
Hi Martin,
Thank you for posting.
For now, it is not possible to add Phrases or Expressions to the word bank (unless it is part of the Vocabulary List).
But we recommend you to try this other app: https://www.vietnamesepod101.com/custom-lists/
*You can create your own list of expressions.
Sincerely,
Laura
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Hi
how can I put expressions to the word bank.
Cheers, Martin