Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Southern Vietnamese Survival Phrases brought to you by VietnamesePod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Southern Vietnam. You’ll be surprised at how far a little Vietnamese will go.
Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by VietnamesePod101.com. There, you’ll find the accompanying PDF lesson notes and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus

Southern Vietnamese Survival Phrases lesson 26 - Taking a Taxi in Southern Vietnam.
In Vietnam, you have different options of getting around. In most cities, you can choose between buses, taxis, or my personal favorite, xích lô, which is Vietnamese for rickshaw. In today’s lesson, we’ll cover phrases used to get you to your destination when riding a taxi or a xích lô.
Today, we’ll use hotel as the example destination. In Vietnamese, “hotel” is khách sạn.
khách sạn
Let’s break it down by syllable, khách sạn.
The first word, khách, is rising, while the second part, san, is said in the falling tone, with a heavy stop. Let’s say it again, khách sạn.
khách sạn
A polite phrase to use when taking a taxi is Tôi muốn đi.
Let’s break this down. The first word, tôi, is said with no tone.
Let’s hear it again, tôi.
tôi
The second word, muốn, is the English equivalent of “want” or “need.”
Muốn is said in the rising tone.
Let’s practice it again, muốn.
muốn
The last word, đi, means “go.” This is said with no tone.
Let’s say it again, đi.
đi
So all together, we have - Tôi muốn đi.
Tôi muốn đi.
Literally, this translates to “I need go” but this is the English equivalent of “I want to go to.”
Let’s put everything we’ve learned so far together.
To say “I want to go to the hotel,” you would say Tôi muốn đi khách sạn.
Tôi muốn đi khách sạn.
As you can see, your destination comes after the phrase. This is the most basic way of expressing where you’d like to go and you can use it when riding a taxi or xích lô.
Actually, just saying your desired destination should work, but don’t let the people producing this hear that. When taking a taxi or xích lô, make sure the driver knows where you want to go and try to agree to a price before you take the ride. You’ll have to tune in next week to learn how to ask for the price.
Tipping is not required but greatly appreciated in Vietnam. When I’m in Vietnam, I tend to tip generously because I know people rely heavily on tourists for income. Also, we’d do the xích lô drivers a favor and don’t pack 10 of your friends onto one car.

Outro

Okay, to close out today’s lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so, chúc may mắn, this means “good luck” in Vietnamese.
Okay, here we go!
“I wish to go to the hotel.” - Tôi muốn đi khách sạn.
Tôi muốn đi khách sạn.
Tôi muốn đi khách sạn.
All right, that's going to do it for this lesson. Remember to stop by VietnamesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF lesson notes. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Bye!

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