Journal # 6

English and Vietnamese

     I began to study English when I was in junior high. I feel that it is very difficult to learn a second language because it is nothing like my mother language. Therefore, I have a good determination to find the similarity and the difference in English and Vietnamese. There are many similar and different points between English and Vietnamese like pronunciation, communication syntax, and grammar.
     First of all, pronunciation of English and Vietnamese are different but very similar. They have the same alphabet in pronouncing sounds. For example, the English sound /b/, /d/, /m/, /n/ is the same sound in Vietnamese. However, Vietnamese does not have /f/, /w/, /z/, / θ/ sound in the alphabet. So the Vietnamese find it very difficult to pronounce these sounds. In addition, English sound enunciates the ending sound while Vietnamese doesn’t pronounce ending sound. It explains why Vietnamese speak English without end sound. Beside that tune in both English and Vietnamese use intonation in question and admiration sentence. In rising intonation, the voice goes up at the end of question sentence. In falling intonation, the voice goes down at the end of admiration. English language has many differences from intonation in speech compared to Vietnamese. Good intonation comes from stressing the right word – this is because English is a time – stressed language. It moves the tongue so much when it speaks vowel sound / iy/, /a/, and /uw/. /iy/ pushes tongue forward and up while /a/ puts tongue down and back and /uw/ pulls tongue up and back. Vietnamese is considers of syllabic and doesn’t have too much intonation in speech. To sum up, English pronunciation and Vietnamese pronunciation have some similar sounds and intonations but different ways of pronounce them.
     Secondly, it is the difference and the similar in grammar of English and Vietnamese. Both of them have verb tenses as the past, present, and future tenses. They also have the same structure (subject + verb + object) for instance; “Tom goes to school” equal “Tom di den truong”. On the other hand, Vietnamese grammar doesn’t start with auxiliary verbs on question sentence. Irregular verbs are used in English sentence; adversely Vietnamese does away with that kind of verbs. Furthermore, the two languages make use of verbs plus prepositions followed by the gerund the same way. “I gave up smoking” is depicted similarly as “toi da bo hut thuoc” in Vietnamese. One of the differences between these two languages is the way they present plurality. In order to show something as plural, most often “s” can be added at the end of a subject. Vietnamese does not work that way; “nhieu” is added in front of a subject to show more than one. Thus, English and Vietnamese share some common grammar structures, but mostly they are very different.
     Finally, there are some differences and contrasts in communication syntax between Vietnamese and English. One of the differences between English and Vietnamese is that Americans use I and you to denote the first and second person. In contrary, Vietnamese first and second character are dependents on people who are involved in the conversation. It is disrespectful to call someone older than yourself “you” or even call them by their names. “Uncle” or “aunt” is used to call elder. When it comes to close relationship between two persons, Vietnamese and English use the same kind of words. “Honey” is used to call a lover in English where as “em yeu” means the same in Vietnamese. During daily conversation, Vietnamese and English use simple and short sentences. Slangs are heavily use in both languages. Consequently, it can be very difficult to distinguish these two languages from one another just by the way they use syntax.
     In conclusion, languages all over the world have the same basic rule and purpose. I think you will find many interesting, differences, and similarities things among each language. All languages are related to one another one way or the other. English and Vietnamese are similar but they both have many of the same and different points in pronunciation, communication syntax, and grammar.