Learn Vietnamese
Vietnamese is written in the Latin alphabet, which makes it look like a soft start, and then it turns out that the marks above and below the letters are half the language. Six tones, and a set of vowels English does not have. iLexiBox teaches the tones as part of the alphabet rather than after it, because a Vietnamese syllable said on the wrong pitch is not an accent, it is a different word.
Start at the alphabet and the tones
The Vietnamese on-ramp is written by hand, not generated, and it is 199 cards long. Every card is spoken in a recorded Vietnamese voice, and what you get right is scheduled for review rather than shown again at random. This is the shorter, starter size of on-ramp; most languages here have about 480 cards.
- 29letters
- 10digits
- 20pronunciation rules
- 100core words
- 20everyday phrases
- 20sentences
Three of the pronunciation cards, exactly as the on-ramp teaches them:
- a — ngang — the level tone. No mark at all: hold the voice flat and mid, like humming one notema — ghost
- à — huyền — the falling tone. The mark leans down to the left; let the voice sag low and breathymà — but
- á — sắc — the rising tone. The mark leans up to the right; push the voice sharply upwardmá — mother (southern) / cheek
Your first Vietnamese phrases
The first phrase and sentence cards of the on-ramp, each spoken in a recorded voice:
- Xin chào sin chow — Hello.
- Chào anh chow ayng — Hello. (to an older man)
- Cảm ơn nhiều gaam uhn nyew — Thank you very much.
- Tôi là học sinh. toy la hawk sing — I am a student.
- Tôi là giáo viên. toy la zow vyen — I am a teacher.
Then material that does not run out
Above the on-ramp sit the practice path (A1 to C2), Make a text at your level and the album: more than 2,700 photographs, each captioned and spoken in Vietnamese. Vietnamese has practice and tools, not lessons — the only course on iLexiBox is the full English course (how each part works).
What Vietnamese actually costs a beginner
ma, mà, má, mả, mã and mạ are six words, and the difference between them is nothing but melody. The marks are a good notation for it — the huyền leans down and the voice sags, the sắc leans up and the voice pushes — but the sound itself has to be copied off a recording, which is why every card carries one. Underneath the tones sit the vowel triples, where a, ă and â are three distinct vowels rather than one letter decorated, and a set of final consonants that the mouth forms but never releases.
The full English course, A1–C1 →