Southern Vietnamese, sound first

An open textbook for learning Vietnamese the way it's spoken in Saigon. It starts with the sounds (the vowels, the five Southern tones, the consonants and endings) and then builds up to greetings, numbers and everyday sentences.

How this book works

• Hear every word. Anything drawn like xin chào is clickable, spoken with a Southern accent.
• Say it before you click. Guess the sound first, then check yourself. That's how your ear learns.
• Check your tones. Exercises with a Record button listen to you, draw your pitch as you speak, and tell you whether the tone matches.
• Practise a little every day. Each chapter has its own section in the Anki deck. Ten minutes a day beats an hour once a week.
• Look things up fast. The cheat sheet states every rule as a formula, with links back to the chapters.

Contents