Hello VinaTowners! Today is the time to learn three new consonants and 4 more words. Hold on, we’re already close to having learned all the letters! So, enough said, now you can discover our new lesson we made for you. Start!

Lesson 7: Vietnamese consonants: P,Q,R

1/P- pê pờ

Pi (pi number) Pô (photo shot)

The consonant “P” is usually seen combining with “H” to make a word-combination. “P” hardly go with vowels to combine a meaningful words. If yes, they are 99% are words adapted from foreign language, as you see above. P is sometimes easily confused with B due to its similiar pronunciation. To be sure, you can check by asking: "P Phở hay B Bò?" , which means P for "Phở" or B for "Bò"- and we have "Phở Bò" (Pho with beef) after all.

2/Q- ku qui

Q cannot make a word by combining with vowels. Q is always seen with U to make a complex word combination “Qu”. You will learn in further lessons of VinaPronuncia!

3/R- erờ rờ

Rổ (basket) Rẻ (cheap)

For French pronunciation (erờ), just like L,M,N that you learned last time, the final sound of R is very subtle and sometimes inaudible. When you pronounce “R”, your tongue will need to bend a little bit and be about to touch the hard palate, then produce a small exhale: R. It is different with L when your tongue is unbent, actually touches the hard palate and produce no exhale. It’s easy for westerners to make distinction on the pronunciation of R and L, but it’s an issue for some Asians, especially Japanese.

And can you believe that even Vietnamese have troubles with R ? It is the Northerners who cannot make distinction between R and D, which both sound like "dz". As a result, người dơi (batman) are phonologic to người rơi (falling man)!

One last note is that R in Vietnamese makes a very subtle and steady sound. In other languages I heard, R is strongly emphasized or prolonged and I could hear the vibration in one’s mouth/throat when the R sound was produced. Is it the same in your language?

Intervention of your mother-tongue in learning a new language is inevitable. What we should do is try to adapt to that language. Last but not least, trying to imitate a native speaker is useful to learn pronunciation. Nothing to be embarrassed!

See you next week with the last 4 consonants of Vietnamese alphabet.