Hello to all. Greeting from a newbie.

[armee]

Dear all

I'm new to this web site as I've just made a new friend from VN and searching all information regarding VN. I'm overwhelmed by the warm & friendliness among you all here. Everyone of you are so helpful! :o

Would anyone of you who can suggest a good learning kit / books / CDs for someone who's a very beginner for Vietnamese like me? Really wish you could help.

Oh, one more thing, would anyone please kindly translate below into VN? I wish to send an SMS to my new friend. Million thanks.

Msg 1: I am home now.
Msg 2: Can you give me a call when you have time?

Your help is much appreciated.

[bschuess]

Hi newbie

I'm a newbie too, so let me give you my opinion. The companion website evietnamese.net (EV) has some really good beginning lessons. There are pronunciation guides, 10 "first step" lessons, and 100 useful sentences with hundreds more on the way. These are all accompanied by written commentary and MP3 sound files. These are as good as anything I have seen.

You can also sign up for live lessons on line with VN language teachers. If you can afford $20 a lesson, these in conjunction with the aforementioned lessons are very intensive. If you are serious and utilize all of the above, you will have as good a start as any beginning language course I know. You will learn as much as you are able to absorb.

Rosetta Stone sells a CD based set of lessons that will give you additional vocabulary and grammar, but $ for $, I think the EV online lessons and EV live lessons are a better buy.

I hope this helps. I explored some other options like Berlitz Language Lessons and the were so expensive I didn't even consider them. I don't know if you have more options in HK.

Bob

[maccavn]

Dear all

I'm new to this web site as I've just made a new friend from VN and searching all information regarding VN. I'm overwhelmed by the warm & friendliness among you all here. Everyone of you are so helpful! :o

Would anyone of you who can suggest a good learning kit / books / CDs for someone who's a very beginner for Vietnamese like me? Really wish you could help.

Oh, one more thing, would anyone please kindly translate below into VN? I wish to send an SMS to my new friend. Million thanks.

Msg 1: I am home now.
Msg 2: Can you give me a call when you have time?

Your help is much appreciated.
Hi armee!
I don't know if you still need this translation or not? But here they are:
Msg 1: Bay gio (now) toi (I) dang o (at) nha (home)
Msg 2: Ban (you) co the goi (call) cho toi (me) khi nao (when) ban (you) co (have) thoi gian (time) ranh duoc khong?

[giang]

I love the song you use for your signature, maccavn. It evokes nice memories about Hanoi. Thanks

[maccavn]

I love the song you use for your signature, maccavn. It evokes nice memories about Hanoi. Thanks
Thank you! Certainly, I love the song "Nhớ (remember) mùa thu (autumn) Hà Nội" too. And I used my most favourite sentences for the signature. Moreover, my current workplace is beside Hồ Tây (West Lake). The scene is very beautiful and especially I can see Sâm cầm Hồ Tây (an animal looks like a small duck that lives in West Lake) from my working room. Yes, I love Hà Nội, my homeland :D

[plaucl]

[quote="armee"]Dear all

I'm new to this web site as I've just made a new friend from VN and searching all information regarding VN. I'm overwhelmed by the warm & friendliness among you all here. Everyone of you are so helpful! :o

Would anyone of you who can suggest a good learning kit / books / CDs for someone who's a very beginner for Vietnamese like me? Really wish you could help.

quote]


Hi armee,

I totally agree with bschuess. EV's First Step and 100 useful sentences will be a very good starting point for beginners like us. The MP3 audio are execellent. Reading 1 is also another good place to visit to learn pronounciation and improve vocabulary.

If the above is not enough, try "A Little Vietnamese" from griesser software. Available from the internet. Found it useful for beginners like us, also not too expensive. As for books, try "Essential Vietnamese Phrase Book" (I bought this in HK) better than lonely planet's and rough guide Phrasebooks. Formal lessons from Books and CD - suggest you dont use them for the time being - too heavy and boring.

Rgds
LauCL

[armee]

Thank you all of your help and I'll try out the suggested materials. Thanks again.

Oh by the way, the translation is very good for me as I can learn the words while using the phrase already. Cheers!