Due to the difference of pronunciation features among a range of lands, provinces in Vietnam, the natives have their own ways of pronouncing based on regional characteristics. During the long period of teaching pronunciation in English, I have realized an amazing situation of the way how the residents in “Xu Nau” land, known as Phu Yen, pronounce.
The “Xứ Nẫu” people’s pronunciation in Vietnamese The “Xứ Nẫu” people are known as the ones pronouncing the diphthong of “âu” in their speech. Phu Yen and Binh Dinh, the two provinces of Central Vietnam, are located closely along at hand along the coast, not only have the same features relating to the terrains, living customs, but also their similar unique pronunciation, using the sound “âu”. In addition to words with the original sound “âu”, such as “đi đâu” (Where do you go), “ruộng sâu ruộng cạn” (water field dry field), “con ong nâu” (a brown bee), “làm gì lâu vậy” (How long it is to do!), “chó sủa gâu gâu” (a dog barks “woof, woof”), there are a lot of words regarded as the same diphthong “âu” as the ones mentioned above. However, it is the transformation from the sound “ôi” into “âu”, for instances, trái ổi → trái ẩu (guava), mặc kệ tôi→ Kệ nẫu/ Kệ tui (none of your business!), thiên lôi→ Thiên lâu (God of thunder), bệnh rồi→ bệnh rầu (I’m sick.), etc.
The change in their pronunciation is to spring from the indigenous lifestyles with less socializing outside to traveling regularly among a range of places. Typically, the fact that Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa are separated from Phu Khanh Province and the huge number of the “Xu Nau” people moving to Sai Gon to study and to work have gained remarkable increase for years has led to the gradual change in pronunciation. The diphthong “ôi” has been used frequently in speech. However, it is said that the sound “âu” is one of the characteristic and impressive ones in the minds of many local people. During the process of practicing pronouncing in a correct way, some humorous circumstances happen. For example, instead of saying “cái nồi lẫu” (a pot of soup), they say “cái nẫu lỗi” (a pot of mistakes) because of doubting about something wrong here.
The coincidence of English and Vietnamese pronunciation in the “Xu nau” land Although the sound “au” is one of the features in pronunciation of Phu Yen and Binh Dinh people. It has not brought any advantages yet. Another sound "æ” seems only to appear in the chart of 44 sounds in English; however, it also appears in the familiar spoken sentences. For example, that my hometown has "núi Nhæn, sông Đæ' " (Nhan Mountain, Da River) is well-known in the “Xứ Nẫu” region. It is the sound "æ" that appears in "núi Nhæn, sông Đæ' ", but not “e” or "ắc". The question is whether there is any relation of the phonetic formation between English and Vietnamese of the “Xứ Nẫu” land.
Nowadays, it is said that some Vietnamese students have habits of turning phonetic shapes in English into similar ones in Vietnamese, especially “e-i” into “ay”, “a-i” into “ai”, “o-i” into “oi”, “ə-ʊ" into “âu", "ʊ-ə" into "ua". Nevertheless, this way of memorizing will lead to habits of pronouncing monophthong in English. The Vietnamese sounds are known as monophthongs, for example, the combination of words “tờ", "rờ", "a", "nờ", "gờ" is pronounced “trang”, while the English sounds are diverse. Typically, the combination of sounds “t”, “r”, “i” is pronounced “tree”.
Among many different ways of local pronunciation, The “Xu Nau” people pronounce the diphthong "æ" correctly in English, whereas it takes some time for students coming from other regions to practice this sound. It is not the sound “e” or “ắc” in Vietnamese. The sound "æ" could be identified in some words, such as back, in fact, track….
This coincidence has brought a little bit interesting thing in my class, in which I have to explain and demonstrate how to pronounce "æ" all the time. It could be said that I have tried to explain this to my students as slowly as possible and even the ways of transformation of the sound "æ" combined by a half of the sound “a” and “e” and pronounced shortly. My attempts to help them pronounce this quite difficult sound has still not ended in success yet, whereas the “Xu Nau” residents do it perfectly without any efforts. Apparently, the sound "æ" is their natural response.
Be confident in studying in English in case you are part of The “Xu Nau” land. Although you have troubles in pronouncing 43 sounds in English, It is certain that you could master the sound "æ" easily. Let’s talk with Cephan, a teacher originating from the “Xu Nau”, to get a lot of other exciting experiences about learning English.
