Consanants

Question 1

c

Answer 1

‘g’ as in goat for start, /k̚/ is final

Question 2

ch

Answer 2

‘ch’ as in church /t̚/ is final, (/ʲk/ in North)

Question 3

d

Answer 3

‘y’ as in ‘young’ (Southern Vietnamese) ‘z’ as in zebra (Northern Vietnamese),

Question 4

đ

Answer 4

hard ‘d’ with a slightly aspirated ‘h’ sound, like “don’t!”
pronounced where the hard palat aveolar)meets the teach (teacher says hard pallet) (voiced and implosive)

Tongue is slightly flat on hard pallet, with the tongue touching the tip of the teeth (similar to positioning of a nya sound)

Question 5

g, gh

Answer 5

hard guttural ‘g’ as in goat, but slighted aspirated like the Scottish ‘ch’ in ‘loch‘ - the most lowest pressure in pronunciation of the g/k/c sounds

Question 6

gi

Answer 6

‘y’ as in ‘young’ (Southern Vietnamese), ‘z’ as in zebra (Northern Vietnamese)

Question 7

k

Answer 7

‘ga’ as in gateau (sometimes like a k)
Somewhat tighter, but still closer to a g sound

Question 8

kh

Answer 8

‘hw’, like an aspirated ‘w’, like how some Southern Americans pronounce white or whip

Question 9

ng, ngh

Answer 9

‘(i)ng’ as in sing (see our special post on ng), /ŋ/ is final North & South

Question 10

nh

Answer 10

‘n-y’ as in canyon, /n/ is final south, /ŋ/ is final north

Question 11

ph

Answer 11

f

Question 12

qu

Answer 12

‘qu’ as in queen, and ‘gu’ as in Guatemala

Question 13

r

Answer 13

Similar to English r (Southern Vietnamese), ‘z’ as in zebra (Northern Vietnamese)

Question 14

t

Answer 14

Sometimes a soft ‘t’ and sometimes a ‘d’ (somewhere between the two in pressure of pronunciation, aspirated) /k/ in South if not following i or ê /t̚/ in North

Question 15

th

Answer 15

hard ‘t-huh’ as in ‘tundra’, with a slightly aspirated ‘h’

Question 16

tr

Answer 16

‘tr’ as in trade, which morphs into ‘ch’ (as in church) when spoken quickly

Question 17

x

Answer 17

‘s’ as in see (never a z like in English)

Question 18

n

Answer 18

n in start, /ŋ/ final south, /n/ final north