Vietnamese Alphabets

Letter Name IPA

A aa/aː˧/Ă ăá/aː˧˥/
 âớ/əː˧˥/
B bbê; bờ; bê bò/ɓe˧/
C cxê; cờ/se˧/
D ddê; dờ/ze˧/
Đ đđê; đờ/ɗe˧/
E ee/ɛ˧/
Ê êê/e˧/
G ggiê; gờ; ghê/ʒe˧/
H hhắt; hờ/hat˧˥/
I ii; i ngắn/i˧/
K kca/kaː˧/
L le-lờ; lờ/ɛ˧ləː˧˩/
M mem-mờ;em mờ/ɛm˧məː˧˩/
N nen-nờ; en nờ/ɛn˧nəː˧˩/
O oo/ɔ˧/
Ô ôô/o˧/
Ơ ơơ/əː˧/
P ppê; pờ; bê phở (colloq.)/pe˧/
Q qcu; quy; quờ/ku˧/
R re-rờ; rờ/ɛ˧zəː˧˩/
S sét sờ; xờ mạnh; xờ nặng/ɛt˧˥səː˧˩/
T ttê; tờ/te˧/
U uu/u˧/
Ư ưư/ɨ˧/
V vvê, vờ/ve˧/
X xích xờ; xờ nhẹ/ik˧˥/
Y yi dài; i-cờ-rét/i˧zaːj˧˩/

Indonesia coffee premiums fall, undercut Vietnam prices

Indonesia coffee premiums fall, undercut Vietnam prices

Premiums for Indonesian robusta fell to their weakest level since April on Thursday after farmers increased deliveries to raise cash ahead of a Muslim festival, spurring buying by local roasters.

The fall in premiums to $80-$100 a tonne, down from $200 last week, may also prompt foreign buying as sellers in rival producer Vietnam are still offering robusta at premiums of up to $130 to London futures, their highest in two years, dealers said.

Daily arrivals in the main growing island of Sumatra jumped to as high as 3,000 tonnes, compared with about 1,000 tonnes in mid-May. Indonesia, the world's third-largest coffee producer, is also the second-largest grower of robusta after Vietnam.

"The beans have been traded at $100 premiums FOB. We also see offers at $80 but only from small suppliers who want to sell 36 or 40 tonnes of beans," said a dealer in Sumatra, referring to the grade 4,80 defect robustas.

"Many trading houses are still focusing on fulfilling deliveries. Premiums have come down because supply is improving and also because London futures have gone up."

Dealers saw buying interest from local roasters and processed food producers, such as PT Mayora Indah. Strong domestic demand will boost Indonesia's consumption in 2013/14 by nearly a third to more than four million 60-kg bags, according to a Reuters poll.

Heavy rains during the current crop in Sumatra have disrupted deliveries from plantations and the drying of beans. Premiums jumped as high as $200 a tonne earlier this month, the highest since 2012, although deals were struck at $150 premiums.

Differentials for Vietnam's grade 2, 5 percent black and broken beans were steady at $100 to $130 a tonne this week as farmers held on to their beans, hoping for higher global prices and better returns.

Indonesia and Vietnam together account for nearly a quarter of the world's coffee output. Robusta is either blended with higher-quality arabica beans for a lower-cost brewed coffee or processed into instant coffee.

"We haven't bought more Vietnamese beans so far. We're trying to get more beans from Indonesia. It's still much cheaper. I think we should be able to get the 80 defect beans at less than $100 premiums in bulk," said a dealer in Singapore.

"You can see supply is coming in," he added.

Indonesian farmers were selling more beans to trading houses as the weather improved and because they also needed extra cash to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in early August, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation.

"Daily arrivals have improved to 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes since last week. I guess farmers need to cover their daily needs," said a dealer in Java, adding that sales had only gone to local buyers at present.

London September robusta ended up $4 at $1,950 a tonne on Wednesday, after jumping to $1,979, the highest price since May 24, tracking New York arabica on fears of a frost threat in top producer Brazil.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

1st wax museum opens in Da Nang

Vietnam’s first wax museum opens in Da Nang



A life size statue of US President Barack Obama on display at Vietnam’s first wax museum, which opened July 11 in Da Nang City

Vietnam’s first wax of museum opened July 11, featuring life size statues of international celebrities.

Located at the Ba Na Hills Resort in the central coastal city of Da Nang and funded by Sun Group, the museum has 25 wax statues of celebrities including the US president Barack Obama, soccer star and fashion icon David Beckham and wife – singer turned fashion designer Victoria Beckham; movie stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie; Hallyu star Bi Rain; the late Chinese-American martial artist Bruce Lee; Michael Jackson, and Queen Elizabeth II.

Another batch of 25 figures made of a mixture of beeswax and plastic, will join the first batch by the end of this year.

The museum was constructed to attract more tourists to the city. It is able to receive around 1,000 people per day, also includes an area for visitors attempt to make their own clay creations.

Entrance to museum costs VND50,000 (US$2.30).

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

Quang Binh to open tours to Son Doong Cave

Quang Binh Province to open tours to Son Doong Cave

Tran Tien Dung, Deputy Chairman of the People’s Committee in the north central province of Quang Binh, has agreed to a pilot program to open adventure tours to Son Doong Cave--the world largest cave--from August this year.



A view of Son Doong Cave

There will be two seven-day and six-night tours or three five-day and four-night tours each month.

Each tour will comprise a maximum of seven visitors and 15 local porters will help carry their baggage and other belongings.

Once the pilot program proves successful, the province will host adventure tours to the Son Doong Cave during the dry season from February to August every year.

~News courtesy of SGGP~

Writing system

Writing system

Up to the late 19th century, two writing systems based on Chinese characters were used in Vietnam:

All formal writing, including government business, scholarship and formal literature, was done in Literary Chinese (chữ nho "scholar's characters").

Folk literature in Vietnamese was recorded using the Chữ Nôm script, in which many characters were borrowed and many more modified and invented to represent native Vietnamese words.

A romanization of Vietnamese was codified in the 17th century by the French Jesuit missionary Alexandre de Rhodes (1591–1660), based on works of earlier Portuguese missionaries Gaspar do Amaral and António Barbosa. This Vietnamese alphabet (quốc ngữ or "national script", literally "national language") was gradually expanded from its initial domain in Christian writing to become more popular among the general public. 

Under French colonial rule, Vietnamese written with the alphabet became required for all public documents in 1910 by issue of a decree by the French Résident Supérieur of the protectorate of Tonkin. By the middle of the 20th century virtually all writing was done in quốc ngữ. Only a few scholars and some extremely elderly people are able to read chữ nôm today. In China, members of the Jing minority still write in Chữ Nôm.

Changes in the script were made by French scholars and administrators and by conferences held after independence during 1954–1974. The script now reflects a so-called Middle Vietnamese dialect that has vowels and final consonants most similar to northern dialects and initial consonants most similar to southern dialects (Nguyễn 1996). This Middle Vietnamese is presumably close to the Hanoi variety as spoken sometime after 1600 but before the present. (This is not unlike how English orthography is based on the Chancery Standard of late Middle English, with many spellings retained even after significant phonetic change.)

~News courtesy of Wikipedia~

Vietnamese Grammar

Grammar

Vietnamese, like many languages in Southeast Asia, is an analytic (or isolating) language. Vietnamese does not use morphological marking of case, gender, number or tense (and, as a result, has no finite/nonfinite distinction). 

Also like other languages in the region, Vietnamese syntax conforms to subject–verb–object word order, is head-initial (displaying modified-modifier ordering), and has a noun classifier system. Additionally, it is pro-drop, wh-in-situ, and allows verb serialization. Some Vietnamese sentences with English word glosses and translations are provided below.

Mai là sinh viên.
Mai be student
"Mai is a student." (College student)

Giáp rất cao.
Giap very tall
"Giap is very tall."

Người đó là anh nó.
person that be brother he
"That person is his brother."

Con chó này chẳng bao giờ sủa cả.
classifier dog this not ever bark at.all
"This dog never barks at all."

Nó chỉ ăn cơm Việt Nam thôi.
he only eat rice.colloquial Vietnam only
"He only eats Vietnamese food."

Cái thằng chồng em nó chẳng ra gì.
focus classifier husband I (as wife) he not turn.out what
"That husband of mine, he is good for nothing."

Tôi thích con ngựa đen.
I (generic) like classifier horse black
"I like the black horse."

Tôi thích cái con ngựa đen.
I (generic) like focus classifier horse black
"I like any black horses."

~Info courtesy of Wikipedia~

Vietnamese Tones

Tones

Generally, the Northern varieties have six tones while those in other regions have five tones. 

The hỏi and ngã tones are distinct in North and some North-central varieties (although often with different pitch contours) but have merged in Central, Southern, and some North-central varieties (also with different pitch contours). 

Some North-central varieties (such as Hà Tĩnh Vietnamese) have a merger of the ngã and nặng tones while keeping the hỏi tone distinct. Still other North-central varieties have a three-way merger of hỏi, ngã, and nặng resulting in a four-tone system. 

In addition, there are several phonetic differences (mostly in pitch contour and phonation type) in the tones among dialects.

~Info courtesy of Wikipedia~

Coffee turns bitter for Vietnam exporters

Coffee turns bitter for Vietnam exporters

Debts and a fall in global prices have hit the coffee industry hard, with many exporters facing the threat of bankruptcy.

The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association said exporters in the country, the world's biggest robusta producer, have bad and overdue bank debts of VND6.33 trillion (US$298.65 million).

In the first half of the year they exported only 795,000 tons, down 24 percent year-on-year. Their revenues were down 22 percent to $1.7 billion.

News website Saigon Times quoted an unidentified director at a Ho Chi Minh City-based coffee exporter as saying companies are left with no choice but export despite falling prices and losses of 10-20 percent to repay debts.

During the industry’s peak years in 2008-10 firms paid interest of 24 percent, so it is “understandable” that many are now drowning in debt since the interest rates are still very high but the situation has become adverse, the director said.

Domestic robusta prices fell to $1,740 a ton on June 14, the lowest in 16 months, according to the Promotion Center for Trade, Investment, and Tourism in Dak Lak Province, the nation’s main growing region.

In London, coffee futures for September delivery stood at $1,753 a ton on June 18, lower than the $2,120 level exporters had hoped for, according to news website VOV.

Last year 43 coffee exporters in Dak Lak alone defaulted on bank loans, the province's Department of Industry and Trade said.
v The southern province of Binh Duong had over 100 such borrowers.

Vicofa has proposed to the government a program to lend to exporters at low interest rates that would help them hold on to 200,000-300,000 tons of coffee and wait for prices to recover. The volume represents a fifth of the expected output in 2013-14.

The finance and agriculture ministries have asked the government to roll over the industry's loans for one to three years.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

New flights from Da Nang to Seoul, Siem Reap

VNA opens new flights from Da Nang to Seoul, Siem Reap



National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) on June 28 in Da Nang City announced that it has opened two direct flight routes from the city to Seoul (Korea) and Siem Reap (Cambodia).

There will be three flights a week on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, which will depart at 0.05 am in Da Nang and at 9.30 am (local time) in Seoul, by Airbus A321 aircraft for the Da Nang - Seoul route.

As for Da Nang - Siem Reap route, there will be one flight a day by ATR-72 aircraft, departing at 2.10 pm from Da Nang City and at 5.15 pm from Siem Reap.

The carrier announced that it will sell tickets at prices nearly 50 percent cheaper than normal prices for both routes until December 31 this year, with a round-trip ticket for Da Nang - Seoul route costing VND5,940,000, and VND1,738,000 for Da Nang – Siem Reap route.

~News courtesy of SGGP~

The tofu, mắm tôm gold rush

The tofu, mắm tôm gold rush

Plastic stool ogles comely lasses capitalizing on a renaissance of Hanoian fare in Ho Chi Minh City.



The fried shrimp rolls (bún nem tôm) at Mam Tom+, the latest in a massive eruption of Saigon restaurants that celebrate the flavors of Northern Vietnam, in general, and the namesake potent purple shrimp paste, in particular. Photo courtesy of Mam Tom+ A few months ago, a tall, androgynous model from Hanoi opened a tofu and shrimp paste shack in the middle of a long alley in Pham Ngu Lao.

Reasonably priced and highly delicious, Bún Đậu Cô Khàn (literally “Ms. Smoky Voice’s Tofu Noodles”) seemed, at the time, like a singularly brilliant idea.

I didn’t realize that Cô Khàn’s place represented a small piece of a southern renaissance of sweet fermented beverages and Hanoi dishes infused with the powerful purple shrimp paste known as mắm tôm.

This movement, if I can call it that, has changed the way people hang out. Gangs of adorable teenagers now gather, nightly, on low wooden stools to sip glasses of trà chanh (sweet iced tea with lime juice) and munch on phô mai que (essentially fried string cheese on a stick).

The tofu gold rush has even had the bizarre effect of sparking a new aesthetic consciousness in a town whose best restaurants have traditionally felt like field hospitals.

Last week, I stumbled into Mắm Tôm+, a four-month-old Hanoi food spot squirreled away in a nondescript alley not far from the Bitexco tower.

Bamboo poles with dangling orchids crisscrossed a dining room. Flat bamboo trays advertised the expansive menu from the far wall.

Naturally, the owner turned out to be a stunning and successful woman from the capital city who’d made a living in PR.

Viet Hong wandered from table to table in a purple lace dress greeting customers wolfing down the house’s rich fried spring rolls.

The crisp, overstuffed rolls strained against an impressive filling of julienned carrot, mushrooms, shrimp and pork hash. The whole thing came to the table looking like a delicious anemone — the rolls were plated standing on end in a bed of white rice noodles and bright fragrant herbs.

I finished it all off with a mug of fermented purple rice and yogurt (sữa chua nếp cẩm) which went down delightfully sweet and bitter.

Not bad for four dollars.

Though it would be impossible to pinpoint who opened the first of these stylized and delicious Hanoi food spots, the idea seems to have started on a now busy stretch of Nguyen Du Street.

“I have about half the customers I did when we first opened,” said Dang Thu Hien, tugging nervously at a loose corner of her dress at a table of friends on a busy Saturday night. “So many places have opened since then.”

A terrible karaoke singer had descended the legion of sweaty young sidewalk diners spilling out of her packed restaurant. Few seemed to notice, but at my table’s insistence, Hien politely bargained the singer down to two songs.

Last September, the former event manager brightened a windowless shop in the bottom of a war-era apartment block with bright lights, and a cartoon mural featuring a skyline besieged by balloons and television-shaped aliens.

When the karaoke boys aren’t out, the place hums to a cool international pop soundtrack.

Ngõ 89 served small plates of fingerfoods, like pork pie nuggets dipped in Hanoi hot sauce (nem chua rán) and, of course bún đậu mắm tôm, mostly to teenagers desperate to post cell phone pictures of themselves eating on Facebook.

Early this year, Hien doubled down by opening Gối, a hip full-service restaurant named after a dish that can only be described as a killer cabbage and mushroom empanada.

The walls and waitresses are decked out in vintage kitsch (old radios plaid aprons) and everything is served on white and blue enamelware.

Beyond its namesake dish, Gối serves an astounding bún chả sương xông — pork balls grilled in bitter herbs. Equally as good is the giả cầy, a pig foot stew prepared in the fashion of dog meat. The predominant flavor, of course, is mắm tôm.

* Mắm Tôm+
Address: 100/3 Nguyen Cong Tru St., District 1, HCMC
Telephone: 090 265 5502
Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

* Ngõ 89
Address: 89 Nguyen Du St., District 1, HCMC
Hours: 3 p.m.-10 p.m.

* Gối
Address: 87 Nguyen Du St., District 1, HCMC
Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

* Thị Quán
Address: 46/50 Vo Van Tan St., District 3, HCMC
Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

On a hot day, stop in for as many mugs of Gối’s transcendent lemongrass tea as your bladder has room for.

Hien insisted that the recipes are nothing special. “Every Hanoi woman knows how to make these things,” she said.

It would seem they have just been keeping it all from us all these years.

While her business may have suffered from the boom it may have inspired, she is still not short of customers.

On May 5, Hien’s friend will oversee the launch of Thị Quán – a place in District 3 that will specialize in traditional northern food and hotpots, especially lẩu gà bỗng rượu (chicken hotpot with fermented rice). I’ll be there, spoon in hand, to taste what may be the next big thing.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

Language Variation

Vietnamese has traditionally been divided into three dialect regions: North, Central, and South. However, Michel Fergus and Nguyễn Tài Cẩn offer evidence for considering a North-Central region separate from Central. 

The term Haut-Annam refers to dialects spoken from northern Nghệ An Province to southern (former) Thừa Thiên Province that preserve archaic features (like consonant clusters and undiphthongized vowels) that have been lost in other modern dialects.

These dialect regions differ mostly in their sound systems (see below), but also in vocabulary (including basic vocabulary, non-basic vocabulary, and grammatical words) and grammar. 

The North-central and Central regional varieties, which have a significant amount of vocabulary differences, are generally less mutually intelligible to Northern and Southern speakers. 

There is less internal variation within the Southern region than the other regions due to its relatively late settlement by Vietnamese speakers (in around the end of the 15th century). 

The North-central region is particularly conservative. Along the coastal areas, regional variation has been neutralized to a certain extent, while more mountainous regions preserve more variation. As for sociolinguistic attitudes, the North-central varieties are often felt to be "peculiar" or "difficult to understand" by speakers of other dialects.

The large movements of people between North and South beginning in the mid-20th century and continuing to this day have resulted in a significant number of Southern residents speaking in the Northern accent/dialect and, to a lesser extent, Northern residents speaking in the Southern accent/dialect. 

Following the Geneva Accords of 1954 that called for the temporary division of the country, almost a million northerners (mainly from Hanoi and the surrounding Red River Delta areas) moved south (mainly to Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, and the surrounding areas) as part of Operation Passage to Freedom. About a third of that number of people made the move in the reverse direction.

Following the reunification of Vietnam in 1975–76, Northern and North-Central speakers from the densely populated Red River Delta and the traditionally poorer provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh have continued to move South to look for better economic opportunities. 

Additionally, government and military personnel are posted to various locations throughout the country, often away from their home regions. More recently, the growth of the free market system has resulted in business people and tourists traveling to distant parts of Vietnam. 

These movements have resulted in some small blending of the dialects but, more significantly, have made the Northern dialect more easily understood in the South and vice versa. Most Southerners, when singing modern/popular Vietnamese songs, do so in the Northern accent. This is true in Vietnam as well as in the overseas Vietnamese communities.

~Info courtesy of Wikipedia~

Vietnamese Coffee 越南咖啡

cà phê Việt Nam

Nui Ba Den - Tay Ninh Province 西宁省

Nui Ba Den - Tay Ninh Province 西宁省

Countryside 乡间

Pham Ngu Lao guesthouse 范五老街旅舍

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