THIS IS THE FSI VIETNAMESE BASIC COURSE VOLUMES 1 : THIS COURSE INCLUDES THE BASIC SET VOLUMES 1 WITH STUDENT TEXT MANUALS. THERE ARE 10 UNIT LESSONS IN ALL WITH MP3 AUDIO INSTRUCTION THAT GOES ALONG WITH THE STUDENT TEXT MANUALS.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of the Guide to Pronunciation is to familiarize a student with the pronunciation of Southern Vietnamese to the point where he can recognize and reproduce with facility all its commonly occurring sounds and sequences of sounds. The method underlying the presentation involves listening contrasting recognizing and imitating. The material has been presented as simply as possible always with the beginning student rather than the professional linguist in mind. While some technical phonetic descriptions are included for those who understand them they can be ignored by the student with limited linguistic background. This guide should be used in conjunction with the accompanying tape recordings. To try to learn Vietnamese pronunciation by reading the text without reference to the recordings would be as useless as trying to learn to play the piano by reading music without ever touching a keyboard. The students ability to use this guide effectively will be determined largely by his willingness to follow the specific instructions provided at each step. He must also be careful never to move ahead until he has thoroughly mastered what has already been introduced by going over each section as many times as he requires. A word of caution: While this guide uses conventional Vietnamese spelling it aims primarily at teaching a student how to pronounce - not how to read - Vietnamese. Accordingly all drills should be practiced first with the book closed. Those students who are also interested in developing a reading skill can use the guide to practice reading in addition to - but not in place of - pronunciation practice. AFTER mastering the pronunciation such students can use the Familiarization Drills and Mimicry Drills for reading practice: by reading each item in these drills BEFORE it occurs on the tape their reading can be confirmed (or corrected) by the tape. This guide should be used not only as an introduction to pronunciation but also for remedial purposes later. Students having pronunciation difficulties should review appropriate drills repeatedly until the difficulties are cleared up.