I was born here in Aus, have always lived here and never gone to Viet but my parents were born there and came her 20yrs ago and are now 50

However,
I always speak Vietnamese at home because my parents cant speak english

and i follow some traditions such as covering body up and wearing earings and my brothers are better than me

What do you think?
Thanks oh and I m 14
Just say opinion please. Say either Aussie or Vietnamese.
Jonathon D please do not make such horrible comments about me.

By the way thanks to all the other people who are answering nicely.

My baby only knows how to say daddy. We think she may have said mama but we're not sure. My parents just came to live with us. I feel a big responsibility to take care of them since they raised me. We speak Chinese to each other. My husband speaks Vietnamese and so do my parents so they speak to each in Vietnamese. My husband and I speak to each other in english. My daughter goes to her grandfathers house (my FIL) two days a week so he can spend some time with her and he speaks Vietnamese to her. So she being spoken to in English, Chinese and Vietnamese. Is that the reason she's not saying many word? She's 12 months!
Zachary & Jeremiah's Mummy Wow thanks for the information. I guess it's human nature to wonder. LOL

ever since i was little. i have really black hair and they say like im the grudge. i live in the US and i don't have an accent. i was born here and raised here. I know how to speak both language and alot of people at my church that was born here don't know how to. i speak vietnamese with my parents and english when i go out to school and when i talk to my sister and brothers. what do i say when they ask me if i'm Chinese? I don't want to tell them what my race is. I'm not ashamed but then they ask alot of questions and stuff. i usually say im Asian b/c i am then they just don't say anything. i have a Lao algebra teacher and some girl said i looked like her i felt really offended b/c they thought she was my mom when we don't have the same last name.

When people ask me where my parents are from, I say Vietnam but that we're Chinese though. From my appearance, many people guess Vietnamese and I have to go through the same explanation again haha.

My parents can speak Vietnamese but I can only speak Cantonese and Mandarin besides English. I do have an ear for identifying Vietnamese but that's about it. My household eats Chinese and Vietnamese food. I know quite a number of Vietnamese dishes and very little of the Vietnamese language. I plan to learn Vietnamese not too far in the future. My parents express a desire to visit Vietnam again but nothing about China.

I don't have any relatives that work in a nail salon or laundromat.. haha so what do you think I should identify as?
I was born in the U.S.

I'm Vietnamese. Full-blooded; my whole entire family is Vietnamese. My dad immigrated to the U.S on a boat when he was 14! So why can't I speak Vietnamese no matter how hard I try to learn? I can understand it perfectly! My parents speak to me in Vietnamese all the time...but I respond in English. When I was 1-4 years old, I spoke Vietnamese perfectly! (Yes, I spoke fluent Vietnamese at one.) And then one day...I just stopped. I've never been able to go back since then. I've tried "teach yourself to speak Vietnamese" cds and I've asked my parents to teach me, but it doesn't stick! What gets me is that I understand it, but I can't speak it. WTH?! So can someone please tell me why this is and suggest an effective and accurate way for me to learn Vietnamese once and for all?
I'm willing to study the language. I have no problem with that. Half of my family still lives in Vietnam, and I want to be able to speak with them. DESPERATELY. I will go to any means to find a way to learn.

There is something wrong with the way I speak English and Vietnamese. I am fluent in English except for the speaking part and I am decent at Vietnamese. I was born in Australia and attended normal schooling and Vietnamese language classes at age of 6 onwards. I speak Vietnamese with my parents, however speak English with my siblings and friends. I have lived in Australia for 19 years.

When I speak English, my accent is slight Vietnamese (Not fresh of the boat/comedy/Vietnamese parody style accent, just slight hints here and there), whilst when I speak Vietnamese, my accent is pure English. I don't understand why they are polarised/opposites, how can I switch these accents or improve my accent so I can speak English with an English accent and Vietnamese with a Vietnamese accent. I listen to Vietnamese songs and watch Vietnamese drama/tv shows during my leisure time, however I simply cannot change my accent, and I desperately need some help with overcoming my problems.

ok so for my school project i need to ask these. it's going to be the feature story in my "magazine". i was going to ask my Uncle but he refused. Maybe somebody else is ready and willing to talk?
Where you drafted for the war?
What year was this?
Who was the President at this time?
How old were you when you started with you involvement with the war?
When did you start training and what kinds of things did they do to train you?
What languages did you need to know or learned through your experience?
Were you in North Vietnam or South Vietnam or neither?
What was your role in the war?
Could you describe what your typical day was like for you?
How if at all was life different for you while you were involved in the war?
Describe what it was like there that you remember.
Is there any lifelong lesson(s) you learned while involved with this war?
Would you ever want to relive any of your experiences during the Vietnam War?
How often if ever did you get to come visit your family?
How long were your visits?
Do you think your parents approved of your involvement in the war?
What did you miss the most when you were away from home?
What did you wish for the most when you were in the war?
Where you happy when the war ended?
Did you have to go through any sort of long process to get home?
thank you so much!

Hello,

I'm a freshman, will take the class probably in spring '11. My parents speak Vietnamese, I speak little. I will be going to a community college, CHIN 101 is worth 5 credits.

I was also wondering, if a class has more credits, will it be a hard?????

btw I am majoring in Nursing, I am doing a transfer to a university.

Thank you!

Best Wishes to all!

Can someone help me learn in a quick way because i have to go to this stupid Viet school but fit is just a waste of money. And my parents make me and my other siblings go so any help?

I'm meeting my boyfriend's parents who prefer a girl who can speak Mandarin, so I'm trying to learn some basic phrases (hello aunty, how are you, etc) I'm Vietnamese and 1/4 Chinese, though I speak neither languages.

My Taiwanese friends have been coaching me but I'm still having trouble maintaining the accent.. any how to videos or something?

thanks
(p.s. not cantonese or mainland Chinese accents please)

......?

Im bilingual i speak Vietnamese and English....

but im not really good at Vietnamese...
My parents make me go to a tutor ):<

I'm an American born Vietnamese. I have no accent when I speak in English and I don't know how to speak Vietnamese at home.

My parents never taught us to speak Vietnamese. I can somewhat understand Vietnamese but never speak it. I can only say basic stuff like "Ma" and "Ba". Mother and father.

Am I the only one here and is it common?

I need words of encouragement.
sorry girl mix people don't count. this is for pure asians only.

My Vietnamese cousin and her Albanian husband have a beautiful 2 year old daughter. She knows a few English words and combines them with baby babble.
The mom speaks vietnamese to her and the dad speaks english.
Both parents speak nearly perfect english and both speak their native languages when relatives visit(which is often).
I'm sure hearing 3 different languages in the household is playing a role in the kid's language development. I'm worried that she'll be learning a lot slower than the other kids.

For most of us Vietnamese who live abroad, do you still keep up with Vietnamese traditions such as Tết, Trung Thu, Giỗ (Cúng) Ông Bà, đi chùa, đi nhà thờ? What about wedding, do you still have 2 celebrations, one traditional Vietnamese and one western wedding?. When my sister got married, she wore 2 different outfits, Áo dài and a white wedding gown. Do you speak Vietnamese with your parents and sibblingss or do you speak English? I prefer to speak Vietnamese at home and when I'm out I still speak Vietnamese with my sisters unless we're with someone who doesn't understand Vietnamese then I would speak English. When I meet Vietmamese people , I always ask if they speak Vietnamese then I would speak Vietnamese to them. What about you?

I never really had a first language, both my parents were Vietnamese, but they wanted me to learn English, so my first languages were just a toss of English and Vietnamese everywhere, and I understood both equally, so when i got in to school, the need to speak Vietnamese becamse less and less, so eventually I stopped speaking Vietnamese, but I still can understand a great deal of it. I would say that I understand about 70-85% of Vietnamese but I can only speak about 5-10%, for those of you that say just use the words you know in sentences, its not that easy. So anyways, I want to relearn Vietnamese, but theres not any programs out there, and if i bought them, they'd probally reteach me words that I already knew, so how should I relearn Vietnamese

im vietnaemse and i lvie in the U.S so that means i always speak english to my friends and family but my parents is making go to sunday school to learn how to write and read in vietnamese but i dont learn anything there they just give us a workbook assign a homework and give us test so i was wondering is there a website that would teach me to read and write
thnx

I'm myself (Vietnamese) mixed Chino (Cantonese) and I can't speak a word of Vietnamese. I consider myself an American born Vietnamese.

My parents never taught me Vietnamese. I heard most French Vietnamese people don't speak Vietnamese.

I'm 17 and I feel isolated from most Vietnamese people.

I feel like the only Asian guy out there who doesn't speak his own language.

How about you?
How do you coupe with this?
I need words of encouragement.

Okay so...My parents taught me Viet while I was young so I can only speak. They never taught me how to write or type it. How do you type I love you very much in Viet? Em Yeu Anh nue lam? Tell me if I'm wrong lol.

I'm 22 years old and I'll be in Vietnam for 2 weeks. I'll be with my parents (who speak fluent Vietnamese, but I don't). We're starting in Saigon and we'll be up and down southern and central Vietnam. What are absolutely must see places and things to do in Vietnam? I'd also appreciate some good travel advice or customs I should know about.

I was born in Vietnam and I'm a "Hoa" which is like Chinese/Vietnamese. The language my parents and I speak are Cantonese. They know how to speak Vietnamese. I also know Mandarin but still learning. Would it be difficult for me to learn Vietnamese even though I know Chinese? I heard Vietnamese and Chinese are similar.. I'm 13 btw.

People think I'm crazy because they say all I ever talk about is marrying a vietnames girl from vietnam who my mother asked my aunt to introduced me to. I could not find a girl on my own in the united states so my mother is helping me out. This is quite for your parents to help you out as I am vietnamese myself. How come people think I'm crazy ???

My parents were born in Vietnam but we're Chinese. They know how to speak Vietnamese on top of Chinese and sometimes speak it to hide their discussions from my sister and I as we don't understand it.

I told them Vietnamese sounded Hindi and they just laughed it off.

Are they related in any way? Because some tones sound shrill.

I am Vietnamese American and I'm fluent in english since I was born in America. I can't speak Vietnamese but I do understand it when my parents speak it or others do, but the thing is I want to learn a different language at school. Is it possible for me, who can't speak my native tongue, speak an entirely different language without knowing my own language first?

Oookay, so the thing is; my parents keep bothering me about the fact that I should take Vietnamese language lessons!
I fluently speak & understand the language, but I'm not so good at reading & writing it... I honestly don't want to take lessons on the Viet language because when I look at my future, I see myself speaking, communicating, writing, etc.. in English! My future goals in life is to be a elementary school teacher here in Washington state, where I was born. Ironically, I'd rather take piano lessons because it's also a dream of mine to learn how to play the piano but my parents disagree & tell me piano's not important in life? My parents also speak English but they want me to be able to read/write Vietnamese fluently... ugh. I speak English everyday & I rarely speak Vietnamese except when talking to my dad, lol.

The Vietnamese language lessons run on Sundays from 1:30 to 4... & I feel that could interfere with schoolwork and since I'm in high school, I have tons of hw that I can't finish in one day! :\ I really really don't wanna do it, but I need your opinions. Sorry if I sound like a spoiled brat or something, haha (:
@GreatVanilla,
wtf -.-

This could go for any asian girl who parents are not nautral born americans.

I am in love with an engliash speaking Vietnamese woman and have spent time with her at her home in Vietnam. Got approval of her parents & family who like me very much. I like the country and want to settle there.

My boyfriend and i have been dating for 8 months now and I still haven't met his parents. Once before when we ate at a vietnamese restaurant, several older couples turned and looked at me. Then they started talking about the "white girl".

okay my parents are vietnamese and their anniversary is coming up growing up nobody had the time to teach me how to read and write vietnamese they never had time and i was born in U.S okay i want to write something for their anniversary in vietnamese. Any way you can translate it for me please

Translate this-

Happy anniversary mom and dad. I wish you the best in life together. I'm sorry for making you sad when i stay home from school. I will try to not get sick and go to school more often for you. I am happy you 2 got married because if you didn't i would not be here and im thankful that your my mom and dad. May today be filled
with happy memories of the past and bright hopes for the future Happy Anniversary

Hello to you all out there.
I have a family, not mine, that I'm trying to help move to Houston.

The parents speak Vietnamese, and do not speak very good English.
They have 3 children, all living with them (traditionally) who all speak English.

Two are Chefs, and the other is in Construction.

My main concern is the parents. Houston, being the diverse city it is, has GOT to have SOMETHING for them?

They've spent most of their lives in this country working in the local seafood factory at their old home.

Suggestions?

Hi. I need to learn Vietnamese in the near future so I can communicate with my parents who are non-English speaking (they've been in America for 20 years). What can I do? I am only 15 years old.

i need a program to buy that i can learn from..the thing is that i need to learn the SOUTH VIETNAM DIALECT...NOT the north. all websites i have seen have sold the north language program. my boyfriend's parents are vietnamese...they do speak broken english but i want to learn how to speak to them in their language...i think it would be great if i could learn it! thanks...

I was just wondering, because I know someone whose parents were from Vietnam. He actually doesn't even speak Vietnamese - but he does speak Cantonese. Thanks.

Well I'm born in canada and i don't know how to speak vietnamese like alot like how my parents do are my parents suppose to teach me or something else?