Dear all, First, a Happy New Year in the 18 languages I studied -- but I speak only 11 :-( http://www.cjk.org/cjk/download/download/New_Year_my_18_lang.pdf I want to sincerely and warmly thank all my teachers and partners (five), friends and supporters during my incredible ten-day adventure of "Total Immersion" in Hanoi. Everyone went out of their way to make my stay enjoyable and fruitful. I really encourage you to click on the links -- you may be amazed! The countless study sessions with five charming teachers in the many delightful cafes and restaurants around the unbelievably charming lakeside of the world famous Ho Hoan Kiem worked -- at least I can finally say "can you lower the volume" in three natural ways! The sessions were indeed productive, my speaking ability is way up, but sadly my listening comprehension still has a long way to go. Four interesting anecdotes -- read on.
(1) "Cau xe" -- 'cycle fishing'
So I invented a new word in Vietnamese! Hopefully it will spread like wildfire :-) "cau xe" 'cycle fishing' on the model of "cau ca", which means fishing. Why? I was peacefully unicycling around the lake. Unusual for me, I slipped near the edge and was unable to catch the unicycle as it fell into the water. So a few kind people started fishing for the unicycle and finally succeeded. Have a look! https://www.cjki.org/download/Vietnamese/cau_xe.htm
(2) "Tieng Ech" -- 'Frogese' ('Frog Language')
I am also adding "Tieng Ech" to the Vietnamese lexicon. Briefly, my wife always points out how Vietnamese does not sound like "a human language". Think of all the glottal stops and voiced velar nasal (ng) combinations and you will see why "Frog Language" is appropriate. My daughter Karen and my good friend Viet Dang designed and recorded Tieng Ech in action (zoom in as necessary and click the play button). Fasten your set belt before you click :-) https://www.cjki.org/download/Vietnamese/tieng_ech.htm You will enjoy this but don't be offended at the joke of calling our dear language "Frog Language".
(3) Confessions and forgiveness
I sometimes committed the "cardinal sin" -- spoke English during Vietnamese "Total Immersion"! So I took my Bible (VN vocab notes), and went to the famous St. Jopseph Cathedral to beg God for forgiveness ("xin tha tôi"). Sadly it was closed :-( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Joseph%27s_Cathedral,_Hanoi
(4) "Tôi yêu tiếng Việt!" -- 'love Vietnamese'
The back of my jacket that I wore throughout the trip (yes, it was cold) had Tôi yêu tiếng Việt -- "I love Vietnamese" -- in Chunom, the Chinese- based script invented by the Vietnamese and used for 1000 years. Very few Vietnamese can read it these days. It started many conversations. I had a calligrapher make a hanging scroll which hung on the wall of my hotel room to encourage me in my studies. https://www.cjki.org/download/Vietnamese/I_love_VN.htm The calligrapher looks like he is straight out of a movie on ancient Vietnam... Even if you are native Chinese you will not know the first three characters. --------------------- Thanks for bearing with me so far. I will try to write the above stories and more on Tieng Ech in Vietnamese. And oh, there is an interesting quadrilingual blog of my adventures in Hanoi in Dannag with pics and anecdotes from 2019: http://www.kanji.org/jack/vietnam/ And if you are interested in why Vietnamese is **both hard and easy**, here is my article (both VN and EN) "Is Vietnamese a hard language?" http://www.kanji.org/jack/vietnamese/is_VN_hard_EN_VN.pdf Thank you for bearing with me so far. Comments are of course welcome. P.S. I missed my flight, wound up in Fukuoka, but am now back to Saitama to study Tieng Ech and my new passion -- Palestinian Arabic.