http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Vietnamese.

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Problems:
1. Vietnamese is kind of language which has single words with no
ending sounds.
 Vietnamese is kind of language which has single words:
Vietnamese belongs to the group of isolating languages where there are no
inflectional endings and all the words are invariable. Grammatical relationships are
expressed not by changing the internal structure of the words (the use of
inflectional endings), but by the use of auxiliary words and word order. In this
sense, the traditionally recognized inflectional morphology is not applicable to
Vietnamese.
There are three types of words in Vietnamese: simple (từ đơn), reduplicative (từ
láy) and compound (từ ghép). In addition, Vietnamese has borrowed vocabulary
from other languages, including Chinese, French and English. 3.5.3.1.
+Simple words : Most simple words in Vietnamese are monosyllabic. Ví dụ: Cơm,
gà, cá, tôm, (rice, chicken, fish, shrimp) The number of polysyllabic simple words
such as bù nhìn (scarecrow), ễnh ương (frog) , mồ hôi (sweat), mà cả (bargain) is
relatively small.
+ Reduplicative words: Reduplication is a specific type of word-formation in
Vietnamese, which is discussed in a large number of works. Vietnamese is among
the languages in the world which most frequently use reduplicatives. Learners
should be taught reduplicatives from the beginning through the advanced levels of
instruction. Ví dụ: lắm lắm – xanh xao, vàng vọt, long lanh, lung linh
+ Compounds :There are three types of compounds in Vietnamese.
Coordinate compounds are formed by two morphemes, neither of which
modifies the other one, such as quần áo (cloths), mua bán (purchase and sell), phải
trái (right and wrong).
Subordinate compounds are formed by two morphemes, one of which
modifies the other one, such as xe đạp (bicycle), xe máy (motorbike), xe hơi (car),
xe lửa (train), khó tính (be difficult to please), khó chịu (unbearable), khó nghe (be
difficult to hear), khó thương (not be lovable), trắng tinh (immaculate), trắng muốt
(pure white), trắng phau (very white), trắng hếu (very light, white, of skin), nhà
báo (journalist), nhà văn (writer), nhà thơ (poet), nhà doanh nghiệp (businessman),
hội trưởng (president of an association), đội trưởng (head of a group), nhóm trưởng
(head of a group), tổ trưởng (head of a small group). Many morphemes in this type
may be regarded as affixes.
Unlike the coordinate and subordinate compounds, isolated compounds do
not form systems. Such compounds as mè nheo (bother with requests), thiêu thân
(May fly), tai hồng (a part of bicycle) belong to the isolated type of compounds.

2. Vietnamese and Korean are monosyllabic language. English and

French are polysyllabic language.
 Vietnamese and Korean are not monosyllabic language. English and
French are polysyllabic language.

Vietnamese is often erroneously considered to be a "monosyllabic" language.

Vietnamese words may consist of one or more syllables. There is a tendency for
words to have two syllables (disyllabic). Some words have three or four syllables
— many polysyllabic words are formed by reduplicative derivation.

Additionally, a Vietnamese word may consist of a single morpheme or more than

one morpheme. Polymorphemic words are either compound words or words
consisting of stems plus affixes or reduplicants.

Most Vietnamese morphemes consist of only one syllable. Polysyllabic

morphemes tend to be borrowings from other languages.

Vietnamese word English gloss Phonological form Morphological form

cơm "cooked rice" monosyllabic monomorphemic
cù lao "island" disyllabic monomorphemic
dưa chuột/dưa leo "cucumber" disyllabic bimorphemic
vội vội vàng vàng "hurry-scurry" polysyllabic polymorphemic
Korean native morphemes have been used by Koreans throughout their long
history. Some morphemes are monosyllabic, but most contain two or more
syllables: param-바람, tokkebi-도깨비 , and susukkekki-수수께끼 ('wind', 'ghost',
and 'riddle'), which contain two, three, and four syllables, respectively.

3. Vietnamese has only one syllable per word.

 Vietnamese has one syllable or more than one syllable per word

It’s true that in Vietnamese, every syllable is written separately, and many words
have just one syllable (such as cây, xem, vui). However, Vietnamese words can
still have more than one syllable. Most of these are disyllabic (they have two
syllables). For example: đồng hồ is a noun which means clock. Both syllables are
needed for the meaning. It’s a word with two syllables which are written
separately.The same can be true of adjectives (eg. thông minh), verbs (eg. sắp xếp)
and adverbs (eg. thỉnh thoảng).

4. Vietnamese don’t have the combination of more than 2 sounds in a

word.
 Of all the combination of phonemes possible in Vietnamese, a word can
not have more than three phonemes.

Besides 14 vowels, Vietnamese has two semivowels, one front and one back:
/y,w/. They serve as glides in many types of combinations of diphthongs. They
can either precede or follow a vowel phoneme. The tongue, in the production of
a glide or a semivowel, is normally at a higher elevation and more front or more
back in comparison with the peak vowel within which it is combined. We have
on-glide and off-glide according to the position of the glide in the combination.

5. Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Russian does not have any sounds

similar to English sounds.
  Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Russian have some sounds similar to
English sound.

At the beginning of words (syllable-initial), Vietnamese and English share the

following consonant sounds: /p, b, d, k, m, n, f, v, s, z, h, l/, the r-flap in “utter” and
“y” in “yard.” It should be noted that /p, k/ in Vietnamese are unaspirated and may
sound like “b” and “g” to an English speaker. In English, /p, k/ may be aspirated
depending on context. At the end of words (syllable-final), Vietnamese and
English share the following consonant sounds: /p, t, k, m, n/ and “ng.” In
Vietnamese, syllable-final /p, t, k/ are unreleased or “held in,” whereas these
sounds may be released in English.

6. The arrangement of tones in this sequence can create rhythm like in

poetry.
7. Some letters have more than one sound. In Vietnamese, usually one
letter only has one sound, and all letters are pronounced.
 Some letters have more than one sound. In Vietnamese, one letter has
one or more than one sound, and not all letters are pronounced.

Vietnamese sounds are recorded with the letters of the Roman alphabet; the
tones are represented with diacritical marks. The Vietnamese writing system
can be called phonemic because each letter or group of letters represents a
special sound. Hence, any word can be pronounced correctly according to its
spelling, or any word can be spelled correctly according to its pronunciation.
We do not know the spelling problem as the native speaker of English does.

As a monosyllabic language, Vietnamese does not have any medial or final

consonant clusters. If we do not count the “written” consonant cluster in the
initial or final position such as: ng, ngh, nh, tr, th, ch, and ph. Each combination
of two or three letters represents a unique sound which is different from each of
the letters.

8. The Vietnamese people can separate a consonant cluster in English

into a single syllable and add a vowel.
 The Vietnamese people can not separate a consonant cluster in English
into a single syllable and add a vowel.

Vietnamese is mostly a monosyllabic language, though there are also

disyllabic and polysyllabic words formed by compounding and
reduplication. A syllable has a vocalic nucleus, with a single vowel or two
vowels, which might be preceded by an initial consonant and/or followed by
a final consonant. Vietnamese does not allow consonant clusters. The final
consonant can only be a voiceless stop or a nasal while any consonant
(except p) can be in initial position. Each syllable carries a tone.

9. Allophones describe phoneme whose sound changes depending on

the letters that surround it.
 Allophones describe various phoneme whose sound changes depending
on the phonetic environment.

Allophones are the linguistically non-significant variants of each phoneme. In

other words, a phoneme may be realized by more than one speech sound and
the selection of each variant is usually conditioned by the phonetic environment
of the phoneme. Occasionally allophone selection is not conditioned but may
vary from person to person and occasion to occasion

10.Vietnamese people don’t use phonetic symbols.

 Vietnamese people use phonetic symbols
11.They break the initial syllable into smaller consonants.
 12.Phonemes are individual letters and allophones are the different
ways that you pronounce these individual letters depending on the
word.

Each sound that you hear in a word is a Phoneme. It’s the smallest unit of
sound that makes up a complete word. This is not to be confused with the
letter itself; Phonemes are only the sounds made. It's important to understand
that Phonemes can be made of more than one letter. Take the word dog for
example. There are three Phonemes involved: the “d” sound, a short “aw”
sound, and a “g” sound.

Allophones are a kind of phoneme that changes its sound based on how a
word is spelled. Think of the letter t and what kind of sound it makes in the
word "tar" compared with "stuff." It's pronounced with a more forceful,
clipped sound in the first example than it is in the second. Linguists use
special punctuation to designate phonemes. The sound of an l, for instance,
is written as "/l/."

13. Watch this clip! Identify the problems and explain why such problems occur!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaqzSefGw2g

14. What is your impression about this clip? Why is his English pronunciation
difficult to understand? What is the influential factor here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zufcObmNQvs&t=52s