Tuesday 23 September 2014

Đó là khách-sạn Majestic, phải không?

Up to Lesson 2 now (out of 5 in the elementary volume) in the Foreign Services Institute Vietnamese course.

This is the dialogue thrown at me right at the beginning of the lesson:

Xin lỗi ông, đó là khách-sạn Majestic, phải không?
Không phải. Dạ đó là khách-sạn Caravelle.
Vậy, khách-sạn Majestic ở dâu?
Ở cuối dừơng nầy, bên tay mặt.

Có xa không ông?
Dạ không, gần lắm.
Cám ơn ông.
Dạ không có gì.

Xin lỗi bà. Đó là khách-sạn Majestic, phải không?
Dạ phải.
Cám ơn bà.

Literally:

Excuse me you man, that is hotel Majestic, true not?
Not true. (Answer word) it is hotel Caravelle.
Then, hotel Majestic located where?
Located end street this, side hand right.

(Emphasis on following word word) far not you?
(Answer word) not, near somewhat.
Thank you man.
(Answer word) not anything.

Excuse me you married woman. that is hotel Majestic, true not?
(Answer word) true.
Thank you married woman.

Plain English:

Excuse me, is that the hotel Majestic?
No, it's the hotel Caravelle.
Then where is the hotel Majestic?
At the end of the street on the right hand side.

Is it far?
No, it's close.
Thanks.
It's nothing.

Excuse me, is that the hotel Majestic?
Yes.
Thank you.


I guess the key things to pick up from this part of the course are the use of extra words we don't have in English. 

Dạ seems to feature commonly as an answer word to a question - it's sort of just like saying 'it is' but only when answering a question. 

Có seems to be used when asking a simple question, followed by không which is sort of like 'not'. It's like when the French ask a question and follow it by 'non?'

The only other main grammar point seems to be the use of là, which is more than just 'is' but 'is equal to'. Tôi là Smith - I am Smith - is an example. Ở would translate to 'is' in plain English, but its exact meaning is 'located at.'

Other than than, Vietnamese seems to eliminate some of the seemingly unnecessary little words we use in English. Once again, the main problem here is memorising the dialogue and mastering it - especially playing the part of one person in the dialogue and answering at the speed of a normal Vietnamese speaker.
 

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