Elementary Vietnamese

For beginning learners of Vietnamese, here's everything needed to learn the language effectively!

Speak, read and write Vietnamese as it's actually used in real-life contexts in Vietnam today. This book has everything you need to learn the language effectively and to quickly achieve basic proficiency.

No prior knowledge of Vietnamese is necessary
Learn to communicate in everyday situations
Connect with the cultural context of the language
Includes 8 hours of native-speaker audio recordings


Elementary Vietnamese was originally developed for classroom use at Harvard University and is designed to provide a solid grounding in Vietnamese grammar, usage and pronunciation. The lessons are carefully structured to guide you through the essential sentence patterns from your first encounter with them in dialogues to more detailed explanations and exercises. Each lesson contains a helpful cultural note and commonly-used proverbs and idiomatic expressions.

This revised edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect recent developments in the language and culture. It includes audio recordings by native Vietnamese speakers for all of the lessons. Innovative pronunciation drills help you to improve your pronunciation and new usage examples, exercises and photos explore the diversity, heritage and history of today's Vietnam.