Nutty Vietnamese
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Slow Southern Vietnamese podcast: a lion dance in the alley at Mid-Autumn

A lion dance in the alley and the Mid-Autumn lantern parade

BEGINNER
TranscriptSynced
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Exercises

30 questions
Multiple choice4 questions
Fill in the blank4 questions
Word order4 questions
Listening3 questions
Mark the Words2 questions
Write2 questions
Recording2 questions
Dictation2 questions
Vanishing Words2 questions
Matching1 question
Sequence1 question
Cloze1 question
Spot the Error1 question
Table1 question
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WORKSHEET

A lion dance in the alley at Mid-Autumn: Worksheet

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Vocabulary and key rules from this video. Tap any Vietnamese word to hear it.

WORKSHEET
A lion dance in the alley at Mid-Autumn: Worksheet
Tap any Vietnamese word to hear it
Nutty Vietnamese · Cheat Sheet

Múa lân và rước đèn

Vocabulary
The lion dance and who leads it
the whole performance
lion dance
the group of performers
the lion troupe
the costume and its head
the lion itself
walks in front, not behind
the round-bellied masked figure
how he steers the lion
fan
he teases the lion to dance harder
to tease, to provoke
what the ông địa does
to lead the way
tiếng trống reaches you first
drum
lắc theo nhịp trống
in time with
something coming round a corner
to poke into view
of the lion's head
to swing side to side
of the lion, not of people
to dance
Giving the lì xì
not only at Tết
a red envelope of money
the physical envelope
the red envelope itself
prepared before it was needed
to have ready in advance
passing something to someone
to hand over
to a performer or a child
to give money
what the ông địa does back
to bow in greeting
The lantern parade
the festival's own word
to parade with lanterns
Southern word order
lantern
Southern for a candle
candle
lấy tay che ... lại
to shield with your hand
of wind and a flame
to blow out
the ones pushing the lanterns
school students
xếp hàng dài
to line up, to queue
impressionistic, not measured
a whole kilometre
pushing a big lantern along
to push
lồng đèn giấy
paper
Where it happens
Southern, where people live
alley, lane
where the sound comes from
the top of the alley
the houses you live among
neighbourhood
what you reach out of the hẻm
the main road
ra tới cửa = come to the door
door
trong nhà = indoors
house, home
Southern (North: vào)
to come in, to enter
The people in it
the narrator's word for herself
I, me
Southern contraction of ông ấy
he, him
she calls her em
little sister
her sister calls her chị
older sister
said of her own mother
mum
a fixed way to say the pair
the two of us sisters
Southern, affectionate
the kids
How it felt
anticipation before something good
excited, keyed up
of a person or an occasion
happy, fun
fixed comparison for a happy crowd
like a festival
of children, affectionately
to yell, to make a racket
to laugh, to smile
Southern in both words
really big
quá trời is a Southern intensifier
gorgeous
sợ gió thổi tắt
to be afraid
of a sound still in your head
to ring, to resound
Time and the festival
the festival itself
Mid-Autumn
tối rằm = the full-moon night
the full moon, the 15th
lunar, not August
the eighth month
tối rằm tháng Tám
evening, night
hồi = back then
earlier this afternoon
back when I was little
every single year
vui như lần đầu
the first time
Small words that do a lot
Southern (North: xem)
to watch
what you do with a child
to lead by the hand
what a child does to get you
to tug at someone's shirt
to hold in your hand
to be given, to get free
kể chuyện = tell about it
to tell, to recount
kể hoài
on and on, endlessly
háo hức y như hồi còn nhỏ
exactly like, just like
of a feeling arriving
suddenly, out of nowhere
sắp vô xóm rồi
about to, any moment now
Key rules
1
Say what is about to happen with sắp ... rồi
[thing] sắp [verb] rồi.
e.g. = The lion troupe is coming into our neighbourhood.
2
Interrupt one action with another using đang ... thì ...
[subject] đang [action] thì [what interrupts it].
e.g. = I'm sitting indoors when I hear a drum at the top of the alley.
3
Say something is increasing with càng lúc càng
[thing] càng lúc càng [adjective].
e.g. = The drum gets closer and closer.
4
Contrast two people with còn ... thì ...
[person A does X], còn [person B] thì [does Y].
e.g. = She goes on and on about the lion, while I've still got the drum sounding in my head.
5
Ask who someone is with đó là ai vậy?
[description of the person] đó là ai vậy?
e.g. = Who's that man out in front with the fan?
Northern vs Southern
NorthernSouthern
or lắm
Common mistakes
1
Thinking lì xì is a Tết word

It is a red envelope of money for any occasion that calls for one. Here it goes to the lion troupe at Mid-Autumn, at your own front door.

2
Putting the ông địa behind the lion, or reading him as an elder

He walks in front and leads it with his fan. He is a comic performer, and the money goes to him.

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