Do you guys think I should go to Vietnam??? And thanks to ExpressVPN for sponsoring the vid - go to expressvpn.com/xiaomanyc and find out how you can get 3 months of ExpressVPN free!
We are so used to being impressed by you Xiaoma and seeing other people be impressed by you that it is always humbling to see like when the Vietnamese lady couldn’t understand you and was making an effort to really teach you
I'm glad he included that bit in the video. He could have easily taken it out because of embarrassment, but it's such an important part of the learning process to get things wrong and be corrected
@@debob513 I dont think she was mean, asian shop ladies are usually pretty business only. I wouldn't say his how much is 7/10. you're probably familiar with english and vietnamese to have that but if you only knew vietnamese, I would have somewhat of a hard time understanding
@@wierdOchoketv She wasn't being mean. Xiaoma was just saying it wrong even though she was trying to tell him the difference. Vietnamese is completely tonal, and if you're getting it wrong you are not saying the right word simply.
What’s amazing is the fact many of the “everyday people” speak 3 languages nonchalantly. They were speaking Cantonese, English and Vietnamese. Yet they don’t have a RUclips, they are just living and surviving. I find that to be amazing. Thank you Xiaoma for bringing us to different people and languages. I love your work!
@@akunnaoyelade2978 that's funny but as an American you're right. Ashamedly, I regret most Americans speak one language. I speak almost two with my study of Spanish. But still we are lazy only speaking English. Or perhaps since America is based on being a melting pot, maybe it just makes English very convenient but I wish I spoke atleast 3 languages.
@@soledisciple could be worse, you could be American Chinese and have worse language skills than this white dude and say cringe things like omg i cant even order a meal in Chinese
I love how the 360 camera make it seem like people and xiaoma are both intensly looking in the wrong direction while talking, it's like they are both shy or something it's funny as fuck
I heard for 360 camera to work normally, you need a certain distance from the lense like 10 ft (I couldn't remember the exact distance). I think he needs to change his filming set up.
@@teofilol2666 I thinks it works just fine, how else would you recommend getting both of them in the shot but still being by himself casually talking to them? Having a filmer following him would change the interactions a lot
@@nollienick1121 Wider angle lenses are known for this. Which is why close ups in films are done with 50mm lenses, so it won't make beautiful women look bad.
It's because it's a 360 camera so it's actually recording in 360 degrees. He then decides which angle to present. That's why it's super wide angle. It's two lenses that do 180 degrees and software blends it together
I'm not done watching yet, but the second lady is so adorable and funny "you haven't learned that word yet?" instantly messes with you, but also instantly goes into a full conversation.
@Alarge Corgi2 Actually that is very true in some way to be honest, the fact is that people see world differently in different languages, for example if you ask a Russian speaking person to define sky's color in one word they will say "galuboi" which means light blue, and if you ask an English speaking person the same, they will say blue, which is different from light blue
I found this to be true when we were stationed in Germany. I speak German and some French. You get way better treatment when they see you making an effort to learn their language.
A lot of your language is based on what your brain is learning before the age of four. The reason you cannot mimic the sound is you cannot hear the difference. Delayed language development the last few years is going to cost us a lot in the future.
In that case it sounds like the "n" sound is produced by putting the _middle_ of the tongue on the palate (like the Portuguese "nha-nhe-nho-nhu") rather than the tip. Positioning matters a lot.
@@ArtStoneUS Cannot hear the difference because it's not being explained clearly enough. It's more of a matter of knowing what creates the sound in question than knowing there is a difference. After you find it, the two become distinct to the ear.
oh my gosh thank you@@DinnerForkTongue . I came here scrolling, wondering if maybe someone who grew up speaking Vietnamese could explain, but this was probably the best way it was ever going to get across for me was telling me that tongue position. I'm a latina Canadian, who prides herself on being able to approximate how someone's name might be pronounced based on physical features and the arrangement of vowels in the name, but that's still VERY limited. East Asia, Southeast Pacific, and northeastern Europe have languages and enunciations extremely outside my mouth's familiarity. Thank you for literally explaining how to mimic/accurately portray the sound!
@@Val-zu5hzI was going to say I’m Vietnamese American and I’ve seen this sound in spanish and japanese It’s the ñ in jalapeño. She keeps correcting him because he’s using n rather than ñ (I don’t blame him, we use nh two write that sound which isn’t exactly intuitive) I think the japanese representation of the sound is easiest to read: ny. Jalapenyo
Your Vietnamese is hilarious. I love it when you ask "how much does it cost" because I heard you ask "wrap snail." Keep practicing! Vietnamese is similar to Mandarin, the vowel enunciation/tone is important. Your Mandarin is way better than mine. 😀
To me, when she was telling him “it’s not an n. It’s an h and n”, it reminded me of how the “ñ” in Spanish is pronounced. “n” and “ñ” are quite different, but how she was saying the “hn” was, it sounded like an exaggerated way of the Spanish “ñ”, so it was easier in my head to pronounce it.
That ''...shit'', man I felt that, just after you were feeling good about your Vietnamese too. I know that feeling dude, you've probably felt it a million times already as a language learner though.
It's crazy how the first woman was telling him that "She doesn't speak English" while he was talking to her in Mandarin. That proves what he says about how different the dialets really are region to region.
This makes me feel so much better! I could never pronounce my Vietnamese friend’s name how she wanted me to but I could’ve sworn I was saying it exactly like she said!! Seeing you struggle with pronunciation the same way I did made me feel a lot better
He is so inspiring! I volunteered at 25 to learn Braille so I could transcribe children’s books into braille so blind parents or blind kids could read to the other. Did that for ten years. This was done by hand , not computer. Then learned sign language (not a ton) to “talk” with my daughters before they could talk. Now, I want to see if I can learn enough Mandarin to interact with others in my community. I’d love that! Three years of French in high school…don’t fail me now😢😊
YOU are inspiring also! BTW, I also studied sign language, but never thought of "talking" with my children before they could speak. How interesting. Good luck with your Mandarin!
Thank you for your hard work transcribing those books, might not be the same ones but we had a section for books written in braille at my library and I always appreciated that it was there and the people that made that accessibility possible.
@@srozaardnet5630 Oh yeah, babies can understand sign language and start to sign back by around 8 months... the day we started teaching my son was about the last time he ever cried. If he was hungry or thirsty or wanted more of something he could just tell us. It tends to delay their first verbal speech, but since they're actively using the speech centers of their brain for sign language, when they do start speaking verbally they tend to know more words to start out, because they're still learning from speech as well.
As a Vietnamese, i could never learn Vietnamese if i wasn't born in Vietnam lol, the grammar is not particularly hard, but speaking it with the right tone is something i have seen a lot of foreigners struggle to get through. I wish you the best of luck on your journey to learn Vietnamese and other languages
I always really enjoy your videos. There isn't much that shows true respect for people more than taking the time to learn and understand their native language. I think that many of us westerners are a bit arrogant and we tend to just automatically expect everyone to speak english when the reality is that there are numerous countries where english isn't even a secondary language let alone a primary one.
Thank you for sharing your views. When everyone in the U.S. remembers our ancestors are from all different cultural backgrounds, and that many of them did not start out knowing any English at all, hopefully they would start more or less having a different attitude on accepting other cultures.
I would say Americans are spoiled because almost every country DOES teach English as a second language and most people know at least a little English so because of this a lot of us don’t appreciate the work that goes into learning a language
@@twowolveshighfiving that's because you don't listen to those sounds much because they are very different from English. As you listen more and more and learn more and more words, your ear gets better at picking out sounds and you start to hear words more and not gibberish. It's very surreal as it happens
I love how the second lady went with everything until it was all revealed that it was actually just some American. Xiaoma really good at bringing smiles and shocks out of many Chinese people lol.
Some things that can help with Vietnamese, "nh," is imagining the Spanish, "ñ," or Portuguese, "nh," the language it gets its spelling from. Vietnamese is notorious for being particularly difficult in acquisition. Although it's tonal like Mandarin and Cantonese, the specific vowel sounds, as well as a few consonants, can be a real pain. Another difficult part is that a significant percentage, if not the majority, of Vietnamese people in the West speak Southern Vietnamese dialect rather than the standard language based off Northern dialect. You will run into a lot of confusion because of that, especially as a language learner. Also, the, "mouth placement," if you will, of Vietnamese is very different than Mandarin and quite different than Cantonese. The language should sound, "springy," and there is a quality about the language that almost makes it sound like you're, "gulping," your words. When you're speaking Vietnamese, you have negative transfer not only from English but Mandarin as well. Particularly with your, "k," and, "t," sounds. They're supposed to be unaspirated, but English speakers typically aspirate them at the beginning of words. It's one of the hardest things to get right, beyond tones, as the unaspirated, "t," and the aspirated, "t," do cause words to have different meanings.
@Cameron Just reading all that had me running for the hills.😀. Where would one even begin? I speak German, Dutch, English and Afrikaans. All very similar and easy to master. But beyond that, I am lost 😀
@@monk3yboy69 afrikaans is similar to german ?! in what way ? im german myself which can speak a bit of canto and japanese. Dutch is like german ordered on whish to some degree
Fantastic analysis. I am Vietnamese and i found his Vietnamese worse than his Mandarin (which I am learning right now). Also he uses "how much" which might be more often used in Mandarin to ask for a price (多少) but we usually say bao nhiêu tiền (how much money), thus a bit of confusion when his accent is not perfect.
Yes! Go to Vietnam! I'm so happy to see you busting out your rusty Vietnamese. I am Vietnamese and even I think that it's an extremely hard language to learn. I would love to see you make a big effort to become fluent.
It’s definitely a difficult language. Vietnamese is such a tonal language that some people may have difficulty with getting the right tone. Kind of like when he was getting ties and the lady was trying to explain the “nh” sound. And this is not to even mention all the dialects of Vietnam that exist from Hue to Saigon
@@dannybangz yeah the hardest thing in our language is the "tone" which defines that you're a Vietnamese or not, the grammar is actually somewhat easy to learn!
It’s really admirable and brings a smile to my face to see how much courage you have to just practice by making random conversation and have fun while doing so. This video was also of particular interest to me because my parents are also Chinese from Vietnam but moved to the Netherlands where I was born. I only speak (informal) Cantonese myself among family and I think you’re doing great~ (Tonality not always on-point but understandbly difficult) Am rooting for you!
I have a co worker who’s parents are from Vietnam. I am a white boy who speaks basic Polish, basic Italian, and basic Spanish due to the people I hung out around as a kid. My co worker speaks fluent Vietnamese and English, and has visited Vietnam once or twice. One day, we were chatting conversing in English, I told her I knew how to say ‘hello’ to a girl, which is ‘Chao ánh,’ Then, I learned to say ‘hello’, and ‘thank you,’ and dear Lord her reaction was priceless! She introduced me to the Vietnamese language, culture, food, and the sweetest kindest people ever! I decided then it was time to hang out with some more Vietnamese people, so I went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Canada, and practiced some more Vietnamese phrases. Our waitress was a pretty young Vietnamese woman, and I had said ‘cam on’ which translates to thank you in English. I swear, I thought I scared her or offended her at first, but her reaction was out of impression and how she was amazed! My co worker said that not only did I speak very good, but sounded like a native speaker. That not only made my feel proud, but made me feel good about myself as a person! I will never forget the Vietnamese waitress, and my co workers reaction to my Vietnamese speaking lol. Hope Xiaoma can read this too! 😊
Xiaoma, I've been following you for a few years now. I can't actually believe you've been doing these type of videos for this long. I enjoy every video you do. I get something out of every single video that makes me happy, and it has made me try to start other languages as well. So thank you for the inspiration to do something fun. God bless you.
Yeah honestly. Most people deviate eventually from their original content especially when they’ve become this “famous”/known. Hopefully he stays to his roots because this is some of the most wholesome content on RUclips.
Really felt that struggle with the “nh” sound she was asking you to make. In Brazilian Portuguese, you have to make a similar sound and it’s just not something we use in English so I’ve never seen an American be able to make that sound off the bat.
A French man named Alexandre De Rhodes created our Vietnamese writing system based on local people’s pronunciation 400 years ago. Thats a blessed for us. Thats alphabet script separate us from neighbors country like China vs Cambodia
@@harryhuyphan4292 Actually Francisco de Pina, a Portuguese missionary, was the one to make the Vietnamese alphabet. Alexandre de Rhodes was Pina's disciple who later improved the alphabet.
I went to Australia for a week last year and knew some phrases / lingo already from friends but they were more impressed I said woolies over coles in a couple days. Said I'm already becoming aussie cause I shortened it. Lolol
Wow, finally Xiaoma has spoken Vietnamese, which makes me and those people in this clip proud :) It's actually very hard for Americans to speak Vietnamese the "normal" way because we has some "tones" which literally are "level" (the usual Engligh), "sharp", "asking", "deep", tumbling" that is very unique to our language, so Xiaoma can speak "how much" like that with short learning curves makes me very suprised :D Although I'm too cannot really understand what he's saying if he speaks so unintendedly like that!
I'd love to visit Vietnam one day. It's a beautiful country, the people are great and the food... It's sooo good. I live in Australia and Vietnamese food is easy to find, luckily, but I just got back from the UK, and it was impossible to find any Vietnamese food! Looks like I need to get my delicious Vietnamese fix!
I’m Vietnamese, but was adopted by American parents as a baby so I don’t speak any sadly. I’ve definitely looked into learning now as an adult and Vietnamese is incredibly difficult. Not to mention, the Vietnamese spoken in the North (where I was born) might as well be a completely different language from the Vietnamese spoken in the South. 😅 But Xiaoma inspires me to give it a try!
tớ nghĩ cậu nên học thử tiếng VIệt xem sao, dù sao đó cũng là một trải nghiệm thú vị đặc biệt ở mảng phát âm, đặc biệt có ích nếu cậu có cơ hội trở về Việt Nam, và đúng vậy, người miền Bắc nói tiếng Việt rõ ràng hơn người Nam, nên cậu có thể hiểu miền Bắc như là "British English" và người Nam là "American English" :D Nhưng những người miền Trung mới là những người có cách phát âm độc đáo và khó nghe nhất, ngay cả tớ cũng sẽ không nghe nổi :D I think you should try study some Vietnamese, that's a whole new exprience especially in "tonal" sounds, it's useful if you have chances to go visit your hometown in Vietnam :D That's right Northern people speaks more clearly than Sounthern people, so it's like "British English" and "American English" :D But people in the central of Vietnam have the most unique sounds that even I cannot understand everything :D
North and Southern Vietnamese is very similar when compared to Central Vietnamese. North and South Vietnamese: mày đi đâu vậy? Central Vietnamese: mi đi mô chi rứa?
Tried learning Vietnamese and it is really hard 😳 the Vowels, of which there are many more than in english, are incredibly nuanced. You have to practice with a Native speaker to really learn the difference between all of them because they dont just use shape of mouth but also tones, and extreme mouth shaping that doesnt even exists in english or spanish which are the two languages im fluent in.
Seeing the way people light up when they speak with you never gets old. I’ve been watching your videos for years and I know that essentially the same thing happens in every one, but I keep watching anyway!
There needs to be more recognition of the Vietnamese clothing store owner’s as an even more advanced polyglot. I have met jewelers in Oakland Chinatown who can speak 6 languages and are from 6-7 generations of polyglots because their families have been trading all over Asia.
The conversation around 6.30 with the Vietnamese lady was pretty much how I spent every single day for the three years I lived in Cambodia. Trying to understand the difference between two different sounds that - to me - sounded EXACTLY the same.
That's because your brain did not learn to hear the difference when you were a young child, so now your brain is not able to decipher the difference. You cannot mimic what you cannot hear.
These wonderful people are more than just surprised by hearing an American speak their language. It appears they appreciate your efforts. What a nice gesture from you. I see it as an attempt to honor another culture. Best of luck. Your subscribes reflect your reaching out to others. Keep working hard. I've have friends who travel for business in Vietnam and love the experience.
Yes, the Vietnamese! You can do it man, once you get the tones down the language is monosyllabic and has extremely simple grammar. I never had a formal education in Vietnamese, just learned it from my parents but can communicate sufficiently.
I really love this channel. It’s so positive and you make all these folks so happy and immediately more relaxed when they realize you can speak their language. What a great break the crazy stuff on social media. Keep up the great work.
A huge number of the Vietnamese that emigrated overseas during the Vietnam War are actually Chinese-Vietnamese from the city (Saigon) that had the means to pay to go. Thats why their small businesses have chinese characters alongside english. “Hoa”in their business names is another big give away as that literally means “chinese” in Vietnamese
Hey Xiaoma I write you from Spain. I love your videos. I have been studying Mandarin for over a year and y am loving it so much, I just hope to someday speak it half as good as you speak it. I have a question for you: have you ever tried to learn Basque? It's a language spoken in two northern Spanish and three South French regions and It is known for being really difficult to learn and speak. I would love to watch you trying to speak it. Keep doing your content, it's great!!!! Greetings from Spain
Without a doubt the best videos on RUclips hands down! When the lady was like who are you and how you speak Chinese! I've with an Asian and still can only speak a handful of words!!! Absolutely love this guy 💙🙏
Your videos make my day man, its so good to see the people happy that you know their language, you have to learn to speak in Portuguese Brazil, hugs from Brazil
My man, I'm just rewatching a bunch of your videos, and I think Moses would've been hella proud of you fella. It was hard losing laushu but my man, you do incredible things for people and it's comforting knowing someone like Moses is still out here.
Been watching you for years, it's genuinely just made sense in my head about phrases and accents combined.. and when people say you should learn more traditional phrases ..
I love how you include the mistakes you make as well, it makes language learning seem more approachable. People are really just happy for the effort you make, even if it’s not perfect!
Your Vietnamese is good! The pronunciation is a little different, but it is definitely pretty hard to learn, especially online. It’s great to see you out speaking Vietnamese though, this was a great video.
Vietnamese is a tough language but I’ve always imagined Chinese to be way harder. Kudos to you though brother I’m always hella inspired by your videos!
I'm honestly really glad to see some Vietnamese in his videos. I'm a second generation Vietnamese American and my Vietnamese really isn't that great. I gave up learning and dropped out of my Viet classes after 3.5 years (there's like 12 vowels and I got tired of mixing up the accent marks.😑 ) Even if he stumbled thru some words and pronunciation, he speaks and understands better than me. It's weird but I kind of feel like I'm living vicariously thru him? and it kinda makes me feel proud my heritage?? Overall great vid that made my day. Keep it up, Xiaoma!
Viet is a particularly difficult language for Westerners and other cultures to learn, even for a native like me. I grew up in Vietnam and I still have some trouble understanding people in some parts of Vietnam today due to the tone or pitch that they speak, since I grew up in Saigon. Viet conveys words and intent through tonal shifts in pitch, so it's an important aspect in speaking it, and a flat pitch usually indicates a foreigner who is new to it.
Chinese speakers: do you agree with the woman when she said the more he talks the more she realized he wasn't Chinese? That's an interesting comment, first time I hear this in his videos.
Bro these are my people! My parents are ethnic Chinese from Vietnam who came to America as boat people after the war. I speak Cantonese but been around a lot of Vietnamese growing up too. A lot of my older relatives speak Mando/Canto/Viet. Just happy that we got some exposure on your channel haha! This was an awesome vid!
I am always impressed with your language vocabulary. Also curious as to how much stuff you've collected over the years from trying to speak with people and buying from the markets around town :p
Dude this video reminds me of Laoshu shopping and speaking different languages, memories for sure I’m sure Laoshu proud of you, keep the language videos going :)
I honestly want to thank you for sharing these videos . The response you get in public is quite magical. I have been inspired to learn a new language ❤
Xiaoma videos are always so great. Dude works so hard and it's always beautiful to see how his knack for language lets him connect with people. It's a crazy time in the world but I hope my man's doing good. Love you bruv.
You make so many people smile, thank you and keep it up. We need more people like you to facilitate communication between people, because if we can understand each other we can get along.
The cutest thing was the lady in the red shirt greeting him with a smile in Chinese in passing and their little exchange with someone yelling "me three" for being born in America
I'd love to see you come to Australia, there is such diverse multicultural communities everywhere, you'd blow peoples minds just switching between all the languages you know. AUSTRALIA 2023!!!!!!
Do you guys think I should go to Vietnam??? And thanks to ExpressVPN for sponsoring the vid - go to expressvpn.com/xiaomanyc and find out how you can get 3 months of ExpressVPN free!
Yes
Yes sir the food alone should make you go if you have the means let alone the culture and views
I also know a little bit of Chinese but Cantonese more active
Glad you're a believer, Xiaoma
Vietnam is great, my gf is from there and we visited it twice! Really a great country to visit and people are very friendly.
We are so used to being impressed by you Xiaoma and seeing other people be impressed by you that it is always humbling to see like when the Vietnamese lady couldn’t understand you and was making an effort to really teach you
I'm glad he included that bit in the video. He could have easily taken it out because of embarrassment, but it's such an important part of the learning process to get things wrong and be corrected
She was waaay too strict, his pronunciation on '' how much '' was atleast 7/10
@@debob513 yeah totally she was mean lol
@@debob513 I dont think she was mean, asian shop ladies are usually pretty business only. I wouldn't say his how much is 7/10. you're probably familiar with english and vietnamese to have that but if you only knew vietnamese, I would have somewhat of a hard time understanding
@@wierdOchoketv She wasn't being mean. Xiaoma was just saying it wrong even though she was trying to tell him the difference. Vietnamese is completely tonal, and if you're getting it wrong you are not saying the right word simply.
What’s amazing is the fact many of the “everyday people” speak 3 languages nonchalantly. They were speaking Cantonese, English and Vietnamese. Yet they don’t have a RUclips, they are just living and surviving. I find that to be amazing. Thank you Xiaoma for bringing us to different people and languages. I love your work!
4 Cantonese Mandarin Vietnamese English
@@blackmartini7684 That's right, even more amazing.
cos its only amazing when americans can speak 2 languages
@@akunnaoyelade2978 that's funny but as an American you're right. Ashamedly, I regret most Americans speak one language. I speak almost two with my study of Spanish. But still we are lazy only speaking English. Or perhaps since America is based on being a melting pot, maybe it just makes English very convenient but I wish I spoke atleast 3 languages.
@@soledisciple could be worse, you could be American Chinese and have worse language skills than this white dude and say cringe things like omg i cant even order a meal in Chinese
The disappointment when you couldn't get that Vietnamese across is the story of my life with my parents languages.
Me and my parents speak the same language and I feel like we can't communicate at all lol.
@@anonnine9994 lol
Omg same, my mom's tried to teach me Finnish my whole life and it's so hard because almost all Finns speak English.
@@stephenthompson4389 I tried to understand the finnish grammar at some point, but it is so horrible because every word is constantly changing :')
Same.
I wish nothing but happiness to that fruit selling lady.
i see that lateralus pfp 👀
I love how the 360 camera make it seem like people and xiaoma are both intensly looking in the wrong direction while talking, it's like they are both shy or something it's funny as fuck
I heard for 360 camera to work normally, you need a certain distance from the lense like 10 ft (I couldn't remember the exact distance). I think he needs to change his filming set up.
@@teofilol2666 I thinks it works just fine, how else would you recommend getting both of them in the shot but still being by himself casually talking to them? Having a filmer following him would change the interactions a lot
i like when their towards the end of the lens, and their faces distort
I actually thought he was blind or autistic at first, as it looked like he never looked at people. LOL
@@nollienick1121 Wider angle lenses are known for this. Which is why close ups in films are done with 50mm lenses, so it won't make beautiful women look bad.
As a Beijinger and a mandarin teacher, I must say you speak like a native. One of my student says you're his idol and his momentum to learn Mandarin.
Ari is a common motivator
Love Xiaoman, the camera angles can make everything look so goofy I bust out laughing.
i wonder what kind of camera he has. seems like some super fisheye i want one. maybe a gopro
Ikr my head started spinning at the most goofy moments
It's because it's a 360 camera so it's actually recording in 360 degrees. He then decides which angle to present. That's why it's super wide angle. It's two lenses that do 180 degrees and software blends it together
He’s actually just xiaoma
@@corrynflahaven9513 He's actually Xiao Many
I'm not done watching yet, but the second lady is so adorable and funny "you haven't learned that word yet?" instantly messes with you, but also instantly goes into a full conversation.
The way people instantly accept you and warm up to you when you speak their native language is so amazing!
Well now they can be themselves instead of translating to communicate with you
@Alarge Corgi2 Actually that is very true in some way to be honest, the fact is that people see world differently in different languages, for example if you ask a Russian speaking person to define sky's color in one word they will say "galuboi" which means light blue, and if you ask an English speaking person the same, they will say blue, which is different from light blue
if only more americans thought this enough to learn more languages.
Its called racism
I found this to be true when we were stationed in Germany. I speak German and some French. You get way better treatment when they see you making an effort to learn their language.
I felt his pain at 6:25, Vietnamese pronunciation is soo difficult. Especially when you feel like you're repeating exactly what a native speaker said.
A lot of your language is based on what your brain is learning before the age of four. The reason you cannot mimic the sound is you cannot hear the difference. Delayed language development the last few years is going to cost us a lot in the future.
In that case it sounds like the "n" sound is produced by putting the _middle_ of the tongue on the palate (like the Portuguese "nha-nhe-nho-nhu") rather than the tip. Positioning matters a lot.
@@ArtStoneUS Cannot hear the difference because it's not being explained clearly enough. It's more of a matter of knowing what creates the sound in question than knowing there is a difference. After you find it, the two become distinct to the ear.
oh my gosh thank you@@DinnerForkTongue . I came here scrolling, wondering if maybe someone who grew up speaking Vietnamese could explain, but this was probably the best way it was ever going to get across for me was telling me that tongue position. I'm a latina Canadian, who prides herself on being able to approximate how someone's name might be pronounced based on physical features and the arrangement of vowels in the name, but that's still VERY limited. East Asia, Southeast Pacific, and northeastern Europe have languages and enunciations extremely outside my mouth's familiarity. Thank you for literally explaining how to mimic/accurately portray the sound!
@@Val-zu5hzI was going to say I’m Vietnamese American and I’ve seen this sound in spanish and japanese
It’s the ñ in jalapeño. She keeps correcting him because he’s using n rather than ñ (I don’t blame him, we use nh two write that sound which isn’t exactly intuitive)
I think the japanese representation of the sound is easiest to read: ny. Jalapenyo
"Nice meeting you, white guy speaks Chinese." 😂😂
Better than saying I’m Little Donkey 🤣
CLASSIC
Absolutely burst out laughing
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
Awh man these interactions always make me feel so happy inside 🤣🤣
always love how humble these videos are and how kind and impressed the people are
Your Vietnamese is hilarious. I love it when you ask "how much does it cost" because I heard you ask "wrap snail." Keep practicing! Vietnamese is similar to Mandarin, the vowel enunciation/tone is important. Your Mandarin is way better than mine. 😀
I also heard "wrap snail?", which is what he asks when he's getting a naked massage
@@customsongmaker OH my 💀
Vietnamese is not similar to mandarin
To me, when she was telling him “it’s not an n. It’s an h and n”, it reminded me of how the “ñ” in Spanish is pronounced. “n” and “ñ” are quite different, but how she was saying the “hn” was, it sounded like an exaggerated way of the Spanish “ñ”, so it was easier in my head to pronounce it.
How is Vietnamese similar to Mandarin? they are totally different languages from different language geoups
It's not only the language skills that make the videos interesting, it's the personality Xiaoma brings along.
That ''...shit'', man I felt that, just after you were feeling good about your Vietnamese too. I know that feeling dude, you've probably felt it a million times already as a language learner though.
It's crazy how the first woman was telling him that "She doesn't speak English" while he was talking to her in Mandarin. That proves what he says about how different the dialets really are region to region.
4:37 she really said this man is Asian from the waist down ☠️
Chicken nugget boi
She want the egg roll
To be fair I got like 2 uncles with his exact stature
This makes me feel so much better! I could never pronounce my Vietnamese friend’s name how she wanted me to but I could’ve sworn I was saying it exactly like she said!!
Seeing you struggle with pronunciation the same way I did made me feel a lot better
He is so inspiring! I volunteered at 25 to learn Braille so I could transcribe children’s books into braille so blind parents or blind kids could read to the other. Did that for ten years. This was done by hand , not computer. Then learned sign language (not a ton) to “talk” with my daughters before they could talk. Now, I want to see if I can learn enough Mandarin to interact with others in my community. I’d love that! Three years of French in high school…don’t fail me now😢😊
YOU are inspiring also! BTW, I also studied sign language, but never thought of "talking" with my children before they could speak. How interesting. Good luck with your Mandarin!
Thank you for your hard work transcribing those books, might not be the same ones but we had a section for books written in braille at my library and I always appreciated that it was there and the people that made that accessibility possible.
Omg that's amazing! Wish you the very best on your journey :D
Legend.
@@srozaardnet5630 Oh yeah, babies can understand sign language and start to sign back by around 8 months... the day we started teaching my son was about the last time he ever cried. If he was hungry or thirsty or wanted more of something he could just tell us. It tends to delay their first verbal speech, but since they're actively using the speech centers of their brain for sign language, when they do start speaking verbally they tend to know more words to start out, because they're still learning from speech as well.
As a Vietnamese, i could never learn Vietnamese if i wasn't born in Vietnam lol, the grammar is not particularly hard, but speaking it with the right tone is something i have seen a lot of foreigners struggle to get through. I wish you the best of luck on your journey to learn Vietnamese and other languages
I always really enjoy your videos. There isn't much that shows true respect for people more than taking the time to learn and understand their native language. I think that many of us westerners are a bit arrogant and we tend to just automatically expect everyone to speak english when the reality is that there are numerous countries where english isn't even a secondary language let alone a primary one.
Thank you for sharing your views. When everyone in the U.S. remembers our ancestors are from all different cultural backgrounds, and that many of them did not start out knowing any English at all, hopefully they would start more or less having a different attitude on accepting other cultures.
I would say Americans are spoiled because almost every country DOES teach English as a second language and most people know at least a little English so because of this a lot of us don’t appreciate the work that goes into learning a language
For some reason when he speaks Cantonese/mandarin, he reminds me of how the Sims speak jibberish.
@@twowolveshighfiving that's because you don't listen to those sounds much because they are very different from English. As you listen more and more and learn more and more words, your ear gets better at picking out sounds and you start to hear words more and not gibberish. It's very surreal as it happens
There really should be just one universal language in the world though.
I love how the second lady went with everything until it was all revealed that it was actually just some American. Xiaoma really good at bringing smiles and shocks out of many Chinese people lol.
All I noticed was the merchant looking & waiting for the 🪶🇨🇦$$ Happy Travels 🧳
Some things that can help with Vietnamese, "nh," is imagining the Spanish, "ñ," or Portuguese, "nh," the language it gets its spelling from.
Vietnamese is notorious for being particularly difficult in acquisition. Although it's tonal like Mandarin and Cantonese, the specific vowel sounds, as well as a few consonants, can be a real pain. Another difficult part is that a significant percentage, if not the majority, of Vietnamese people in the West speak Southern Vietnamese dialect rather than the standard language based off Northern dialect. You will run into a lot of confusion because of that, especially as a language learner.
Also, the, "mouth placement," if you will, of Vietnamese is very different than Mandarin and quite different than Cantonese. The language should sound, "springy," and there is a quality about the language that almost makes it sound like you're, "gulping," your words. When you're speaking Vietnamese, you have negative transfer not only from English but Mandarin as well. Particularly with your, "k," and, "t," sounds. They're supposed to be unaspirated, but English speakers typically aspirate them at the beginning of words. It's one of the hardest things to get right, beyond tones, as the unaspirated, "t," and the aspirated, "t," do cause words to have different meanings.
@Cameron Just reading all that had me running for the hills.😀.
Where would one even begin?
I speak German, Dutch, English and Afrikaans.
All very similar and easy to master.
But beyond that, I am lost 😀
Fantastic explanation 👏 👌. Thanks for sharing
@@monk3yboy69 afrikaans is similar to german ?! in what way ? im german myself which can speak a bit of canto and japanese. Dutch is like german ordered on whish to some degree
@@semiramisubw4864 Afrikaans is part of the Germanic family but it actually is related to Dutch.
Fantastic analysis. I am Vietnamese and i found his Vietnamese worse than his Mandarin (which I am learning right now). Also he uses "how much" which might be more often used in Mandarin to ask for a price (多少) but we usually say bao nhiêu tiền (how much money), thus a bit of confusion when his accent is not perfect.
the amount of positivity that comes from these videos is contagious. keep it up man!
Right?! These videos will lift me right out of a depression
this is so ultimately impressive. blows my mind. so much respect to you mate. and you are such a great soul
Yes! Go to Vietnam! I'm so happy to see you busting out your rusty Vietnamese.
I am Vietnamese and even I think that it's an extremely hard language to learn. I would love to see you make a big effort to become fluent.
Same!
It’s definitely a difficult language. Vietnamese is such a tonal language that some people may have difficulty with getting the right tone. Kind of like when he was getting ties and the lady was trying to explain the “nh” sound. And this is not to even mention all the dialects of Vietnam that exist from Hue to Saigon
@@dannybangz yeah the hardest thing in our language is the "tone" which defines that you're a Vietnamese or not, the grammar is actually somewhat easy to learn!
Interesting. Now I'm kinda curious what the hardest part about learning English is. Anyone feel free to chime in and let me know
@@bobby_hill8357 learning English for me was hard because there are so many filler words
It’s really admirable and brings a smile to my face to see how much courage you have to just practice by making random conversation and have fun while doing so. This video was also of particular interest to me because my parents are also Chinese from Vietnam but moved to the Netherlands where I was born. I only speak (informal) Cantonese myself among family and I think you’re doing great~ (Tonality not always on-point but understandbly difficult) Am rooting for you!
6:43 one of the funniest moments for me. Xiaomanyc realizes he fell off for a few split seconds and gets right back on track. Love this guy.
I stopped one second because I read "FBI.gov". I said what the fuck he did wrong?
I have a co worker who’s parents are from Vietnam. I am a white boy who speaks basic Polish, basic Italian, and basic Spanish due to the people I hung out around as a kid. My co worker speaks fluent Vietnamese and English, and has visited Vietnam once or twice. One day, we were chatting conversing in English, I told her I knew how to say ‘hello’ to a girl, which is ‘Chao ánh,’ Then, I learned to say ‘hello’, and ‘thank you,’ and dear Lord her reaction was priceless! She introduced me to the Vietnamese language, culture, food, and the sweetest kindest people ever! I decided then it was time to hang out with some more Vietnamese people, so I went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Canada, and practiced some more Vietnamese phrases. Our waitress was a pretty young Vietnamese woman, and I had said ‘cam on’ which translates to thank you in English. I swear, I thought I scared her or offended her at first, but her reaction was out of impression and how she was amazed! My co worker said that not only did I speak very good, but sounded like a native speaker. That not only made my feel proud, but made me feel good about myself as a person! I will never forget the Vietnamese waitress, and my co workers reaction to my Vietnamese speaking lol. Hope Xiaoma can read this too! 😊
Xiaoma, I've been following you for a few years now. I can't actually believe you've been doing these type of videos for this long. I enjoy every video you do. I get something out of every single video that makes me happy, and it has made me try to start other languages as well. So thank you for the inspiration to do something fun. God bless you.
Yeah honestly. Most people deviate eventually from their original content especially when they’ve become this “famous”/known. Hopefully he stays to his roots because this is some of the most wholesome content on RUclips.
I couldn't agree more! I started to learn Mandarin because of him. It's slow for me but I am getting there 😄 so much fun!
That conversation at 12:35 is so wholesome 🥺
Really felt that struggle with the “nh” sound she was asking you to make. In Brazilian Portuguese, you have to make a similar sound and it’s just not something we use in English so I’ve never seen an American be able to make that sound off the bat.
A French man named Alexandre De Rhodes created our Vietnamese writing system based on local people’s pronunciation 400 years ago. Thats a blessed for us.
Thats alphabet script separate us from neighbors country like China vs Cambodia
@@harryhuyphan4292 Actually Francisco de Pina, a Portuguese missionary, was the one to make the Vietnamese alphabet. Alexandre de Rhodes was Pina's disciple who later improved the alphabet.
I didn't realize how hard Viet is to pronounce. He absorbs vocabulary so well, though.
Yeah I recently tried and it’s very hard! I knew what I was getting into.
@KinhMasterRacewhy specifically north?
you should come to Australia and try to learn one of the hundreds of local language that are native and have nothing to do with euro language
I went to Australia for a week last year and knew some phrases / lingo already from friends but they were more impressed I said woolies over coles in a couple days. Said I'm already becoming aussie cause I shortened it. Lolol
I was grinning like an idiot the entire video... another banger! Especially loved the end lol
Wow, finally Xiaoma has spoken Vietnamese, which makes me and those people in this clip proud :)
It's actually very hard for Americans to speak Vietnamese the "normal" way because we has some "tones" which literally are "level" (the usual Engligh), "sharp", "asking", "deep", tumbling" that is very unique to our language, so Xiaoma can speak "how much" like that with short learning curves makes me very suprised :D Although I'm too cannot really understand what he's saying if he speaks so unintendedly like that!
I'd love to visit Vietnam one day. It's a beautiful country, the people are great and the food... It's sooo good.
I live in Australia and Vietnamese food is easy to find, luckily, but I just got back from the UK, and it was impossible to find any Vietnamese food! Looks like I need to get my delicious Vietnamese fix!
Speaking so many languages is the coolest thing ever. It's kinda like a superpower!
That was really impressive. I feel like you're getting better by the day. you're really fast at speaking clearly now.
I’m Vietnamese, but was adopted by American parents as a baby so I don’t speak any sadly. I’ve definitely looked into learning now as an adult and Vietnamese is incredibly difficult. Not to mention, the Vietnamese spoken in the North (where I was born) might as well be a completely different language from the Vietnamese spoken in the South. 😅 But Xiaoma inspires me to give it a try!
good luck!
Keep it up!
tớ nghĩ cậu nên học thử tiếng VIệt xem sao, dù sao đó cũng là một trải nghiệm thú vị đặc biệt ở mảng phát âm, đặc biệt có ích nếu cậu có cơ hội trở về Việt Nam, và đúng vậy, người miền Bắc nói tiếng Việt rõ ràng hơn người Nam, nên cậu có thể hiểu miền Bắc như là "British English" và người Nam là "American English" :D Nhưng những người miền Trung mới là những người có cách phát âm độc đáo và khó nghe nhất, ngay cả tớ cũng sẽ không nghe nổi :D
I think you should try study some Vietnamese, that's a whole new exprience especially in "tonal" sounds, it's useful if you have chances to go visit your hometown in Vietnam :D That's right Northern people speaks more clearly than Sounthern people, so it's like "British English" and "American English" :D But people in the central of Vietnam have the most unique sounds that even I cannot understand everything :D
North and Southern Vietnamese is very similar when compared to Central Vietnamese.
North and South Vietnamese: mày đi đâu vậy?
Central Vietnamese: mi đi mô chi rứa?
@@nomnaday mình dân miền Trung mà chưa nghe ai nói : mi đi mô chi rứa? Bỏ chữ chi thì đúng!
7:45 What an absolute unit
I love these videos so much!!! Amazing to see him make connections with so many different people from all over the world
Tried learning Vietnamese and it is really hard 😳 the Vowels, of which there are many more than in english, are incredibly nuanced. You have to practice with a Native speaker to really learn the difference between all of them because they dont just use shape of mouth but also tones, and extreme mouth shaping that doesnt even exists in english or spanish which are the two languages im fluent in.
Seeing the way people light up when they speak with you never gets old. I’ve been watching your videos for years and I know that essentially the same thing happens in every one, but I keep watching anyway!
I'm sorry but I just never get tired of watching him speak other languages 🤣 I'm addicted
I absolutely love these videos. The way you can just interact with other cultures is amazing in its self
6:22 she was really hammering you on your pronunciation. Haha
There needs to be more recognition of the Vietnamese clothing store owner’s as an even more advanced polyglot. I have met jewelers in Oakland Chinatown who can speak 6 languages and are from 6-7 generations of polyglots because their families have been trading all over Asia.
🤧💔
Something about this video in comparison to the others is this seemed more relaxed. Perfect!
"WHO ARE YOU? WHY IS YER MANDARIN SO GOOD? Anyway~" had a good laugh at this one 😂😂
As a Vietnamese person, Vietnamese is extremely hard to learn! Enunciation and tone almost have to be perfect.
That was so funny that woman said are you Chinese. Love your videos keep cranking them out they make my day sometimes
bruh this really has me in tears🤣🤣🤣
Xiaoman your videos always bring a smile to my face. I have so much respect for you. Have a great day.
The conversation around 6.30 with the Vietnamese lady was pretty much how I spent every single day for the three years I lived in Cambodia. Trying to understand the difference between two different sounds that - to me - sounded EXACTLY the same.
That's because your brain did not learn to hear the difference when you were a young child, so now your brain is not able to decipher the difference. You cannot mimic what you cannot hear.
I have always been inspired by your channel since I first started learning Chinese. You motivate me to be better!
These wonderful people are more than just surprised by hearing an American speak their language. It appears they appreciate your efforts. What a nice gesture from you. I see it as an attempt to honor another culture. Best of luck. Your subscribes reflect your reaching out to others. Keep working hard. I've have friends who travel for business in Vietnam and love the experience.
Yes, the Vietnamese! You can do it man, once you get the tones down the language is monosyllabic and has extremely simple grammar. I never had a formal education in Vietnamese, just learned it from my parents but can communicate sufficiently.
I really love this channel. It’s so positive and you make all these folks so happy and immediately more relaxed when they realize you can speak their language. What a great break the crazy stuff on social media. Keep up the great work.
This camera style makes everything funnier xD
True😂 normally I don't prefer this point of view but for these videos it fits somehow perfectly.
A huge number of the Vietnamese that emigrated overseas during the Vietnam War are actually Chinese-Vietnamese from the city (Saigon) that had the means to pay to go. Thats why their small businesses have chinese characters alongside english. “Hoa”in their business names is another big give away as that literally means “chinese” in Vietnamese
Hey Xiaoma I write you from Spain. I love your videos. I have been studying Mandarin for over a year and y am loving it so much, I just hope to someday speak it half as good as you speak it. I have a question for you: have you ever tried to learn Basque? It's a language spoken in two northern Spanish and three South French regions and It is known for being really difficult to learn and speak. I would love to watch you trying to speak it. Keep doing your content, it's great!!!! Greetings from Spain
Without a doubt the best videos on RUclips hands down! When the lady was like who are you and how you speak Chinese! I've with an Asian and still can only speak a handful of words!!! Absolutely love this guy 💙🙏
Nothing inspires me to learn languages quite like you man. Truly an inspiration to me. Love what you do!!
Your videos make my day man, its so good to see the people happy that you know their language, you have to learn to speak in Portuguese Brazil, hugs from Brazil
They probably think you're a uyghur, you look uyghur
Well if he's Jewish from families of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, he could be Turkic.
My man, I'm just rewatching a bunch of your videos, and I think Moses would've been hella proud of you fella. It was hard losing laushu but my man, you do incredible things for people and it's comforting knowing someone like Moses is still out here.
Just wondering - how many items do you buy just to be polite while talking to so many folks? Very good video.
Been watching you for years, it's genuinely just made sense in my head about phrases and accents combined.. and when people say you should learn more traditional phrases ..
I love all your vids but the Chinese speaking ones always have the best reactions 😁
I love how you include the mistakes you make as well, it makes language learning seem more approachable. People are really just happy for the effort you make, even if it’s not perfect!
I just love seeing how excited and shocked people are when you speak their language. I smile everytime like I'm the one doing it lol.
This is one of the fascinating RUclips channels ever! This channel is so awesome ❤️
Your Vietnamese is good! The pronunciation is a little different, but it is definitely pretty hard to learn, especially online. It’s great to see you out speaking Vietnamese though, this was a great video.
I love there reactions when you start speaking there language😂
‘their languages’
Vietnamese is a tough language but I’ve always imagined Chinese to be way harder. Kudos to you though brother I’m always hella inspired by your videos!
13:29 “it was nice meeting you white guy speaks Chinese”
I'm honestly really glad to see some Vietnamese in his videos. I'm a second generation Vietnamese American and my Vietnamese really isn't that great. I gave up learning and dropped out of my Viet classes after 3.5 years (there's like 12 vowels and I got tired of mixing up the accent marks.😑 ) Even if he stumbled thru some words and pronunciation, he speaks and understands better than me. It's weird but I kind of feel like I'm living vicariously thru him? and it kinda makes me feel proud my heritage?? Overall great vid that made my day. Keep it up, Xiaoma!
Viet is a particularly difficult language for Westerners and other cultures to learn, even for a native like me. I grew up in Vietnam and I still have some trouble understanding people in some parts of Vietnam today due to the tone or pitch that they speak, since I grew up in Saigon. Viet conveys words and intent through tonal shifts in pitch, so it's an important aspect in speaking it, and a flat pitch usually indicates a foreigner who is new to it.
I really enjoy your videos. They make people happy. I only speak English and a little Spanish, but would love to learn Chinese.
Chinese speakers: do you agree with the woman when she said the more he talks the more she realized he wasn't Chinese? That's an interesting comment, first time I hear this in his videos.
Bro these are my people! My parents are ethnic Chinese from Vietnam who came to America as boat people after the war. I speak Cantonese but been around a lot of Vietnamese growing up too. A lot of my older relatives speak Mando/Canto/Viet. Just happy that we got some exposure on your channel haha! This was an awesome vid!
When she corrected your Vietnamese you literally sounded like you were saying it exactly like she was
No, he was saying "n" instead of "nh", think of n and ñ in Spanish.
As the person above me said. Think of his as a “n” sound and hers as a “ny” sound.
Xiaoma is amazing his Chinese is so good I want to learn too
I am always impressed with your language vocabulary. Also curious as to how much stuff you've collected over the years from trying to speak with people and buying from the markets around town :p
“Who are you? and why is your Mandarin so good?” killed me
Your shopping expedition is just as fun as your language adventure. Thank you for bringing us along.
Dude this video reminds me of Laoshu shopping and speaking different languages, memories for sure
I’m sure Laoshu proud of you, keep the language videos going :)
4:22 , sounds like she's roasting your small ... uhm ... shoes
And... small... uhm... legs.
Definitely legs and shoes. Not the uh...
Nice video. It warms my heart to see the reactions you get.
White guy speaks Chinese haha. Not sure why I can't stop watching your videos. Super wholesome. Keep it up ❤
I honestly want to thank you for sharing these videos . The response you get in public is quite magical. I have been inspired to learn a new language ❤
Xiaoma videos are always so great. Dude works so hard and it's always beautiful to see how his knack for language lets him connect with people. It's a crazy time in the world but I hope my man's doing good. Love you bruv.
You make so many people smile, thank you and keep it up. We need more people like you to facilitate communication between people, because if we can understand each other we can get along.
Podziwiam twoje zdolności językowe. 🙂👍🏻
Thanks for showing Los Angeles Chinatown
Hi
Hello
Hey buddy
Gay
When I see one of your videos in my Notifications, I put it in a playlist. I named the playlist "The Language Whisperer." I love these videos.
The cutest thing was the lady in the red shirt greeting him with a smile in Chinese in passing and their little exchange with someone yelling "me three" for being born in America
This channel is for sure #1 in my watch list atm , im so proud u mate, awesome ! Respect from Ukraine !
I'd love to see you come to Australia, there is such diverse multicultural communities everywhere, you'd blow peoples minds just switching between all the languages you know.
AUSTRALIA 2023!!!!!!