You are going on vacation..

. ..to a fascinating land far away. Then what are the three main activities for survival: breathing, drinking and eating.

This is so obvious that we hardly think about it. Breathing is quite easy and drinking is also easy because you can get water, coffee, tea or cola everywhere.

But food! In countries where the language is a bit similar to yours, you can get by because the food there is usually very similar to what you are used to.

But in a country where they speak a language that you can't make sense of… then the delicious smelling food looks like something you know but it's called different and it tastes different and what would it contain?

Language courses on the Internet and what really makes sense to learn

There are many, also for learning Vietnamese. There are also good ones, but it remains that it is very personal whether a method works for you. There is also a big difference in what you want to learn, most methods are not suitable for a short visit, whatever they promise: you will never learn a completely foreign language in a few months. Does this mean that it makes no sense at all to learn

the language of the country where you go on holiday or work for a short time? Of course not, you just have to be realistic and ask yourself if it makes sense to learn all kinds of things that you will probably never use.

Most courses pay a lot of attention to pronunciation and that's great, but is it useful? You can then perfectly pronounce what is on the menu. The problem, however, is that neither the vendors nor, rarely, the enthusiastic tour guides know the English names of what's in the delicious-smelling food you can buy on the street and in the eateries.

Thanks to the videos and the textbook 'Vietnamese through Cooking' you will not only recognize many of the menu lists, but also know what it is and what is in it. And in principle you can also pronounce it reasonably intelligibly and you have learned how it sounds in fast Vietnamese. In the meantime, several videos have already been published, but there are many more to come, including a special one about Vietnamese 'Street Food'

'Vietnamees through Cooking'

 

The principle is well thought out and logical, but incredibly simple.

In addition to the recipes, the text book contains all kinds of cultural information, including about the language. The funny thing is that the book was even high on the list of 'Vietnamese Cookbooks', because everything is explained simply and clearly.

But despite its simplicity, the content is very well thought out. For example, when learning a new language, the vocabulary is the biggest problem, there are all kinds of methods for that, but we have made a domino game with the words used to practice the vocabulary of a lesson. On those pictures is a drawing, the Vietnamese and English text. If you are alone, you can use them as memory.

videos in Vietnamese

The text is first spoken very clearly and calmly, you will then see the Vietnamese text and how it sounds. Then the sentence is spoken faster and finally the sentence is spoken with the Vietnamese tempo and you lose the thread. It may well be that you do not yet understand the name of the food in practice, they also have their own pronunciation locally, but you already see and smell perfectly what it is and know what it contains.

the handbook

..the sentences in Vietnamese and English are one below the other. To gain insight into the grammar, for example, the subject has the same color in both languages, which also applies to the verb, for example. As a result, you can easily see the difference in sentence structure between Vietnamese and English. And that is a good start to learn more about it later. The handbook also contains all sorts of information about the dishes and eating customs, and it often also states how the dishes differ per region. In addition, all kinds of information about the language and why it is a bit difficult to learn. The textbook even received a good rating as a cookbook.

Oanh Le..

.. the writer, grew up in central Da Nang, lived briefly in Hue, a few years in the North, in Ha Noi and spent a short time in the South in HCMC. Cooking was, so to speak, instilled in her at an early age, but during her studies she preferred to eat on the street. She knows Da Nang's street food like no other, she even wrote the Da Nang Street Food Guide and she had a nice
source of income during her studies by giving street food tours. She also did an internship at the Thanh Ha Terracotta Park near Hoi An and at various museums in Ha Noi. Because of her tours, she came into contact with many foreigners who wanted to learn to speak Vietnamese or hire her as an interpreter. Also several parents who asked Oanh to give their children extra lessons in speaking fluent English. Oanh still gives private lessons, both Vietnamese for foreigners and English for Vietnamese.

In 2019 she then founded the 'Vietnam Cultural Exchange' organization with the main activity being the 'Bong & Pancake Art for Children gallery', which is temporarily closed due to covid, but started again in 2023.

During covid, Oanh developed the "Vietnam Through Food" project together with Roby. Oanh lives part-time in Vietnam and part-time in the USA. She currently resides in the USA and that is why she takes into account what you can buy outside Vietnam in her recipes.