I’m learning Vietnamese and I’ve found that there aren’t that many resources out there compared to other languages. To help anyone else who’s in the same boat, I’ve put together a list of resources I’ve collected throughout the years. I hope you find this helpful!
I update this page pretty often, but if you have any suggestions or contributions, feel free to contact me.
Apps
I currently don’t use apps, but I have used them in the past to learn or review vocabulary. For me, I can’t get as in-depth with learning as I’d like with apps, so I’ve stopped using them for now. But I do think apps are a good way to get more exposure to the language, so I wanted to list them here for anyone who might find them helpful.
| LingoDeer | One of the better apps I’ve seen that teach Vietnamese. I used to use this years ago when it was free. The recorded pronunciation is good and it also teaches complete sentences. |
| Duolingo | Duolingo has a nice interface, but I’m kind of iffy on their material. I went through a few of their basics and some of the sentences were kind of weird like “The woman is you.” or “I am human.” |
| Drops | I haven’t used Drops in a while, but I think it’s a good app for learning vocabulary. In the past, I came across some words that were pronounced incorrectly, but there’s a feature to report it through the app. |
| Mango Languages | I was able to get a free account through my library’s website since I had a library card. I would recommend checking this one out if you have a library card to try to get free access. |
Vietnamese Language Classes
These companies offer online and in-person classes (if you’re located in Vietnam). They also offer 1:1 lessons as well as group lessons depending on your budget and preferred learning style. To be frank, this is my preferred learning style since it’s the only time I get to practice speaking and it really helps to have someone to correct my pronunciation.
| Learn Vietnamese with SVFF | This company specializes in teaching the southern accent and this is where I’m taking online 1:1 lessons. They offer a free trial lesson that you can try out to see if it’s a good fit for you. If you do decide to continue with lessons, you can get 15% off your first class with my affiliate code SVFFMai14[note]I’ll receive a small commission when you use my affiliate code. Read my full disclosure policy here.[/note]. They also have a YouTube channel where they post free educational content and they also have a Facebook group for more free educational content. |
| Learn Vietnamese with Annie | Another well-known company to learn Vietnamese from. They also have a YouTube channel where they post educational content. The website doesn’t specify if they teach the northern/southern accent but after watching some of the YouTube videos and seeing how the school is located in HCMC, I think they teach the southern accent. |
| Tieng Viet Oi | This company has locations in HCMC, Ha Noi, and Da Nang. They also have a YouTube channel where they post free educational content. I think this might be the only company that teaches the northern accent as well as the southern accent. |
YouTube Channels that teach Vietnamese
Dictionaries
| VDict | A standard Vietnamese-English dictionary (also can translate to Chinese and French). |
| Forvo | Crowdsourced pronunciations of words. |
Online Communities
It helps some people to have a community or accountability group. Here are a few I’ve found online of people who are all aiming towards the same goal.
| Việt Ngữ Với Trân Facebook Group | This Facebook group meets several times a week on Zoom to learn the Vietnamese language as well as history and culture. |
| Vietnamese English Language Exchange + Muong Discord | |
| Vietnamese Second Language Discord |
Websites
Here are a few other websites that can be used to learn Vietnamese as well as other languages.
| italki (use my referral link to get a $10 credit) |
You can find a tutor or teacher here to meet with 1 on 1. There’s a large selection to choose from and each instructor generally has an introduction video for you to get a sense of their personality and teaching style. I took a few lessons on iTalki before finally committing to SVFF. |
| lang-8 | This is a good website to practice writing! You can write a blog post in the language that you’re learning and other users can come and give suggestions to correct it. It’s community-based, so it’s free but it means that you should probably help out other members by correcting their blog posts. |
| HelloTalk | I haven’t used this site myself, but I’ve seen YouTubers mention it. It’s similar to lang-8, but instead of writing a blog post, you’re chatting with other members. |
Music
| Spotify V-Pop playlist | Spotify has a pretty vast collection of Vietnamese pop music! I think YouTube still has a more comprehensive list, but this Spotify generated playlist is a good starting point. |
Shows/Movies
| BỐ GIÀ | Has English subtitles | A five episode series about a family in Vietnam. It’s part comedy but also has drama. |
| Người Ấy Là Ai? | This episode has English subtitles, but not all of them do | A very popular dating show in Vietnam! There is one female contestant but five guys for her to choose from. Each of the guys can be single, already taken, or not heterosexual, but the female contestant doesn’t know which is which. |
Vietnamese YouTubers
✰ indicates that it’s one of my favorite channels to watch
| Food & Travel | Khoai Lang Thang / Food and Travel | Has English subtitles |
| Vuong Anh’s Cooking Journey | Has English subtitles Has Vietnamese subtitles |
|
| Quynh Tran JP & Family – Cuộc sống ở Nhật✰ | ||
| Beauty & Fashion | Lindsie Pham | |
| Linh Trương | ||
| Phương Ly | ||
| Quach Anh Makeup Artist | ||
| Quynh Anh Shyn | ||
| Trinh Pham | ||
| Ty Lê | ||
| Hương Witch | ||
| Changmakeup | ||
| Chloe Nguyen | ||
| Góc Của Rư | ||
| Lifestyle | my20s | |
| Mẫn Tiên | ||
| Mỡ Mỡ | ||
| Nguyen NEWIN | ||
| Phillip Le✰ | Has English subtitles | |
| Thao Nhi Le✰ | Has English subtitles | |
| Julia Doan✰ | ||
| Charmmie Vu | ||
| Chi Sally | ||
| Châu Giang nè! | ||
| Cin City | ||
| CON THỎ | ||
| Giang Ơi | ||
| An Phương✰ | ||
| aNcari Room✰ | Akari is a Japanese YouTuber who lives in Vietnam and makes videos in Vietnamese. Has English subtitles |
|
| Tech & Photography | Tùng Phạm | |
| Fitness | IUF✰ | |
| Hana Giang Anh | ||
| Entertainment | Dustin On The Go | |
| MCVMedia |