Learn Vietnamese with TVO | North vs South: Vietnamese Accents

My family is definitely from the South. Northern Vietnamese sounds like Mandarin, lol.

I usually use some of the Northern words but say it in the Southern accent.

All my friends in the States speak the Saigon dialect, but I interact more with Hanoians these days. I'm gonna have a lot of fun mixing the two dialects as I learn! xD

why does the woman on the right kind of sound like cantonese in some sentences?

Strange I was expecting you to say Ha Loi haha

I have noticed that accents will vary a lot depending on what Vietnamese mass media you consume

News = usually northern (unless you're watching an overseas broadcast)
Documentaries = northern
Pop music = northern (if the artist wants to add comedic effect, they would mix the two dialects)
Bolero = northern
Vietnamese Folk songs = depends on what region
Vietnamese Opera = southern
Comedy = southern
Commentary YT channels = usually southern
Dubbed Asian movies = usually southern (this especially true for dubbed Chinese historical dramas where the voice actor would overexaggerate their way of speaking to imitate a Cantonese person speaking Vietnamese)
Religious = depends (Roman Catholic = old northern Vietnamese accent, Buddhist = southern)
Poetry = northern
Storytime YT channels = northern
Vlogs = depends on the person's origins

It should be noted that overseas broadcasts are usually done in the southern Vietnamese accent due to many people being refugees and are usually from Saigon thus they gear their media towards that instead of Hanoi

Im northern Vietnamese born and raised in Saigon my entire life, yes I call it Saigon, not Ho Chi Minh city and I hate communism but I speak Vietnamese with a northern accent because thats how the Vietnamese language is supposed to sound like. Only you jungle monkeys speak Vietnamese with a Cambodian accent and call it the “southern accent”

This is not the original, classical Northern accent. It has been bastardized, sounding very harsh and frankly low-class. Bac 54 is the true North (accent that is). It’s a shame bc Bac 54 accent will go extinct one day mainly due to migration. 😢

Giọng con gái miền Nam nghe rất dịu dàng . tôi đến từ miền Bắc .

As a vietnamese american I only know southern words but my mom who was born in Vietnam can speak both she knows both southern and northern pretty impressive and my dad who moved to America at the age of 9 due to the Vietnam War only speaks southern since he was born in the south and didn't really get a full education in Vietnamm.

Do you teach southern or northern

Interesting. The NV word for sick is the SV word for skinny.

Crazy thing is the north and south clashed into one another during the war

My whole entire family was born and bred in the heart of Hanoi next to Opera House, aka Ho Hoàn Kiem.

When my uncle was only 8 years old, he and his aunt went to Saigon to visit on summer holiday. Unlucky for him and her, the war broke out between North and South. The border was closed.

He got completely stuck in Saigon and had to live the rest of his life in Saigon. Even married a Saigon woman and got his kids in Saigon.

Now he is like almost 80 and it's so funny to talk to him. He clearly be my pure blood and Hanoi born and everything but he speaks Saigon southern accent.

It is a bit fascinating that your own 100 % blood uncle is speaking a completely different accent compared to you.

Heck, we are family!! We know it, we even look the same but our accents are soooooo different that it's actually scary.

People would not actually believe me and him are in the same family.

He cannot even speak Hanoi accent or even Bac accent anymore. It's like... Gone with the wind.

How life can change us just like that. Well, at least he could reunite with the rest of his siblings but he chose to stay in Saigon the rest of his life after the war since he already built up his family there.

And even among the Bac accent, there are also tons of differences depends on where in North you are from.

I assume that will be the same thing about the South, depends on where in the South you are from.

Northern Vietnamese sounds more choppy and South Vietnamese sounds more relaxed to me. Kind of like New York vs Texas. - WW

southern they talk with high pitch squeaky sound and they talk loud, it sound ugly as hell to me

Mình chả bao giờ gặp khó khăn gì khi giao tiếp với người Bắc cả, cũng dễ hiểu tại sao. Gia đình mình gốc nội là Bắc bên Ngoại thì Trung mà sinh ở Vũng Tàu nên từ nhỏ bị từ vẫn cả 3 miền vã liên tục vô mặt từ nhỏ nên tự hiểu nghĩa luôn :U à mà giọng mình miền Nam =))

Michin same with Indonesia 🤣

My family is Nam and to me everything sounds so straight forward compared to the Bac accent