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    Pronunciation · For vietnamese speakers

    English pronunciation for vietnamese speakers

    In short

    For Vietnamese speakers one issue towers over all others: final consonants. Vietnamese syllables end in very few sounds, so English finals (including every -s and -ed) get dropped, and 'rice' becomes 'rai'. Fixing word endings is the fastest route to being understood.

    Your priority sounds, in order

    1. 1

      /s/: s as in see

      final /s/ deleted: plurals and 'is/was' vanish: 'six' → 'sic', 'nice' → 'nai'

      Fix: Bring your tongue close to the ridge behind your top teeth without touching. Practise: see vs she, price vs prize

    2. 2

      /z/: z as in zoo

      final /z/ deleted or devoiced: 'plays', 'goes' lose their endings

      Fix: Same position as /s/, tongue near the ridge. Practise: price vs prize

    3. 3

      /t/: t as in tea

      final stops unreleased or dropped: 'right' → 'rai', '-ed' past tense disappears

      Fix: Touch your tongue tip to the ridge just behind your top teeth. Practise: three vs tree

    4. 4

      /l/: l as in light

      final /l/ becomes /n/ or /w/: 'bill' → 'bin'; also l/r interchange word-initially

      Fix: Touch your tongue tip firmly to the ridge behind your top teeth. Practise: light vs right

    5. 5

      /ʃ/: sh as in she

      /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ shift towards /s/ and /t/: 'she' → 'see'

      Fix: Pull your tongue slightly further back than for /s/. Practise: see vs she, chair vs share

    6. 6

      /θ/: th as in think

      /θ/ becomes /t/ or /s/; noticeable but secondary to finals

      Fix: Place the tip of your tongue lightly between your top and bottom teeth. Practise: think vs sink, three vs tree

    Beyond sounds: stress and rhythm

    Suprasegmentals (stress, rhythm, intonation) transfer from Vietnamese in predictable ways, and research shows fixing them improves real-world comprehensibility more than sound polish does.

    • Tone transfer puts a pitch on every syllable; practise long linked phrases with a single melody arc.
    • Multi-syllable words often lose their tails; say 'uniVERsity' with all five syllables.
    • Final clusters: build them backwards: 'six' = sik+s, 'asked' = ask+t.

    Words vietnamese speakers most often get wrong

    Each has a full breakdown, audio in both accents and a free recording drill. Fixing a word you use daily is worth more than fixing a sound in the abstract.

    comfortableKUMF-tuh-bulinterestingIN-truh-stingbusinessBIZ-nusWednesdayWENZ-dayclothesKLOHDHZmonthsMUNTHSsixthSIKSTHaskedAHSKT

    Browse the whole word bank · Take the 60-second check

    Quick wins to start this week

    • ✓Exaggerate finals for two weeks: 'fivE', 'nicE', 'workeD'; over-correction normalises fast.
    • ✓Read plurals aloud daily and clap on every final s.
    • ✓Link finals to vowels: 'turn‿it‿off'; linking forces the final consonant to exist.

    Keep exploring

    Frequently asked questions

    What are the hardest English sounds for vietnamese speakers?
    The highest-impact challenges are /s/ (final /s/ deleted); /z/ (final /z/ deleted or devoiced); /t/ (final stops unreleased or dropped). These are ordered by how much they affect intelligibility, not by how noticeable they are.
    Do vietnamese speakers need to lose their accent for IELTS?
    No. IELTS explicitly accepts every standard accent; the descriptors only mention L1 accent at Band 8, and only through its effect on intelligibility. The goal is clarity, not sounding native.
    Where should I start?
    Exaggerate finals for two weeks: 'fivE', 'nicE', 'workeD'; over-correction normalises fast.

    Next step

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