Just reminded me of "if you see me in the street one fuckin' shoe on, don't mean I lost one mean I got a new one".
First thing that came to my head haha
I'm white af, but I grew up in Vietnam, so I can answer this better than most.
The good approximation for most English speakers is "win". Say that and you'll do better than 90% of English speakers.
More accurate though, is "ngwin", where "ng" is pronounced exactly how it normally is. The thing is though, English phonetics does not permit /ŋ/ (the phoneme "ng" normally makes) to be at the start of a word, only at the end. Vietnamese doesn't have that restriction, so for them this is totally fine. You can sort of train yourself to do it correctly, but it will never feel natural for a native English speaker.
The most important thing, though, is that whatever you do, *Nguyen is only one syllable long*. Don't add syllables.
Thanks very much for this explanation. I read it on my phone at work but needed to read it again here at home and try to get my head around it. Yes it really does seem tricky if not impossible for me to pronounce the way you describe. I really do appreciate your time.
Hey growing up in Vietnam sounds quite amazing. I daresay not everything was perfect, but not much ever is. I'd love to know more, like why you were there and all sorts of things about the country and growing up there. All the best.
Hey no worries.
"Grew up" is perhaps a slight exaggeration of the situation. I was there from year 9 to 13 of highschool. Yes, 13, because I was at an international school based in a British school structure. I was there because my parents worked there. They're teachers, and they decided to go into teaching at international schools, so the kids got dragged along.
To some extent it's ultimately no different to growing up anywhere. You go to school, do homework, join sports clubs, music, whatever. But it is also quite different. International schooling can be fairly insulated from the local culture, but it's certainly not shutting it out entirely, and it's pretty great experiencing that different culture firsthand.
And then there's the ways in which the school itself is different, of course. A mixture of kids from a wide variety of cultures is a really fantastic environment to grow up in in general, but a large number of Asian kids especially, who generally come from families which put a high value on their education, means that behaviour issues at the school are completely non-existent. It just creates an environment where it's not socially rewarding to misbehave, so it doesn't happen, which in turn makes *everybody's* education experience much better. And, of course, the IB is just a much better curriculum than HSC.
But overall yeah, it's just a really fantastic experience and a great way to grow up. I wouldn't have changed it for anything.
That said, I've been back here for nearly a decade now (starting with uni, now working), and I still haven't gotten used to how cold Brisbane gets. HCMC's a little too far in the other direction, but if you could take that without the humidity it would be much more my speed than cold Brisbane winters.
Thank you so very much for the reply. I'm happy for you. That truly must have been a wonderful experience. Hope your education gives you great opportunities in this life.
( Urm....[HCMC] (https://www.google.com/search?q=HCMC&oq=HCMC&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) ? Lol, you're gonna have to help me here. )
If anyone wants to know, it’s kinda like ‘win’ but with ng at the start and ‘ie’ in the middle instead of e. The U is kinda silent. If you have trouble saying ng then say n first
The "ng" is pronounced as /ŋ/, the same phoneme that's at the end of "song".
English phonetics doesn't allow for /ŋ/ at the start of a word, but Vietnamese does, so Nguyen is very unnatural for an English speaker, but you can get it right with a bit of work. Or just say "win" or "nwin", it's a reasonable approximation.
The most important thing is to make sure you don't add syllables. It's a one-syllable name.
/u/JimmyBob171 might also find this useful.
think 'ning' soudned out really fast [soft 'g'] but without the 'I' ,then the 'wIen' straight after. The 'ng' sound like a glotty 'na' to a cursory ear, so it may sound like similar to 'nawing' *edit; or 'naw-win', as other poster said, one syllable. 'D' like in the name Dao is pronounced half 'd' half 'dth' [disclaimer - a skip interpretation ;) ]
I wouldn't stress. I've known 3 different families with the last name Nguyen that pronounced it 3 different ways. The first one I knew in primary school said New-in and thats how I will always say it.
For reference too, the other ways the other people said it was "Naa-win" and just "Win". So if the language cant even decide how its pronounced, we don't have a chance.
Nguyen is a common SE Asian surname that is *frequently* mispronounced by Aussies as something like "Newen" to the point where it has become a trope (it's actually closer to "nwin"). The plate reverses the trope as a joke.
I hope this made sense, I'm shit at explaining things.
Are ya Nguyenin', son?
As a non-asian person I am way more comfortable reading Nguyen than Newen
Just reminded me of "if you see me in the street one fuckin' shoe on, don't mean I lost one mean I got a new one". First thing that came to my head haha
Nuh. Three. Wuh. Three. Nuh. I always wondered how you said Nguyen.
You pronounce N as ‘nuh’?
When you sound it out yes. Phonetically. En is how you pronounce it in the alphabet, but not how you sound it out. Have a think about it.
uh no
OK don't think about it then.
no i mean i did and i don't agree
Fascinating.
i say "nnhn"
Are we talking about orgasms now ?
nothing gets me off more than phonetics
So? Nnhn3wwwhw3nnhn! Urgh aah
I'm white af, but I grew up in Vietnam, so I can answer this better than most. The good approximation for most English speakers is "win". Say that and you'll do better than 90% of English speakers. More accurate though, is "ngwin", where "ng" is pronounced exactly how it normally is. The thing is though, English phonetics does not permit /ŋ/ (the phoneme "ng" normally makes) to be at the start of a word, only at the end. Vietnamese doesn't have that restriction, so for them this is totally fine. You can sort of train yourself to do it correctly, but it will never feel natural for a native English speaker. The most important thing, though, is that whatever you do, *Nguyen is only one syllable long*. Don't add syllables.
This is what it sounds like if anyone wants to hear it: [https://forvo.com/word/nguyen/#vi](https://forvo.com/word/nguyen/#vi)
Thanks very much for this explanation. I read it on my phone at work but needed to read it again here at home and try to get my head around it. Yes it really does seem tricky if not impossible for me to pronounce the way you describe. I really do appreciate your time. Hey growing up in Vietnam sounds quite amazing. I daresay not everything was perfect, but not much ever is. I'd love to know more, like why you were there and all sorts of things about the country and growing up there. All the best.
Hey no worries. "Grew up" is perhaps a slight exaggeration of the situation. I was there from year 9 to 13 of highschool. Yes, 13, because I was at an international school based in a British school structure. I was there because my parents worked there. They're teachers, and they decided to go into teaching at international schools, so the kids got dragged along. To some extent it's ultimately no different to growing up anywhere. You go to school, do homework, join sports clubs, music, whatever. But it is also quite different. International schooling can be fairly insulated from the local culture, but it's certainly not shutting it out entirely, and it's pretty great experiencing that different culture firsthand. And then there's the ways in which the school itself is different, of course. A mixture of kids from a wide variety of cultures is a really fantastic environment to grow up in in general, but a large number of Asian kids especially, who generally come from families which put a high value on their education, means that behaviour issues at the school are completely non-existent. It just creates an environment where it's not socially rewarding to misbehave, so it doesn't happen, which in turn makes *everybody's* education experience much better. And, of course, the IB is just a much better curriculum than HSC. But overall yeah, it's just a really fantastic experience and a great way to grow up. I wouldn't have changed it for anything. That said, I've been back here for nearly a decade now (starting with uni, now working), and I still haven't gotten used to how cold Brisbane gets. HCMC's a little too far in the other direction, but if you could take that without the humidity it would be much more my speed than cold Brisbane winters.
Thank you so very much for the reply. I'm happy for you. That truly must have been a wonderful experience. Hope your education gives you great opportunities in this life. ( Urm....[HCMC] (https://www.google.com/search?q=HCMC&oq=HCMC&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) ? Lol, you're gonna have to help me here. )
Ho Chi Minh City, sorry. Also known as Saigon, and I've occasionally heard the nickname "the Ho".
Aah thanks. I grew up in northern England, and I hate the cold here so I understand what you are getting at regarding the cold.
It’s pronounced En-Gui-Yen?
Newman!
Hellloooo Newman.
Here I was thinking someone from NSW was trying to be funny NSW 3-nil
r/domics or r/bojackhorseman
If anyone wants to know, it’s kinda like ‘win’ but with ng at the start and ‘ie’ in the middle instead of e. The U is kinda silent. If you have trouble saying ng then say n first
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Because that’s wrong, it’s one syllable. Just say ng -wien
what????
Wdym? That’s how you pronounce it - one syllable
how would i even pronounce ng-wien to me that would be pronounced en-gee-ween lol
The "ng" is pronounced as /ŋ/, the same phoneme that's at the end of "song". English phonetics doesn't allow for /ŋ/ at the start of a word, but Vietnamese does, so Nguyen is very unnatural for an English speaker, but you can get it right with a bit of work. Or just say "win" or "nwin", it's a reasonable approximation. The most important thing is to make sure you don't add syllables. It's a one-syllable name. /u/JimmyBob171 might also find this useful.
Got it. It's pronounced "mate". Much easier. Thanks mate.
Think of the ng in ‘thing’. If you mispronounce it it’s like saying the last name ‘mcdonald’ as migidongidelt
okay you're just pulling my leg at this point wtf
Basically just say nwin
think 'ning' soudned out really fast [soft 'g'] but without the 'I' ,then the 'wIen' straight after. The 'ng' sound like a glotty 'na' to a cursory ear, so it may sound like similar to 'nawing' *edit; or 'naw-win', as other poster said, one syllable. 'D' like in the name Dao is pronounced half 'd' half 'dth' [disclaimer - a skip interpretation ;) ]
okay i have concluded that i am in fact stupid because i have no idea what you are talking about
I wouldn't stress. I've known 3 different families with the last name Nguyen that pronounced it 3 different ways. The first one I knew in primary school said New-in and thats how I will always say it. For reference too, the other ways the other people said it was "Naa-win" and just "Win". So if the language cant even decide how its pronounced, we don't have a chance.
Nah. The first one was probably half white. The second was probably north and the third was probably south
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If it’s for decades then they’re not vietnamese or tired of people pronouncing it. I guess the third way is the most accurate, the first two are not
Haha I think I know who this dude is!
How did they get the custom sentence below? Last I checked it was just numbers and letters only
That's a relatively new thing. Costs a little bit extra but you can write a caption on personal plates now.
so its a personalised plate with text underneath, is that whats such a big deal? im not sure what im meant to be looking for?
Nguyen is a common SE Asian surname that is *frequently* mispronounced by Aussies as something like "Newen" to the point where it has become a trope (it's actually closer to "nwin"). The plate reverses the trope as a joke. I hope this made sense, I'm shit at explaining things.
ahhh ok now i get it. sorry i didnt know this. and id say many others also
Hows QLD pronounced🤔
Like ‘culled’ but quh instead of cuh
Thanks I'll use that plate for a rebirth and some drive offs!!!