Tạm biệt (Goodbye) Vietnam!

-One of the very few words I managed to learn whilst living in Vietnam. I am speaking for myself of course but I found the language very difficult to grasp altogether. There are ways of pronouncing words (some by the way are spelled the same) but have completely different meanings depending on the tone or accents. Phở an extremely popular meal in Vietnam (noodles, meat, bone broth and herbs) is a word that is mispronounced in Vietnam so often that even the waiters and waitresses who don’t speak a word of English can understand what a person is trying to order. My automatic assumption was that it is pronounced something like ‘faux’ which is interestingly enough, a bit of a ‘faux-pas’ or mistake in itself. The correct way is much more similar to ‘fuhh’… I never did try the dish itself but heard from many how amazing it was.

I am back in Ireland and the next week or so is going to be extremely busy finishing the write up of my thesis. The jet lag isn’t too bad so I am aiming to get this work done in time to enjoy the last couple of weeks in August with my family and friends.