Vietnamese & Burmese audio files for free

[Zegpoddle]

I just stumbled on these audio files that can be downloaded for free from the website of Northern Illinois University Press:

Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners
by Nguyen Long, Marybeth Clark Nguyen Bich Thuan
ISBN: 978-0-87580-656-3
$46.00s
Paper
414 pages
8.5x11
$46.00
https://www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress/Scripts/Book/bookResults.asp?ID=618

Burmese - An Introduction to the Spoken Language, Book 1
by John Okell
(2011)302 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-87580-642-6
paper $49.95s
https://www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress/Scripts/Book/bookResults.asp?ID=577

Burmese - An Introduction to the Spoken Language, Book 2
by John Okell
(2011) 300 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-87580-643-3
paper $49.95s
https://www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress/Scripts/Book/bookResults.asp?ID=574

Burmese - An Introduction to the Script
by John Okell
(2010) 454 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-87580-644-0
paper $59.95s
https://www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress/Scripts/Book/bookResults.asp?ID=575

The prices and ISBN numbers are for the books, not the audio files, which are free to download. In each case, click on the link FREE AUDIO FILES underneath the photo of the book cover on the right side of the page. You will be taken to a DropBox page. Click on the "Download" button on the top right side of the page and choose "Direct download" to download the entire zip file to your computer. Some of the zip files are hundreds of megabytes and will take some time to download. Ignore the warning messages that you are not allowed to preview the file. Do NOT click on the title of the file or the folder itself, as that will only result in a prompt for you to log in or register for DropBox, which is not necessary in order to download the files.

My apologies if someone else has already posted these links, but I didn't see them in the "Master List of Resources."

I suspect that a lot of free audio files designed to accompany language-learning textbooks are lurking out there on university press and other sites. They would either not show up in a Google search, or they would be buried amidst thousands of results and hard to identify. Has anybody conducted a deliberate canvass of such sites in order to round up a list? Of course I would do it myself if I had the time...

[peterbeischmidt]

Thanks for posting these. I tried to use the recordings for "Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners" when I started out learning Vietnamese about three months ago, but found them difficult to use because of the low audio quality. Maybe now that I have a tiny little bit of Vietnamese under my belt, I should give it another try.

Btw. are you studying Vietnamese yourself?

I found out that the mp3s for "Elementary Vietnamese" can also be downloaded for free from the publisher's website: https://www.tuttlepublishing.com/elemen ... mese-audio

[peterbeischmidt]

I just noticed that Tuttle published another Vietnamese textbook for which the recordings can be downloaded for free:
https://www.tuttlepublishing.com/easy-v ... -audio-pdf

Although I'm pretty sure I'm not going to use these, because one of the speakers appears to be an American with a pretty thick accent, for example she seems to pronounce tôi and tên like thôi and thên. Maybe someone here can confirm this?

[Axon]

I just noticed that Tuttle published another Vietnamese textbook for which the recordings can be downloaded for free:
https://www.tuttlepublishing.com/easy-v ... -audio-pdf

Although I'm pretty sure I'm not going to use these, because one of the speakers appears to be an American with a pretty thick accent, for example she seems to pronounce tôi and tên like thôi and thên. Maybe someone here can confirm this?

I had the same impression! I wouldn't describe her accent as particularly thick, but then I didn't listen for long once I recognized it was non-native. She doesn't do the implosives and her vowels are slightly off. Her tones sound good to me though and I'm sure she can communicate in Vietnamese well.

In my log I've all but waxed poetic about the wonderful quality of Elementary Vietnamese, which uses three native speakers and an American for the English. The same author wrote an intermediate-level sequel, but I haven't checked it out or its recordings as my Vietnamese remains stubbornly elementary.

[peterbeischmidt]

I had the same impression! I wouldn't describe her accent as particularly thick, but then I didn't listen for long once I recognized it was non-native. She doesn't do the implosives and her vowels are slightly off. Her tones sound good to me though and I'm sure she can communicate in Vietnamese well.

That seems like a good characterization of her accent. I also don't doubt she's a competent speaker but I still wouldn't want to use her speech as a model when learning the language.

Speaking of syllable-final consonants, I've also been trying to use (and struggling with) the textbook "Cours de vietnamien" published by l'Asiatheque. The recordings can also be downloaded for free here: https://asiatheque.com/fr/mediatheque-fr
I listened to "13 L1_Texte.mp3" many times and unless my hearing is betraying me then her syllable-final consonants are very much not implosive at all. Are there perhaps dialects of Vietnamese with explosive syllable-final consonsants after all?

[Axon]

I listened to "13 L1_Texte.mp3" many times and unless my hearing is betraying me then her syllable-final consonants are very much not implosive at all. Are there perhaps dialects of Vietnamese with explosive syllable-final consonsants after all?

First off, when I say "implosive" I'm talking about the unique quality of /d/ and /b/ in initial position in Vietnamese. They're kind of swallowed and ejected out. You're thinking of the term "released" - syllable-final stops are "unreleased" in Vietnamese.

And yes, that's the strangest Vietnamese accent I've ever heard! Later on in the dialogues there's a male speaker who does it correctly, and that female speaker keeps some of her stops unreleased as well. I recommend abandoning this course entirely and finding something like Teach Yourself or Pimsleur.

[peterbeischmidt]

First off, when I say "implosive" I'm talking about the unique quality of /d/ and /b/ in initial position in Vietnamese. They're kind of swallowed and ejected out. You're thinking of the term "released" - syllable-final stops are "unreleased" in Vietnamese.

Thanks for setting me straight.

And yes, that's the strangest Vietnamese accent I've ever heard! Later on in the dialogues there's a male speaker who does it correctly, and that female speaker keeps some of her stops unreleased as well. I recommend abandoning this course entirely and finding something like Teach Yourself or Pimsleur.

I showed the recording to my tutor and she said the lady had an authentic Northern accent.

[7UR7L3]

I just stumbled on these audio files that can be downloaded for free from the website of Northern Illinois University Press:

Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners
by Nguyen Long, Marybeth Clark Nguyen Bich Thuan

It would appear that when Northern Illinois University Press became an imprint of Cornell University Press, the downloads for these audio files failed to transition to the new site. The Dropbox links from archives of the old https://www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress/ site (https://web.archive.org/web/20160429042 ... asp?ID=618) don't seem to work anymore.

After a good deal of looking for these recordings instead of actually studying a language, I have concluded that they are nowhere to be found on the internet. I was hoping someone here still retained their copies of the audio files of Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners by Nguyen Long, Marybeth Clark Nguyen Bich Thuan or Contemporary Vietnamese by Nguyen Bich Thuan that they could upload to some mirrors or otherwise distribute.

Much appreciated!

I suppose I could contact Cornell University Press about this but that sounds like effort. Perhaps as a last resort..

[tfswebb]

Hi all, apologies for bumping this thread. Like a few people, I had wondered where the Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners audio files had gotten to, and followed up with Cornell. They have since made the files freely available on their website. Great news for anyone who has the course book!

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/bo ... beginners/

The lesson here? Always ask nicely!

[Speakeasy]

... Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners audio files had gotten to, and followed up with Cornell. They have since made the files freely available on their website...https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/bo ... beginners/

tfswebb, welcome to the forum! I have inserted "Spoken Vietnamese for Beginners" into the list of Vietnamese Resources.