Vietnamese Stories for Language Learners: Traditional Folktales in Vietnamese and English (Free Online Audio)

by Tri C. Tran, Tram Le, Nguyen Thi Hop (Illustrator), Nguyen Dong (Illustrator)

Overview

A great story can lead a reader on a cultural and linguistic journey—especially if it's in two languages!

Vietnamese Stories for Language Learners introduces 40 traditional Vietnamese folktales with bilingual Vietnamese and English versions presented on facing pages. Each story is followed by cultural notes, vocabulary lists, and a set of discussion questions and exercises for further comprehension.

Online audio recordings by native speakers help readers improve their pronunciation and inflection, while a Vietnamese-English glossary provides an easy way to reference unfamiliar terms. Illustrations by award-winning Vietnamese illustrators Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong help to bring these traditional tales to life.

This book is a great supplementary reader for self-study learners or in Vietnamese language courses, but will be enjoyed by anyone who wishes to learn about Vietnamese folktales and culture.

Learn Vietnamese the fun way—through the country's rich literary history!

Audio recordings can be accessed at the Tuttle Publishing website

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804855297
Publisher:	Tuttle Publishing
Publication date:	04/26/2022
Series:	Stories for Language Learners
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 5.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tri C. Tran, PhD. is a lecturer of Vietnamese in the Humanities Language Learning Program at the University of California, Irvine. He has a Ph.D, an M.A. (Romance Linguistics and Literatures), and a B.A. (Spanish Linguistics) from University of California, LA (UCLA). He also teaches Spanish and French language and linguistics, Romance linguistics, English as a Second Language, and English Academic Writing. His publications include Vietnamese language texts and a bilingual dictionary for students of linguistics.

Tram Le was two years old when her family fled Vietnam on the day Saigon fell in 1975. Growing up in Southern California, she learned Vietnamese through organizing artistic and cultural productions for over two decades within the Vietnamese American community in Orange County, home of the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam. She refined her Vietnamese language skills by co-founding Club O' Noodles, a pioneering Vietnamese American theatre troupe; curating multi-art and history exhibitions; co-founding the Vietnamese International Film Festival (Viet Film Fest), which showcases films from around the world; and co-authoring a photo-history book, Vietnamese in Orange County.

She received her B.S. in Business Administration from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and an M.A. from the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She currently serves as the Associate Director for Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong began their careers as young professional artists in the South Vietnam of the 1960s, exhibiting in Paris, Taiwan, and in cities in Germany and the US, as well as in Saigon. They have illustrated many award-winning books, including Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories and My First Book of Vietnamese Words. In the US, they have frequently illustrated the work of renowned Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.

Table of Contents

Foreword 7

1 The Magic Longbow Chuyen Cây No Than 8

2 The Story of Chu Dong Tu Chu' Ðong Tu' 12

3 The Beautiful Woman in the Painting Ngu'o'i Ðep Trong Tranh 16

4 A Village of No Return Tù' Thú'c Ve Tran 22

5 The Woman from Nam Xuong Thieu Phu Nam Xu'o'ng 26

6 The Love Story of Truong Chi Khoi Tinh Tru'o'ng Chi 32

7 The Woman with a Cursed Life Quan Âm Thi Kinh 36

8 Princess Lieu Hanh Công Chúa Lieu Hanh 40

9 Trang Bung Goes on a Mission Trang Bung Ði Sú' 44

10 Yet Kieu - The Water Boy Yet Kiêu 48

11 The Bamboo Tree with a Hundred Nodes Cây Tre Tram Ðot 52

12 The Story of Buffalo Man and Chuc Ngu'u Lang Chú'c Nu' 56

13 The Man with a Borrowed Soul Hon Tru'o'ng Ba Da Hàng Thit 60

14 The Legend of Ngu Hanh Mountains Su' Tích Núi Ngu Hành 64

15 The Forever Indebted Lord Chom No' Nhu' Chúa Chom 68

16 Teaching Your Husband a Lesson Giet Chó Khuyên Chong 74

17 Paying Back What Is Owed Cua Thiên Tra Ðia 78

18 The Magic Bottle of Water Lo Nu'o'c Than 84

19 A Parent's Love Cha Me Nuôi Con 90

20 Gratitude from an Animal Cu'u Vât Vât Tra O'n 94

21 Indebted Love No' Tinh Chu'a Tra 100

22 The Patriotic Songstress A Ðao Yêu Nu'ó'c 104

23 The Earthen Phoenix Phu'o'ng Hoàng Ðat 108

24 The Two Stone Dogs Hai Con Chó Ðá 114

25 The Ant That Sued the Yam Cái Kien May Kien Cu Khoai 118

26 The Fair Judge Phân Xu' Tài Tinh 122

27 The Entrapped Con Man Ðai Bo'm Mac Bay 126

28 The Woman with Two Husbands Ngu'o'i Ðàn Bà Hai Chong 130

29 The Wise Wife and Her Idiotic Husband Vo' Khôn Chong Dai 134

30 The Story of the Brooms Su' Tich Cái Choi 140

31 A Son Was Born before the Father Sinh Con Roi Mó'i Sinn Cha 144

32 The Three Heroes Ba Cháng Tài Ba 148

33 A Faithful Love Story Moi Tinh Chung Thuy 154

34 The Crab Couple Ðôi Sam Khang Khít 160

35 Brotherly Love Conquers All Anh Em Nhà Ho Ðien 164

36 The River Kingdom Princess Công Chúa Thuy Cung 168

37 The Quicksilver-Filled Scale Cái Cân Thuy Ngân 172

38 The Story of the Narcissus Hoa Thuy1 Tiên 176

39 The Fable of the Grasshopper Su' Tích Con Cào Cào 180

40 The Witnessing Termite Con Moi Làm Chú'ng 184

Vietnamese-English Vocabulary 190

Idiomatic Expressions 214

References 219

Audio Tracklist 220