Southern Vietnamese is the speech of Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta. People there say for a polite yes, end a friendly request with , and say where the North says vào. Many Vietnamese apps teach the Hanoi accent, so this page checks which apps teach the South, and what each gives you. For the full list of courses, TV, and news, see our guide to Southern Vietnamese resources.
Our Vietnamese app comparison covers every accent, and our Southern Vietnamese comprehensible input guide covers what to read and watch.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Southern Vietnamese. You learn from Southern Vietnamese you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Southern Vietnamese lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it.
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so that you can review words in new contexts without having to use flashcards.
Try asking why someone ends a sentence with .
Bubblegum focuses on reading and listening more than speaking, so for speaking practice, try a tutor or partner below.
- Lessons are in Southern Vietnamese, read aloud by voices directed to a Saigon accent.
- The Quốc Ngữ course has a Southern version, with the tones as the South says them.
- Grammar cards show Southern words like and next to the Northern ones.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Learn every letter and its sound in the free Vietnamese Quốc Ngữ course.
- You can't turn a Vietnamese novel you own into a lesson. However, when a page is hard, you can paste it in the chat, and Poppy will go through it sentence by sentence.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches Quốc Ngữ
Mobile
Learn Vietnamese With Annie
Each lesson is a short dialogue, then a talk about it in Vietnamese and English. Every lesson stands on its own, so you can pick topics in any order.
- Every lesson uses the Southern dialect of Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta.
- Each dialogue usually runs under a minute, so it's easy to replay.
MobileWeb
SVFF
SVFF is a school based in Ho Chi Minh City. It also offers live one-to-one lessons with Southern teachers and more than 180 self-study courses.
- 218 episodes in 8 series, from A1 to C1, all in Southern Vietnamese.
- A read-along transcript comes with each episode.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Glossika
Glossika trains your ears and mouth with whole sentences, so it fits learners who like a lot of listening and repeating.
- A separate Southern Vietnamese course, from A1 to C1.
- You listen to each sentence, then repeat it out loud.
MobileWeb
Drops
Drops turns Vietnamese words into short games on your phone, so a bus ride is enough for a round.
- Each word comes with a picture and audio.
Mobile
Duolingo's Vietnamese course is built on Hanoi speech, according to learner reviews, so the sounds and some words will differ from Saigon. See Is Southern Vietnamese on Duolingo? for what to use instead. On Pimsleur, you get 30 half-hour audio lessons and a 7-day free trial, with no accent named on its page.
Tandem
On Tandem, each member in Ho Chi Minh City shows the languages they speak and the ones they're learning, so look for someone who speaks Vietnamese and is learning your language. For tutors, see the resources guide.
- Chat by voice note, audio call, or video.
- Each partner can correct what you type.
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (1)
- VietlingoVietlingo is new and growing. Its App Store page says it has dedicated content for the Northern (Hanoi), Southern (Saigon), and Central (Huế) accents, with podcast lessons, self-paced courses, and live lessons with its teachers.
| App | Teaches Southern Vietnamese | Accent You Hear |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Yes | Aimed at Saigon |
| Learn Vietnamese With Annie | Yes | Southern |
| SVFF | Yes | Southern |
| Glossika | Yes, a course | Southern |
| Vietlingo | Yes | Hanoi, Saigon, and Huế content |
| Drops | PartlySome words are Northern | Not stated |
| Duolingo | No | Northern (Hanoi) |
| Pimsleur | PartlyPage names no accent | Not stated |
| Tandem | PartlyWith a partner in Ho Chi Minh City | The partner's own |
| App | Free? | What's Free |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Free version | Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. |
| Learn Vietnamese With Annie | Some lessons free | Some sample lessons are free. The full lesson library needs a monthly subscription. |
| SVFF | Some lessons free | Nine starter episodes are free to play, with no account. The full podcast library needs a subscription. |
| Glossika | Free trial | You can try Glossika free for 7 days without a credit card. After that, you need a subscription. |
| Drops | Free version | The free version lets you learn for five minutes every 10 hours. Drops Premium gives you unlimited time and all the content, and the yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial. |
| Tandem | Free version | Signing up is free, and Tandem reviews each new member first. Many features are free, and Tandem Pro gives you all of them. |
| Vietlingo | Free | The whole app is free, with no in-app purchases. |
The number of languages you can use an app in isn't the same as the languages its lessons explain things in, so check one lesson in your language before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 76 | Supported language pairs |
| Learn Vietnamese With Annie | 1 | App Store |
| SVFF | 1 | App Store |
| Drops | 16 | App Store |
| Tandem | 14 | App Store |
| Glossika | 2 | Full list |
| Vietlingo | 1 | Full list |
Which Southern Vietnamese app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Southern Vietnamese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Learn Vietnamese With Annie if you'd like short Southern dialogues with an explanation after each one. To combine an app with a podcast and a tutor, see the best way to learn Southern Vietnamese.
Do the tones sound different in the South?
Yes. Southern speakers say the and tones the same way, so (grave) and (horse) sound alike. Both words keep their own mark in writing, so learn the mark along with each word.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Vietnamese language, regional variation (Southern tones, vô, nha)
- Bubblegum: Southern Vietnamese lessons and the Southern Quốc Ngữ course
- Learn Vietnamese With Annie: FAQs (real Southern dialect, subscription)
- Learn Vietnamese With Annie: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- SVFF: Southern Vietnamese school in Ho Chi Minh City
- SVFF: podcast (218 episodes in 8 series, A1 to C1)
- SVFF: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Glossika: Learn Vietnamese (Southern)
- Glossika: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Vietlingo on the App Store (Northern, Southern and Central accents)
- Drops: Learn Vietnamese
- Drops: pig (lợn), a Northern word
- Drops: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Pimsleur: Learn Vietnamese (the page does not name an accent)
- Duolingo: Vietnamese course for English speakers
- Migaku: Duolingo Vietnamese review ("The course focuses on Northern Vietnamese")
- Nutty Vietnamese: Does Duolingo Have Vietnamese? ("It teaches the Northern (Hanoi) dialect")
- italki: Vietnamese teachers (profiles name a home city)
- italki: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Tandem: Language exchange in Ho Chi Minh City
- Tandem: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Glossika: Vietnamese page (what is free)
- Drops: free and premium compared
- Drops: Premium
- Tandem: home page (what is free)
- Vietlingo on the App Store (what is free)
- Bubblegum
- Learn Vietnamese With Annie
- Tandem
