Talk:Đàn nguyệt

Interesting aside
The Vietnamese word for playing a stringed instrument is đánh, which phonetically is pronounced almost like đàn, the instrument. Đánh means to strike or hit. Spanish use the word tocar which means to touch. To each language its own. This is part of the Vietnamese mystic of words closely spelled or sounding alike, with the possibility of offending someone if you mispronounce a word.

Đánh most easily is pronounced like the English "done" but with the voice inflected slightly upwards as indicated by the tone mark over the a.

Đàn is pronounced more like don, but more safely like done with a downward inflection. No one can pronounce "nguyệt" because of that opening "ng", but most closely like "newyit" with the word pronounced like one syllable and cut off quickly as indicated by the dot under the e.

So when saying "play the moon lute", it's "dóne dòne newyit." Just a little phonetic fun! Magi Media 14:12, 18 May 2006 (UTC)Magi Media