Speak Saigon
Speak the Vietnamese
people actually use in Saigon
A bite-sized course built around Southern pronunciation, the right tones, and the words you'll hear on the street. Learn a little every day with lessons, games, and conversation practice — and switch the whole course to the Northern (Hanoi) accent if that's where you're headed.
Free to start — no account or credit card needed to try it.
How do you say “hello”?
Tap to hear the Southern pronunciation
Free tools — no account needed
Try the sound of Southern Vietnamese before you commit to anything.
Tone Trainer
Record yourself and see your pitch curve overlaid on the Saigon-accent reference — all five Southern tones, with audio.
Train your tones →Southern Vietnamese Phrasebook
Every word in our course, free — Saigon-accent audio, phonetic guides, and example sentences you can tap to hear.
Browse the phrasebook →Northern vs Southern Vietnamese
Not sure which one to learn? Hear the two accents side by side — six tones vs five, the consonants that swap, and the everyday words that differ.
Compare the dialects →Everything you need to get talking
Each unit blends listening, reading, and speaking so the language sticks.
Master the tones
Start with the alphabet and tone system that make Southern Vietnamese sound right — with audio for every sound.
Real vocabulary
Learn the words and phrases locals actually use, grouped into bite-sized units that build on each other.
Smart review
Spaced repetition resurfaces words right before you'd forget them, so they actually stick.
Learn through games
Tone drills, matching games, and a daily challenge keep practice quick and fun.
Conversation practice
Hold real back-and-forth conversations with an AI partner that replies in Southern Vietnamese.
Stories & reading
Read short stories at your level to see vocab and grammar working together in context.
Why Southern Vietnamese?
Most apps teach Northern (Hanoi) Vietnamese. But if you live in, work in, or visit Ho Chi Minh City, that's not what you'll hear — the South uses different tones, different consonants, and often completely different everyday words.
Speak Saigon teaches the Southern way from the very first word, so what you learn matches what you hear on the street.
Are you adding Northern?
BetaWe already have. Enough of you asked for it, and reached for the Hanoi setting in our free tone trainer, that we built the whole track. Every lesson, story, and conversation now has a Northern version, with Hanoi-accent audio and the full six-tone system.
It's in beta while we keep polishing it, and you can switch dialects any time from your account - your progress comes with you.
Why I built this
I wanted to sit at dinner with my wife's family and actually be in it, instead of waiting for the table to stop laughing so my wife could turn and translate the joke for me. They're Southern, so that meant learning the Vietnamese people actually speak in Saigon, and I couldn't find any resources to learn it that fit my learning style.
I'm an engineer. I wanted a proper tool to learn with, something systematic I could work through. What I found was scattered and thin: read an explanation, listen to a clip, then go practise on your own.
Practising on your own was the part that never worked. Nothing could tell me whether I was actually saying it right.
So I built what I'd wanted: something interactive. Record yourself and your pitch curve appears over the reference, so you can see which tone you missed instead of guessing. Games, speaking practice, and review that keeps words from slipping away.
— Riley
Up and running in minutes
Try a free lesson
No account needed — hear the tones and finish your first exercises in two minutes.
Work through the units
Short lessons mix vocab, grammar, listening, and speaking.
Keep your streak
Set a daily goal, review what's due, and watch your progress grow.
Ready to start speaking?
Join now and finish your first lesson in minutes.
Not ready? Try a lesson without an account.
Free to learn every day · Pro unlocks all units and conversation practice for $5.00 USD / month