Rating: 
Summary: Great Start for Vietnamese
Review: A wonderfully thorough approach to learning Vietnamese. Clear, approachable and challenging.
Rating:
Summary: Hands down the best text on the market.
Review: Although the other reviews complain of complexity, it is utterly necessary to learn the pronunciation. As far as the book focusing on the northern dialect, it is quite simple to change a few nuances to suit to a speaker of the southern dialect. I have studied Vietnamese for over four years, and owe my near-fluency to this book, and this book alone. There is simply no other learning material on the market today that is as thorough as this book, and the accompanying audio products. Keep in mind, however, that special attention needs to be paid to the pronunciation guide, and listening to the audio course and the pronunciation of the speakers. This aspect of the course is completely invaluable. The nature of the Vietnamese language is it's tonal characteristics; without them, a person trying to speak the language will not be understood. This book will definitely help you master the tones, so you may begin practicing the drills and learning the vocabulary. It is an indispensable course for those who truly want to learn the language.
Rating:
Summary: Hands down the best text on the market.
Review: Although the other reviews complain of complexity, it is utterly necessary to learn the pronunciation. As far as the book focusing on the northern dialect, it is quite simple to change a few nuances to suit to a speaker of the southern dialect. I have studied Vietnamese for over four years, and owe my near-fluency to this book, and this book alone. There is simply no other learning material on the market today that is as thorough as this book, and the accompanying audio products. Keep in mind, however, that special attention needs to be paid to the pronunciation guide, and listening to the audio course and the pronunciation of the speakers. This aspect of the course is completely invaluable. The nature of the Vietnamese language is it's tonal characteristics; without them, a person trying to speak the language will not be understood. This book will definitely help you master the tones, so you may begin practicing the drills and learning the vocabulary. It is an indispensable course for those who truly want to learn the language.
Rating: 
Summary: One expensive option with very few alternatives.
Review: As a language teacher with a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics, I feel that this book is simply not worth the price. I haven't bought the CDs, as after purchasing the book I couldn't justify the extra $135 for the audio materials. Even barring financial considerations, I doubt very seriously whether the CDs would elevate its usefulness considerably.The first section is devoted to Vietnamese phonology, and it does a fairly good job. If you have any background in linguistics, most of it will be quite easy to work through. However, most of this section relies entirely on the supplemental CDs to be truly effective. The chapters follow a pattern. First, they introduce a conversation. Next, they give pertinent vocabulary. Following that are a series of grammar/usage notes. The chapters end with a series of rather repetitive exercises. This book is almost certainly designed with an introductory Vietnamese course in mind. In a University setting with a language lab that offers the CDs for the students, and with a professor that uses the book as a jumping-off point, it would probably be a useful text. However, as a self study book, it simply doesn't cut it. The book offers no answers to the exercise questions, and it doesn't provide nearly enough examples to answer the learner's questions. For one example, after scouring the book for the answer, I'm still not sure whether one uses a classifier with two nouns that have been joined with "va". If you're interested in finding a far cheaper and more useful program, I would suggest Dana Healy's Teach Yourself Vietnamese. It is equally if not more comprehensive, it includes two CDs that help facilitate pronunciation and provide audio representations of the text's conversations, and it can be purchased for almost half the price of this textbook. For the motivated learner who is content to create their own written exercies, it is a far better choice. If we assume that the price of this book is not merely $35 for the book, but $170 for the book and CDs, I would suggest an alternative. For just a little more money, one could purchase Teach Yourself Vietnamese for $25 and the GD305V talking Vietnamese translator for $234. (I purchased mine from http://www.aimhi.com) With these two tools, and given the amount of Vietnamese reading material on the internet, you will be far better prepared than by spending the required money on this book and CDs.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensable Resource
Review: Dr. Ngo's Elementary Vietnamese is quite simply the finest Vietnamese text book on the market. Period. As a Vietnamese Studies major I am familiar with a number of text books and am convinced that Dr. Ngo's text is superior to all others. Believe it or not, many Vietnamese texts date back to the 1960s. Dr. Ngo's text teaches the modern Hanoi dialect. If you intend to learn Vietnamese for business or study, this is the dialect to learn, and Elementary Vietnamese is the book to use.
Rating:
Summary: best Vietnamese text
Review: I have been studying Vietnamese for seven years, and this is far and away the best text I have seen (and I have purchased every text I have found, in the U.S. as well as VN). It progresses very quickly yet not too quickly, and covers the basic elements as well as more intermediate level constructions. The accompanying tapes are essential. It is the northern dialect which, as in the U.S., the northerners believe is the "correct" pronounciation. But it is easier to learn the northern dialect and then learn the southern than vice versa. If I had to buy one book to learn from, this would be it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not THAT good
Review: I just bought this book after seeing the great reviews here. I think it's better than the other books I've seen but I'm still not satisfied. This is what I don't like: 1. There's too much time spent on pronounciation for me. Why? Because I don't want to learn the northern accent anyway. The CDs are said to spend almost half of the 5+ hours on just pronounciation alone. 2. There is a vocabulary section in each lesson but withing every lesson there are many new words presented for the first time in the middle of an exercise and not explained again. This is very frustrating when trying to find the meaning of a word. You have to keep searching the past lessons or the glossary in to translate in you've forgotten what something means. 3. Very few of the sentences are translated for you which may be good by making you think more as you work your way through the lessons but I think it's too much.
4. Although the grammer and word usage is explained very well I think it's too brief. Most of the lesson is concentrated on drills. I really do think it's the best book but not nearly complete enough to forget the others.
Rating:
Summary: Good book after skipping pronunciation chapter
Review: If you skip the atrocious first chapter on pronunciation, you have a really good introductory text for learning Vietnamese. The grammar rules are quite clear and enlightening. I had used another Vietnamese language text, which was good but skipped some essential explanations. Binh's book has good explanations of grammar points and dozens of practice samples. Main problem is the first chapter on pronunication. Such guides on pronunciation are simply useless to anyone other than a linguist. Having it as the first chapter makes the text look like an awfully complicated book. It's enough to scare anyone from learning a foreign language. Put such pronunication guides in the appendix.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst book I have ever tried
Review: In reviewing this book, I found it to be utterly senseless and useless. The book is complex and does not focus on the language structure very well.
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Summary: Which CD? amazon please provide a link!
Review: Please provide a link to the CD that is supposed to accompany this book (Language Learning Vietnamese CD-ROM or other?
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