HSC Vietnamese Continuers (NSW) cheat sheet

Kinship terms encode relative age and side of family: anh/chi/em for siblings by age order; bác, chú, cô, dì, cậu distinguish father's and mother's siblings.

Pronoun choice is relational, not fixed: con with parents and older adults, em to slightly older peers, cháu to grandparents and their friends, mình for informal equals.

Tết Nguyên Đán follows the lunar calendar, falling between late January and mid-February; the first visitor of the year (xông đất) is chosen for good fortune.

Giỗ is an annual death-anniversary ceremony honouring a deceased relative, centred on the family altar (bàn thờ) and shared meal.

Family hierarchy governs address: eldest child (con trưởng) carries duties toward parents and younger siblings; respect flows upward by generation and age.

Vietnamese personal names place family name first, then middle name, then given name; people are addressed by given name, often with a title.

Community associations (hội đoàn) in Australia typically organise by region of origin, religion, or language, and fund festivals such as Tết and Vu Lan.

Lunar festivals mark the year: Tết (new year), Rằm tháng Giêng (first full moon), Vu Lan (filial piety), Trung Thu (children's lantern festival).

Vietnamese Australians are one of the largest Asian-born groups; major settlement occurred after 1975 and again after 1978–79 refugee movements.

The 1976 census recorded very few Vietnam-born Australians; by the 1980s numbers had risen sharply through humanitarian and family reunion programs.

Concentrations are strongest in south-western Sydney (Fairfield, Bankstown) and south-eastern Melbourne (Braybrook, Springvale, St Albans).

Community media, grocery stores, restaurants and Buddhist or Catholic temples sustain language transmission and cultural continuity.

Australia's multicultural policy (from the 1970s) supports community language schools, interpreting services and SBS broadcasting.

Intergenerational language shift: second-generation speakers often become English-dominant, with Vietnamese maintained mainly at home and in weekend schools.

Community organisations act as brokers with government, providing aged care, youth programs, and settlement support.

Remembrance of the refugee experience shapes community identity, visible in commemorative events and oral history projects.

Đổi Mới (economic renovation, from 1986) shifted Vietnam toward a market economy, increasing trade, tourism and diaspora ties.

Remittances (kiều hối) from overseas Vietnamese are a major source of foreign currency for Vietnam and support relatives directly.

The internet and social media allow diaspora families to maintain daily contact, shifting language use toward code-switching and English loanwords.

Overseas Vietnamese (Việt kiều) return for visits, business and family events; visa and property rules have been progressively relaxed since the 1990s.

Language change is visible in loanwords (e.g., ti vi, cà phê, in-tơ-nét) and in youth slang mixing English and Vietnamese.

Climate change and urbanisation affect the Mekong Delta and rural livelihoods, driving internal migration to Ho Chi Minh City and industrial zones.

Traditional occupations (rice farming, fishing, small trade) decline as younger generations move into services and manufacturing.

Cultural preservation efforts include teaching Vietnamese abroad, restoring festivals, and publishing bilingual materials.

HSC Vietnamese Continuers listening texts are heard twice; the second hearing is for checking details, not for new information.

Answers must be written in Vietnamese unless the question specifies otherwise; English responses lose marks where Vietnamese is required.

Question cues signal what to extract: 'Tại sao' asks reason, 'Như thế nào' asks manner, 'Khi nào' asks time, 'Ai' asks person.

Distinguish stated fact from inference: if a speaker says 'có lẽ' or 'chắc là', the information is uncertain and should be reported as such.

Numbers, dates and prices are frequent distractors; note the final figure spoken, since speakers often correct themselves.

Tone and register carry meaning: formal address (ông/bà, quý vị) versus informal (mày/tao) signals relationship and attitude.

Note discourse markers (tuy nhiên, nhưng, vì vậy, thứ nhất) that structure arguments and reveal contrast or cause.

Responses should paraphrase the text rather than copy whole sentences, and must address all parts of multi-part questions.

Identify text type first: advertisement, letter, article, notice, diary - each has conventions and typical purposes.

Skim for gist (topic, audience, purpose) before scanning for specific details required by the questions.

Vietnamese word order is modifier-after-head: nhà mới (new house), áo đỏ (red shirt); adjectives follow nouns.

Classifiers (loại, cái, chiếc, con, người) precede nouns and must match the noun category.

Verb tense is marked by context and time words (đã, đang, sẽ, vừa mới) rather than inflection.

Recognise cohesive devices: vì thế, do đó (result), mặc dù (concession), trước hết (sequencing).

Infer tone and attitude from word choice: từ ngữ trang trọng (formal) versus thân mật (informal).

Answers should quote briefly and then explain in your own Vietnamese words, showing comprehension rather than transcription.

Register must match audience: formal letters use Kính gửi, Thưa ông/bà, and end with Trân trọng; informal notes use thân mến and conversational phrasing.

Text types tested include diary entry, personal letter, article, speech, and report; each has expected structure and opening conventions.

Vietnamese sentences favour subject–verb–object order but frequently drop subjects when context is clear.

Connectives raise coherence: trước hết, bên cạnh đó, ngoài ra, tuy nhiên, vì vậy, tóm lại.

Accurate diacritics are essential: tonal marks change meaning (ma, má, mà, mả, mã, mạ).

Word count ranges are prescribed per task; staying within range is part of the assessment criteria.

Paragraphing should follow one idea per paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting detail and example.

Use varied sentence structures (simple, compound, complex) and avoid literal English-influenced phrasing.