Updated 01-11-18. Vietnamese bánh mì is not pho, of course, but I get inquiries about it often enough so here are the pronunciations for various bánh mì types. By the way, it is spelled bánh mì (banh mi) and never bahn mi as you may see around the Internet. "Bahn mi" with the h before the n (hn) is an incorrect spelling.
About the Word Bánh Mì
The words bánh mì is actually a two-syllable hyphenated word: bánh-mì. I digress here by saying highly recommend you check out the Wikipedia page on Vietnamese morphology for some interesting ways Viet people use our language, including hyphenated words.
Back to banh mi. So before arrival of the French baguette, Viet people had a lot of different types of baked treats call "bánh" this and "bánh" that (more on this a few paragraphs down). After introduction of the French baguette, Vietnamese added bánh mì which is a bánh baked with wheat flour using the French baking technique.
Vietnamese banh mi, Google search results
The Vietnamese word bánh mì itself has two main meanings. One, banh mi in general means a loaf/slice/piece of bread, most often related to the French baguette, but banh mi can also be used to describe sliced bread and other breads. It basically means bread of any kind. Two, banh mi refers to the bread stuffed with a variety of meats and Viet pickles. It is what most North Americans know as the submarine sandwich. In a Viet sandwich shop, you can buy not only the bread-stuffed-with-meat sub sandwich kind of banh mi, but also the whole baguette banh mi if you're lucky enough that it's also a bakery with onsite ovens.
"Bánh" itself really has several meanings, but in this context it means any flour-, rice- or wheat-based food that is baked, cooked, or steamed. Examples are bánh ngọt (means sweet cake), bánh bao (means ball-shaped steamed dumpling), and bánh chưng (means rice cake). "Mì" also has several meanings (one of which is egg noodle) but in this context it means bột mì or wheat flour.
For a more detailed story on Vietnamese Banh Mi, head on over to read Andrea Nguyen's post on banh mi, "Master Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe."
Pronounce: Various types of Vietnamese bánh mì.
- Bánh mì gà (banh mi with grilled chicken.) Southern accent then Northern accent. Bánh mì gà
- Bánh mì trứng (banh mi with egg-omelette style.) Southern accent then Northern accent. Bánh mì trứng
- Bánh mì bì (banh mi with shredded pork.) Southern accent then Northern accent. Bánh mì bì
- Bánh mì thịt nướng (banh mi with grilled pork.) Southern accent then Northern accent. Bánh mì thịt nướng
- Bánh mì xiú mại (banh mi with pork meatballs.) Southern accent then Northern accent. Bánh mì xiú mại
- Bánh mì thịt nguội (banh mi with cold cuts-cured pork & pork roll.) Southern accent then Northern accent. Bánh mì thịt nguội.
- Tôi muốn ổ bánh mì chay (I would like a vegan sandwich, please.) Southern accent then Northern accent. Tôi muốn ổ bánh mì chay.
- Bánh mì đặc biệt (Special banh mi). Southern accent then Northern accent. Bánh mì đặc biệt.
Thanks to Christian Belanger and Jim Fung for the request for the audio files.
If you have another type of banh mi you'd like to hear, please drop a request in the comment below. Okay this is a pho blog, so please take a poll below.
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Great! Thanks! You guys rock.
Hi Christian: You’re very welcome. Love your work as well. Very nice!
😀
good job at providing the audio files. your pronunciation of north vs south accents isn’t quite accurate. i can see that you primarily speak with a southern accent and make an effort at pointing out the differences between northern and southern accents. an example is the ‘tr’ sound. northerners don’t pronounce it ‘tr’ as many southerners do. they say it more like the ‘ch’ sound, so ‘banh mi *ch*ung’ without rolling your tongue is a correct northern accent.
Hi Accent Police: The Pronunciation Police got caught by the Accent Police! You’re absolutely right. Actually I did realize it after posting the article, and it was my own laziness for not re-recording with the correct “tr” versus “ch.” Maybe I’ll redo it in the near future. What I have there must do for now.
Even though I have both North and South Viet in my blood, growing up in the South before 1975 didn’t help with my Northern accent. On the other hand if one wants to be even more technical about it, whatever Northern accent I speak (and the version most if not all Northern Vietnamese outside of Vietnam speak these days) is really the version of post-1954 and pre-1975 Northern Viet refugees who lived in the South for 20 years before leaving the country. It is definitely not the “pure” Hanoi accent that people hear these days. And we won’t get into the Northern “n” versus “l” right? 😉
As you said, I do try to give non-Viet speaking people an idea so to help them identify the differences, just as pho purists (and this lovingpho.com itself) would point out that there is really no seafood pho or pork pho. But that’s a subject already discussed in another post…
Thanks for your comment! I appreciate it.
Hi Accent Police: I decided to take care of it this Sunday morning. The audio for “Bánh mì trứng” has been corrected. Thanks for your help!
How would you say/pronounce:
I would like a tofu sandwich, please.
(banh mi chay)