"Dì An ăn đu đủ."

Translation: Aunt An eats papaya.

[cvhicago]

Just realized that "An" is a person's name in this course. That makes previous sentences make so much more sense.

[Glowingwind]

I wish they would have used Thuy or Linh

[Vortarulo]

I think they used An to show the difference in pronunciation with ăn. That actually worked pretty well.

[Ersin-Ertan]

The difference can be emphasized in another exercise, and with clearer semantics. This example is confusing many people.

[DiegoJaviUnlam]

I do not agree! This course shows us the different vowels to appreciate the differences of tones at first. I think it is the best method. I have advanced into lessons without using the listening exercises to finish the course very fast, but now I can hardly understand or make a good pronunciation in many words. So I think it is better to have a good approach with the pronunciation from the beginning. ;)

[Ersin-Ertan]

I think duolingo's model should spend more effort on the pronunciation at the start so it is learned the right way first. This way errors are not perpetuated/practiced/enforced during the lifetime of the course. The courses spend more time on phrases over pronunciation. How can it help with different vowels if you are not listening to them! You are missing out on the only resource they have for learning the phonemes, which is why finishing the exercises fast and without listening leaves you without a proper pronunciation.

[MexicoMadness]

Diego, I totally agree with you. The audio seems very important to me. I am just beginning Vietnamese and I would not be able to learn it without hearing how each word sounds.

[MexicoMadness]

Dl works very well for me, because I can repeat the audio several times until I feel I have heard the word correctly.

[Laserfont]

Agreed, it took me quite a few lesson to understand this. It should say in a side box, here 'An' is a persons name.

[davidbeckwith]

It should be noted that "du du" (doodoo) is a common American expression for solid bodily waste, which, of course, has many other colorful terms, like "#2", "poopoo", "crap", and then it gets nasty. Easy to remember. I will never look at a papaya the same way again.

[George418878]

Yeah here we are learning that Aunt An is eating doo doo.

[schmerpin]

Maybe instead of papaya it should mean durian because of its infamous smell lol.

[mister2pi]

LOL. I actually like durian.

[StewartMM]

Mods: I was correct what I wrote, but the official answer I was given was:

"An's aunt eats papayas"

So there is a mismatch here. Personally, I thought 'papaya' was both singular and plural in English.

[thuphuong1312]

Dì An ăn lá đu đủ