Chào 1.0.0
A Vietnamese word or phrase a day, Saigon-style, from your Mac's menu bar.
Say it aloud and Chào draws your tones over the right shapes, so you can
hear and see what to fix.


WHAT'S IN THIS FOLDER

  • Chào.app: the app
  • Install Chào.command: installs it (run this)
  • Read Me.txt: this file


BEFORE YOU START

  • Any Mac (Apple Silicon or Intel) running macOS 14 or later.
  • A microphone (the Mac's own is fine) to practise saying the words.


INSTALL

  1. Double-click "Install Chào.command".

     If macOS says it can't be opened ("Apple could not verify…"): click
     Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click
     "Open Anyway", then double-click the installer again.

     Or open Terminal, type  bash  followed by a space, drag
     "Install Chào.command" into the Terminal window, and press Return.

  2. The installer copies Chào into Applications and opens it.

  3. Look for the speech bubble on a small red square in the menu bar, with
     today's word beside it. macOS also tells you a login item was added:
     that is Chào starting itself when you log in, so a new word is waiting
     each morning.

  Prefer to do it by hand? Drag Chào into Applications and open it. The
  first time, macOS blocks it: go to System Settings → Privacy & Security
  and click "Open Anyway".


USING Chào

  Click the bubble in the menu bar.

  • Today: the day's word, each syllable coloured by its tone, with the
    tone's shape above it. Listen (the tortoise slows it down), read the
    example, then press Say it. Chào listens, then draws your voice over the
    tone shapes and tells you which tones were right.

    The first time you press Say it, macOS asks for the microphone. If you
    said no by mistake: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone,
    and turn on Chào.

  • Practice: words come back after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 days (the next day if
    you missed them). Say them from the English, recall their meaning, and
    try tone drills: hear ma, mà, má, mả or mạ and pick the tone.

  • Week: this week's words, and the ones to go over again.

  • Phrases: must-have phrases for emergencies, allergies, getting home and
    money. Click one to hear it, or show it large to hand to someone.

  • Record a native speaker: in Today's … menu. Ask a Vietnamese friend or
    colleague to say the word; Chào then plays their voice and shapes the
    tone graph to it.

  • Settings (the gear at the bottom, or right-click the bubble): topics,
    the menu-bar icon and word, speaking speed, the word check and Launch
    at Login.

  Saigon Vietnamese has five tones: level (ngang), falling (huyền), rising
  (sắc), dipping (hỏi and ngã sound the same in the South) and low (nặng).


GOOD TO KNOW

  • The tone graph works entirely on your Mac. The optional word check
    (off at first, in Settings) sends your recording to Apple's speech
    recogniser, because Vietnamese isn't available on the Mac itself.

  • Apple's built-in Vietnamese voice is basic. A clearer one is a free
    download: System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System
    voice → Manage Voices… → Vietnamese.

  • To update: unzip a newer copy and run its installer. It replaces the
    old one and keeps your progress. macOS asks for the microphone again
    after an update.

  • To uninstall: right-click the bubble, choose Quit Chào, and drag Chào
    from Applications to the Trash. Your progress is in
    ~/Library/Application Support/Chào.

  • Chào is free and open source. It isn't from the App Store and isn't
    notarized by Apple, which is why macOS asks you to confirm it the
    first time.