The name of VietNam's prime minister is Phuc. Dare I ask how it's pronounced?

That's the name of one of the supervisors at the P.O. and he pronounces it "Foo." His last name is Nguyen (pronounced "Win").

/fuk̚ ŋwǐən/

I see I have much to learn about Vietnamese pronunciation.

Goofy: phonetics for dummies (like myself) - can you parse that into quasi-English phonetics for me?

I've tried to learn that pronunciation system, but I have to either hear the words spoken or see them phonetically.

quote:

Originally posted by goofy:
/fuk̚ ŋwǐən/

I don't think that's accurate. I think that Tinman's approximation is good enough for English speakers, although "Nguyen" does begin with /ŋ/ if you can manage it.