Tonal caution

I've arrived in another country, with new basic words to learn.

Tone is very important in Vietnam, apparently. Some words can be spelled the same, but depending on where the accent is, can mean completely different things. For example, the word 'pho' means street and it can mean noodle soup.

I have to be careful here. I don't want to compliment some lady's cooking and accidentally call her a hooker or something.