How do you say New Year's Eve, Banh Tet, and Braised Pork with Duck Eggs in English?

Lunar New Year 2025 is coming. What is the English vocabulary for Tet dishes such as banh tet, braised pork with duck eggs...? How are Tet customs such as New Year's Eve offerings used in English?

The atmosphere of the Lunar New Year 2025 has filled everywhere. Every household is bustling to shop for specialties, fresh flowers, wrap banh chung and banh tet, and cook typical Vietnamese New Year dishes. In the North, boiled chicken, sticky rice, vermicelli and bamboo shoot soup, banh chung, and braised meat... are indispensable in the New Year's Eve meal. In the South, the New Year's Eve offering tray cannot lack banh tet, braised pork with duck eggs, and stewed bitter melon soup...

Below are English vocabulary about typical dishes on Tet holiday, vocabulary about traditional customs on the traditional Tet holiday of Vietnam suggested by Mr. Huynh Chi Vien, Executive Director of BHV English Center.

Seeing peach blossoms means seeing Tet

Vocabulary about Tet dishes often appears on the New Year's Eve offering tray

Word/phrase	Transcription	Meaning
Vietnamese square sticky rice cake	/ˈviː.et.nəˈmiːz skweər ˈstɪk.i raɪs keɪk/	Chung cake
Vietnamese cylindrical sticky rice cake	/viː.et.nəˈmiːz sɪˈlɪn.drɪ.kəl ˈstɪk.i raɪs keɪk/	Banh tet
Pickled small leeks	/ˈpɪk.əld smɔːl ˈliːk/	Pickled cucumber
Pickled onion	/ˈpɪk.əld ˈʌn.jən/	Pickled onions
Pickled bean sprout	/ˈpɪk.əld ˈbiːn spraʊt/	Cucumber
Braised pork belly with duck eggs	/breɪzd pɔːrk ˈbel.i wɪð dʌk eɡz/	Braised meat with duck eggs
Jellied meat	/ˈdʒel.id miːt/	Jellied meat
Steamed stuffed bitter melon	/stiːmd stʌft ˈbɪt̬.ɚ ˈmel.ən/	Bitter melon stuffed with meat stew
Vermicelli soup with dry bamboo shoot	/ˌvɝː.məˈtʃel.i suːp wɪð draɪ ˌbæmˈbuː ʃuːt/	Vermicelli soup with bamboo shoots
Boiled whole chicken	/bɔɪld hoʊl ˈtʃɪk.ən/	Whole boiled chicken
The five-fruit tray: custard apple, coconut, papaya, mango, fig	/ðə faɪv fruːt treɪ: ˈkʌs.tɚd ˈæp.əl, ˈkoʊ.kə.nʌt, pəˈpaɪ.ə, ˈmæŋ.ɡoʊ, fɪɡ/	Fruit tray: custard apple, coconut, papaya, mango, fig.
Spring rolls	/sprɪŋ roʊlz/	Spring rolls
Fried spring rolls	/fraɪd sprɪŋ roʊlz/	Spring rolls
Vietnamese style pork sausauge	/ˌviː.et.nəˈmiːz staɪl pɔːrk ˈsɑː.sɪdʒ/	Pork sausage
Vietnamese style fermented pork	/ˌviː.et.nəˈmiːz staɪl fərˈmen.tɪd pɔːrk/	Nem chua

Typical Southern New Year's Eve offering tray

Children learn to wrap Chung cakes for the Lunar New Year

Vocabulary about traditional New Year customs such as New Year's Eve offerings, picking lucky branches, writing New Year's parallel sentences

Word/phrase	Transcription	Meaning
Displaying apricot blossom/peach blossom	/dɪˈspleɪ.ɪŋ ˈeɪ.prɪ.kɑːt ˈblɑː.səm/ - /dɪˈspleɪ.ɪŋ piːtʃ ˈblɑː.səm/	Displaying apricot/peach blossoms
Arranging flowers for Tet	/əˈreɪndʒɪŋ ˈflaʊ.ɚz fər tet/	Flower arrangement
Paying New Year's visits to relatives	/ˈpeɪɪŋ nuː jɪrz ˈvɪzɪts tə ˈrel.ə.tɪvz/	Go to wish relatives a happy new year
Visiting a pagoda on New Year's Day	/ˈvɪzɪtɪŋ ə pəˈɡoʊdə ɑːn nuː jɪrz deɪ/	Going to the temple at the beginning of the year
Giving lucky money	/ˈɡɪvɪŋ ˈlʌki ˈmʌni/	New Year's lucky money
Receiving lucky money	/rɪˈsiːvɪŋ ˈlʌki ˈmʌni/	Receive lucky money at the beginning of the year
Making offerings to ancestors on New Year's Eve	/ˈmeɪkɪŋ ˈɔːfərɪŋz tə ˈæn.ses.tɚz ɑːn nuː jɪrz iːv/	New Year's Eve Offering
Sending the kitchen god to heaven	/ˈsendɪŋ ðə ˈkɪtʃən ɡɑːd tə ˈhev.ən/	Sending the Kitchen Gods to Heaven
Picking buds	/ˈpɪkɪŋ bʌdz/	Picking luck
Visiting and cleaning ancestors' graves	/ˈvɪzɪtɪŋ ənd ˈkliːnɪŋ ˈæn.ses.tɚz ɡreɪvz/	Tomb Sweeping
Writing New Year Couplets	/ˈraɪtɪŋ nuː jɪr ˈkʌp.ləts/	Write Tet couplets

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cung-giao-thua-banh-tet-thit-kho-hot-vit-noi-the-nao-trong-tieng-anh-185250124194507598.htm