Let’s take a look at the Vietnamese language – tiếng Việt as it’s called in Vietnamese – and answer some of the common questions you may have.
Who speaks Vietnamese?
Vietnamese is spoken by around 75 million Kinh people (the ethnic majority) in Vietnam. Many of the ethnic minorities in Vietnam speak Vietnamese as a second language.
There are a further 3 million Vietnamese speakers overseas – especially in the US – but there are Vietnamese communities in a lot more countries that you might think.
Does Vietnamese use characters like Chinese and Japanese?
No – in the middle ages there were characters, but Vietnamese has been written with the Latin alphabet since the 17th century.
The Vietnamese alphabet is actually very phonetic (unlike English) – which means once you know which sounds each letter represents and which accent is which tone, you can usually read aloud accurately.
Does Vietnamese have tones?
Yes. There are six tones and a few accents to denote different vowel sounds.
So while the alphabet is straightforward, correct pronunciation needs a lot of focus. Some beginners quit early on because tones seem overwhelming – but I promise you it’s not that difficult a hurdle. You can tackle each sound and each tone one at a time, and with time and practice you’ll get there.
What is northern and southern Vietnamese?
It’s the same language, most of the words are the same and speakers can usually understand each other.
People argue over whether there are dialects in Vietnam. There are definitely very different regional accents, with different pronunciation and some differing vocabulary. The two main pronunciations are the northern one and the southern one. They have totally different sounds for letters such as gi-/d- which in the northern accent is like /z/ and in the southern one like /y/.
Which accent you should decide on depends on a few factors. We wrote a guide to help you choose.
Vietnamese has a lot of pronouns, right?
In Vietnamese the words for ‘you’ and ‘I’ are all relative. It’s important who’s older – and whether they’re in the older/younger sibling age range or more like an aunt/uncle or nephew/niece.
You might have heard Vietnamese is the language where it’s impossible to say ‘I love you’ but that’s a bit misleading… How you say it depends on who you are and who you’re talking to.
That young-looking waiter in a cafe is likely younger than you so you address them with the younger sibling pronoun, em. Whereas the elderly guy looking after motorbikes in the parking lot is often ‘uncle’ (chú in the south, bác in the north).
Our grammar resources page links to some guides that cover this in more detail.
Is it hard to remember new words?
Words usually need several meaningful exposures before they stick – and a flashcard reviewed in isolation doesn’t really count as one. More on why, and what actually works here.
Further questions
Is there something else you’re dying to know about Vietnamese? Send me a message or ask via facebook. No question is too small… in the 10+ years since I started learning Vietnamese (and teaching English), I’ve heard it all so ask me anything you like.