Vietnamese (tiếng việt / 㗂越)

Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language spoken by about 82 million people mainly in Vietnam. There are also Vietnamese speakers in the USA, China, Cambodia, France, Australia, Laos, Canada and a number of other countries. Vietnamese has been the official language of Vietnam since the country gained independence from France in 1954.

Vietnamese was originally written with a Siniform (Chinese-like) script known as Chữ-nôm (𡨸喃) or Nôm (喃). At first most Vietnamese literature was essentially Chinese in structure and vocabulary. Later literature developed a more Vietnamese style, but was still full of Chinese loan words. The greatest literary work in Vietnamese is Kim Van Kieu, the 'Tale of Kieu', a romance written by Nguyen-Du (1765-1820).

Chữ-nôm was used until the 20th century. Courses in the Chữ-nôm script were available at Ho Chi Minh University until 1993, and the script is still studied and taught at the Han-Nôm Institute in Hanoi, which has recently published a dictionary of all the nôm characters.

During the 17th century, Roman Catholic missionaries introduced a Latin-based orthography for Vietnamese, Quốc Ngữ (national language),which has been used ever since. Until the early 20th century, Quốc Ngữ was used in parallel with Chữ-nôm. Today only Quốc Ngữ is used.

Vietnamese alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

The letters "F", "J", "W" and "Z" are not part of the Vietnamese alphabet, but are used in foreign loan words. "W" (vê-đúp)" is sometimes used in place of "Ư" in abbreviations. In informal writing, "W", "F", and "J" are sometimes used as shorthands for "QU", "PH" and "GI" respectively.
The digraph "GH" and the trigraph "NGH" are basically replacements for "G" and "NG" that are used before "I", in order to avoid confusion with the "GI" digraph. For historical reasons, they are also used before "E" or "Ê".
G = [ʒ] before i, ê, and e, [ɣ] elsewhere
D and GI = [z] in the northern dialects (including Hanoi), and [j] in the central, southern and Saigon dialects.
V is pronounced [v] in the northern dialects, and [j] in the southern dialects.
R = [ʐ, ɹ] in southern dialects

Vietnamese is a tonal language with 6 tones. These tones are marked as follows:

Vietnamese tones

You can hear how to pronounce the Vietnamese letters and tones at:
www.seasite.niu.edu/Vietnamese/Guide_to_Pronunciation/alphabet/alphabet_system.htm

Sample text in Vietnamese

A recording of this text by Phan Tuấn Quốc (from south Vietnam)

A recording of this text by Nguyễn Văn Thắng (from north Vietnam)

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)