Vietnamesespeaking

Vietnamese-speaking refers to people who use Vietnamese as their native, primary, or frequently used language, and to linguistic communities identified by the Vietnamese language. It is the official national language of Vietnam and is spoken by ethnic Vietnamese and by minority groups within Vietnam; it is also widely used in Vietnamese diaspora communities around the world.

Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language in the Vietic branch. It is analytic and tonal, with a basic subject–verb–object (SVO) word order. Regional dialects include Northern (Hanoi), Central (Hue–Da Nang), and Southern (Ho Chi Minh City) varieties. Dialects differ in phonology, tone systems, and some vocabulary, but they share core grammar and most common vocabulary, allowing considerable mutual intelligibility among speakers.

Vietnamese writing uses the Latin-based script called Quoc Ngu, which includes diacritics to mark tones and certain phonemes. Quoc Ngu was introduced by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century and became the standard written form through 19th–20th century education reforms. Historically, Chữ Nôm—an adapted script using Chinese characters—was used to represent Vietnamese; now it is mainly of scholarly and historical interest.

Sociolinguistically, Vietnamese is a central component of national identity in Vietnam and is widely used in education, media, government, and daily life. In the diaspora, Vietnamese is maintained in family and community networks, often alongside other languages, with varying degrees of fluency and code-switching. Research on Vietnamese-speaking communities covers dialect contact, language development, and the impact of global mobility on language use.