| Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language and is spoken by about
82 million people mainly in Vietnam.
It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of
Vietnam. It is the national
and official language of Vietnam.
There are many Vietnamese speakers in the USA,Cambodia, China,
France, Canada, Australia, Laos,France,
and a number of other countries. it has been the official language of Vietnam
since the country gained independence from France in 1954.
Vietnamese is part of the Austroasiatic language family, of which it has
the most speakers by a significant margin (several times larger than the other
Austroasiatic languages put together).
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. |
