Structure of the standard Vietnamese alphabet
No | Normal Letter | Capital Letter | Name | Pronoun |
1 | a | A | a | a |
2 | ă | Ă | á | á |
3 | â | Â | ớ | ớ |
4 | b | B | bê | bờ |
What are the letters of the Vietnamese alphabet?
Note: i and y are essentially the same vowel (and may be exchanged in some situations) The alphabet is taught in Vietnam's schools with these letters a, b, c, d, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, x, y - ô, ơ, â, ă, ê, ư, đ
What font is used for the Vietnamese alphabet on websites?
The webpage is usually set to include the UTF-8 standard when using the Vietnamese alphabet. If the design of the characters is strange the designer of a web-page will set the font to plain "Arial". Some special fonts have been made for Vietnamese alphabets.
What is the difference between English and Vietnamese vowel letters?
In English, a vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds. For example, letter "a" produces different sounds in the word "hat" /hæt/ and "may" /meɪ/. However, in Vietnamese, each vowel letter represents one vowel sound and does not change when being placed in different words.
What is the difference between E and D in the Vietnamese alphabet?
'd' in the Vietnamese alphabet is y (in Southern Vietnam), 'd' is z (in Northern Vietnam). 'a, â, ă' are just different ah letters. 'u, ư' are different oo letters - never, ever an uh/ah sound. 'e, ê' are just eh and ey - but they may sound different to English e in use.
How is C pronounced in Vietnamese?
Giang: The Vietnamese c is called cờ and the Vietnamese k is called ca. They are both pronounced like the “c” in the word “cat”, but unaspirated.
Is there an L sound in Vietnamese?
0:032:05Confusion of l and n sounds : Vietnamese Pronunciation ProblemYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThis is because the Vietnamese language does not have the equivalent of the sound or L. Sound.MoreThis is because the Vietnamese language does not have the equivalent of the sound or L. Sound.
How is the letter D pronounced in Vietnamese?
Many consonants have a similar pronunciation to the English consonants, such as b, g, l. Some Vietnamese consonants have different pronunciations from the English consonants, such as c (pronounced as /k/), d (pronounced as /z/), s (pronounced as /sh/).
What type of alphabet is Vietnamese?
Latin-Modern Vietnamese uses a Latin-based alphabet called chữ Quốc ngữ (“national language script”) which was originally devised by Portuguese and Italian missionaries in the 16th century.
Does Vietnamese have letter Z?
Vietnamese uses all the letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet except for f, j, w, and z.
Is it hard to learn Vietnamese?
Learning Vietnamese is neither hard nor easy. As we will see, many more aspects of Vietnamese grammar are dễ rather than khó. Realistically, it is more accurate to say that Vietnamese is mostly "an easy language" rather than "a hard language." However, one aspect of Vietnamese, the pronunciation, is quite difficult.
How do you read Nguyen?
Correct Pronunciation of Nguyen N'win/Ng'win: One syllable. Ng'win is closest to the correct Vietnamese pronunciation. Noo-yen/Ngoo-yen: Two syllables.
What is the most common last name in Vietnam?
NguyenIn Vietnam, the most popular last name is Nguyen.
What is Ð called?
In Old English, ð (called ðæt) was used interchangeably with þ to represent the Old English dental fricative phoneme /θ/ or its allophone /ð/, which exist in modern English phonology as the voiced and voiceless dental fricatives both now spelled "th". Unlike the runic letter þ, ð is a modified Roman letter.
Is there j in Vietnamese?
The school alphabet The total number of possible letters is much higher if diacritical marks are added. The F, J, W, Z are not used in native Vietnamese words. Only loanwords borrowed from other languages use these letters.
Is Vietnamese Roman letter?
The official Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet consists of twenty-nine letters: seventeen consonants and twelve vowels. Twenty-two letters come from the Roman alphabet (minus f, j, w, and z). Seven letters have been modified: ă, â, đ, ê, ô, ơ, and ư.
Does Vietnamese have an S sound?
The other two categories prove to be much more problematic. As /s/ is one of the popular sounds of English, Vietnamese learners have better awareness of pronouncing this sound. This can be found in the comparatively small number of errors made with final /s/ in the word list in careful speech.
How many letters in the Vietnamese alphabet?
The Vietnamese alphabet includes 29 basic letters:- 17 consonant letters- 12 vowel letters
How many vowels in the Vietnamese alphabet?
There are 12 vowels in the Vietnamese alphabet.These are (note the tonal marks on each letter):aăâeêi yoôơuư
Are there complex letters in Vietnamese?
Yes there are:10 double consonant letters1 triple consonant letter28 diphthong vowel letters11 triphthong vowel letters
How many tones in Vietnamese?
The tone system is slightly different between these two Vietnamese dialects, with the Northern dialect having 6 tones and the Southern dialect havi...
What is a diphthong vowel in Vietnamese?
In Vietnamese, diphthongs and triphthongs are sounds formed by a combination of two or more vowels in a single syllable. For example ao or ôi.
What is an example of a diphthong vowel in Vietnamese?
An example of a diphthong vowel is ao or ôi.
What is an example of a triphthong vowel in Vietnamese?
In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination that may contain three vowel sounds that quickly glide together. For example oai or...
What letters are not in the Vietnamese alphabet?
The letters F, J, W, and Z are not in the official Vietnamese alphabet. Despite that, similar to the usage of the Greek alphabet in the English language, non-Vietnamese letters are widely used in special contexts and in the popular culture. For examples, the non-Vietnamese letters F, J, W, and Z are commonly used in music and science with words such as Fa, Fahrenheit, Joules, Watt, zero, x-y-z coordinates, etc… It is also common among students to use these non-Vietnamese letters to shorthand certain Vietnamese sounds, such as the use of f in place of ph. The limited use of these non-Vietnamese letters in music, science, and the pop culture is out of the scope of this course.
What are the diacritic marks above the letter I?
These diacritic marks are to denote the variations of a , e, o , and u. These additional marks are referred to as "hats" and "whisker" to the primary vowels.
Is Vietnamese a tonal language?
Vietnamese is a tonal language, each syllable is spoken with a tone. In Vietnamese, letters in the alphabet are used to denote the syllables, while tones are indicated by additional marks. Thus, learning the alphabet alone is not sufficient to read or write Vietnamese. Tone marks are discussed in the next lesson.
Where is the Vietnamese alphabet?
Vietnamese is a native language derived from the civilization of agriculture, where today is the northern part of the Red River and the Ma River in Vietnam.
What is the official language of Vietnam?
Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam spoken by 90% of the Vietnamese people. According to historical documents, Vietnamese alphabet has the root from the Latin on with some addition and deduction of letters.
What language is the tone system in Vietnam?
Later, through the process of interaction with the Chinese language and especially with the linguistic Tai-Kadai language, which has a highly developed tone system, the tone system in Vietnamese appeared and formed as today, according to the rules of tone formation.
What is the tone of Vietnamese?
Due to the reason that the tone of the Vietnamese language in the national language is indicated by the bar mark, also known as “dấu”, so some people used to call the tone of the Vietnamese is “dấu”.
What is the Vietnamese alphabet?
The Vietnamese alphabet (c hữ Quốc ngữ in Vietnamese) is a version of the Latin alphabet used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses the all the letters of the ISO Basic Latin Alphabet expect for F, J, W, and Z (which are only found in loanwords). However, the alphabet has been changed heavily in order to accurately show Vietnamese pronunciation. Some letters and digraphs make very different sounds than what most readers of the Latin alphabet expect, such as D, R, and GI. One letter has been added, Đ, to show it is a completely different sound from D. Vowel markers are added in order to distinguish different vowels sounds like A, Â, and Ǎ. Tone markers are also added because Vietnamese is a tonal language, like Á, Ả, Ã, Ạ and À. Some vowels have both a vowel marker and a tone marker. For example, the vowel Ǎ can be written as Ắ, Ẳ, Ẵ, Ặ, and Ằ. Sometimes, even non-speakers of Vietnamese can tell something is written in Vietnamese because of how many markings a word can have.
What is the alphabet used in Vietnamese?
Unlike many other Asian languages that are mainly written using an Asian-made writing system, Vietnamese is mainly written using the Latin alphabet, which came from Europe. Before the Vietnamese used the Latin alphabet, they used a writing system based on the Chinese character system called chữ nôm.
Why is the Vietnamese alphabet changed?
However, the alphabet has been changed heavily in order to accurately show Vietnamese pronunciation. Some letters and digraphs make very different sounds than what most readers of the Latin alphabet expect, such as D, R, and GI.
Why do Vietnamese have tone markers?
Tone markers are also added, because Vietnamese is a tonal language, such as Á , Ả, Ã, Ạ, and À. Some vowels have both a vowel marker and a tone marker. For example, the vowel Ǎ can be written as Ắ, Ẳ, Ẵ, Ặ, and Ằ.
What is the sound of J in Vietnamese?
In Viet characters the 'j' (jeh) sound has an equal (sound) that is written as 'tr' (jeh). Letters like 'Tr' used to be in every dictionary's order right in between the other alphabet letters. Another sound is 'ph'. 'Ph' is very famous - it's used in ' phở ' the most famous Vietnamese soup in the world.
Why is the literacy rate in Vietnam low?
Due to the amount of time it took to learn the system , the literacy rate in Vietnam was low when this system was used. In the 17th century, Portuguese Catholic missionaries created a writing system based on their own Latin alphabet to translate Vietnamese and to make it easier to learn for Europeans. When Vietnam first became a French colony, the ...
What does giap sound like?
For example, Giap would sound like "zap" in northern accents, but like "yap" in southern accents. Northern Vietnamese pronounce the letter R like the English "Z", while southern Vietnamese pronounce it like the English "R".
Structure of the standard Vietnamese alphabet
According to the standards of the Ministry of Education, currently, the Vietnamese alphabet usually has 29 letters and 5 diacritics. This is not a large number of letters to remember for every student the first time they expose to Vietnamese.
Vowels in the Vietnamese alphabet
In the latest Vietnamese alphabet, there are 12 single vowels: a, ă, â, e, ê, i, y, o, o, õ, u, ư. There are also three diphthongs with many specific spellings, such as ua – uô, ia – yê – iê, ưa – ươ.
Consonants in the Vietnamese alphabet
In the Vietnamese alphabet, most of the consonants are recorded with a single letter: b, r, t, s, v (in Võ Thuật – Martial Arts ),x… In addition, there are nine consonants written with two letters. Specific compound forms such as:
The diacritics or accents in the Vietnamese alphabet
Currently, in the Vietnamese script, there are 5 diacritics: dấu sắc – sharp mark (´), dấu huyền – grave accent (`), dấu – hỏi – question mark (ˀ), dấu ngã – tilde (~), dấu nặng – under dot (.)
How to teach the Vietnamese alphabet to foreigners
Learning the Vietnamese alphabet is very simple when using Latin letters to teach English students. The learners can study and read directly on the letters of the Vietnamese language.
The next step after learning the Vietnamese alphabet
If you want to go deep dive into Vietnamese, after learning the alphabet fluently, you have to progress to the steps of reading words and reading comprehension.
What alphabet is used in Vietnamese?
Alphabet. Unlike many other Southeast Asian languages, the Vietnamese language uses the Roman alphabet , which makes it more convenient to learn for many English speakers. The Vietnamese alphabet follows pretty much the same alphabetical order as the English alphabet.
What does "ba" mean in Vietnamese?
Vietnamese Tones. As you may know, Vietnamese is a tonal language, which means that words can differ in tones. The spellings may look the same but by adding different tones, these words can have different meanings. Let's take a look at some examples: ba means 'number 3', as well as 'father'.
Can you pronounce Vietnamese words on your own?
Therefore, as long as you can master the pronunciation of vowel s, some consonants, and of course the tones, you'll be able to pronounce most Vietnamese words on your own.
What letters are often alleged to have been reversed?
Two other letters that are often alleged to have been reversed—intentionally or not—are Air and Err. Both are ligatures, and their relation to other letters is usually taken as evidence for this reversal.
How many letters should be in the new alphabet?
Shaw set three main criteria for the new alphabet: it should be (1) at least 40 letters; (2) as phonetic as possible (that is, letters should have a 1:1 correspondence to phonemes); and (3) distinct from the Latin alphabet to avoid the impression that the new spellings were simply misspellings.
What is the difference between the voiced Hung and the unvoiced Haha?
The most frequent disagreement of the letter reversals has been over the Haha–Hung pair. The most convincing evidence suggesting this reversal is in the names of the letters: The unvoiced letter Haha is deep, while the voiced Hung, which suggests a lower position, is tall. This is often assumed to be a clerical error introduced in the rushed printing of the Shavian edition of Androcles and the Lion. This reversal obscures the system of tall letters as voiceless consonants and deep letters as voiced consonants.
What is the Shavian alphabet?
The Shavian alphabet ( / ˈʃeɪviən /; also known as the Shaw alphabet) is an alphabet conceived as a way to provide simple, phonemic orthography for the English language to replace the difficulties of conventional spelling.
What is the purpose of the Vandenbrink alphabet?
Paul Vandenbrink has created a new alphabet inspired by the Shavian alphabet which takes the controversial step of replacing most of the specific vowel letters with markers indicating which of several sets of vowel types a vowel belongs to , thus reducing the number of vowel distinctions and lessening the written differences between dialectal variations of English.
What is the Quikscript alphabet?
Quikscript is intended to be more useful for handwriting, and to that end is more cursive and uses more ligatures. Many letter forms are roughly the same in both alphabets; see the separate article for more details.
Is the Latin alphabet capital or lowercase?
The alphabet is therefore to some extent featural . There are no separate capital or lowercase letters as in the Latin script; instead of using capitalization to mark proper names, a " naming dot " ( ·) is placed before a name. All other punctuation and word spacing is similar to conventional orthography.

History of Vietnamese Alphabet
The Phonology of 29 Letters in Vietnamese Alphabet
- The Vietnamese alphabet consists of 29 letters. In the Vietnamese alphabet, there are: 11 single vowels: a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ, u, ư, y. 3 phonetic pairs with different writings: ia – yê – iê, ua – uô, ưa – ươ. The remaining letters are called consonants. Most of them are 1 letter, in which 9 consonants are composed of 2 letters: ph, th, tr, gi...
The Tones of Vietnamese Alphabet
- Vietnamese is a tonal language, each syllable of Vietnamese carry a tone. Due to the reason that the tone of the Vietnamese language in the national language is indicated by the bar mark, also known as “dấu”, so some people used to call the tone of the Vietnamese is “dấu”. The Vietnamese language has 6 tones which are noted as follows:
History
- Unlike many other Asian languages that are mainly written using an Asian-made writing system, Vietnamese is mainly written using the Latin alphabet, which came from Europe. Before the Vietnamese used the Latin alphabet, they used a writing system based on the Chinese character system called chữ nôm. Chinese loanwords were written the same as they w...
Letters of The Alphabet
- Vietnamese characters
Here is the total set of characters for the lowercaseletters: The little ₫ is just the Dong (Dollar) sign - most people just write VND for Vietnamese Dong - the currency of Vietnam. This makes the useful alphabet 89+ letters. I.e.This letter is a word: 'ở, it means at (or where, place).
Treatment of The Alphabet
- Sounds similar to letters
Before, the alphabet was arranged from 'a to z' by foreign dictionaries, it included two letter sounds. The letters are like two letter sounds in English. 'Ch' in mechanic, or Christmas are good examples. In Viet characters the 'j'(jeh) sound has an equal (sound) that is written as 'tr'(jeh). Lett… - The syllables
Because of a relationship with East Asian languages(Japanese,Chinese etc.) the Vietnamese words can be moved around in their order. The reversal of the syllable-words moves them to another position in the dictionary. Also, the syllable-words can be held behind different syllable-…
The Alphabet in Computers
- The Vietnamese keyboard is always virtual (in software). Nobody can buy a computer keyboard for Vietnamese, in Vietnam. The common QWERTY keyboard is used in Vietnam. Software programsfor Vietnamese characters are very common.