Words R Us
- Vietnamese (vie)

Vietnamese is a member of the Vietic branch of the Austroasiatic language family. It is spoken mainly in Vietnam by about 73.6 million people. There are another 3.2 million Vietnamese speakers in other countries, including 1.4 million in the USA, 817,800 in Cambodia, 277,000 in Australia, 194,000 in Taiwan, 156,000 in Canada and 101,000 in Malaysia.

It is the native language of the Vietnamese (Kinh) people, as well as a second language or first language for other ethnic groups in Vietnam. As a result of emigration, Vietnamese speakers are also found in other parts of Southeast Asia, East Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Vietnamese has also been officially recognized as a minority language in the Czech Republic. Vietnamese is the sole official and national language of Vietnam. It is the first language of the majority of the Vietnamese population, as well as a first or second language for the country's ethnic minority groups.

Traditionally Vietnamese is classified as a member of the Mon- Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic language family. However, recently linguists have proposed that Vietnamese and Muong should be classified as a separate branch of that family, called Vietic or Viet-Muong. Vietnamese is also known as Annamese, Ching, Gin, Jing, Kinh or Viet. The native name is tiếng việt ("Vietnamese language"). The main dialects are Northern, Central and Southern, and in each region there are numerous subdialects.

Vietnamese is increasingly being taught in schools and institutions outside of Vietnam, a large part which is contributed by its large diaspora. In countries with strongly established Vietnamese-speaking communities such as the United States, France, Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Czech Republic, Vietnamese language education largely serves as a cultural role to link descendants of Vietnamese immigrants to their ancestral culture. Meanwhile, in countries near Vietnam such as Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, the increased role of Vietnamese in foreign language education is largely due to the recent recovery of the Vietnamese economy.

Sources: Wikipedia
https://omniglot.com/writing/vietnamese.htm