Vietnamese by Viv Edwards

Vietnamese is spoken by some 80 million people worldwide. It is the national language of Vietnam, but is also spoken widely in many other countries, including Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and China. In a survey of London schools conducted in 2000, Vietnamese was the twentieth most commonly spoken language out of more than 300 languages reported.

The linguistic affiliation of Vietnamese is uncertain, though some claim that it is distantly related to Chinese. It is a tone language, which means that differences in pitch can be used to differentiate the meaning of words. Vietnamese uses a Roman alphabetic-writing system devised in the seventeenth century by catholic missionaries.

There have been three main migrations from Vietnam. The first was in 1975 when refugees fled from the south after the fall of Saigon; these were mainly officials in the former South Vietnamese government or people who had worked closely with the Americans, and their main destination was the USA. The second was in 1977 when opponents of the new regime began to leave both the north and south, often by boat. The third migration took place in 1978 when Chinese minorities in the country fled following a border dispute with China.

Later refugees tried to reach other places in South East Asia only to find that they were unwelcome. Many did not survive the terrible journey. In Hong Kong they were put into prison-like camps before moving on to other countries, including Australia, Britain, France, Canada and the USA.