Vietnamese is spoken by around 86 million people, and, like most tonal languages, it’s considered fairly difficult for English speakers to learn. Due to French colonization, however, it’s now written ...

“Âm u.” These are the Vietnamese words I ask my dad to repeat twice. First, so I can hear it again, oddly elated by the sound of those two syllables, and second, so I can practice uttering it myself.

For generations, Vietnamese have preserved a traditional New Year custom of collecting calligraphic words written in ancient Vietnamese-Chinese script. For generations, Vietnamese have preserved a ...