Editing Vietnamese language (section)

==Geographic distribution==
[[File:Color-coded Vietnamese language distribution world map counting from 10,000 user or above vector.svg|thumb|Global distribution of speakers]]

As a result of [[overseas Vietnamese|emigration]], Vietnamese speakers are also found in other parts of [[Southeast Asia]], [[East Asia]], [[North America]], [[Europe]], and [[Australia (continent)|Australia]]. Vietnamese has also been officially recognized as a minority language in the [[Czech Republic]].{{efn|1=Citizens belonging to minorities, which traditionally and on long-term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic, enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in front of the courts of law (for the list of recognized minorities see [http://www.vlada.cz/en/pracovni-a-poradni-organy-vlady/rnm/historie-a-soucasnost-rady-en-16666/ National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic], Belarusian and Vietnamese since 4 July 2013, see [http://zpravy.idnes.cz/vietnamci-oficialni-narodnostni-mensinou-fiq-/domaci.aspx?c=A130703_133019_domaci_jj Česko má nové oficiální národnostní menšiny. Vietnamce a Bělorusy]). The article 25 of the Czech [[Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms]] ensures right of the national and ethnic minorities for education and communication with authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. (''The Administrative Rule'') in its paragraph 16 (4) (''Procedural Language'') ensures, that a citizen of the Czech Republic, who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, have right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. In the case that the administrative agency does not have an employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 (''About The Rights of Members of Minorities'') paragraph 9 (''The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law'') the same applies for the members of national minorities also in front of the courts of law.}}

As the national language, Vietnamese is the ''[[lingua franca]]'' in Vietnam. It is also spoken by the [[Jing people]] traditionally residing on three islands (now joined to the mainland) off [[Dongxing, Guangxi|Dongxing]] in southern [[Guangxi|Guangxi Province]], [[China]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Language Power and Hierarchy: Multilingual Education in China |given=Linda |surname=Tsung |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4411-4235-1 |page=188 }}</ref> A large number of Vietnamese speakers also reside in neighboring countries of [[Vietnamese Cambodians|Cambodia]] and [[Vietnamese people in Laos|Laos]].

In the United States, Vietnamese is the [[Vietnamese language in the United States|sixth most spoken language]], with over 1.5 million speakers, who are concentrated in a handful of states. It is the third-most spoken language in Texas and Washington; fourth-most in Georgia, Louisiana, and Virginia; and fifth-most in Arkansas and California.<ref name="Language Map Data Center">{{Citation| url=https://apps.mla.org/map_data| title=MLA Language Map Data Center| publisher=Modern Language Association|access-date=2018-01-20}}</ref> Vietnamese is the third most spoken language in Australia other than English, after Mandarin and Arabic.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/AUS | title=2021 Australia, Census All persons QuickStats &#124; Australian Bureau of Statistics }}</ref> In France, it is the most spoken Asian language and the eighth most spoken immigrant language at home.<ref>[http://www.ined.fr/fichier/t_publication/65/publi_pdf1_pop_et_soc_francais_376.pdf La dynamique des langues en France au fil du XXe siècle] Insee, enquête Famille 1999. (in French)</ref>

===Official status===
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 groups in Vietnam|ethnic minority groups]].<ref name="Vietnamese language">{{cite encyclopedia
|encyclopedia= Britannica
|title= Vietnamese language
|date= 29 November 2023
|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vietnamese-language
}}</ref>

In the [[Czech Republic]], Vietnamese has been recognized as one of 14 minority languages, on the basis of communities that have resided in the country either traditionally or on a long-term basis. This status grants the [[Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic|Vietnamese community in the country]] a representative on the Government Council for Nationalities, an advisory body of the Czech Government for matters of policy towards national minorities and their members. It also grants the community the right to use Vietnamese with public authorities and in courts anywhere in the country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vlada.cz/en/pracovni-a-poradni-organy-vlady/rnm/historie-a-soucasnost-rady-en-16666/|title=National Minorities &#124; Government of the Czech Republic|website=www.vlada.cz}}</ref><ref>[http://zpravy.idnes.cz/vietnamci-oficialni-narodnostni-mensinou-fiq-/domaci.aspx?c=A130703_133019_domaci_jj Česko má nové oficiální národnostní menšiny. Vietnamce a Bělorusy] (in Czech)</ref>

===As a foreign language===
Vietnamese is taught in schools and institutions outside of Vietnam, a large part contributed by its [[Overseas Vietnamese|diaspora]]. In countries with Vietnamese-speaking communities Vietnamese language education largely serves as a role to link descendants of Vietnamese immigrants to their ancestral culture. In neighboring countries and vicinities near Vietnam such as Southern China, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, Vietnamese as a foreign language is largely due to trade, as well as recovery and growth of the Vietnamese economy.<ref>[http://thailand.prd.go.th/view_news.php?id=7197&a=3 More Thai Students Interested in Learning ASEAN Languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110064409/http://thailand.prd.go.th/view_news.php?id=7197&a=3 |date=2015-01-10 }}. April 16, 2014. The Government Public Relations Department. Retrieved 2015-01-10.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/more-and-more-foreigners-have-need-to-learn-vietnamese-20847.html|title=More and more foreigners have need to learn Vietnamese|first=Vietnam|last=Times|date=May 30, 2020|website=Vietnam Times}}</ref>

Since the 1980s, Vietnamese language schools ({{lang|vi|trường Việt ngữ/ trường ngôn ngữ Tiếng Việt}}) have been established for youth in many Vietnamese-speaking communities around the world such as [[Vietnamese Americans|in the United States]], [[Vietnamese people in Germany|Germany]] and [[Vietnamese people in France|France]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Vietnamese in the United States|editor1-first=Angie|editor1-last=Nguyen|editor2-first=Lien|editor2-last=Dao|publisher=[[California State Library]]|date=May 18, 2007|page=82|access-date=January 10, 2015|url=http://www.library.ca.gov/services/docs/vietnamese.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200121/http://www.library.ca.gov/services/docs/vietnamese.pdf|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Vietnamese Immigration|first=Ha|last=Lam|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Bilingual Education|editor-first=Josué M.|editor-last=González|location=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|year=2008|pages=884–887|isbn=978-1-4129-3720-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_5yAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT933}}</ref><ref name="vietteachlearnoverwhelminggermany">[http://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2013/09/vietnamese-teaching-and-learning-overwhelming-germany/ Vietnamese teaching and learning overwhelming Germany]. Retrieved 2015-06-13.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120502004731/http://news.chaobuoisang.net/school-in-berlin-maintains-vietnamese-language-197390.htm School in Berlin maintains Vietnamese language]. Retrieved 2015-06-13.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Blanc |first=Marie-Eve |title=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World |date=2004 |pages=1162 |editor-last=Ember |editor-first=Carol |contribution=Vietnamese in France |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&pg=PA1162 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-306-48321-9}}</ref>