Vietnamese

Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam. It is spoken by approximately 90 million people in Vietnam and approximately four million Vietnamese people living in other countries around the world, with the majority residing in the United States, Cambodia, France, Taiwan and Australia.

The first major wave of Vietnamese migration to Australia began in the mid-1970s with the arrival of large numbers of refugees following the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. In more recent years, the vast majority of Vietnamese migrants have come to Australia through family connections, and the number of skilled migrants continues to grow.

The modern standard version of Vietnamese is Tiếng Việt. Vietnamese is a tonal language written in the Roman alphabet with additional diacritics for tones.

The Australian Curriculum: Languages, Foundation to Year 10 for Vietnamese is pitched to background language learners, the dominant cohort of learners in the Australian context. The Australian Curriculum: Languages for Vietnamese has been developed according to two learning sequences: Foundation to Year 10, and Years 7 to 10 (Year 7 entry). Teachers will use the curriculum to cater for learners of different backgrounds by making appropriate adjustments to differentiate learning experiences for these students.