language

The official and common language of Vietnam is the language of Kinh people, or what is commonly known as Vietnamese language. The language was formerly written in character form until the 17th century when it was replaced with a Latin-based script to this present day.

The language, which has 6 tones, is spoken very much like singing a song. Different tones connote different meanings, thus it is very important to pronounce the tones correctly or else misunderstanding can easily occur. For example:

"ma" is a flat tone and it means "ghost";
"má" is a rising tone and it means "cheek"
"mả" is a rising tone followed by a falling tone and it means "horse"
"mà" is a falling tone and it means "which"
"mã" is a falling tone followed by a rising tone and it means "grave"
"mạ" is a abrupt drop tone and it means "rice seedling"

The northern, central and southern regions speak with different accents and use different vocabulary. One can tell which area, and even the province a person is from just by the manner of speech.