Thanks. This (Vietnamese using Latin characters) makes it *SO* much easier to get around on your own. If you need to write down something (map, sign, etc…) skipping the diacritic marks, you can show them to a Vietnamese later and they can understand them. I had a great single-person 6 day bike tour south of Hanoi this past summer.

When I was in Beijing, I found most cannot read my poor attempts at copying Chinese characters from signs, and few could read and understand Romanization of Mandarin I’d copy from tourist maps or the Internet.

Amended.

Great tip!

Thanks for the kind comment, Ian.

Vietnamese uses normal Latin letters, like English. Vietnamese words often have added diacritic marks just like French and Spanish do. Also, the Vietnamese can easily read a phrase with the marks missing — as they often skip them in SMS text messages.

That looks really handy. Thanks!