You already speak Vietnamese. Now read it.

The reading app for people who grew up hearing Vietnamese. You already know the words: learn to read them, and to say the new ones right, in your family's accent.

Create my free accountTry the demo

Con đã đọc được lá thư của bà.“I could read grandma's letter.” Each colour is a tone.

Start with the alphabet

Starting consonants: just the alphabet

Only a handful of starting consonants, each with a word you know. Tap a letter.

The 29 letters

The 11 double consonants

Consonant

đ

On a TELEX keyboard: dd

Or one of these words:

Every word, in the app

The letter đ has 2342 words. Create your free account to see them all.

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The full chart, printable →
Quick test

How many of these words can you read?

Family 1 of 4

  • bỏ
  • cỏ
  • nhỏ
  • vỏ
  • đỏ

How many of these 5 words can you read right now?

You speak Vietnamese. Yet a text makes you feel illiterate.

You hear the tones. What's hard is the reverse: seeing a written syllable and putting the tone on it in your head.

  • The marks look like noise

    Hooks, hats, dots: you guess, or give up.

  • Classic methods stall right there

    Adding the tone is their hardest step. Most people quit.

  • Why start from zero?

    You already know thousands of words.

Try it

Read a sentence you couldn't read a minute ago

Three steps, one minute.

  1. Read without help
  2. The words you know
  3. Read with Read Vietnamese

Try to read this sentence, without any help.

Má nấu canh chua, cả nhà ăn ngon.

How much could you read?
How it works

Read the way adults read

  1. A rhyme is everything after the first consonant

    Same rhyme, only the first letter changes.

    má · cá · lá

  2. One word you know per rhyme

    It's your anchor: it unlocks the whole family.

    cá → má · lá · giá

Pareto's law (80/20), applied to reading

41 rhymes = 80 % of what you read

Out of 161. The rare rest comes with time.

Adults don't decode, they recognise. Do it like them.

Let the tones come with time.

Rare rhymes and tone rules follow in parallel, with the app's mini-games.

Why reading matters

You already speak. Now read.

Travel, messages, songs, articles: reading opens the language everywhere.

  1. Read
  2. Pronounce better
  3. Hear more
  4. Speak better

and connect with others

Skipping reading means missing a boost to your speaking.

Your accent, not the textbook's

Southern or Northern: the app follows how your family speaks

Sài Gòn, Miền Tây, Huế, Hà Nội… Every recording and every rule follows your accent, and everything can be adjusted.

vì=dì

Your accent, rule by rule

These are the sounds your accent pronounces the same. Untick the ones you keep apart: the app adapts its spelling rules and exercises.

In the app, these settings are saved with your progress.

  • bảo=bão
  • bàn=bàng
  • dì=gì
  • ra≠da
Start free

Read your first words before you pay anything

Free, no account

Start in two minutes, on this device

  • Onboarding with your own childhood words as anchors
  • Your accent, Southern or Northern, with its own voices and spelling rules
  • Simple ready-made texts, coloured as you learn
  • Alphabet and sound table: up to 5 words per sound, with sound and meaning
  • Progress saved on this device

Free account

Your progress, safe everywhere

  • Everything in the free version
  • Progress saved in the cloud, on all your devices
  • Picks up exactly where your device left off

Full access

For those who want to read everything

  • Every word of every sound, and any word as your anchor
  • Paste any text or web article and read it in colour
  • The rhyme path, dictation and listening games
  • The browser extension, when it comes out

Start free. Unlock full access from your account whenever you want.

Free

Free tools and guides

Free toolVietnamese alphabet chart →29 letters, each with a word you know and its sound. Print it.
Free toolPronunciation, step by step →Names, dishes, everyday words: each block read aloud, Southern or Northern voice.
Free toolLook-alike letters compared →ă / â, d / đ, tr / ch, hỏi / ngã: real word pairs, the same or not in your accent.
Free toolType Vietnamese with Telex →A keyboard that explains every key, and a 5-minute course.
GuidesStart readingYou already speak it: here is how reading works, and where to start.GuidesTones and marksFive tone marks, four letter marks: what each one does, with sound.GuidesLook-alike letters, close soundsă or â, d or đ, tr or ch: real word pairs, heard in your accent.GuidesNames and pronunciationNames, dishes, everyday words: built syllable by syllable, in a Southern and a Northern voice.GuidesAccentsRead with your family's accent: what the South and the North pronounce the same.GuidesSpelling and typingWhy words are spelled the way they are, and how to type them.

Questions

Do I need to speak Vietnamese already?

A little, yes. Read Vietnamese is built for people who grew up hearing Vietnamese at home, even if they mostly understand it. You don't need to be fluent: words you don't know can simply be skipped.

Do I still need to learn the tones?

Yes, with time. The fast track lets you read now from the words you know. The tone rules and the rare rhymes come along in parallel, and the app trains them with mini-games.

My family has a Northern accent. Is it for me?

Yes. Choose the Northern accent: the voices, the spelling rules and the exercises follow it. The Southern accent is the default because most of the diaspora grew up with it. A Central accent will come later.

Is it for children?

It is designed for teenagers and adults of the diaspora. A way to learn alongside your children is on our list.

How much does it cost?

You can start for free. Full access is unlocked from your account, whenever you want.

Which devices does it work on?

It works in the browser, on a computer or a phone. iPhone and Android apps will follow.

Start reading today

Free to start. Create your account to keep your progress.

Create my free account