Focus on Vietnam: Introduction

Composed of more than 54 official ethnic groups, the country takes its name from the majority group, the Viet. The official language, Vietnamese, is their mother tongue. Until the 18^th Century, the writing system used Chinese characters. The system was romanised following the arrival of Western missionaries and is still used today. Although Vietnam is part of the French-speaking world, French is only spoken as a second language by about 100,000 people and one very small French community. English dominates over French in terms of languages learnt.

Source:http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/Asie/vietnam.htm