Changes

# Other standard reference works that cover Vietnam also remove the diacritics: ''Britannica'',<ref>''[http://www.britannica.com/ Britannica]'' is edited by University of Chicago Press copy editors trained in Chicago style. It has even more entries on Vietnam than the Merriam-Webster dictionaries do. The encyclopedia revised its style regarding diacritics for its 1974 edition to take advantage of improvements in printing technology. Merriam-Webster and other publishers adopted this style a few years later, and it is now standard. Pre-1974, the standard style was to use only Western European diacritics. This is still a common style in non-academic writing.</ref> Spencer Tucker's ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (2011),<ref>Tucker's work was originally published in 1998 with diacritics.[http://books.google.com.vn/books?id=Zk8YAAAAIAAJ&focus=] There were complaints that these were done incorrectly.[http://books.google.com.vn/books?id=WLcG5Cdw-NIC&pg=PA503&dq=#v=onepage&q=%22Encyclopedia%20of%20the%20Vietnam%20War%22%20diacritics&f=false] They have been removed from the current (2011) edition of the work.</ref> ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia'' (2002), ''National Geographic Atlas of the World'', and ''Lonely Planet Vietnam''.<ref>I found these works in the reference section of the main library in Taipei, as well as in the reference section of the University of Minnesota Library. In addition, the reference section at U of M has ''Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia'' (2004), which does use Vietnamese diacritics. This work is by ABC-CLIO, the same publisher as EVW. Like the first edition of EVW, it has numerous diacritic mistakes.</ref>

# Other standard reference works that cover Vietnam also remove the diacritics: ''Britannica'',<ref>''[http://www.britannica.com/ Britannica]'' is edited by University of Chicago Press copy editors trained in Chicago style. It has even more entries on Vietnam than the Merriam-Webster dictionaries do. The encyclopedia revised its style regarding diacritics for its 1974 edition to take advantage of improvements in printing technology. Merriam-Webster and other publishers adopted this style a few years later, and it is now standard. Pre-1974, the standard style was to use only Western European diacritics. This is still a common style in non-academic writing.</ref> Spencer Tucker's ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (2011),<ref>Tucker's work was originally published in 1998 with diacritics.[http://books.google.com.vn/books?id=Zk8YAAAAIAAJ&focus=] There were complaints that these were done incorrectly.[http://books.google.com.vn/books?id=WLcG5Cdw-NIC&pg=PA503&dq=#v=onepage&q=%22Encyclopedia%20of%20the%20Vietnam%20War%22%20diacritics&f=false] They have been removed from the current (2011) edition of the work.</ref> ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia'' (2002), ''National Geographic Atlas of the World'', and ''Lonely Planet Vietnam''.<ref>I found these works in the reference section of the main library in Taipei, as well as in the reference section of the University of Minnesota Library. In addition, the reference section at U of M has ''Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia'' (2004), which does use Vietnamese diacritics. This work is by ABC-CLIO, the same publisher as EVW. Like the first edition of EVW, it has numerous diacritic mistakes.</ref>

# Go on Amazon and search for "Vietnam" books. I guarantee that no book that comes up in the top twenty uses Vietnamese diacritics in the running text.

# Go on Amazon and search for "Vietnam" books. I guarantee that no book that comes up in the top twenty uses Vietnamese diacritics in the running text.

# Vietnamese diacritics are "distracting," according to the style guide of ''National Geographic''.<ref>''[http://stylemanual.ngs.org/home/A/accent-marks National Geographic Style Manual]''. "Although Vietnamese is written in the Latin alphabet, the number of accent marks can be distracting and may therefore be omitted."</ref> This publication has a great deal of experience with many different kinds of diacritics. Style should be as unremarkable as possible so that readers can focus on content.

# For many style rules, the standard is an arbitrary rule you follow just because it is the standard. But in this case, there is more to it than that. Vietnamese diacritics are more intense than those of any other language. For this reason, they are "distracting," according to the style guide of ''National Geographic''.<ref>''[http://stylemanual.ngs.org/home/A/accent-marks National Geographic Style Manual]''. "Although Vietnamese is written in the Latin alphabet, the number of accent marks can be distracting and may therefore be omitted."</ref> This publication has a great deal of experience with many different kinds of diacritics. Style should be as unremarkable as possible so that readers can focus on content.

# ''The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia'' (1993), the top specialist work on Vietnamese history, the diacritics.

# ''The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia'' (1993), the top specialist work on Vietnamese history, the diacritics.

# ABC-CLIO's failed attempt to introduce Vietnamese diacritics into textbooks might suggest that U.S. publishers drop these marks because they fear copy editors will screw them up. But this is not an issue for a publisher based in Vietnam itself. In fact, Vietnam has several English-language news sites that are professionally edited, including [http://english.vov.vn/ Voice of Vietnam]. But you won't find diacritics on those sites.<ref>The major news sites are aggregated by [http://en.baomoi.com/ Bao Moi]. You look up a name on this site and get an overview of how the Vietnamese press handles this issue.</ref> They model conventional language use for the benefit of Vietnamese who are learning English, so they have no interest in promoting Viet-lish.

# ABC-CLIO's failed attempt to introduce Vietnamese diacritics into textbooks might suggest that U.S. publishers drop these marks because they fear copy editors will screw them up. But this is not an issue for a publisher based in Vietnam itself. In fact, Vietnam has several English-language news sites that are professionally edited, including [http://english.vov.vn/ Voice of Vietnam]. But you won't find diacritics on those sites.<ref>The major news sites are aggregated by [http://en.baomoi.com/ Bao Moi]. You look up a name on this site and get an overview of how the Vietnamese press handles this issue.</ref> They model conventional language use for the benefit of Vietnamese who are learning English, so they have no interest in promoting Viet-lish.