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# 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.

# 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 a wide variety 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 a wide variety of diacritics. Style should be as unremarkable as possible so that readers can focus on content.

# The usual rejoinder to the above is that U.S. publishers drop Vietnamese diacritics for "technical reasons." ABC-CLIO's failed attempt to introduce Vietnamese diacritics into textbooks suggests that the fear that non-Vietnamese copy editors will screw them up is certainly a factor. But a publisher based in Vietnam itself faces no technical issues of this kind. Vietnam has a significant English-language publishing industry, including various professionally edited news sites. 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> [http://english.vov.vn/ Voice of Vietnam] is probably the most relevant style model since it is aimed specifically at an overseas audience. The domestically-oriented [http://news.chinhphu.vn VGP News] once had diacritics, but switched to conventional English about a year ago. So there is no trend toward increased usage. Even sites that cater to language learners generally try to model conventional language use. Viet-lish is certainly easier for Vietnamese to read, but they will avoid a site that has a reputation for it.

# The usual rejoinder to the above is that U.S. publishers drop Vietnamese diacritics for "technical reasons." ABC-CLIO's failed attempt to introduce Vietnamese diacritics into textbooks suggests that the fear that non-Vietnamese copy editors will screw them up is certainly a factor. But a publisher based in Vietnam itself faces no technical issues of this kind. Vietnam has a significant English-language publishing industry, including various professionally edited news sites. 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> [http://english.vov.vn/ Voice of Vietnam] is the most widely read of these sites and it is aimed at an international audience. The domestically-oriented [http://news.chinhphu.vn VGP News] once had diacritics, but switched to conventional English about a year ago. So there is no trend toward increased usage. Even sites that cater to language learners generally try to model conventional language use. Viet-lish is certainly easier for Vietnamese to read, but they will avoid a site that has a reputation for it.

# Who is still putting Vietnamese diacritics in English-language material? Besides Wikipedia,<ref>Vietnam-related titles were moved to diacritic forms ''en masse'' soon after I was banned.</ref> there's Thế Giới Publishers in Hanoi. Much of the material this company puts out is old-style war propaganda. Tourists can buy it and show the goofy language and lettering to their friends back home. The print edition of ''Viet Nam News'' also uses diacritics. This newspaper is a Cold War dinosaur that disappeared from newsstands years ago.<ref>They still hand out copies of ''Viet Nam News'' to passengers who request it on Vietnam Air. Otherwise, the print edition doesn't have any circulation worth mentioning. The [http://vietnamnews.vn/ web edition of VNN] is the top English-language site in Vietnam and a very different publication. It is diacritics free and far less propaganda-oriented than the print edition.</ref> In "patriotic-language" publications of this type, Vietnam is "Việt Nam," Hanoi is "Hà Nội," and mainstream English has been left far behind.

# Who is still putting Vietnamese diacritics in English-language material? Besides Wikipedia,<ref>Vietnam-related titles were moved to diacritic forms ''en masse'' soon after I was banned.</ref> there's Thế Giới Publishers in Hanoi. Much of the material this company puts out is old-style war propaganda. Tourists can buy it and show the goofy language and lettering to their friends back home. The print edition of ''Viet Nam News'' also uses diacritics. This newspaper is a Cold War relic that disappeared from newsstands years ago.<ref>They still hand out copies of ''Viet Nam News'' to passengers who request it on Vietnam Air. Otherwise, the print edition doesn't have any circulation worth mentioning. The [http://vietnamnews.vn/ web edition of VNN] is the top English-language site in Vietnam and a very different publication. It is diacritics free and far less propaganda-oriented than the print edition.</ref> In "patriotic-language" publications of this type, Vietnam is "Việt Nam," Hanoi is "Hà Nội," and mainstream English has been left far behind.

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