French was the official language of Vietnam under French colonial rule from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. After 1954, French fell into disuse in North Vietnam, and maintained a high status in South Vietnam. Since the Fall of Saigon in 1975, French has declined in modern Vietnam: in 2018, slightly under 1% of the population was fluent in French.[1]
Vietnam is the largest Francophone country in Asia and is a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). Since the 1990s, the Vietnamese government in cooperation with the French government, has promoted French-language education in the country's schooling system, acknowledging the cultural and historic value of the French language. The language also continues to be used as a prestige language in certain professional sectors.[2]