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Yes, you can.

If your pronunciation is clear and in Northern accent, you'll be able to communicate with everyone in the country except longtime residents of Nghệ An (north-central), Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, and Huế (all of them are in the central).

When I say Northern accent, I mean Old Town Hanoi aka Thăng Long accent.  Residents south of Hanoi especially the coastal cities have difficulty distinguishing between N and L; I would stay away from teachers in those areas.

I agree. As a native speaker, I find accents from these North Central regions very hard to comprehend, let alone a Vietnamese language learner.

But is it just me or most, if not all, non-native Vietnamese speakers (those I talk to in SG or get interviewed on TV) speak with Northern accent? Does it mean they only study with instructors from the North? Is Northern accent considered official?

Any thoughts?

mepif wrote:

I agree. As a native speaker, I find accents from these North Central regions very hard to comprehend, let alone a Vietnamese language learner.

But is it just me or most, if not all, non-native Vietnamese speakers (those I talk to in SG or get interviewed on TV) speak with Northern accent? Does it mean they only study with instructors from the North? Is Northern accent considered official?

Any thoughts?

From the beginning of Vietnamese oral language (waaay before Alexandre de Rhodes putting alphabets to the sounds he heard), Hanoi accent has always been considered the truest.

Have you ever noticed that unless they sing a regional song, all singers perform in Northern accent no matter where they were born and grew up, and no matter that they speak in a completely different accent?  It's because many lyrics would've had different meaning if being sung in other accents.

That's probably the reason foreigners are learning Vietnamese in Northern accent.