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Tiếng Việt · English

Learn Vietnamese with short stories

Read Vietnamese books with English alongside, or English books with Vietnamese alongside: the original and the translation side by side, paragraph by paragraph.

Free Vietnamese–English stories and ebooks

Stories to read in Vietnamese, with the English beside each paragraph. They open in the browser, with no account needed, and each one is also a free Vietnamese–English ebook for Kindle, Kobo or any e-reader: downloading needs a free account, no payment (which file to pick).

Open the Vietnamese–English library, where you can search the stories and filter them by level.

By level:

Free graded readers in Vietnamese

Every story here carries its level on the Common European Framework, from A1 for beginners to C1 and beyond, so the library works as a set of free Vietnamese graded readers: start at the level where you understand most of a page, and move up when the English beside it is something you check only now and then.

Want a book that isn’t here? Make your own Vietnamese–English parallel text from any EPUB or PDF: free preview, and 50 free pages when you sign up.

Reading Vietnamese with English alongside

Vietnamese is written in the Latin alphabet, so you can start reading from the first day. Its words do not change their endings: no conjugations, no plurals, no cases. Time and number come from small words such as đã (already, for the past) and sẽ (will), which makes sentences easier to take apart than they first look.

What takes time is the tones and the marks that show them: ma, má, mà, mả, mã and mạ are six different words. With the English beside each paragraph, you can follow the story while the marks and the words they make become familiar.

Reading English books with Vietnamese alongside

For Vietnamese speakers, a parallel text is a way into books in English without stopping at every idiom or phrasal verb. Read the English and look across to the Vietnamese when a sentence doesn’t land.

It works for families abroad too: one book, two languages on the same page, so children growing up with English can keep reading Vietnamese with their parents and grandparents.

213 English stories in the library have Vietnamese alongside: Học tiếng Anh qua truyện ngắn.

Where a parallel text helps most in Vietnamese

Tone marks change the word

Every syllable carries one of six tones, and the marks are part of the spelling: bàn is a table, bán is to sell, bạn is a friend. Reading with the English beside it shows which word you are looking at.

Pronouns that tell you who is speaking

Instead of one word for “I” and “you”, Vietnamese uses family words: a child says con to a parent, a younger person em to an older one, anh or chị for an older brother or sister. The translation shows who is talking to whom.

Words built from syllables

Most words are one syllable or two written apart: học sinh (student) is học (to study) and sinh (to be born, life). A space does not always mean a new word, and the English shows where one ends.

Vietnamese classics to read in parallel

Long out of copyright and easy to find as EPUBs. Any of them makes a good first Vietnamese–English parallel text:

  • Truyện Kiều, Nguyễn Du
  • Lục Vân Tiên, Nguyễn Đình Chiểu
  • Số đỏ, Vũ Trọng Phụng
  • Tắt đèn, Ngô Tất Tố

Or use a book you already own: the method works best with something you actually want to read. See how to read a parallel text to get the most from it.

Questions about Vietnamese–English stories

Where can I read Vietnamese stories with English side by side for free?

Right here: 213 Vietnamese–English stories open in the browser with no account, the English beside every paragraph, from A1 to C2.

What is a Vietnamese–English parallel text?

A Vietnamese text placed beside its English translation, paragraph by paragraph, so you can read in one language and glance across to the other whenever you need to.

Which Vietnamese story should I start with?

Pick the level where you understand most of a page: the beginner stories use short sentences and common words, and the levels above them add longer sentences and richer vocabulary. Each story shows its level on the Common European Framework.

Can I read Vietnamese–English stories on a Kindle or Kobo?

Yes. Every story is also a bilingual ebook; downloading needs a free account, no payment.