Latest / The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen
500 - P2 AMA - Is Modern Vietnamese Writing the Colonizer’s Alphabet? Viet Origins w Prof. John Phan
In this episode, Ken brings back Columbia University Professor John Phan for a deep-dive AMA responding to your comments on the history of Quốc Ngữ. John blows past standard historical narratives to explore what "literacy" actually meant in the 15th-century Lê Dynasty, revealing that ancient exam data points to an elite, highly widespread network of scholars functioning long before industrialization.
They trace the mechanical leap from East Asian woodblock printing to the Gutenberg press, exposing why technology—not just a simpler alphabet—is the true engine of modern literacy…
The skinny
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