If you are familiar with the English alphabet, you will see that learning the Vietnamese alphabet is much easier. You will recognize that some of the letters have variant forms. It may feel difficult to remember at first because you are used to English. However, if you skip those variants and just write using the English alphabet in Vietnamese, it is still fine. But keep in mind that it can change the meaning of the original word.
I will give you an example: In the English alphabet, we have the letter "O". In the Vietnamese alphabet, we also have the letter "O", but with some variants (different forms of the letter "O", which are O, Ô, and Ơ). Suppose you do not remember those variants and you just remember the letter "O" by itself. You might wonder if you can use only the letter "O" to write in the Vietnamese language. Yes, you totally can do it that way, especially if you are a beginner in this language. Now, let's make a sentence using the letter "O".
Now, let's make a sentence using letter "O"
I like to eat garlic. (English)
Tôi thích ăn tỏi. (Vietnamese)
You may recognize that the word "Tôi" is hard to remember, so you write: "Toi thich an toi".
However, this unaccented sentence can have many different meanings once you add the variant forms and tone marks to the letter "O":
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Tôi thích ăn tỏi (I like to eat garlic)
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Tôi thích ăn tối (I like to eat dinner)
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And many more meanings.
Writing words without their variant forms in Vietnamese gives you a few different ways to explore the language:
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If used in literature (poetry or stories), it provides a variety of creative resources to experiment with.
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If used in casual daily conversations, it might just become a lighthearted joke that makes people laugh—and nothing more.
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If used in formal documents (such as legal texts or contracts), it will cause misunderstanding and confusion.
If you are a beginner looking for a quick way to start communicating with native speakers, this approach is an option. However, for the long term, I recommend learning and understanding the variant forms and their context-specific meanings. This will prevent confusion, avoid unintentional jokes, and ensure you aren't misunderstood—especially when meeting and getting acquainted with native speakers for the first time.