Viet Syllable Keyboard

Bàn phím tiếng Việt

Artwork & software by Nhan Phan
Research by Yui Nguyen
Hardware by Quang Anh Nguyen

https://vietkeyboard.vercel.app/

The recent physical version.

A digital version is available at vietkeyboard.vercel.app



Typing is a key interaction between us and computer. Typing is a way of using language. Users forming the words in the mind and put them into life by physically pressing on keys. Typing reflects how we use language to rationale and navigate in digital era.

Early 2024, CodeSurfing hosted a research called "Our Vietnamese Project". From the research, we built a dataset of all the mono-syllables of Vietnamese, extracted from "Từ điển tiếng Việt" (Vietnamese dictionary) by Prof. Hoàng Phê. From 30.000 Vietnamese words appear in the dictionary, we created a dataset of roughly 6,000 mono-syllables. While analyzing that monosyllabic dataset, we recognized a structure of Vietnamese. Despite the alphabetic outerwear, the Vietnamese body is actually constructed by:

consonant + vowel + consonant

The current use of alphabetic keyboard (QWERTY) erases that structure and forces Vietnamese to become a character-based language, instead of a component-based language. Each part of a Vietnamese syllable carries certain pronunciation and certain feeling. For example: “phập” starts with “ph” that force us to breath out briefly, “ậ” carries the air back in to fill the mouth, then “p” force the lips and teeth to close abruptly. All of them together to create “phập”, which means a quick and exact bite. Think vampire. The QWERTY keyboard erases that syllabic functionality. And worse, with rules and automation, users are not allowed to form words that are possible to form and pronounce in Vietnamese but not yet appear in the dictionary. There are more than new 70,000 syllables like that, compared to 6,000 official syllables. This proves the abundance and flexibility of our language and suggest endless potential for the growth of Vietnamese.



1st digital prototype (07/2024)

Keyboard display with its research poster at 3nam Studio (09/2024)

Installation view at FutureTense Award Hong Kong (08/2025)

Nhân Phan


Hi, this is Nhan.
I work accross media art, programming, and teaching.


PRACTICE

I was born into the Internet era and raised in transition across multiple homes. My life is a scatter of places, faces, and moments - lived physically, digitally, and in between. Dwelling in this hybridity, my work forms a manual for being human under digital conditions. Here, algorithms and devices become agents of emotion and desire, interfering with familiarity and reciprocity, producing both friction and pleasure. I use love, affection, and even cheesiness as critical gestures against the current overly design-driven technological landscape, which increasingly diminishes human touch and moral complexity in pursuit of profit and surface appeal.

My works are developed and presented through a collaborative and performative process. I have created zines in which contributors must reply to one another only through the pages, relinquishing all other forms of daily contact. I have built a keyboard that forms and vocalizes non-existent Vietnamese syllables, urging participants to make noise and make sense together. I have produced video installations that provoke perversity and discomfort, at times prompting audiences to leave the screening altogether. Collaboration, in my practice, is not only a theme but a condition carefully embedded throughout the making.


TEACHING

My teaching is primarily in p5.js and creative coding. I am the founder and teacher at CodeSurfing, the first art-tech collective in Vietnam, advocating for accessibility in technology for local artists. In 2023, I was a Teaching Fellow of the Processing Foundation Fellowship, and in 2024, I continued as a mentor. Prior to this, from 2020 to 2023, I worked as a teaching assistant and later as an instructor at CoderSchool, where I led classes and workshops covering data analysis with Python, computer vision, and generative networks.


CONTACT

You can reach me via my email. My teaching and programs are public via CodeSurfing (IG and Web).