Vang, Bee. Accelerated Hmong: Integrated Beginning and Intermediate. 1^st ed. St. Paul, MN: Key Series, 2011. Print.

Bee Vang, Director of the Hmong Language Program at the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, created this textbook for learning the Hmong language. The textbook is used in Hmong language courses at several Twin Cities colleges, including the University of Minnesota and Century College, but it is also available for purchase by individuals not affiliated with any college. It is accessible for true beginners; no prior exposure to the language is required to understand its content. However, it moves quickly toward and through the intermediate level, so any non-native speaker will remain adequately challenged.

The book’s first few pages summarize how a history of persecution and emigration shaped Hmong culture and language. Vang explains that many dialects exist, though the two most common—and those covered in the book—are White Hmong and Green Hmong. Speakers of these dialects are named for groups Chinese rulers imposed on the Hmong as part of a “divide and conquer” strategy. (Other groups include the Black Hmong and the Striped Hmong.) The Chinese required the Hmong to wear clothing identifying their group status, which, when coupled with geographic distance, aided in the formation of varying Hmong dialects, traditions, and subcultures.

Vang explains three missionaries, Dr. William Smalley, Dr. Linwood Barney, and Father Yves Bertrais, created an RPA (Roman Popularized Alphabet) written script for Hmong in 1952. That script is now the most widely-used form of written Hmong and the form Vang’s book teaches.** While this background information is interesting, most helpful are the next few pages, which contain a diagram of the human head and a list of Hmong alphabet characters. The list provides English sound equivalents and explanations of how the sounds are formed; the explanations correspond to the accompanying diagram. For example, the Hmong double consonant “DH” is explained as “Clear D with a puff of air. Tip of tongue taps off of the palate ridge while puff of air is pushed out” (10). The Hmong double vowel “AA” “sounds like saying ‘a’ with ‘ng’ . . . vowel [sound] of ‘lung’” (16).

The rest of the book is divided into sections by usage; chapters include “Kinship,” “In the House,” “Community,” “Health and Well-Being,” and “Traveling the World,” among others. Illustrations help readers with comprehension. Exercises provide readers with opportunities to apply what they’ve learned. The last few chapters cover proverbs and riddles, key components of Hmong culture. Proverbs convey wisdom gained from centuries of life experience. Riddles set up a problem listeners can only solve by listening closely and identifying homonyms.

This book is an excellent resource for ENGL 2330 Hmong American Literature instructors. The alphabet character lists and pronunciation guides are particularly helpful for reading poems, essays, and stories by Hmong American writers, which often include Hmong words or phrases within their primarily English text.

**Shong Lue Yang, known as the “Mother of Writing,” created a Hmong script called Pahwah in the 1960s that used completely new and unique characters he developed. Although Pahwah gained popularity at the time, today most Hmong around the world use the RPA script.