There are two types of calligraphy in Vietnam: the Western-style calligraphy with chữ Quốc Ngữ only and the traditional style of calligraphy with chữ Quốc Ngữ, chữ Hán Nôm.
I’m not an artistic person, and all the artistic stuffs are lost on me, but I enjoy looking at both. I resent learning calligraphy of any kind though.
The Western-style calligraphy is employed as a part of the daily life, esp in formal occasions when the usual cursive writing won’t suffice (i.e. the notes on birthday presents, formal meetings, new year banners of businesses, etc.).
Most students in elementary school have to learn the Western-style calligraphy for at least 2 years. More, if they’re good at it. It’s just a part of the standard public education system. There are competitions on the city and country scales on Western-style calligraphy for children from 1st grade to 5th grade. These competitions are important events for elementary schools. Three years of my life were wasted practicing the Western-style calligraphy with blood, sweats, and tears (not a hyperbole), in isolation and constant surveillance for a good half of each school year when I could have spent that time studying something else, like sports, another foreign language, the old Hán Nôm writing system, math, having an actual childhood, etc. All that efforts, only to be thrown out of the windows the moment I hit 6th grade, when the need for just jotting things down as fast as possible overrode any artistic sense.
The traditional style of calligraphy is considered more of an art form than a part of the daily life. The traditional style calligraphy is usually hung on the front of the house or the office during traditional celebrations (such as Tết) and special occasions (such as opening days of businesses) or employed as literally a work of art to decorate the house/office. The traditional style is more popular in the north than it is in the south.
The traditional style is usually offered as a part of Hán Nôm courses at language centers for adults and teenagers. Not many people choose to study this course because knowledge of Hán Nôm just isn’t very useful to most people’s careers.
I like looking at calligraphy of both kinds, but I would rather die than learn (or relearn) any of them.