Stuff Vietnamese people like

It’s undeniable that English is very important language for any Vietnamese person. Vietnam even has its own system of English certificates with A as the elementary, B as the intermediate and C as the advanced level. Most office jobs require those kinds of certificates. In a job interview, 9 out of 10 interviewees will say they plan to learn English if you ask them about their status/plan to attend any evening course.

Vietnamese people love practicing English as often as is humanly possible. Don’t be surprised when you happen to see a group of Vietnamese people chatting in English at a bookstore or in a restaurant. Don’t comment about their noisy behaviors, because they’re trying to let you know they are speaking English. They sign up for English speaking channels like HBO, Cinemax, Star Movies, etc. and state that these channels help them improve English a lot, while in fact, they will immediately switch to another channel if the movie doesn’t have Vietnamese subtitles.

Western tourists are easily found as English teachers here in Vietnam, without any teaching skills. Most of them handle speaking classes where they only need to discuss with their students about cultures, Vietnamese one in particular, for their own benefit. Because Vietnamese people like learning English with a native speaker, they don’t even care that they don’t improve at all after those courses.

Vietnamese people like English, whether or not they are good at it. If you’re short of topics to talk about, encourage them to speak of their efforts in learning English.

Vietnamese people like white people, apparently because they always wanna have fairer skin. If you happen to speak English, they will like you more, even if you’re from Africa. Vietnamese people like white people speaking Vietnamese even more. So, speaking a little Vietnamese or proving that you wanna learn Vietnamese is a plus. Joe Ruelle became famous overnight, and you could be, too.

Most Vietnamese people like being seen with a white person, though there will be some rumors later (just in case it’s a white guy with a Vietnamese girl). If you’re white, you’ll surely be introduced to their friends and invited to parties.

If you’re a white guy and wanna seduce a girl, walk into a room and crook a finger. Actually, you have to do nothing at all but be there, and girls will be drawn to you. Unfortunately, Vietnamese guys are very different from girls in this regard. But don’t think that marrying a Vietnamese girl is easy, because not many of those who run after you stand a chance of winning over prejudice.

Make friend with a Vietnamese person and you’ll suddenly have a group of Vietnamese people surrounding you. Be prepared to attend lots of parties, events, “interviews” of all sorts, because here you’ll be treated like a Hollywood celebrity. However, Vietnamese people won’t like much your rejections to accompany them, because they’ll lose an opportunity to show themselves off and lose face with their friends.

Vietnamese people are just too curious to stay out of rumors. In Vietnam, people stop their bikes on the street just to see an accident, especially when there’s a quarrel involved. They see a group of people gathering and ask the one who stand in front of them what has happened. They will get the story (either right or wrong) and tell the one who will later ask them with some adaptations. Even slightest accidents cause traffic jams.

Moreover, Vietnamese people love to tell stories their own ways to impress others that they’re good readers. Usually, they get the stories online from some tabloid newspapers like VnExpress, Ngoisao.net, etc., where little control can be exercised over the information. Most are poorly adapted from other news channels in English.

Again, Yahoo Messenger is widely used to transfer rumors, fast and effectively. That’s why bad people take the opportunity to deliver viruses through fake “hot news.” Anyway, those kinds of rumors seem harmless to any person, unless one clicks on a link that contains a virus. You should be careful to confirm with the one who has sent a link before you click on it.

Verbal rumors mostly come from Vietnamese prejudicial nature. These rumors badly affect their target’s face to some extent. Beware of these kinds of rumors, don’t pass them around because you’ll unknowingly hurt the someone and she/he’ll lose respect for you. In case you’re the target of a rumor, learn to laugh it out and let it go.

In any circumstances, when you’re told a rumor, you should only laugh with them, not at them. Just observe to see if they’re laughing at all.

Yahoo Messenger is the most popular means of online communication in Vietnam. Yes, if you don’t wanna lose contact with Vietnamese people, it’s best you set up a Yahoo account and start learning Vietnamese way of chatting (passing everything people send you to your acquaintances, except your bosses).

Vietnamese people choose Yahoo Messenger because they exceptionally like the emoticons set (smileys) from Yahoo Messenger 6.0. They consider it the best way to transfer their emotions in a message. If they are on Linux and use Pidgin or Kopete, for sure they try their best to find a way to install the Yahoo emoticons. They prefer chatting to downloading in the office, though both are often disallowed. If they have a day off work due to blackout, they’re available to chat once they’re at home.

Another Yahoo product Vietnamese people don’t wanna give up is Yahoo 360. Since Yahoo announced the closure of this poorly performing social network, they have been scared to lose their blog entries. Even though there are better blog services, Vietnamese people always choose Yahoo 360, because they can easily connect with the Yahoo Messenger network they’ve already used.

Vietnamese use the “status” to update you about their thoughts. Their “status” changes every day, every hour, even minute, every time Vietnamese people think of something interesting to share with others.

Don’t suggest Vietnamese people to use Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, or anything that most people use in your home country. In Vietnam, either of those IMs would come a very poor second!

10 years ago, Vietnamese people didn’t know anything about Valentine’s Day. When it was first introduced by white people, Vietnamese people even enunciated the word Valentine wrongly. But thanks to their love of learning English, not only do they speak rightly, they know how to live the day to the max.

Of course, Valentine’s Day is important to couples. But in Vietnam, everybody likes the day. Why? Single people like the day because they can exchange their little funny stories about how to hook up with a targeted partner, in a sarcastic way. Unlike Friday the 13th, in some cases, workers can have a day off they all wish for on Valentine’s Day. That’ll never happen in other countries. And that’s the reason that makes people like Valentine’s Day all the more.

This year, Valentine’s Day arrives on the day after Friday the 13th. Don’t think that you can ignore any of the days! Vietnamese people will make sure you remember both with a joke like “Friday the 13th seems to be better than the day after (because prices just don’t go up).” Friday, February 13, 2009 would be scarier if there was no Valentine’s Day following it. So, keep in mind that these two days are sort of a package deal. Just like the song “Bad day” and its MV!

Single or in a relationship, when you happen to be in Vietnam on Valentine’s Day, be cool with ironic jokes they tell you. Inventing some jokes will definitely upgrade you in their eyes.