Stuff Vietnamese people like

Vietnamese people are prejudicial for a reason. Prejudice is passed by tradition from one generation to another, by the means of Vietnamese language. You have to address Vietnamese people by personal substitutes. There are many of them, so, to do it right, you must ask or guess that person’s age and marital status. In English, starting a conversation with “I” and “you” is much simpler. In Vietnam, you need to judge.

Such questions like “How old are you?”, “Are you married?”, “How much is your salary?” are not sensitive ones. Avoiding answer them will hurt Vietnamese people a lot. Also, Vietnamese people like using the words “good person”, “bad person.” When you want to know about a person and ask a friend, you will hear her/him say, “She’s a good daughter” or “He’s a bad student.”

“How much does it cost?” is popular, too. Your neighbors will wanna know if your new motorcycle is expensive or not. Be sure that you give them a higher price, so they will give you a discourse on where to buy cheaper things. They’re a good source of information about Vietnam.

Vietnamese people are so stubbornly determined to dwell on negatives. When a white guy’s holding a Vietnamese girl’s hand on the street, Vietnamese people will cast them a nasty look. Most people will think this girl is a whore or is digging the guy’s money (especially when he’s old enough to be her father). Hardly will you find a Vietnamese person who thinks this white guy is an asshole, and you know why. Sometimes, they think it out loud to make the girl lose her face.

If you’re the target of rumors due to prejudice, remember “Ignorance is bliss.”

You’re riding in the middle of a street in Vietnam and hearing a loud hooter from behind, you rapidly change the line and find out it is from neither a bus nor a car. Wonder how a motorbike that small could produce so much noise? Because Vietnamese people have modified the original horn with a truck hooter. And that’s just 1 of 7 types of horning in Vietnam that a foreigner has categorized before.

Making noise is as important as breathing in Vietnam. Vietnamese people try their best to prove that the human being is the only creature that has language. “Silence is golden, but noise is platinum.”

On airplanes where the noise is loud enough, they try to shout, yell, scream, cry as loud as possible. As if they were on the roller-coaster. Flying is never that fun anywhere else in the world!

Vietnamese people don’t aware that noise is a kind of pollution. In order to keep face, they don’t like to admit that they are wrong. When there’s an accident, often you will see people stop their bikes to find out who has to compensate by quarreling, or even fighting.

Vietnamese people break things at home when they have a row. But if the matter is not yet resolved, they will bring it to the neighborhood by yelling as loud as possible, even if it’s 11 PM or midnight.

Don’t complain when your neighbors suddenly decide to sing karaoke at midnight. You’d better sleep off your tiredness somewhere else.

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.