Stuff Vietnamese people like

Traveling alone is economical and fun. Usually, Vietnamese people go online to find information about the place they wanna go and then they start saving money to go there. Some Wednesday afternoon, they suddenly don’t wanna work/study, and the next Thursday morning, after taking a few days off work, they are off to travel on their own with a camera and a backpack.

It’s not easy to travel without a friend, but usually their friends have parents and children and friends and pets and jobs and hopes and plans and memories and futures… and all that they can’t leave behind that fast. And if they have to wait for a team, they’ll have to wait for like another 6 months.

So, some Vietnamese backpackers find companions online, just to make new friends and get their photos taken on the road. Taking photos is an important thing to do for Vietnamese travelers, because they wanna show others that they have been to Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, China, etc. when they get back.

Traveling abroad is a a trend for those who think they are good at English. Vietnamese people feel the need to do it the way foreigners do it: discover new cultures with only a map and without a guide, find the values in places tourists don’t go to or can’t go to. Back home, they try to make you envy them by talking about their pilgrimage as if they were Christopher Columbus just discovering the Americas.

Vietnamese students have to study in the evening because their parents force them to. They also study some hard skills they aren’t taught in school because they wanna find a good job after graduation. If they didn’t go to evening classes, they wouldn’t keep up with their classmates.

Vietnamese workers study whatever their boss asks them to because they want a promotion. Some girls study things like dancing, cooking, massage, makeup, etc. to prepare for marriage; while guys prefer to study to play sports.

Some go to evening classes because everybody does. They would feel like they’re missing something in their life if they didn’t do it.

Most people go to evening class to really further their study. But there are exceptions. While some parents think their “princesses” and/or “princes” are studying hard, these overprotected children actually hang out with friends in a coffee shop, a karaoke club, a fashion store, or an internet cafe spending their money.

Of course, English is the most popular subject for the evening study. Speaking periods are good opportunities for Vietnamese people to know more about Western cultures and to talk with their native teachers.

Leisure and studying/working time in Vietnam can’t be separated as easily as we unbutton halves of a shirtfront. If they bring sort of a heavy bag, they may not be ready to hang out. If you’re lucky, maybe you could persuade them to skip the formalities and go with you.

In Vietnam, the Academy Awards is known as the Oscars. It’s an important event here because people like American movies. While the Vietnamese film industry lacks a movie that is worth watching, Vietnamese people won’t have to complain much, because they can enjoy American movies at the cinema for as cheap as $1.5-3.5.

Academy Awards is the topic for every February, when the Tet holidays are over. Unlike Grammy Awards which nominations are not new, most of the movies nominated by AMPAS haven’t reached the Vietnamese audience yet. That’s why Vietnamese people will do anything, pay any price (this is not quite true), resort to any form (that means they download them in the office), just to watch those movies before the Oscars night. They will recommend and share those movies to others who haven’t watched them yet, and win the race.

Unlike Westerners, Vietnamese people don’t throw any Oscar party where people get involve in an Oscar pool. Somehow, they stick to their imaginative winner list, and if any in this list didn’t win, they would blame the Academy for bad judgment.

Every year, the awards history is mentioned again on newspapers. How many Vietnamese movies have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film? Ask them, and they’ll be very embarrassed. Don’t blame Vietnamese people for their ignorance with Vietnamese movies, they are not xenophiles, they are learning English through American movies.

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.

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.