Stuff Vietnamese people like

Vietnamese people love to sing. At least once in their lives, they have grabbed a mic and sung a song. Most people choose a karaoke club where they can monopolize the audience’s attention.

Of course, singing karaoke in the Vietnamese way is different. People sit still in the sofa, choose a heartbroken song (Don’t worry, most Vietnamese songs are about broken hearts), sing along the lyrics, and wait for the score. The score is an important factor. In some clubs, they even give awards to those who score 100 for a song.

That’s the reason why many Vietnamese buy DVD midi karaoke players to practice singing at home, though they will bother their neighbors a great deal. Another reason is that they will be embarrassed if the score is too low. In their opinion, scoring low means singing bad.

A foreigner may recognize a song by the singer or the band who’s made it famous. In Vietnam, a songwriter will be honored if her/his songs are sung by many singers, plus karaoke singers.

If you’re invited to a karaoke club, pick a strange song most people don’t know of, so if you score low, nobody will comment on it. If you’re confident, pick a fun song with fast rhythm. If you don’t sing at all, ask somebody to duet a song and murmur when she/he actually sings for you. Don’t decline to sing. It’s rude.

If you’re in Vietnam, better practice singing now.

Face is a social concept in Asian countries. And Vietnam is an Asian country. Face is a drug. Sometimes it brings you down, and sometimes it gets you so high.

In Vietnam, keeping face has leaped to the next stage. It doesn’t mean saving face to each other no more. It now means “I try to keep my face, and I don’t care about yours.” They don’t mind downgrading other people. “It’s not my fault. It’s theirs.” Saying sorry isn’t popular in Vietnamese culture. Don’t expect anyone to apologize to you sincerely, unless they’re forced to.

It applies to working style, too. They have a plan. They conduct it. They find out it’s not working. They fix it. They find out it’s not working. They have a new plan. They will never admit that they are wrong from the beginning.

Of course, in an argument, nobody likes to be in the lose side. They don’t even know of a win-win outcome. In the end, they try to settle for a win-lose situation which actually turns out to be lose-lose . “You’re right. I’m left.”

In Vietnam tradition, keeping face for the family is as important. Children are forced to study hard; women are forced to do the housework; spouses are reluctant to stay with their unfaithful partners; and so on. In short, Vietnamese people don’t live their lives, they live the lives their families lead them to. Sometimes, when life’s too tough, they try to avoid it by traveling alone.

Don’t try to compete socially with one of these people. You won’t defeat them.

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.

Blackout is a chance for inspiration, from procrastination. Slackers appreciate blackout as the genesis for their creativity, outside the confines of the office.

For Vietnamese students, blackout is their most favorite thing on earth. Even if some evening classes use generators to provide substitute power, a student will complain that the weak light affect their eyesight badly and call it a night. Another one will get up and follow her/him. Others will copy them immediately.

Many Vietnamese people like noise, but there is an exception. There are people who like blackout just because there’s no sound of the neighborhood karaoke singers, machines running at maximum capacity (including TV sets, computers, fans, etc.) It’s no better time to get the stress out and enjoy a real silent night.

For people who think they are romantic, a blackout night is perfect for a candlelit dinner. What a feel of European aristocracy in Vietnam! For real romantic people, it’s time they reminisce their childhood when blackout happened almost everyday, rain or shine, hell or high water. Back then, people gathered around a candle in the garden/terrace/balcony enjoying a juicy chit chat and natural wind. Kids managed to squeeze into a single bed singing a song together, telling a ghost story, or giggling with the animal shadows they playfully made on the wall.

If you’re a foreigner, you may like the last paragraph I’ve just written the best. If you’re stuck in the dark with Vietnamese people and don’t wanna go home to sleep, ask about their experience in their childhood. Don’t ask what they intend to do, because you may see them see you next time.

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.