Cultural advice

    Can we get some advice on being US citizen in Vietnam for two months.?We would appreciate an understanding of social etiquette without any language skills at all.Thanks much       -@paulepancakes

Hi there. Your asking a very broad question.

Which specific social etiquette boundaries are you concerned about and/or trying not to overstep?

    Can we get some advice on being US citizen in Vietnam for two months.?We would appreciate an understanding of social etiquette without any language skills at all.
Thanks much
   

    -@paulepancakes

Many online sources:

https://tinyurl.com/mryun49f

Let us know if there's a specific issue that concerns you.

Cheers!

O.B.

    Can we get some advice on being US citizen in Vietnam for two months.?We would appreciate an understanding of social etiquette without any language skills at all.
Thanks much
   

    -@paulepancakes

If you are referring to the war, it's not really considered an issue. For the most part, the Vietnamese, especially younger generations are now focused on the present and the future, and diplomatic relations with the USA are positive and cordial. Since Clinton visited in the year 2000, all US presidents have made a point of visiting Vietnam. If you find yourself in HCMC/Sài Gòn, you should spend some time at the very educational and moving War Remnants Museum to see another perspective.

With regard to language, English is widely spoken throughout much of Southeast Asia, particularly in the tourism industry. The one main exception is maybe taxi/bus drivers and some low-level restaurant staff. These days, a lot Vietnamese send their kids to English schools at the age of around 4 years. You can learn some basic Vietnamese phrases from videos found on the internet, mostly on YouTube, or some smartphone apps. Also, you can use a smartphone to translate text or speech from one language to another (with sometimes mixed results).

    Can we get some advice on being US citizen in Vietnam for two months.?We would appreciate an understanding of social etiquette without any language skills at all.
Thanks much

    -@paulepancakes

Hey Paul,

Your "need to know" will largely depend on your lifestyle here.

If you live within an expat bubble (such as An Thượng and the Mỹ Khê beach here in Đà Nẵng) and socialize primarily with other expats, you really won't need to understand much about Vietnamese culture.

Almost all of the Vietnamese people you meet in those & similar places/situations are there to make money catering to YOUR cultural expectations.

The primary expats looking to figure out and follow Vietnamese culture & customs are single foreigners wanting to date or marry a Vietnamese citizen, business people looking to invest and expats seeking employment.

An expat couple (such as you and your wife) can expect everyone to want to make you happy, without expecting you to observe local customs and traditions.

If you venture out of the bubble with a Vietnamese tour guide or English-speaking driver (recommended once or twice) they should school you on how to comport yourselves and what you should expect at various tourist attractions and Vietnamese businesses normally only frequented by local citizens.

If you manage to be invited to have "coffee" or eat a meal with local Vietnamese people, then there are a few things you'll want to know.

If you follow the previous search link I shared, you can learn a lot of things that may never apply to you but may help you more fully understand and appreciate Vietnam.

It may never come up, but here there's no such thing as "The Vietnam War" or "Vietnam Veterans".

The American War in Vietnam or The American War of Aggression are more culturally sensitive terms.

Instead of you buying me that promised cup of coffee, let me take you for a visit to one of the local daycare centers for Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange related birth defects.

Two other important sites seldom visited by foreigners are the Hero Mothers' Memorial near Tam Kỳ and the village remnants memorial of the Mỹ Lai/Sơn Mỹ Village Massacre near Quảng Ngãi.

You can learn a lot about Vietnamese history and culture by visiting both of those places.

You really won't need to know much about Tết unless you manage to get invited to a family's private celebration, but there are plenty of threads on here that cover everything related to Tết.

Let us know if you've got a specific question that demands an answer.

Cheers!

O.B.