Responses to using Vietnamese

put yourself in the shoe of a local Vietnamese in a country where multi culturalism doesn't thrive as much as the Western world. It's a rare occurrence to see foreigner's let alone one that can speak the local language.

She's complimenting you. Yeah Vietnamese aren't great at showing their gratitude or emotions but they keep all good and bad deeds to heart.

By 'mocking' you she's letting everyone know this foreigner can speak Vietnamese and is someone that has attempted to learn their language. They won't outright say your Vietnamese is great because that's just close ended compliment. Better to get a laugh out of it. Shows they are happy with you.

That's what they tell me.  That's what they all tell me.  And, yes, I know, a lot of people live here for decades and never learn a word, whereas I came here already having studied for two years. 

It still feels very much like being made fun of.  I know my pronunciation isn't perfect but I stopped getting the blank looks about a month ago.

I used to get angry and lost confident whenever I spoke Vietnamese and the Vietnamese locals will say my Vietnamese is too hard/rigid or most insulting to me was my Vietnamese sounds Chinese.

Now whenever a Vietnamese local criticizes my Vietnamese I don't take it to heart. I know they think something they will blurt it out. I just need to keep working on my Vietnamese. Life is too short to get bogged down on these minuscule details. My pride was left in Canada before I boarded the plane to Vietnam.

i don't mind being reminded that my command of the language is imperfect; this is a fact and to be insulted by facts is simply immature.  In fact a lot of people have gone out of their way to help me learn better. 

But most people are no help at all.  They speak machine-gun fast and when I ask them to repeat slower they get the "repeat" part and pay no attention to the "slower" part.  And, as a lot of us have learned, when we hear what a moment ago was gibberish just, oh, 20% slower, it instantly resolves into words that we mostly recognize.

Try leaving out the "không đường". And if it still comes with sugar, try:  "không bo (dau hoi) đường" Madame L insists if she justs says Cafe den da, it comes without sugar.

Khanh44. I have the exact same problem. My wife's family, whom I have all met and know, always think it's a Chinese wrong number when I call. Someday, I'll get it right ;-)

@lirelou, if you ask for "cafe đen", it'll sure come w/ sugar

Cang is right, sugar is the default.  I can't stand sweet drinks.  I think that coffee is why there is so much diabetes here.

Aha, so the "không đường" may be why they're laughing and smiling. Remember Chris, you came to Vietnam to enjoy the experience and many aspects of it you do. Perhaps when they laugh and smile, you should join in. (And I suspect you did.) We can all afford a little more humor in our lives.

Cam on, Cang_nduc.

Little kids yelling "hello!!!!" ... that was cute the first two, three million times

lirelou wrote:

Aha, so the "không đường" may be why they're laughing and smiling. Remember Chris, you came to Vietnam to enjoy the experience and many aspects of it you do. Perhaps when they laugh and smile, you should join in. (And I suspect you did.) We can all afford a little more humor in our lives.

I don't react to it like I've been mocked but only because so many have told me so.  It still looks exactly like it.

I came here for a lot of reasons.  The adventure was one of them.  Not one of the big ones.   I ended up coming years before I intended to because my house was finished and I just said to hell with it, let's go now.  I should have waited a little longer, prepared a little better, thrown out a lot less.

I also should have "walked away" from my house in the USA and brought a lot more money.

i might feel the same as you in that case ChrisFox.

but, it maybe right, that mocking you speaking their language is a compliment. although, i can't exactly tell since i am not there.

in most cases that i speak Vietnamese, people would usually tell me that I can speak Vietnamese clearly and they can understand. if they don't, they will either shake their head and keep still, then say, "khong hieu".   

khanh44 might be right, so just look at the brighter side. :-)

in my time at the casino , i had a real racicist attitude, people from other countries would come along laughing and talking, i thought it was always about me till a collegue said" if you want to tell a joke you say it in you native tongue it will get lost in translation dont be so selfcentred" it was the best advice ever thanks to him , iam just a small AO not a big one P ing people off ( the sarcasmim is aimed at me , not anyone else)

Bothers me when I speak slowly, carefully, tones exactly right, etc, and get an answer that sounds like the guy has had his tongue cut out.  Cow hoo.  I was a LOT clearer than that.

khanh44 wrote:

I used to get angry and lost confident whenever I spoke Vietnamese and the Vietnamese locals will say my Vietnamese is too hard/rigid or most insulting to me was my Vietnamese sounds Chinese.

Now whenever a Vietnamese local criticizes my Vietnamese I don't take it to heart. I know they think something they will blurt it out. I just need to keep working on my Vietnamese. Life is too short to get bogged down on these minuscule details. My pride was left in Canada before I boarded the plane to Vietnam.

I know what you talk about. My Vietnamese isnt perfect cause I was born and grew up all my life in Germany. I talked only Vietnamese with my parents and I never attended a Vietnamese School nor do I meet up with many Vietnamese (we speak German if we do).

But luckily most locals find it somehow cute how I speak Vietnamese. They understand me most time (if not i point) and tell me that my Vietnamese is good for being a Viet Kieu.

However sometimes I meet  people who complain that my German Accent is too strong bla bla bla. Next time I tell them. So What? What about your German or English?!

Maybe we can all learn from students and go to park talk be patient and learn students are very patient with you if u r the same don't forget , take an open mind

missmae wrote:

[However sometimes I meet  people who complain that my German Accent is too strong bla bla bla. Next time I tell them. So What? What about your German or English?!

Wir können einander gut verwirren sollen!

If I speak German here it messes me up in Vietnamese, sometimes for days.  I'm not good at keeping learned languages separate. 

Once in my Vietnamese class in the USA, Hanoi dialect, we tried listening to film clips in southern dialect since we were all going to be using it.  There was one phrase the teacher said was five words.  We played it many many times, and all three of us heard four words.  All of us.  The teacher wrote down what they were saying ... then I could sort of hear a little aspiration where the missing word was.  Fifteen minutes later, we all heard five words.  Clearly! 

It was one of the weirdest hours of my life.

what phrase was that?

ChrisFox wrote:

Little kids yelling "hello!!!!" ... that was cute the first two, three million times

A kid jumped out in front of my motorbike to say hello so she could practice her English. Pretty sure a heart attack will be the death of me here if the 'diabeetus' from all this sugar coffee doesn't get me first.

khanh44 wrote:

what phrase was that?

All those repetitions, you'd think I remember, but I don't.