Why do so many Vietnamese treat me like a 12 year old?

I certainly do not get treated like a child , never have , so i dont understand why you would feel that you do . Maybe ????

I do believe wrote:

Why do Vietnamese treat foreigners as if they are children?

some context would be helpful

I have several examples but let me start with this one; I am having dinner at a person's house, she is the chief accountant at a large firm and her husband is the ex CEO of another company. There are about 8 people there and the host has a bad cold, the host hands out the chopsticks being careful not to handle the food end. I told her she shouldn't handle the chopsticks at all with her being infectious. She looked at me with disdain and told me foreigners don't understand anything; you can't get sick from chopsticks.

I have found the the majority of Vietnamese know very little about bacteria and viruses. My sister in law who holds a uni degree got angry with me because I didn't want her to hold my infant daughter while she was sick with the flu. She had could not believe that she could make my daughter sick.

@I Do Believe - May i ask what your last post has to do with being treated like a child ???

@Happy8888 OK - maybe I should have said, "Why do some Vietnamese treat me like an idiot regardless of my education and experience." It seems many, regardless of their education or social status, aren't the least bit interested in learning anything new; my response when told something new would be, "Why?"

Actually i find a lot of Vietnamese , whether educated or not , behave like children, and so do many foreigners . Since when does a country's national pastime involve watching Tom and Jerry ??

Happy8888 wrote:

Actually i find a lot of Vietnamese , whether educated or not , behave like children, and so do many foreigners . Since when does a country's national pastime involve watching Tom and Jerry ??

Or Mr. Bean

When I owned a business in Saigon I was told daily by my staff that I knew nothing and that Viet Nam is different. I have come to ignore it, as they actually believe they are the smart ones,nuff said.

Same all over the world. Behave like a child, treated like a child. Taking your colleagues' behaviour as indicative of an entire nation of people sounds to me like something a 12-year-old would do.

MatthiasB wrote:

Taking your colleagues' behaviour as indicative of an entire nation of people sounds to me like something a 12-year-old would do.

It is normal to take a sampling of a population group to ascertain the thoughts and opinions of the population at large. Its called polling.

Well said Vung Tau Don , its not just some random colleagues  , it is truly widespread throughout the community . Any rational person can see that

Instead of 'child' or 'idiot', why don't  you think about 'caring'?
If you are a local simply they don't care because they know well that you can handle most situations. As a foreigner, of course you cannot communicate sufficiently if you got sick. "Prevention is better than cure"!
Actually I like that kind of 'caring'. I never thought their care in another manner.