General questions about Vietnam

[korn]

Hi there,

I didn't want to make for each and every question about Vietnam a thread of their own, otherwise Draven will scold me.

So this thread is for questions about that is not related to Vietnamese language, but have a more general nature. I hope a thread like that doesn't exist already.

#1: I want to know whether bicycles still dominate Vietnamese streets like they used to do. If not what vehicles is most seen on Vietnamese streets? Thanks in advance.

#2: People in Vietnam often say how hard they have and always saying "Ối giời ơi". The epitome of this is "Cải Lương". Do Vietnamese have the habit of .... well.... complaining or whining? Or do they like drama? :/

[JackFrost]

#1: I want to know whether bicycles still dominate Vietnamese streets like they used to do. If not what vehicles is most seen on Vietnamese streets? Thanks in advance.

Motos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JNWucQJGVI

[korn]

#3 Do you think Vietnamese think about coupling in inappropriate situations? When a little boy and a little girl (or babies of different gender for that matter) meet each other, most of their family members would say "con rể" resp. "con dâu" or when teenager of different genders meet each other their mom and dad are talking marriage and about what a cute couple they would make.

[Pangu]

#3 Do you think Vietnamese think about coupling in inappropriate situations? When a little boy and a little girl (or babies of different gender for that matter) meet each other, most of their family members would say "con rể" resp. "con dâu" or when teenager of different genders meet each other their mom and dad are talking marriage and about what a cute couple they would make.

I don't think this is limited to just Vietnamese culture. It occurs in many "older cultures". I remember an Indian friend of mine complained about that with her family and friends.

[abcdefg]

#2. Er.. I think it depends on the person. Generally? I don't know . Also I don't know how much is a lot, I have a boyfriend who is Ukrainian and he complains about everything every times we meet, from weather to Microsoft. He says it's usual in Ukraine, where people complain to find a common topic & start a conversation. I'd say it's the same in Vietnam, but maybe less often and in smaller dose than in Ukraine. But we are keen on criticizing, everything. So criticism is the most frequent, then complaints, then whines. I don't know about the south but up north, especially in rural areas, people have extraordinary sharp tongue. Their criticisms and complaints are really... a trait of culture, very interesting.

[Pangu]

#2. Er.. I think it depends on the person. Generally? I don't know . Also I don't know how much is a lot, I have a boyfriend who is Ukrainian and he complains about everything every times we meet, from weather to Microsoft. He says it's usual in Ukraine, where people complain to find a common topic & start a conversation. I'd say it's the same in Vietnam, but maybe less often and in smaller dose than in Ukraine. But we are keen on criticizing, everything. So criticism is the most frequent, then complaints, then whines. I don't know about the south but up north, especially in rural areas, people have extraordinary sharp tongue. Their criticisms and complaints are really... a trait of culture, very interesting.

Haha I think this is universal. People just like to complain, period. No matter if you're American or Vietnamese, Ukrainian or Chinese. People are never happy because we are bunch of ungrateful monkeys. So all we do is whine whine whine

The only difference is how much we whine, which depends on different periods of our lives, and the topics we whine about, which could range from lack of food to having to wait two hours in line to buy your new $800 gadget.

[korn]

#3 Do you think Vietnamese think about coupling in inappropriate situations? When a little boy and a little girl (or babies of different gender for that matter) meet each other, most of their family members would say "con rể" resp. "con dâu" or when teenager of different genders meet each other their mom and dad are talking marriage and about what a cute couple they would make.

I don't think this is limited to just Vietnamese culture. It occurs in many "older cultures". I remember an Indian friend of mine complained about that with her family and friends.

Does this occur in Chinese culture too?

[Pangu]

#3 Do you think Vietnamese think about coupling in inappropriate situations? When a little boy and a little girl (or babies of different gender for that matter) meet each other, most of their family members would say "con rể" resp. "con dâu" or when teenager of different genders meet each other their mom and dad are talking marriage and about what a cute couple they would make.

I don't think this is limited to just Vietnamese culture. It occurs in many "older cultures". I remember an Indian friend of mine complained about that with her family and friends.

Does this occur in Chinese culture too?

Sometimes, more frequently with older people and also among less Americanized Chinese. I say this because I live in the US.

[Tenebrarum]

Does this occur in Chinese culture too?

I don't know about modern China, but I definitely feel a sense of familiarity when watching UK Indian romcoms (like It's A Wonderful Afterlife) and comedy. The communal mindset, the emphasis on appearance, on marriage and reproduction, the constant concern about what one's neighbours think, the cultural inferiority/superiority complex in older men, the utter inability to comprehend homosexuality (and the tendency to put too many people into one vehicle)... So I guess Pangu's right, it's because they're both "older", agriculture-based civilisations.

[abcdefg]

I feel so gloomy after reading this: http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/ ... g-markets/

... much money flowed into the country over the past decade, particularly following its admission to the World Trade Organization in January 2007. Foreign direct investment that year surpassed the dollars going to Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and the rest of the region combined, according to the World Bank. The country’s creaky communist institutions couldn’t absorb all the funds, leading to a textbook instance of what economists call capital misallocation. On Friday, Moody’s downgraded the creditworthiness of eight Vietnamese banks and cut the country’s credit rating to B2, the lowest ever.

The article was republished on thedailybeast, titled - From Tiger to Pussycat: How Vietnam’s Economy Got Off Track.

[Tenebrarum]

So yeah, we're looking at a very possible real estate catastrophe, à la 1997 Thailand. I remember reading an article predicting just that, but a whole 6 months ago. (Damn if I can retrieve it. )

We could be at the eve of something big. Maybe... a Suharto story? *gasps* Okay, that was way too optimistic.

In Year 12, I had a history teacher who, upon being asked when she thought Vietnam would join the rank of middle-income countries, smirked and said: "Việt Nam hả? Hứ, không biết chừng nào mới khá lên được." And that was in 2006, when things were still looking up. I sort of see her point now.

[abcdefg]

Bây giờ là stagflation rồi, có tiền nên tiêu hết đi chứ để thời gian nữa là mất.

[Tenebrarum]

Mua vàng cái đã, tiền còn thừa để dành mua Kindle với máy móc khác + tiêu lặt vặt.

Mà vàng bây giờ độc quyền rồi, đắt quá. Sờ vào đâu cũng thấy khó sống.

[abcdefg]

Độc quyền là thế nào? Nhà nước độc quyền bán à?! Có ấn định giá ko đấy :-s

Lương ở VN thế nào? Mua máy ảnh đi .

[モモンガ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9pAUhR4Kw4
I am sorry, but what does she say?
It's an advertisement from instant ramen soup company from Vietnam called Vifon, which is popular in Poland.

[korn]

It was very hard for me to understand since she spoke so quickly and either with a huge accent or in southern dialect. Anyway, what I understood was:

She won't ??? (...I didn't understand the first sentence)
She Won't go out with her friends
She won't go shopping (??)
She will cook his favorite meal for him
She will watch football with him
And after that she will make love with him

[korn]

Is this true??

Có phải đa phần con trai người bắc hầu như nói chuyện rất ngọt ngào với phái nữ nhưng lại rất ư là xảo trá ?

http://www.vatgia.com/hoidap/4803/15249 ... o-tra.html

http://dienthonholam.com/diendan/showthread.php?t=659

[モモンガ]

It was very hard for me to understand since she spoke so quickly and either with a huge accent or in southern dialect. Anyway, what I understood was:

She won't ??? (...I didn't understand the first sentence)
She Won't go out with her friends
She won't go shopping (??)
She will cook his favorite meal for him
She will watch football with him
And after that she will make love with him

thanks.
I guess she has no native accent.
It's about a dating proposition, so she probably says what the guy will have to do to get date approval.

[korn]

I guess she has no native accent.

I guess she has. It was probably lip-synchronized by a native Vietnamese.

It's about a dating proposition, so she probably says what the guy will have to do to get date approval.

No, she would do all the mentioned things - she is proposing to the guy. There's a Polish version on youtube too. Maybe you should compare what she is saying there.

5. Why is facebook blocked in Vietnam? It doesn't make much sense to me since even little children get access to it and even the Vietnamese media is talking about facebook....

[JackFrost]

5. Why is facebook blocked in Vietnam? It doesn't make much sense to me since even little children get access to it and even the Vietnamese media is talking about facebook....

The answer is plain obvious... Vietnam is run by a one-party dictatorship that has a long history of practising heavy censorship on information from the media not just within the country, but also around the world. The regime despises Facebook because it's afraid it'll be used as a tool by the people to effectively rebel against it (just like the Libyans and Egyptians using that and Twitter to bring down the one-man regimes in their country). However, the government officials aren't the brightest bulbs since the Vietnamese use proxies to get past the Internet censorship.

Think of East Germany: it would've blocked Facebook too if it had existed back then.