Do you agree with me that you cannot communicate with the local Vietnamese at all beyond some basic phrases like “please”, “thank you”, “I like ….”? In order to work and run business in Vietnam effectively, you need to broaden your vocabulary. Most Viet Kieu seem that they are constantly surrounded by Vietnamese language and culture, but they still are not learning the language.

As Sino- Vietnamese takes up about 60% of the vocabulary, we unintentionally use quite a lot of Sino-Vietnamese in our daily talking, official documents, emails, articles, … From that fact, I would like to state that knowing Sino-Vietnamese words greatly helps you in understanding the meaning of words.

Let’s check out at these videos to broaden your Vietnamese vocabularies 

https://youtu.be/wRaI1JF2rJI

https://youtu.be/pUTmW5NaMnM

“When in Rome, do as Romans do”, even though expats know this, they still feel a little shocked at what Vietnamese do as usual. Let’s face it. As a Vietnamese teacher, I heard a lot of sharings from my students of how different they found in Vietnamese lifestyle and working style. I never think about writing them down until one of my student advised me to do that because it’s somehow useful for him and for expats who are working with Vietnamese people.

I would like to say that those are what my students shared with me, not my own viewpoint.

1.      Vietnamese are very relaxed

 Vietnamese people seem to be very relaxed in working. They work well when nobody put any pressure on them. They also start work and finish work on time. At the end of working day, no matter how much work they have left, they left the office on time.

 2.      Taking a nap after lunch is very normal in Vietnam

 This can be the result from the weather in a tropical climate which makes people sleepy in the afternoon. They can sleep at the desk or in a very limited space in the office. One of my American students shared that he felt very weird when he saw his staff bringing a pillow to the office for sleeping after lunch. He wondered “Why so many people sleep in the office? They sleep at their desks, on the ground, everywhere.”

 Do you know what he told me after a few months working with Vietnamese? This is what he says, “I should encourage my staff to take a short nap at noon (and he laughed), (but short) because I recognize that they work better the rest of the day if they take a nap”.

 3.      Smiling doesn’t mean that “I understand”

 Vietnamese smile a lot even though they may not understand what you’ve said. In order to avoid the problems at work, a written instruction should be given after talking to your staff.

 4.      Many managerial people can be a “giám đốc”

 With expats and with Viet Kieu as well, there are some confusion of the word “giám đốc” in Vietnamese working environment. I think that there are more words describing managerial positions in English than in Vietnamese (supervisor, manager, boss, CEO, director, president, the head of...., etc. )

 In Vietnam, “giám đốc” can be a director, a manager, the head of (department), CEO, etc. Is it true? Let’s take the business cards of Vietnamese and look at both sides (Vietnamese and English). A lot of Vietnamese misconcept of director, manager, CEO, director, .... and this can be seen on their business cards.

Here are proper Vietnamese equivalents for some English titles:

Supervisor : giám sát viên
Manager : giám đốc, người quản lý
Director : giám đốc
Business owner: chủ doanh nghiệp
The head of marketing department: trưởng phòng marketing
CEO: giám đốc cấp cao
President: chủ tịch
Boss: sếp 

Knowing the learning style helps teachers choose the materials, and teaching approaches that suit the students. I can know my students' learning style in the trial class, where I can observe and see their reaction, so I can decide the best approach for them. 

As I have many students from many countries, their learning style different depending on what country, culture they are from. I found this website useful not only for me but also for leaners. 

Just spare a few minutes, and you can know your learning style. 

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/learning_english/leap/study_skills/learningstyles/