Visiting a new country can be a challenge especially if you do not have any experience mingling with the local people there. You need to have first hand information about how these people perceive things and their way of looking at situations, particularly how they understand foreigners. With the Vietnamese people, foreigners are welcomed and treated in a friendly approach just like they treat each of their family and friends.
First of all, Vietnamese people are not rude at all. However, they are wrongly understood by foreigners on their first time meeting together for the following reasons: they do not express their emotions openly or even verbally, they often use non-verbal communication. A case example is of when a Vietnamese does a slight mistake to a foreigner and as usual, he/she says no sorry but smiles lightly instead. In this case, the slight smile on a Vietnamese face symbolizes the word, ‘Sorry’ but to the foreigner it might be mistaken for rudeness, being thankless, non apologetic or lack of respect.
In actual sense, a Vietnamese considers saying sorry or expressing emotions verbally as being immodest. The bottom-line is when dealing with the Vietnamese they will rarely mention words that express their current state of emotions without a smile and in most times you will get a smile from them as the only response.
The bargaining culture
Local Vietnamese businessmen and businesswomen are fond of quoting exorbitant prices to foreigners for their goods and services. Sometimes these prices can hike to as high as 400% or simply put, four times as much as the original price is. Foreigners my not be used to bargaining especially those that place doorstep delivery orders. However in the case of Vietnamese local business deals, one will have to learn the art of negotiation for cheaper and affordable prices else their budget spills out of control. Alternatively, you can go by the option of choosing a local guide that will help you not only during price bargains but also for translation of words and phrases in Vietnamese that you do not understand. For instance, in understanding the Vietnamese numbers you will understand their price quote on goods, services and commodities.
Unlike its neighboring countries, Vietnam hasn’t really opened up to the western culture. Its people are more of reservists to their culture and way of doing things, including how they express themselves.
Self expressions and interaction
As already said, the Vietnamese people are more reserved and will hardly express themselves loudly both in terms of expressions and verbally. Likewise when in a meeting, a Vietnamese speaker will beat around the bush as opposed to the westernized speakers who will say a point straight as it is. For this reason you find similar meetings held in the west will be extended significantly all because of the trait in Vietnamese people of not saying their points short and clear. You therefore will get bored or exhausted if it’s your first time being to meetings in Vietnam. No matter how much time a speaker takes to say a simple point that probably you already understand, it is strongly advised that you stick to your sit and not interrupt him/her as it is considered rude and disrespectful.
Understanding the Vietnamese people and their culture is the fundamental basics of maintaining harmony both with you and with them during your Vietnam travel.