Vietnam - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture

Culture Smart / Cultuur Bewust

by Geoffrey Murray

Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include


* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken


"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Cultural

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Cher 'N Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars = Good and worthwhile.

“A smile in Vietnam can be a very confusing thing and has been known to cause misunderstandings.”

I noticed in Vietnam that when people take or hand you back your credit card, they place the hand not holding the card across the bicep of their other arm. Looking it up revealed that it is a sign of respect when handing over something of importance or value to use both hands, and when it is awkward to use both hands, such as with a small credit card, to do the mentioned gesture of placing your open hand over your reaching arm.

That led me to this book. While it is regrettably not written by a Vietnamese author, I still learned about the country’s history, food and many cultural aspects of which I was not aware. I did notice though that the gesture that started my research was not mentioned in the book. Hopefully what I did learn will prevent me from embarrassing myself or offending anyone unintentionally.
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First Sentence: In the second half of the twentieth century, Vietnam was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Favorite Quote: Patience in adversity sums up the Vietnamese character.

[Niniane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this was written by an author who is Vietnanese rather than someone who barely spent time in Vietnam. 

Vietnam fought China for ages, then France, then the US. 

The government-run enterprises became privately run, and Vietnam's economy grew at 6.5% annually. 

Business is relationship based, because it is hard to sue a business partner, so trust must be established first. 

There is a lot of helping each other save face, similar to Chinese culture. 

They elected a female vice president a while back. 

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid preparatory book for visiting Vietnam. I didn’t find all of the information directly relevant and learned more by interacting with the Vietnamese people, but I think it’s definitely worth the read before traveling to Vietnam. There are a lot of points about etiquette that might not be obvious if one isn’t aware of them ahead of time.

[Augusto Bernardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, Precise, well written, excellent. This was the right book at the precise right time for me as I'm about to embark on my Vietnam trip and I hoped that this book would give me a general summary without carrying on forever. And it delivered perfectly. I was so thankful when he managed to summarize the Vietnam war in a single paragraph. I frankly couldn't believe it was over as I expected there was going to be the standard over explaining on the complex politics of the war. This was particularly informative of the Vietnamese people and their customs. It broadly gave me the perspective of the sheer variety of landscapes and religions and how it's a mish mash of China, India, France and also the Us somehow. It mentioned the subtle cultural differences between North and South Vietnam, mainly due to the war and how the country took a long time to recover from the war in various ways that manifest themselves even today. The country is still communist but after the death of their long time leader, it opened it's borders for trade in 1985. It allows the various religions to be practiced but still keeps a close eye on everything. As one can imagine with a communist party. I was interested on the complexity of the language and it's intonations and unusual writing. it's hard to get a real scope of the food variety and taste through a book but I'm extremely excited to eat it. I understand some of their businesses like cheap labor, coffee and some electronics. some of their disputes with China in their nearby sea. I was fascinated but it of my depths on the parts about doing business with Vietnamese people. the past about contacts not being followed seemed to be a tricky one for westerners. I definitely understood to not touch people as there is a cultural gap between them and the West. I just need to manage or be careful of misinterpreting smiles and evasive responses too.

[Truc Bui · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I do believe it is possible for one person from a certain country and culture to write, respectfully and accurately, about a completely different country and culture, this book did not make the cut.

There are several inaccuracies such as calling Landmark 81 "Landmark 8" and describing a smile as "confusing", while people smiling as a response to stress, embarassment, and adversity is a well-documented body language phenemenon in all cultures. What especially irks me is the condescending view on the Vietnam War and the history of invasions Vietnam has had to endure, which is diminished to "patriotism" and "younger brother attitude" by this author. Please refer to the following phrases:
"They like to play up the "David and Goliath" mystique to outsider. After all, how else could they have dared to take on China for a couple of thousand years and then, more recently, France and the United States?",
"[Vietnam] display all the tanacity and attention seeking, whether positive or negative, that typifies the behavior of younger male siblings around the world"
"it helps, of course, that they were undoubtedly the victors in their "war of national liberation"".

Are these not viewpoints of a colonizer conveniently forgetting Vietnam was invaded, colonized, and many villages massacred? The author, consciously or subconciously, views the bloody history of Vietnam through colonial eyes, which causes one to question whether the other aspects in the book were written under the same lenses.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guess where I will be going soon!! A good overview of the history, culture, traditions, food, etc. It will be fascinating to visit a place with such a different history. And I hope American visitors really are welcomed.

[Maddie L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about the Vietnamese culture when it came to etiquette, conversations, food (pho & fish), geography, and phrases- as well as family life. I enjoyed the pictures that came along with the book too

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very comprehensive overview of the history and the culture of Vietnam and the cultural nuances.

So if you really want to know about Vietnamese etiquette there is more to know that does not covered in this book. So additional reading maybe needed.

Overall it was a great overview.

[Hannah Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book! I like the Culture Smart Guides.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is not specifically a traveler's guide, it has a lot of helpful tips for foreigners that find their way to Vietnam.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong overview, with an affectionate and experienced take on Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.

[maria jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful insights into Vietnam

I only scanned this book and found it super useful to start learning about Vietnam, dos and donts when traveling.

[Nessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty much as the cover says, quick! Focused largely on the business traveler it is still a worthwhile read for anyone planning to be in-country. I found the information to be simply stated and focused on not embarrassing yourself or (more importantly) your host.

[Jur9en · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read quick introduction to Vietnam; history, culture, geography, things-to-do.
Nice tips regarding culture, for example on how to act when meeting Vietnamese at home.

[Ann Fathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Culture Smart! books about Southeast Asia before visiting there. They are good for quick understanding of countries and customs.