To hear what isn't said

Here are some useful tips for effective communication with your Vietnamese friends or fellow workers:

Good topics for casual conversations are sports (mainly soccer, which is called "football" in Vietnam), foods, movies, TV shows, high tech gadgets and global breaking news. Since Vietnam is a communist country where freedom of speech is still limited, Vietnamese politics may not be a good topic to start with your new Vietnamese friends. They may be reluctant to talk about it, seeing it as a taboo, or sometimes, just don't have enough sufficient knowledge in the topic.

Avoid tag questions! Due to the habit of using Vietnamese language structure, your Vietnamese colleagues will answer "Yes" to the "This solution isn't good enough, is it?" even though what he actually means is "Yes, I agree that the solution is not good enough". Such re-wording as "Do you agree that this solution is not good enough?" will help to remove the potential confusion.

A smile does not always mean happiness. A Vietnamese smile can also mean:
- "Hi"
- "I'm trying to look friendly"
- "I'm feeling embarrassed"
- "I'm sorry that I did something wrong"

A smile can have different meanings in Vietnam

You may notice that many of your Vietnamese friends may start every sentence with "Yes" when talking to you in English, especially if you are more senior than them. In this case, it doesn't actually mean yes, it just means that they heard what you just said and it is considered as a polite way to start their response. This may be adapted from Vietnamese language where people usually start their sentences with "Vâng" (in the North) or "Dạ" (in the South) as a polite way to response to the seniors in the conversation.

Silence can mean agreement, especially in group. If a group of Vietnamese is silent after being asked for their opinion about something, it can be interpreted that they agree, or at least have no objection to what is proposed.

Many Vietnamese don't know how to shake hands properly because that is not taught at schools or universities. Therefore, a loose handshake doesn’t mean that the person is not confident or impolite, it may simply mean that he or she does not know how to shake hands properly. Females usually don't initialize a handshake but also don't have any issue either if you (regardless of your gender) shake their hands. A handshake between male and female is often looser and quicker. And similar to other cultures, we shake with both hands to show respect.

Many Vietnamese don't know how to shake hands properly

When asking Vietnamese people to raise their hand, don't be surprise that they just raise it half way like in the photo below. And no, they are not shy. That is simply how we Vietnamese were taught to raise our hand at school when we were young.

Vietnamese children are taught to raise hand like this at school...

...and that's why it becomes the Vietnamese way of raising hand.

Social distance in Vietnam is generally smaller than in Western culture. It is quite common to see males putting their arms over the others' shoulder or females hand-in-hand walking on the street and no, they are not gays or lesbians. However, with the increasing awareness of the LGBT community, more and more Vietnamese find those gestures awkward if they are not homosexuals.

Key takeaways

Vietnamese politics may be not a good topic for casual conversations with your Vietnamese co-workers.
Avoid tag questions!
A smile can have different meanings, not just happiness.
Silence can mean agreement, especially in group.
Many Vietnamese don't know how to shake hands properly.
Social distance in Vietnam is generally smaller than in Western culture.