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jackbl
13-03-2012, 12:24 PM
can translate...or tell us the meaning...??:confused:

It is a test for all people who want to learn Vietnamese.... if u can give 2 different meaning for these sentences, then u can consider u passed Vietnamese basic level.... :D If dunno and want to know, buy me a tiger in sgp :D

jackbl
13-03-2012, 03:56 PM
Vietnamese billionaires and multi-million dollar simcards
================================================== ========

VietNamNet Bridge – Nowadays, money is not the only thing that shows the upper class of billionaires. Possessing luxurious cars, aircrafts, watches, mobile phones, and especially the simcards worth several billions of dong, has become in fashion.


The big economic difficulties in 2012 did not hurt the rich people. A lot of quiet transactions where simcards were traded at several billions of dong were carried out. Meanwhile, a normal simcard was priced at just tens of thousands of dong.

The stories about the “king simcards”

What are the most expensive things super rich people usually bring with themselves? In many cases, these are not the watches on the hands, or Vertu mobile phones, but the “super simcards” worth billions of dong. The special thing of the simcards is that the simcards will never depreciate.

“There are many Vertu mobile phones, and there are also many luxurious cars. Meanwhile, there is only one simcard with specific numerals. You can only find only one simcard with specific numerals in one country,” a billionaire said.

Dang Minh Duc, the owner of the simcard No 0988888888, which is considered the most expensive simcard in Vietnam, said he is very proud of the “king simcard”. Duc said that he receives a lot of calls every day from the people who ask him to sell them the simcard with the specific numerals. In oriental feng shui theory, the numeral “8” symbolizes the prosperity and luck. China, for example, opened the Olympic tournament at 8h8’ of August 8, 2008.

Though the simcard with 8 “8s” is valued at one million dollars (21 billion dong), a lot of people still express their determination to buy it. However, to date, Duc has refused all the offers to purchase his simcard.

Besides, the simcards with the numerals “6” which symbolizes good fortune and “9” which symbolizes power, have also been in high demand. The owner of the simcard with numerals 091x.888.888 said that some people have offered to pay it at 2 billion dong, but he would not sell it, because he has been very successful with the simcard.

The owners of the super simcards are all billionaires, and they know each other. TVChuong, a young lord from Soc Trang province, the son of a big guy in seafood import-export is one of them. He is now using the simcard 097x.999999 – the “simcard of the God of Wealth.”

The owner of the simcard 098x999999 is also a big name in the business circle, who is the brother of the general director of ML taxi group. Meanwhile, the simcard 09x7777777 is being held by Tung V, a young businessman from Nam Dinh, who is running a Vertu shop which is very well known to Vietnamese playboys.

Expensive simcards in high demand, cheap simcards unsold

On SSC, a simcard forum, or muare.vn, one would see the ad pieces for the simcards with “lucky numerals”. These are not called “super simcards” like the ones worth billions of dong. However, they are different from normal simcards, because they comprise of “lucky numerals” such as 6 or 8.

The simcards were once hunted by many mobile phone users, who wanted to seek good luck for themselves. However, the products have become unsold after mobile network operators launched the new simcards with 10 numerals into the market.

Meanwhile, original simcards remain expensive. Tung V has revealed that he was lucky enough to purchase the simcard 096x888.888 which he has just sold at “billions of dong.”

Another king simcard, 096x888.888, is being offered to purchase at 3.5 billion dong by a big guy in the real estate sector in Vinh Phuc province.

Source: VTC

skyfree
13-03-2012, 05:16 PM
even have a steady gf in hcm by just giving sgd 300 per month...:)

anyway this is the wrong thread to post such forum...sorry TS...:)

huh? Haha...why this statement so familiar?

MiniHawk
13-03-2012, 08:54 PM
Let me quote u sentences without context, if ur vietnamese is ok, u may misunderstood it too :


Anh oi! em dang coi quan, anh den ngay nhe, muon lam roi... tien the anh ghe mua bao moi luon nhe, o quan toan bao cu. ma thoi, khoi can mua bao, em mat kinh roi, em khong nhin duoc dau. Nhanh len anh nhe, muon lam roi...

Hi frd, I have finish my meal, you can come over. No need bring any condom, I have finish my menstrual already.

jackbl
13-03-2012, 11:02 PM
Anh oi! em dang coi quan, anh den ngay nhe, muon lam roi... tien the anh ghe mua bao moi luon nhe, o quan toan bao cu. ma thoi, khoi can mua bao, em mat kinh roi, em khong nhin duoc dau. Nhanh len anh nhe, muon lam roi...


Hi frd, I have finish my meal, you can come over. No need bring any condom, I have finish my menstrual already.

Not exactly... u also missed out some words to translate :D :p

sympak
15-03-2012, 08:18 AM
Can any bro here help me to translate??

tao thich maoy.gap maoy mua.em da tung co ban trai chua?lieu anh co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em kong?anh muon cho chung ta 1 co hoi la cua nhau.em se cho anh co hoi do chu??

very cheem..really dont know..

Thanks!

cbrsammy
15-03-2012, 11:20 AM
Anh oi! em dang coi quan, anh den ngay nhe, muon lam roi... tien the anh ghe mua bao moi luon nhe, o quan toan bao cu. ma thoi, khoi can mua bao, em mat kinh roi, em khong nhin duoc dau. Nhanh len anh nhe, muon lam roi...

Hi, i'm undressing now, pls come over soon, i want so much... BTW, buy new condom with you, all condoms inside my pants are old ones. Oh, no need buy condom, i no more menstrual, i can't wait anymore. Quick, really want...

Hi, i'm looking after the shop, pls come over soon, too late already... BTW, buy new newspaper with you, all newspapers in the shop are old ones. Oh, no need buy newspaper, i lost my glasses already, can't see. Quick, too late already...

At first I just saw the vulgar meaning until bro Jack said got 2 different meanings...

Really funny, where did you get this? :p

kiao
15-03-2012, 01:59 PM
Can any bro here help me to translate??

tao thich maoy.gap maoy mua.em da tung co ban trai chua?lieu anh co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em kong?anh muon cho chung ta 1 co hoi la cua nhau.em se cho anh co hoi do chu??

very cheem..really dont know..

Thanks!

i not very good..

should be saying: your bf very angry now. he saw you working hug customer tight tight and he jealous or what lah..

vietboy
15-03-2012, 11:08 PM
If your friend GF reply for u, why dun ask her for explaination???????????

VN ger: anh dang o dau
Where the Fxxx are u?

Fren GF: ahn dag o nha ban em muon lam tinh voi anh ko
I'm at home busy. U wan make love with me?



shouldn't this sentence be:
i'm at friend's hse. u wan make love with me?

vietboy
15-03-2012, 11:12 PM
Hi, i'm undressing now, pls come over soon, i want so much... BTW, buy new condom with you, all condoms inside my pants are old ones. Oh, no need buy condom, i no more menstrual, i can't wait anymore. Quick, really want...

Hi, i'm looking after the shop, pls come over soon, too late already... BTW, buy new newspaper with you, all newspapers in the shop are old ones. Oh, no need buy newspaper, i lost my glasses already, can't see. Quick, too late already...

At first I just saw the vulgar meaning until bro Jack said got 2 different meanings...

Really funny, where did you get this? :p

hahaha...2nd one is correct :D

vietboy
15-03-2012, 11:23 PM
Can any bro here help me to translate??

tao thich maoy.gap maoy mua.em da tung co ban trai chua?lieu anh co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em kong?anh muon cho chung ta 1 co hoi la cua nhau.em se cho anh co hoi do chu??

very cheem..really dont know..

Thanks!

let me try:

tao thich maoy = u like maoy(dun know what the f this is).
gap maoy mua. this shld be gap maoy chua? = see maoy yet?
em da tung co ban trai chua? = u have bf yet?
lieu anh co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em kong? = do i have chance to be your bf?
anh muon cho chung ta 1 co hoi la cua nhau. = i want give us a chance to be together.
em se cho anh co hoi do chu?? = u will give me chance or not?

vietboy
15-03-2012, 11:24 PM
i not very good..

should be saying: your bf very angry now. he saw you working hug customer tight tight and he jealous or what lah..

:confused: i didnt see anywhere says angry and customer....:confused:

ilovedoggie
16-03-2012, 12:21 AM
let me try:

tao thich maoy = u like maoy(dun know what the f this is).
gap maoy mua. this shld be gap maoy chua? = see maoy yet?
em da tung co ban trai chua? = u have bf yet?
lieu anh co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em kong? = do i have chance to be your bf?
anh muon cho chung ta 1 co hoi la cua nhau. = i want give us a chance to be together.
em se cho anh co hoi do chu?? = u will give me chance or not?

as a whole it sound like a SMS from a girl to a guy. and the person who text this is a bit err... IMHO.

maoy shud be may which is you. tao is I. tao thich may = i like u. [some frustration is sensed in this sentence]
gap maoy mua = gap may nua?
em da tung co ban trai chua = i ever have bf yet??? <<< i dont know this :((
lieu a co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em kong = neu a co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em k??? = if u have chance to be my bf or not??? [see if u will make the chance to be my bf or not]??? <<< i dont know this either :(((
anh muon....
em se cho a co hoi do chu = else i will gv u that chance. [else i will make it happened] <<< not sure abt this also :(((

ilovedoggie
16-03-2012, 12:25 AM
If your friend GF reply for u, why dun ask her for explaination???????????

VN ger: anh dang o dau
Where the Fxxx are u?

Fren GF: ahn dag o nha ban em muon lam tinh voi anh ko
I'm at home busy. U wan make love with me?

Vn ger: khung.ahn ko lai 51 ha.
Crazy! U no come 51?

fren gf: em ko lam tinh voi anh aanh o nha voi vo anh a
U no make love with me, I at home with my wife

the friend GF reply... power... edison chen style hahaha...:D

jackbl
16-03-2012, 10:41 AM
At first I just saw the vulgar meaning until bro Jack said got 2 different meanings...

Really funny, where did you get this? :p

If I dun post this, i cant lure out those experts..... Long time no see your postings....

jackbl
16-03-2012, 10:44 AM
shouldn't this sentence be:
i'm at friend's hse. u wan make love with me?

Hahaha... i think your TV also improved. This sentence also got 2 meanings, depend on the meaning of the word BAN .....ahn dag o nha ban em muon lam tinh voi anh ko

jackbl
16-03-2012, 10:45 AM
hahaha...2nd one is correct :D

BOTH correct..... cos without diacritics, who know how to interpret????!!!!

jackbl
16-03-2012, 10:47 AM
let me try:

Very well!!!! Definitely your TV has improved! Good work Bx of yours :D

jackbl
16-03-2012, 10:49 AM
as a whole it sound like a SMS from a girl to a guy. and the person who text this is a bit err... IMHO.

Wrong. It is a SMS from a Man to a gal...... The man should be a Vietnamese man....Sympak, please clarify.

vietboy
16-03-2012, 12:59 PM
Hahaha... i think your TV also improved. This sentence also got 2 meanings, depend on the meaning of the word BAN .....ahn dag o nha ban em muon lam tinh voi anh ko

yes, agreed. it can be:
i at home. yur friend (ban em) want make love with me?
:D

vietboy
16-03-2012, 01:01 PM
Wrong. It is a SMS from a Man to a gal...... The man should be a Vietnamese man....Sympak, please clarify.

yes agreed too! that y i translated previously. :D

actually have to know the context of the conversation so can translate correctly.

but i also agree that doggie is not wrong too!

vietboy
16-03-2012, 01:03 PM
Very well!!!! Definitely your TV has improved! Good work Bx of yours :D

Er... i did it based on my own understanding... after i finished, i ask her is it correct? her answer: "i think so.." :eek:

sympak
16-03-2012, 01:04 PM
Wrong. It is a SMS from a Man to a gal...... The man should be a Vietnamese man....Sympak, please clarify.

no..not vietnamese man..
Is from one viet ger sms to another viet ger..her hp card no more value, so i lent her my hp..haha..then i find it very strange so i just ask brothers here to translate.:D

jackbl
16-03-2012, 02:09 PM
tao thich maoy.gap maoy mua.em da tung co ban trai chua?lieu anh co co hoi de tro thanh ban trai cua em kong?anh muon cho chung ta 1 co hoi la cua nhau.em se cho anh co hoi do chu??

no..not vietnamese man..
Is from one viet ger sms to another viet ger..her hp card no more value, so i lent her my hp..haha..then i find it very strange so i just ask brothers here to translate.

Cannot be!!!! She must be using your hp to sms to a man.... There are words like Anh, Ban Trai, etc.... This SMS is a received sms, not sent out. Where got gal sms to gal say that I like u, I will become your bf, wan to be with u, give me chance or not?????????????????????? Unless the gal is playing LES. :confused: :eek:

If I interpret wrongly, then I will go back to refresh my basic tv.... long time no study...

cbrsammy
16-03-2012, 02:09 PM
If I dun post this, i cant lure out those experts..... Long time no see your postings....

I seldoms visit this forum, just happened to see this yesterday ;)

jackbl
16-03-2012, 02:17 PM
I seldoms visit this forum, just happened to see this yesterday ;)

If u can give 2 diff interpretation, means that your TV is good..... Shifu!!!

cbrsammy
16-03-2012, 02:29 PM
ok...got one ger text me..this message and my friend GF reply for me.

VN ger: anh dang o dau

Fren GF: ahn dag o nha ban em muon lam tinh voi anh ko

Vn ger: khung.ahn ko lai 51 ha.

fren gf: em ko lam tinh voi anh aanh o nha voi vo anh a

thanks...

Meaning differ a bit depend on who sms who:

Scenario 1: ger sms bro Sympak and your friend's GF reply for you

Ger: where are you?
GF reply for you: I'm at friend's house. Want make love with me?
Ger: crazy, don't come to 51 ah?
GF reply for you: you don't make love with me then I stay at home with wife ah?


Scenario 2: ger sms bro Sympak friend's GF and bro Sympak lent friend's GF the hp to reply (friend's GF is older than this ger)

Ger: where is he?
Friend's GF: he's at friend's house. Want make love with him?
Ger: crazy, he don't come to 51 ah?
Friend's GF: you don't make love with him then he stay at home with wife ah?

sympak
16-03-2012, 02:35 PM
Cannot be!!!! She must be using your hp to sms to a man.... There are words like Anh, Ban Trai, etc.... This SMS is a received sms, not sent out. Where got gal sms to gal say that I like u, I will become your bf, wan to be with u, give me chance or not?????????????????????? Unless the gal is playing LES. :confused: :eek:

If I interpret wrongly, then I will go back to refresh my basic tv.... long time no study...

haha..i really got no ideas. that ger who used my hp to sms whoever is not my ger..but i asked her,she said sms her sister!

ilovedoggie
16-03-2012, 10:23 PM
Cannot be!!!! She must be using your hp to sms to a man.... There are words like Anh, Ban Trai, etc.... This SMS is a received sms, not sent out. Where got gal sms to gal say that I like u, I will become your bf, wan to be with u, give me chance or not?????????????????????? Unless the gal is playing LES. :confused: :eek:

If I interpret wrongly, then I will go back to refresh my basic tv.... long time no study...

u nvr try to interpret the context i think. usually gals talk like this... guy dont talk like this...

vietboy
17-03-2012, 12:15 AM
Meaning differ a bit depend on who sms who:

Scenario 1: ger sms bro Sympak and your friend's GF reply for you

Ger: where are you?
GF reply for you: I'm at friend's house. Want make love with me?
Ger: crazy, don't come to 51 ah?
GF reply for you: you don't make love with me then I stay at home with wife ah?


Scenario 2: ger sms bro Sympak friend's GF and bro Sympak lent friend's GF the hp to reply (friend's GF is older than this ger)

Ger: where is he?
Friend's GF: he's at friend's house. Want make love with him?
Ger: crazy, he don't come to 51 ah?
Friend's GF: you don't make love with him then he stay at home with wife ah?

If friend Gf is older, she shld be addressed as chi n not em:
Anh dag o nha ban chi.

vietboy
17-03-2012, 12:16 AM
haha..i really got no ideas. that ger who used my hp to sms whoever is not my ger..but i asked her,she said sms her sister!

I agree with jackbl. I think tat ger XNN u.

Maybe u can tell us which sentence r from the sender n which r the replies so to better understand.

jackbl
17-03-2012, 12:35 AM
u nvr try to interpret the context i think. usually gals talk like this... guy dont talk like this...

I agree with jackbl. I think tat ger XNN u.

But Professor Doggie say I'm wrong wor..... Now ppl got BX liao. His TV improved. I'm still stagnant here :( But nevermind, I got confident in my TV :D :p

ilovedoggie
17-03-2012, 12:49 AM
But Professor Doggie say I'm wrong wor..... Now ppl got BX liao. His TV improved. I'm still stagnant here :( But nevermind, I got confident in my TV

Troi oi I not professor and i nvr say u wrong ler.

Recently I'm under intensive Spoken TV and listening skill by my new number. One sentence I khong hieu she will "boxing boxing" me. So I no choice but to learn it with heart. :D

Among us I think u r one of the best. I don't dare to say u wrong...:)

casannova03
17-03-2012, 11:00 AM
Among us I think u r one of the best. I don't dare to say u wrong...:)

I must agree with bro doggie...haha jack one of the best around....;)

Hurricane88
17-03-2012, 11:21 AM
I must agree with bro doggie...haha jack one of the best around....;)

I fully agreed...this thread had been his contributions...no disrescpect to TS...:)

jackbl
17-03-2012, 01:50 PM
Among us I think u r one of the best. I don't dare to say u wrong...

I must agree with bro doggie...haha jack one of the best around....

I fully agreed...this thread had been his contributions...no disrescpect to TS...

Thanks for the support. Been idling around so I thou those news I read on vn newspaper can share around here. Most of them may not be suitable but I still post :p :D ;)

jackbl
17-03-2012, 01:53 PM
Monthly income of prostitute workers very high
================================================== ======

VietNamNet Bridge – Female prostitutes on average earn VND10.6 million per month (over $500) while male prostitutes earn VND6.55 million (over $300), around 2.5 times over the average earning of the group of 20 percent highest income earners in Vietnam, according to a research by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).

The research was conducted with the participation of 189 male and 199 female prostitutes in the three largest cities in Vietnam – Hanoi, Hai Phong in the north and HCM City in the south.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Minh, Rector of the Institute for Family and Gender Research, which implemented the research, says that around three fourths of the interviewed prostitutes began prostitution activities at the age of less than 25; 18 percent of them at the age of 16-18 and around four percent at the age of less than 15.

Dr. Minh says that it is wrong to think that prostitutes are illiterate. According to the research, nearly 50 percent of interviewed prostitutes have secondary, high school and university degrees. The ratio of male prostitutes who have at least high school degrees is higher than female prostitutes.

The researcher says that over 60 percent of the interviewed prostitutes work independently or in a group of friends and acquaintances. The remaining 40 percent work in networks at hotels, inns, entertainment centers or service centers.

Over 70 percent of participants in the research had done this job for less than three consecutive years, 16 percent from five years upwards. On average, they work 5.7 hours per day, with 5.4 hours for male and 6 hours for female prostitutes. Prostitutes work around 19 days per month on average, earning VND8.6 million (over $400) on average (VND10.6 million for female and VND6.55 million for male prostitutes).

“Their income is much higher than the average income in Vietnam and 2.5 folds more than the average income of the group of 20 percent of highest income earners. In addition, half of the prostitutes have other sources of income. Five percent of them earn at least VND20 million ($1,000) per month,” Dr. Minh adds.

Most of male prostitutes work independently. They look for clients at bars and discotheques. Their clients are middle-aged and rich women. These people earn from VND800,000-VND2.5 million ($40-120)/time, the highest level among prostitutes.

Most of prostitutes said that they became prostitutes because of high income (53 percent). Other reasons include earning money to assist their family, being unlucky in love, being swindled or becoming prostitutes as the results of family crisis, being induced by friends or being drug addicts. Nearly 25 percent of prostitutes voluntarily did this job.

For male prostitutes, besides high income, they did this job to satisfy their sexual demand, particularly gays.

Prostitution is illegal in Vietnam.

jackbl
17-03-2012, 01:57 PM
Even their government officials are "Xaoing".....

Hundred officials hire proxies to sit TOEFL tests
================================================== ======
Almost 200 government officials from Dong Nai Province have been found cheating on their English exams in 2011 by hiring college students to either sit TOEIC and TOEFL exams for them or help them cheat using secret hand signals.

The tests were held at Lac Hong University and Dong A foreign language center in the southern province. The TOEIC and TOEFL exams in question are the local versions only recognized by Vietnamese organizations.

During ongoing investigation into proxy test taking in Dong Nai, police found out that the officials had spent VND4-7 million (US$192-336) each to hire many Lac Hong high-performing students to either impersonate them or help them cheat on these tests.

The police said this number is not definitive as they have only collected statistics from 3 out of 8 exams that Dong A organized last year, excluding ones from Lac Hong university.

Most of the civil servants, who are now working at management levels at the province’s state departments and media agencies, were trying to pass the exams in order to polish their CVs for promotion purposes, Tuoi Tre discovered.

Dong Nai police have already arrested 28-year-old Lac Hong alumnus Do Tran Le Son, who was found managing these for-hire students, together with his schoolmate 27-year-old Tran Quang Hung on charges of “faking documentation.”

They are expanding investigation into the involvement of Lac Hong and Dong A employees in this scandal.

cbrsammy
17-03-2012, 05:45 PM
If friend Gf is older, she shld be addressed as chi n not em:
Anh dag o nha ban chi.

In this conversation, nowhere mentioned "chị". You might put wrong comma in the sentence. Here's where the comma should be placed:

1...
Anh đang ở đâu?
Anh đang ở nhà bạn, em muốn làm tình với anh không?
Khùng. Anh không lại 51 à?
Em không làm tình với anh, anh ở nhà với vợ anh à?

2...
Ảnh đang ở đâu?
Ảnh đang ở nhà bạn, em muốn làm tình với ảnh không?
Khùng. Ảnh không lại 51 à?
Em không làm tình với ảnh, ảnh ở nhà với vợ ảnh à?

vietboy
18-03-2012, 01:27 PM
In this conversation, nowhere mentioned "chị". You might put wrong comma in the sentence. Here's where the comma should be placed:

1...
Anh đang ở đâu?
Anh đang ở nhà bạn, em muốn làm tình với anh không?
Khùng. Anh không lại 51 à?
Em không làm tình với anh, anh ở nhà với vợ anh à?

2...
Ảnh đang ở đâu?
Ảnh đang ở nhà bạn, em muốn làm tình với ảnh không?
Khùng. Ảnh không lại 51 à?
Em không làm tình với ảnh, ảnh ở nhà với vợ ảnh à?

got diff btwn 1 & 2 meh?? :confused:
Think u forget to change the place of the comma... :p

But nvr mind i got what u meant but that not what i meant. :D i meant to say that if the Friend's GF is older, then she should address herself as chi when replying to the gal. just like what i have posted previously.
Not trying to find fault at u. i just sharing here. :D

cbrsammy
18-03-2012, 05:49 PM
got diff btwn 1 & 2 meh?? :confused:
Think u forget to change the place of the comma...

But nvr mind i got what u meant but that not what i meant. :D i meant to say that if the Friend's GF is older, then she should address herself as chi when replying to the gal. just like what i have posted previously.
Not trying to find fault at u. i just sharing here. :D

Then u change the place of the comma and translate the conversation see how? :p

jackbl
19-03-2012, 02:45 AM
Deputy PM urges nation to combat HIV/AIDS
================================================== =
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged every ministry, sector and province to introduce sweeping measures to fight HIV/AIDS, drugs and prostitution as soon as possible.

Deputy PM Phuc, who is also Chairman of the National Committee for HIV/AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Control, made the appeal at the National Conference in Hai Phong City on Mar. 2 to review the country’s work in this area over the last year and announce ongoing operations for 2012.

He stressed the importance of fighting HIV/AIDS, drugs and prostitution, as these problems affect the country’s economy and society as well as the public’s health and security.

Deputy PM Phuc asked every area and detox centre to extend the programme that treats drug users with methadone, upgrade detox centres and impose stricter measures on the management of detox operations to address the current situation and produce more positive results.

As drugs crime is on the increase, especially the use of amphetamines amongst young people, Phuc directed the relevant agencies to work closer together to combat drugs production and dealing and impose stricter controls on the production and movement of legal drugs.

He also issued instructions to every ministry, sector and province to enforce the Ordinance on prostitution and to draw up a long-term plan to address the situation.

According to statistics revealed by the Ministries of Public Security, Health, Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, in 2011 the country had 14,125 HIV carriers. Of them, 6,432 contracted full blown AIDS and 2,413 subsequently died.

Newly reported cases made up 42 percent of all HIV carriers.

Especially worrying is the increase in female HIV carriers in the 30 to 39 age bracket.

The figures also indicate that, by the end of November 2011, there were 158,414 identified drug users nationwide, 8,514 people more than during the same period last year.

jf66312
19-03-2012, 10:34 AM
hi bros...need some help in decode...this msg is bit long though..

ox va bx bat dong ngon ngu nen minh khong the tam su va noi chuyen voi nhau duoc nhieu!

nhung co chuyen nay bx muon ox hay hieu rang! ox la nguoi dan ong tru cot trong gia dinh , minh can co 1 tinh cach manh me ( la nguoi dan ong buoc ra xa hoi noi 1 la 1 hoac 2 la 2 de nhuoi khach nghe ma ne minh nua chu ) ox suy nghi minh nen can gi va nen lam gi de cuoc song moi co y nghi cua cuoc doi minh chu! ox hay manh me len

shifus..pls advise..hjhj..thanks alot in adv... :D

casannova03
19-03-2012, 12:41 PM
hi bros...need some help in decode...this msg is bit long though..

ox va bx bat dong ngon ngu nen minh khong the tam su va noi chuyen voi nhau duoc nhieu!

nhung co chuyen nay bx muon ox hay hieu rang! ox la nguoi dan ong tru cot trong gia dinh , minh can co 1 tinh cach manh me ( la nguoi dan ong buoc ra xa hoi noi 1 la 1 hoac 2 la 2 de nhuoi khach nghe ma ne minh nua chu ) ox suy nghi minh nen can gi va nen lam gi de cuoc song moi co y nghi cua cuoc doi minh chu! ox hay manh me len

shifus..pls advise..hjhj..thanks alot in adv... :D

Let me try first part as now have a bit of time:

ox (You) va (and) bx (me) bat dong ngon ngu (do not speak the same language) nen (so) minh(i/we) khong the (unable) tam su(confidently) va (and) noi chuyen voi nhau (talk/talking together with) duoc(can) nhieu (a lot)!

= You and me are not able to communicate confidently and/or effectively together due to the difference in our language.

;)

2nd part...dunno if it makes sense to you as I'll just translate without the word for word from experience and a bit of guess work:

nhung co chuyen nay bx muon ox hay hieu rang! ox la nguoi dan ong tru cot trong gia dinh , minh can co 1 tinh cach manh me ( la nguoi dan ong buoc ra xa hoi noi 1 la 1 hoac 2 la 2 de nhuoi khach nghe ma ne minh nua chu ) ox suy nghi minh nen can gi va nen lam gi de cuoc song moi co y nghi cua cuoc doi minh chu! ox hay manh me len

= But I(bx) have this that i want you to understand! you are a man that takes care of the family, you need another characteristic-be more firm(be a man that say 1 and do 1 or say 2 then do 2 so that you can let others listen/believe again) You(ox) think yourself so need what and so do what to let life have meaning to you. You(ox) why not be more firm?

Hope this helps to make some sense and can connect with what the both of you were talking about in the exchange....

KangTuo
19-03-2012, 01:00 PM
Hope this helps to make some sense and can connect with what the both of you were talking about in the exchange....

you are the shifu.... :)
when jf send me this sms to help translate...
my reply is my eyes are blur.. very chim :o

casannova03
19-03-2012, 01:03 PM
you are the shifu.... :)
when jf send me this sms to help translate...
my reply is my eyes are blur.. very chim :o

No la...got some words also snook me...read a few times then it makes sense to me...

Hope it help our bro....:p

Hurricane88
19-03-2012, 01:07 PM
No la...got some words also snook me...read a few times then it makes sense to me...

Hope it help our bro....:p

haha...thank you for translating...i read liao roughly knew the meaning but dun know word by word translation...:)

learning each day...:)

jf66312
19-03-2012, 01:21 PM
you are the shifu.... :)
when jf send me this sms to help translate...
my reply is my eyes are blur.. very chim :o

No la...got some words also snook me...read a few times then it makes sense to me...

Hope it help our bro....

haha...thank you for translating...i read liao roughly knew the meaning but dun know word by word translation..

learning each day..

tks for the translation...it now makes sense to me.... :)

sportserj
19-03-2012, 08:24 PM
Hi to all bros,
Need help from bros here to tell me what does this mean
Anh lam viec xong chua? An com chua?
Anh oi em toi roi bay gio met va doi wa! Anh dang lam gi?
Tks alot.

KangTuo
19-03-2012, 09:23 PM
Hi to all bros,
Need help from bros here to tell me what does this mean
Anh lam viec xong chua? An com chua?
Anh oi em toi roi bay gio met va doi wa! Anh dang lam gi?
Tks alot.

you finish work already? eat rice (meal) already?
anh oi (addressing you), i reach already now tired and very hungry! you doing what?

cam on nhieu.

sportserj
19-03-2012, 09:34 PM
Bro tks! Can't up u as need to up smone else first. ;-)

sportserj
19-03-2012, 09:43 PM
Sorry, so anh is referring to a guy rite?

deptrai4u
19-03-2012, 09:47 PM
Sorry, so anh is referring to a guy rite?

Anh means elder brother. When u talk to another man slightly older than you, or u deem around same age but he has a higher social status, u call him ANH. if very much older, u call him CHU. when u talk to a young guy or young girl, they are both referred as EM. Em gai for sister, Em trai for brother.

vietboy
19-03-2012, 11:02 PM
you are the shifu.... :)
when jf send me this sms to help translate...
my reply is my eyes are blur.. very chim :o

cos all u see is chim?? :p:D

kelian
20-03-2012, 12:21 AM
any bro can help me translate thank thank :D

em do roi! E muon gap ongxa

ngay mai ongxa lai dan baxa di bac si oh

jjchim
20-03-2012, 12:46 AM
I'm sick! I wan to see husband(you)!
Tml husband(you) come with wife(her) go doctor!

kelian
20-03-2012, 12:55 AM
I'm sick! I wan to see husband(you)!
Tml husband(you) come with wife(her) go doctor!

wow thank bro,so fast reply. sorry i no point to up you

sympak
20-03-2012, 07:55 AM
Can any of the brother here help me translate the below words...

Thanks in advance!!

toi ngu mot minh toi rat co don nen phai uong cho say moi co the ngu duoc mong a hieu!!!A dung noi nhung loi kho nghe voi e nua nhe,luc e say le ko the kiem soat duoc luc e say....

gio e khong the ngu duoc..nho a nhieu nhieu,ko biet e say e co lam ji a buon ko?neu co cho e xin loi nhe a yue!!

jackbl
20-03-2012, 10:11 AM
when jf send me this sms to help translate...
my reply is my eyes are blur.. very chim

It's because he asked u too many times until u dun hv the mood to translate :D

jackbl
20-03-2012, 10:13 AM
Anh means elder brother

Anh oi, ve sgp sao k co nt em? Minh di choi cung nhau di :D

Hurricane88
20-03-2012, 10:14 AM
Can any of the brother here help me translate the below words...

Thanks in advance!!

toi ngu mot minh toi rat co don nen phai uong cho say moi co the ngu duoc mong a hieu!!!A dung noi nhung loi kho nghe voi e nua nhe,luc e say le ko the kiem soat duoc luc e say....

gio e khong the ngu duoc..nho a nhieu nhieu,ko biet e say e co lam ji a buon ko?neu co cho e xin loi nhe a yue!!

all these are kc words...better dun know...:)

Briefly -telling you she sleep alone and drinking can help her to sleep...you dun say like this...I am not in control of the situation I am in..

she cannot sleep...miss you very much...dun know I do will make you sad..if yes then sorry my love...

jackbl
20-03-2012, 10:15 AM
I'm sick! I wan to see husband(you)!
Tml husband(you) come with wife(her) go doctor!

Another expert found here! Next time I know who to approach for translation :D :p

jackbl
20-03-2012, 10:24 AM
The 9X playboys
==========================

VietNamNet Bridge – The only requirement for students to join the “young lord” community, i.e. the world of playboys born in 1990s, called the “9X generation,” is that they must have a lot of money and spend money like water.

“The Luong’s hair style”

The birthday parties through the night have become very popular among the 9X generation students. The parties are not simply organized to celebrate the birthday of the owners, but also serve as the occasion for them to show off their “upper class” in the society.

Birthday cake has become no longer in fashion. The main part of every birthday parties nowadays is the vibrant music, with shouts, “wild dances” which creates a “hot atmosphere.”

NT Thanh from the Thanh Do University said that she once had the chance to attend such a birthday party. In fact, only the “big cheeses” with much money could obtain an invitation ticket. “I am not rich, but I still could go to the party, because I have been his close friends since the childhood,” Thanh explained.

“The birthday party of a rich young man is really different from the party of a normal student,” Thanh commented. All the participants at the party did not follow a normal way to introduce themselves. They did not say where they were from, but they only talked about the money of their parents.

“My friend is well known as a “small boss”, because he is the son of a big owner of a grocery store in Hoai Duc district in Hanoi,” she said.

NTLuong, who has just graduated from the Hanoi Culture University, is also a well known name. She has been well-known not only because she is rich, but because she has a very special hair, showing her strong personality.

Because of the hair, Luong has a nick name “Luong doll”. In fact, Luong’s hair is a popular style in the teenagers’ community, and a lot of students of the culture school also have the same hair style. However, only Luong has become famous, simply because she is rich.

“Everything used by playboys would catch the special attention from the community,” Thu, also a culture university’s student explained.

“Therefore, if we see someone with the same hair style, we would say that this is the “Luong’s hair style.”

The “Hanoi’s playboys.”

“When you have money, you will have the right to do everything,” this is a popular saying among the students.

Sharing pictures of their houses or rooms on Facebook to show their fortune is now in fashion.

VKien is considered one of the most attractive boys of the FPT University. He now lives in a house in the central area of Hanoi with well equipped facilities. The life of the student from Hai Duong province is the dream of many other students.

Being an information technology student, Kien has set up a website of his own, where he usually posts the images taken from his trips with the special captions, like “the projection room is smaller than… my kitchen”.

Like Kien, Chi Lam from the Civil Construction Junior College, also likes to show off his upper class everywhere.

The big payment invoices are the way that Lam uses to show his richness. Lam wants everybody know that Lam is a Hanoi’s playboy, and that Lam is the name which is indispensable in the “Hanoi’s young lord community.

As the big lords spend much time and money to show off their upper class, they do not have time for learning. Kien’s name always can be found in the list of the students who have to retake. Meanwhile, Chi Lam name has been added into the “black list” of the school for different counts.

Minh Hien

kelian
20-03-2012, 04:04 PM
Bro need help again, it so hard for a newbie to figure what they say lol . Thank in advance


Baxa o nha buon lam! Ong xa lam viec song Lai day choi voi baxa duoc khong?

kelian
20-03-2012, 05:28 PM
Bro need help again, it so hard for a newbie to figure what they say lol . Thank in advance


Baxa o nha buon lam! Ong xa lam viec song Lai day choi voi baxa duoc khong?

is it mean something like this ? wife at home boring! hubby come accompany wife after work can ?

jjchim
20-03-2012, 05:34 PM
Another expert found here! Next time I know who to approach for translation :D :p

No lar, bro jack, my standard no where near u guys here...

Hurricane88
20-03-2012, 06:23 PM
is it mean something like this ? wife at home boring! hubby come accompany wife after work can ?

your translation more or less correct...:)

my way of interpretation:

wife at home very boring because no $$$...can husband come to make love and give me money after your work can or not...:p

kelian
20-03-2012, 06:26 PM
your translation more or less correct...:)

my way of interpretation:

wife at home very boring because no $$$...can husband come to make love and give me money after your work can or not...:p


haha nice one bro :D i also have the same feeling

deptrai4u
20-03-2012, 09:30 PM
your translation more or less correct...:)

my way of interpretation:

wife at home very boring because no $$$...can husband come to make love and give me money after your work can or not...:p

Excellent one!!! i can retire liao!

Hurricane88
20-03-2012, 09:32 PM
Excellent one!!! i can retire liao!

also learnt from you ma...:)

vietboy
20-03-2012, 10:04 PM
Anh oi, ve sgp sao k co nt em? Minh di choi cung nhau di :D

Di dau choi vay? Dc cho e di kg? :p:D

jackbl
21-03-2012, 10:13 AM
No lar, bro jack, my standard no where near u guys here...

You're too modest..... for me, those words that I dunno I used dictionary to check out so u will think that my TV very good :p ;)

jackbl
21-03-2012, 10:16 AM
Di dau choi vay? Dc cho e di kg?

Khong dc. Em la 1 nguoi ong xa TOT, khong cho e di choi con gai dc. :D

jackbl
21-03-2012, 02:56 PM
Vietnamese billionaires and multi-million dollar simcards
================================================== =======

VietNamNet Bridge – Nowadays, money is not the only thing that shows the upper class of billionaires. Possessing luxurious cars, aircrafts, watches, mobile phones, and especially the simcards worth several billions of dong, has become in fashion.

The big economic difficulties in 2012 did not hurt the rich people. A lot of quiet transactions where simcards were traded at several billions of dong were carried out. Meanwhile, a normal simcard was priced at just tens of thousands of dong.

The stories about the “king simcards”

What are the most expensive things super rich people usually bring with themselves? In many cases, these are not the watches on the hands, or Vertu mobile phones, but the “super simcards” worth billions of dong. The special thing of the simcards is that the simcards will never depreciate.

“There are many Vertu mobile phones, and there are also many luxurious cars. Meanwhile, there is only one simcard with specific numerals. You can only find only one simcard with specific numerals in one country,” a billionaire said.

Dang Minh Duc, the owner of the simcard No 0988888888, which is considered the most expensive simcard in Vietnam, said he is very proud of the “king simcard”. Duc said that he receives a lot of calls every day from the people who ask him to sell them the simcard with the specific numerals. In oriental feng shui theory, the numeral “8” symbolizes the prosperity and luck. China, for example, opened the Olympic tournament at 8h8’ of August 8, 2008.

Though the simcard with 8 “8s” is valued at one million dollars (21 billion dong), a lot of people still express their determination to buy it. However, to date, Duc has refused all the offers to purchase his simcard.

Besides, the simcards with the numerals “6” which symbolizes good fortune and “9” which symbolizes power, have also been in high demand. The owner of the simcard with numerals 091x.888.888 said that some people have offered to pay it at 2 billion dong, but he would not sell it, because he has been very successful with the simcard.

The owners of the super simcards are all billionaires, and they know each other. TVChuong, a young lord from Soc Trang province, the son of a big guy in seafood import-export is one of them. He is now using the simcard 097x.999999 – the “simcard of the God of Wealth.”

The owner of the simcard 098x999999 is also a big name in the business circle, who is the brother of the general director of ML taxi group. Meanwhile, the simcard 09x7777777 is being held by Tung V, a young businessman from Nam Dinh, who is running a Vertu shop which is very well known to Vietnamese playboys.

Expensive simcards in high demand, cheap simcards unsold

On SSC, a simcard forum, or muare.vn, one would see the ad pieces for the simcards with “lucky numerals”. These are not called “super simcards” like the ones worth billions of dong. However, they are different from normal simcards, because they comprise of “lucky numerals” such as 6 or 8.

The simcards were once hunted by many mobile phone users, who wanted to seek good luck for themselves. However, the products have become unsold after mobile network operators launched the new simcards with 10 numerals into the market.

Meanwhile, original simcards remain expensive. Tung V has revealed that he was lucky enough to purchase the simcard 096x888.888 which he has just sold at “billions of dong.”

Another king simcard, 096x888.888, is being offered to purchase at 3.5 billion dong by a big guy in the real estate sector in Vinh Phuc province.

Source: VTC

sympak
22-03-2012, 10:51 AM
hi..can any of the bro here help me translate the words...
Thanks..

1 thang sau minh se gap lai,xa nhau do lam thu thach tinh yeu cua chung minh,"tinh chi dep khi con dang, doi mat vui khi da ven cau the"

jackbl
22-03-2012, 11:05 AM
(综合电)真是禽兽夫妻!在新北市卖水饺的郑姓夫妻,找“人头丈夫”迎娶一名越南新娘,接来台湾后,逼她做 无薪奴工,全年无休在店里包水饺、洗碗盘,不仅分文工资都不给,凌晨回家还逼越南新娘当性奴,陪夫妻两人彻 夜玩3p(3人性交)。被害人试图反抗,却遭郑姓夫妻殴打,时间长达5年。

去年被害人终于逃离魔掌,台湾检方昨起诉郑姓夫妻,要求法官要重判。台湾新住民家庭成长协会秘书长柯宇琳直 呼:“太惨了吧?一听就让人想流眼泪。”台湾劳工阵线秘书长孙友联痛批:“一再发生不人道的案例,真是耻辱 !”

KangTuo
22-03-2012, 01:35 PM
玩3p(3人性交)

whole story only can read and understand this.
please translate

casannova03
22-03-2012, 04:27 PM
whole story only can read and understand this.
please translate

The gist of the story is:

Taiwan couple schemed and got vietnamese bride via "fake husband". Once here, they treat her like slave... work at their dumpling shop. All day all night, no pay no off. At night still must be sex slave and play 3P with the couple. When she struggled, they beat her up.... finally after 5 years, she managed to escaped...

jackbl
22-03-2012, 06:23 PM
The gist of the story is:.

Bravo. Good translation. These few days u very active in SBF. :D

jackbl
22-03-2012, 11:48 PM
Foreigners want more effective crime hotline
================================================== ==

While urging for more vigilant responses from police to complaints of noise and crime, foreigners also concur that they do not have major security problems in Ho Chi Minh City

An Indian expat was happily shooting pictures of “mobile nurseries,” vendors selling plants on bicycles when his expensive camera was snatched by a young man on a motorbike.

The theft happened last August in broad daylight on Cong Hoa Street opposite the Maximark supermarket in Tan Binh District, but there was “nothing I could do.”

“I went to the local police station but it was closed. When I was robbed, other people around, including lottery ticket sellers and the local xe om (motorbike taxi) drivers were smiling. It was as though they knew who the robber was, and that this was not an uncommon occurrence there,” he said.

The Indian, who requested anonymity, said he did not know he could have called a hotline for help.

Senior lieutenant colonel Tran Van Ngoc, vice chief investigator of the HCMC Police Department, said a hotline staffed with English speakers for foreigners to report crimes (08 3 838 7200) was launched several years ago. However, the number is not widely known and few crimes have been reported.

He said many foreigners are reluctant to report crimes to the police and when they do, they tend to notify only the local police, as they are unaware of his department’s hotline.

“We have more than 200 policemen spread throughout the city’s districts and we are committed to taking effective action against criminals once unlawful activity is reported,” he said, adding that in recent years, his agency has successively resolved a high percentage of reported crimes.

Meanwhile, many of the city’s expats said more should be done to promote the hotline to their community and foreign travelers.

“I am not aware that a hotline had been established, but I am aware of the fact that many foreigners have called for extra measures to be taken in order to counteract a specific pattern of incidents happening to them,” said Frederikke Lindholm, a Danish expat who has been in Vietnam for four years.

Lindholm also said she does not think that there are any major problems that foreigners face here that are exclusive to Vietnam.

Tim Russell, a British expat who has been in Vietnam for nine years, said there were easy steps that could be taken to better publicize the hotline. “The hotline number could be given on a leaflet to tourists when they go through immigration at airports and land borders. But it would have to be effective - staffed by people who speak good English, and the police would have to respond to complaints quickly,” he said.

However, Russell also said he does not think there are major security problems for foreigners in Vietnam.

“I’ve been here for 9 years and it is a lot safer than my hometown in the UK. The only problem I’ve had is maids/nannies stealing private property. Burglary, street crime, violence, etc. are all very rare here as far as expats are concerned, and I hope it stays that way,” he said.

Tom Hricko, an American photographer who has been in Vietnam for seven years, advised authorities to print the number regularly in English speaking magazines and newspapers, on signs in areas frequented by foreigners and perhaps even on the side of buses.

“As far as the security of foreigners is concerned, I have never had a problem here. For a city of this size, HCMC is remarkably safe,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said many Vietnamese really do not seem to have much respect for the police and have told him they would never call the police if they had a problem.

“This is a strange situation to many foreigners who have the tradition of the police as ‘helpers’. I certainly never got any satisfaction when I complained to the police in my former neighborhood about noise at 3:00 a.m. from a disco,” he said.

Although expats agree on the necessity of a better publicized crime hotline, many said HCMC is relatively safe for foreigners and that crime of this sort happens in every city in the world.

“Most of the problems I hear about happen to tourists rather than expats,” Hricko said.

He warned against some Filipino scammers who hang around waiting to snare an unsuspecting foreigner and lure them into dishonest card games before extorting their money.

An American expat, who wished to be unnamed, said most local residents go out of their way to warn foreigners about the dangers of theft, scams and other “social evils” and seem to be exceedingly embarrassed when they hear of foreigners being victimized by crime.

“It’s a bizarre expectation many foreigners project onto Vietnam, that its major cities be the only ones on earth devoid of dishonest taxi drivers and petty thieves; and that their police force also be uniquely equipped to recover every last stolen camera and cell phone,” he said.

Me Siam Bu
22-03-2012, 11:56 PM
that is really bad :(

jackbl
23-03-2012, 08:25 AM
Japanese tourists do not return to Vietnam: report
================================================== =======

Japanese tourism industry insiders dismiss the claims made by Vietnamese tourism authorities, saying few Japanese tourists ever return to Vietnam because of poor service and lack of attractions.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism recently estimated 40 percent of Japanese return to Vietnam at least for a second time.

But a spokesperson for leading Japanese tour operator JTB said at the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair last September that “many Japanese would be surprised with the big number. But that included those coming for business purposes.”

“Vietnam is not a popular destination for Japanese tourists yet.”

Shigemastsu Akifumi of H.I.S Song Han tourism company based in Da Nang said the company received 12,000 tourists from Japan every year but less than 1 percent made a second visit.

“They say there’s nothing interesting,” he said.

Many are angered by the unrespectful and indifferent attitude of staffs at hotels, even at four- and five-star places, and large restaurants, saying they just bring the food and rarely ask or notice if customers need a seasoning or tissues, he said.

“The Vietnamese managers tend to side with their staff even if they make mistakes, and the tourists can only solve their problems after talking to foreign managers.”

His company itself has problems with many restaurants, which promise a proper menu but then serve something else and offer “unacceptable” excuses like they are unable to find the right ingredients or have a new chef, he said.

Hospitality agencies in Vietnam are happy with "receiving a visitor just once” and that is a “dangerously” low bar, he added.

Saori Kozumi, a manager at the HCMC-based Apex company, a leading tour operator for Japanese in Vietnam, said taxi scams, dirty toilets, and airport bureaucracy also discouraged tourists from returning.

The low number of tour guides who can speak Japanese -- just 401 -- is another problem for Japanese tourists, tour companies said.

They are looking forward to Vietnam setting up a tourism promotion agency in Japan.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism approved such an office more than a decade ago, but nothing has happened so far.

Hoang Thi Diep, deputy head of the administration, said they have been allocated around VND1 billion (US$47,850) for the office in Japan, but it would cost nearly VND4.2 billion.

She said she has sought the assistance of Vietnam Airlines and tourism companies in the two countries.

Laos and Cambodia have tourism offices in Japan though they get fewer Japanese tourists than Vietnam, which ranks 12th among countries visited by Japanese tourists.

Nguyen Quoc Ky, general director of state-owned tourism company Vietravel, said: “It is important to make people return, especially from nearby markets since that will prove the attractiveness and stability of the destination.”

But with Vietnam not managing to prove that yet, Ky said it has lost value as a destination and his Japanese partners keep asking for price cuts.

His company had to reduce prices by 10 percent last year and has been asked for a further 10-15 percent discount this year.

Akifumi said “The return rate is low, so we need to attract new customers by offering painfully low prices.

“The situation is very difficult, but few government officials understand that.”

Under these circumstances, Vietnam’s target of getting one million Japanese tourists by 2015 seems out of reach, the companies said.

The number of visitors from that country increased 8.9 percent last year to more than 481,500, including those coming for business.

vietboy
23-03-2012, 07:53 PM
Khong dc. Em la 1 nguoi ong xa TOT, khong cho e di choi con gai dc. :D

Tai sao? Tai sao? Huhuhu...:(
E kg di choi con gai, e di an nhau voi 2 ng anh trai. Dc kg? :D

jackbl
23-03-2012, 10:06 PM
Another side of Vietnam
==============================================

A Facebook group seeks to elicit positive experiences from foreigners in the country


It was an unforgettable experience for the expatriate. He was out of petrol on a road in the middle of nowhere one night, and was pushing his bike in the rain, when a stranger materialized and virtually rescued him.

“A Vietnamese fella comes up behind me, having a laugh saying ‘3km to petrol’ and rides off. A couple of minutes later he comes back with two liters, then says ‘you come me’,” he wrote on Facebook group Another side of Vietnam.

“I offer to pay, he doesn’t want it and says ‘you have coffee with me, one hour speak English’. Pretty much couldn’t refuse, I did however manage to get him to accept petrol money in the end but he insisted on paying for the coffee.”

A member narrates the story on the group’s “No Vina-bashing week” from February 21 to 28 where several members share experiences that “could only ever happen in Vietnam.”

One has written in about how total strangers helped them when a person in his group fell ill. It is not hard to conceive something like that happening anywhere in the world.

It is safe to say, however - without overly generalizing - that it is the smaller but thoughtful and spontaneous act of kindness that indicates more about people.

Vietweek spoke to several foreigners who are not members of the group. They came up with some insights into the ‘us versus them’ thing.

Marc Spindel, an American living in Vietnam, says: “Most anger seems to stem from misunderstandings. The barter system here is the way most goods are purchased. This is a huge obstacle for most foreigners who have no day-to-day experience with this. We are used to one huge corporation fixing the price for everything and having no right to negotiate how much we pay to buy a single piece of bread for example.

“In a sense, we feel naked and vulnerable when we are first exposed to this new way of buying goods. It’s a very primal experience and most people never really get used to it.”

Backpackers are the most vulnerable to this culture shock as they have the most to lose by overpaying on their travels, Spindel says.

“In the local markets where prices are not fixed, speaking just a few phrases of intelligible Vietnamese has gotten me the same or nearly the same prices as the locals.”

Despite several negative experiences in Vietnam, including petty theft, he says the positive far outweighs the negative.

“I still feel safer and more comfortable here than any other country I have lived in - at last count, that was seven places.”

Bob Johnston, a writer who operates a café in the south-central province of Phu Yen with his wife and has lived there for almost six years, says: “If you must live and work in the big cities talk to the Vietnamese who you think are your friends to guide you to people they know won’t take you for a ride.

“I don’t believe there is a lot of scheming because the majority of the people don’t share information with a wide circle of friends, they react based on past experience.

“However, if you spend all of your time in tourist and backpacker areas and give in at the first sign of being ‘pushed’ into something, real or implied, the people will base future reactions with foreigners on that.”

Alfredo de la Casa, a British lecturer in finance who lives and works in HCMC, says whether an experience in Vietnam is good or bad depends on how a foreigner reacts to cultural differences.

“For example, before moving to Vietnam, I visited the country as a tourist. I came with a friend and we experienced Vietnam together. However, while I was enjoying the country a lot, the people and the culture, he was getting constantly upset. He wanted the traffic, roads and pavement to be like in London, and he constantly got very angry and upset in HCMC.

“I would also prefer British traffic, however I realized that people don’t walk here and therefore pavements have more use for parking or setting up a business.”

He also criticizes the negative attitude of some tourists who think they are better than locals and end up not experiencing what they hoped for when visiting Vietnam.

“Many people, when they travel to another country, especially to a poorer country than their own, behave as if they are better than the locals, which is never the case.

“Going back to my example of my first visit to Vietnam, my friend got really upset at Wrap and Roll Restaurant because they did not make a dish for him. I told him that when he goes to a restaurant in London, he could never ask for dishes not in the menu or get upset if they don’t have what he wants. So why do it here?”

“I have endless examples of waitresses, usually earning very low salaries, who have chased after me from a café or restaurant because they thought I had forgotten my change when I left them a tip.”

De La Casa says he has many Vietnamese friends who helped him a lot “even when our friendship was just recent and fresh. You can forget about that in most western countries.”

Grant Chenery, a British expat who has been living in Vietnam for six years, says he has traveled “fairly extensively” and finds it very difficult to comprehend why so many expats develop and harbor such negative feelings towards their hosts.

“I’ve found that it’s the people that have never lived, worked, or socialized with the Vietnamese on a day-to-day basis that are the most fearful and mistrusting.

“Anyone who has spent time around the people in this country knows that, while they’re different in many ways, they are good people at heart and that they are not out to take foreigners for a ride.”

Another member of Another side of Vietnam has this touching story. He once crashed his Vespa into a coffee stall in the alley beside his house one morning.

“Needless to say, business for the coffee/juice stall was done for the day as it was damaged, glasses broken, coffee, juices and all gone.

“The owner was also injured. I offered to pay for all the damage and also if there was any medical fees that would be involved.

“She refused any payment and said it was an accident and that s**t happens.”

By An Dien - Minh Hung, Thanh Nien News

jackbl
24-03-2012, 06:18 AM
Bridging the gap between the rich and poor
================================================== ====

The super-luxurious wedding in Ha Tinh, which is said to cost VND25 billion (US$1.2 million), could have built 25 clinics in isolated area or 830 charity houses.

There is a prevalent gap in the lifestyle of different social groups in Vietnam. While the wealthy can spend billions of dongs on their expensive transportations like the plane, yacht, or posh car, many laborers still have to struggle to earn their daily bread.

Wealth inequality exists between the rich and poor, both in the city and the countryside. But the gap widens between rural and urban dwellers. As the Vietnamese economy grows, its income per capita continues to increase and consequently, the country's position in the world’s arena has been increasingly improved. This is a positive trend, an essential factor in the economy and an expectation of all Vietnamese.

However, together with the economic boost, the gap between the rich and poor also grows wider. The rich get richer due to favorable conditions. The poor, although not getting poorer, will find it hard to improve their income due to limitations in capital, educational level and skills.

Income gap will lead to differences in quality of education, healthcare or entertainment. The life quality of a significant demographic group will, on that account, remain essentially static. Currently, as living expenses keep hiking, the pressure on poor people gets more and more intense, threatening to be the final straw that breaks the donkey’s back.

Adjusting the wealth gap between the rich and poor should be done through national strategic policies rather than piecemeal, local-oriented attempts. But first and foremost, the government should develop a consistent and comprehensive view on social justice that allows them to pay equal attention to all groups in the society.

For example, policies aimed at supporting businesses should be accompanied by measures to help farmers and social welfare programs to help the needy. And a more flexible and humane tax policy should be employed to introduce tax deduction or tax exemption to small traders, small-scale farmers, while increasing the excise tax on luxuries and recalibrating personal income tax.

Last but not least, improvements in life quality should be considered a target to reduce social gap as opposed to a narrow focus on increasing income per capita only.

jackbl
24-03-2012, 10:15 AM
如切一间酒廊,3个月内遭警方扫荡3次,昨晚又有33名越南艳女被捕。

《新明日报》日前曾两度报道,如切一间酒廊在去年12月及今年1月遭警方突击,共有80名男女被捕,而警方 昨晚的逮捕行动,已是短短3个月内的第三起。

扫黄行动于昨晚9时30分展开,记者接获消息赶到现场,看见酒廊外停放数辆警车,路旁挤满几十名好奇围观的 公众。

越南女陪酒赚小费

被捕的女郎皮肤白皙,个个浓妆艳抹,穿着性感,大部分穿热裤及低胸上衣,有的更穿上透视装,脚踩至少3寸高 跟鞋。她们被带上警车时都掩面避开摄影镜头。

令人感到不解的是,酒廊一再被突击,可是每次扫荡行动过后,又继续营业。

-被捕时衣衫不整 正与酒客亲热

jackbl
24-03-2012, 12:26 PM
Fish Sauce…The Vietnamese Ketchup?
==============================================

One of the greatest joys of living abroad is constant exposure to food ingredients so different from back home. Some tantalize our senses and bring pure eating joy to the table. Others make us wonder what are they thinking with that. Perhaps fish sauce piques our curiosity most as it is unlike anything found in our western world.


One whiff of this pungent liquid is enough to strike fear in all but the most intrepid palates. What is it about fish sauce that scares us so bad? Is it the odor or simply just the name? I know we westerners are not so keen on strong smells or anything fermented in giant barrels under the hot sun. Our tastes seem to run a bit more on the subtle side.

Before we continue on, I will let all of you self-professed non fish sauce types in on a little secret. Remember that fragrant Vietnamese takeaway food you had been enjoying all those years before moving here to its native home? Well, that delicious flavor had to come from somewhere, even in Britain or the US. Yes, you know where I am going with this…fish sauce!

Fish sauce may as well be labeled “liquid gold” as it is such a valuable component in the Vietnamese kitchen. In food, on food, in sauces or just alone, nuoc mam, as it is properly known, takes center stage in just about every recipe served from Hanoi in the north to the Mekong Delta in the south. Perhaps the closest equivalent rising to such ubiquitous proportions in the west would be the tomato.

Just as fish sauce is splashed across the pages of every Vietnamese cookbook, this simple red orb finds a home in comfort foods like meat loaf, sauces for pizza and pasta, and condiments such as salsa, barbecue sauce, and the ever important ketchup. I know in the United States we can pair ketchup with eggs, fish and just about any food in between. Is ketchup indeed our westernized version of fish sauce?

I will admit once upon a time fish sauce had left me a skeptic, but now much to my delight, this “Vietnamese ketchup” has opened my eyes to food experiences well beyond my formerly sheltered tastes. Nuoc mam is a metaphor for Vietnam. First impressions can overwhelm the newly initiated and cause us to take cover. Once we get used to the brashness, however, we can dig under the surface and see it for what it is…Bold and full of flavor. Give something new a chance and it can prove a flavor packed addition to our lives.

vietboy
25-03-2012, 12:53 AM
如切一间酒廊,3个月内遭警方扫荡3次,昨晚又有33名越南艳女被捕。

《新明日报》日前曾两度报道,如切一间酒廊在去年12月及今年1月遭警方突击,共有80名男女被捕,而警方 昨晚的逮捕行动,已是短短3个月内的第三起。

扫黄行动于昨晚9时30分展开,记者接获消息赶到现场,看见酒廊外停放数辆警车,路旁挤满几十名好奇围观的 公众。

越南女陪酒赚小费

被捕的女郎皮肤白皙,个个浓妆艳抹,穿着性感,大部分穿热裤及低胸上衣,有的更穿上透视装,脚踩至少3寸高 跟鞋。她们被带上警车时都掩面避开摄影镜头。

令人感到不解的是,酒廊一再被突击,可是每次扫荡行动过后,又继续营业。

-被捕时衣衫不整 正与酒客亲热

Which pub?

jackbl
25-03-2012, 04:02 AM
Forget the burger, get me to some pho!
=================================================

There are many characteristics that make Vietnam a special place - a rich cultural history, kind people, beautiful nature and above all great food. While almost all types of Western food are available in the country’s major cities, Vietnam features an abundance of delicious, cheap and healthy fare that can differ greatly by region. With complex flavors and extremely fresh ingredients, some of the world’s top chefs, such as Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay, have made a point to highlight this country’s cuisine.


There’s no escaping rice in Vietnam and that’s a good thing. The country is a top-3 global exporter of the staple and it is present in almost every dish. I eat a lot of food in Vietnam but I most consistently eat soups, especially pho and hu tieu, both of which use rice noodles. Soups are eaten at every meal as the white meats used are filling but light. I love that soups are also highly customizable as one can add garlic, chilies, fish sauce, ponzo sauce, lime, sprouts, and fresh herbs. I love a good hamburger but with soup, I never feel weighed down after eating, allowing me to comfortably zip away on my motorbike with a satisfied pallet.

But there are times when I want something a bit more filling, so I usually go for a plate of com tam. When walking the streets during the lunch hour, streets are lined with windowed food carts. There are so many choices that after the initial feeling of being overwhelmed, I always pick something delicious.

Perhaps my favorite (or most romantic) aspect of food in Vietnam lies in its preparation. In western cities, there is little street life from 4am – 5am (save for a few people returning home from a night on the town). But in Vietnam, as dawn breaks, one will come across elderly ladies starting their charcoal stoves, setting up huge tin pots and cutting endless amounts of garlic and vegetables. It’s not only the connection to my stomach but also to the past as these dishes have been served in Vietnam for hundreds of years.

The biggest change to my diet after moving to Vietnam has been a re-framing of the “fast food” concept. While there are more KFCs and Lotterias (the Korean version of McDonald’s) popping up in the urban centers, fast food, for the most part, is comprised of soups and rice dishes. The effects of healthy food are evident in the Vietnamese people as obesity hardly exists in Vietnam.

With seemingly limitless choices, it’s no wonder that Vietnam has become a popular destination for foodie tourists the world over. As for me, my taste buds are very happy to be here.

sportserj
25-03-2012, 09:23 AM
Anh means elder brother. When u talk to another man slightly older than you, or u deem around same age but he has a higher social status, u call him ANH. if very much older, u call him CHU. when u talk to a young guy or young girl, they are both referred as EM. Em gai for sister, Em trai for brother.

Thanks for sharing:)

rootee8789
25-03-2012, 12:55 PM
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jackbl
25-03-2012, 02:49 PM
Eating Chinatown
===========================
With the sunrise, Cho Binh Tay, the great market in Ho Chi Minh City’s Chinese quarter is summoned to life once more, swelling with its crowds as it breathes them through its central gates, sending them circulating off again into the frenetic pathways of Chinatown.

One of the largest wholesale trading venues in southern Vietnam, Binh Tay is the icon of the prosperous old Chinese districts. As one of the city’s best examples of Franco-Chinese architecture that remain, it’s also a symbol of the willingness of the ethnic Chinese to blend in wherever they may be.

Centuries into the Chinese presence in this region, elements of the old culture remains; while the emerging generations speak Vietnamese far more fluently than the Sinitic languages of their grandparents, the Hoa people of Cholon still identify themselves as a distinct community with their own customs and practices — and their own cuisine.

They’re not always forthcoming about these points of difference, however — visitors to Cholon expecting to find the streets packed with Chinese restaurants are often disappointed, as genuine Hoa dining tends to take place in the shadows of Cholon’s labyrinthine back alleys. The countless traditions of Chinese cooking, comprising one of the world’s most tempting cuisines, remain somewhat hidden away.

Dim Sum Yum

While the early risers at the market are starting up another day’s trading, other Hoa nearby with a slightly more leisurely schedule are preparing for the family breakfast. As the descendants of southern Chinese people, traditional dim sum is an important heritage cuisine, and it can still be found in Cholon if you know where to look: one local favourite is Tien Phat (18 Ky Hoa, Q5), in the back streets across from Parkson at Huong Vuong Plaza.

Tien Phat’s prominent, bright red signage advertises its speciality — genuine Hong Kong-style breakfasts with their colourful assortments of morsel-sized delicacies. Inside, small groups of diners clack their chopsticks at steaming wicker baskets of dumplings and rice rolls (VND21,000), stuffed crab’s claws (VND35,000) and spicy chicken’s feet (VND30,000), slurping up doll-sized cups of hot green tea (VND35,000/pot). If they’re indulging, they’ll order egg buns (VND38,000) — steamed rolls oozing with an addictive sweet Chinese custard.

The restaurant’s noodle breakfasts are a compromise to Vietnamese tastes, but feature classic Chinese elements such as wonton (VND29,000/VND34,000), braised trotters (VND29,000) and fish balls (VND27,000). The Hoa aren’t here for those, however — they’ll choose the Steamed Pork Chinese Cabbage Buns (VND30,000), which are really Shanghai xiaolongbao (“little dragon” dumplings) filled with spoonfuls of thick meaty broth and sealed off at the top with a twist of the dough. One bite and the warm soup cascades pleasantly over the tongue.

Those looking for a more ceremonious dim sum might be tempted to visit the dusty and largely vacant Thuan Kieu Plaza over on the other side of Parkson. Hai San (1st floor, Thuan Kieu Plaza, 190 Dai Lo Hong Bang, Q5) looks its age at 12 years old — but over the years it has acquired a reputation for serving fine Cantonese breakfasts, as well as for its dinner menus that feature impressive seafood dishes from various Chinese provinces.

Hai San serves classic dim sum, with most baskets and plates priced evenly at VND38,000 each. Large Chinese families dining together keep the waiters busy — they can sometimes be difficult to summon — but this is all part of the atmosphere; the cheerful boisterousness, the ever-present steam and smell of traditional Chinese ingredients, and the thudding reverberations of karaoke performers who leap up to the stage to deliver old-style Chinese ballads. With all this theatre, this is a meal to be taken slow — the restaurant serves dim sum through to 2pm — so there’s plenty of time.

The deep-fried dim sum are Hai San’s best — hunks of crispy-shelled taro in salty and sweet varieties, and shrimp dumplings similar to the deep-fried wontons of Western Chinese fast food. On Sundays, the steamed barbeque pork pie (VND20,000), a flaky pastry sandwich, is worth making the trip for. For a surprise treat at the end of it all, the pan-fried bread (VND20,000) is a crispy sphere studded with sesame seeds and filled with a divine sweet lotus paste.

Eat Drink Man Woman

By early evening, Seven Wonders (7 Ky Quan, So 12 Duong 26, Q6) out behind the District 6 Metro is gearing up for its own symphony of Chinese delicacies. This is one of Cholon’s most curious restaurant designs, representing the Parthenon, the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids as well as other World Heritage sites. Those of the old Motherland prefer to sit on the restaurant’s terrace, nicely styled after the Great Wall of China.

Dishes from the architect/owner’s ancestral home of Chaozhou are among the most authentic on the menu, including some fine braised dishes — the braised bacon (VND140,000/VND280,000/VND420,000) is chunky and tender, while the braised sea cucumber with Chinese mushrooms (VND280,000/VND520,000/VND780,000) is believed to be a traditional aphrodisiac. Fried spring rolls Trieu Chau style (VND140,000/VND280,000/VND420,000) are an interesting Chinese analogue of the Vietnamese national dish.

The crowning item on the menu is the Beijing roast duck (VND460,000). Crisp and fragrant, this centuries-old imperial recipe uses the whole bird, carved in a surgical manner and divided into distinct courses. Soup and crunchy slices of roasted meat accompany the main course — brittle layers of duck skin that diners fold into pancakes with short stems of spring onion.

Another Cholon dinner restaurant prized for its Chinese culinary rarities is one of the hardest to find. Gia Phu (513/28-30 Duong Gia Phu, Q6), secreted away at the end of an unassuming hem beside the tiny To Cong Temple, is run by 29-year-old master chef A-Sheng, a genius in the Fujian style and one of the best-regarded chefs in the area.

Gia Phu’s entire menu is a poetry of Fujian’s finest recipes, but the dishes that regularly reel in the local Chinese are its signature preparations of shark fin soup — in particular, “Buddha Leaps the Wall”. Named here Phat Nhay Tuong (1.2/4.8m), the dish recalls a 1,300-year-old folk tale in which a Tang Dynasty monk was so tempted by the soup’s smell that he leapt over the wall between the temple and the diner, abandoning his vegetarianism. It’s a deeply aromatic soup with a number of rare ingredients, the scallops in particular giving the dish an uncommon richness.

Less expensive Fujianese delicacies are also listed on the menu’s front page — bo bia Phuc Kien is a spring roll with a pancake shell rather than a rice paper wrapping, and is eaten without dipping sauce — a steal at only VND12,000 each.

Getting Your Just Desserts

Like the rest of Ho Chi Minh City, Cholon never sleeps. Cruising around the warm, darkened streets at night, many young Hoa stop at the Tran Hung Dao/Phung Hung roundabout to sit for a while at Tiem Che Lam Thanh (cnr Tran Hung Dao & Phung Hung, Q5), a Cantonese sweet soup stall. Their unusual drinks and desserts are derived from old medicinal formulas, foremost among them being qingbuliang, said to be a powerful detoxicant.

The late-night diners sit at their streetside metal tables clutching beer mugs that look like miniature aquariums with their assortments of plants swimming in clear, sweetened, ice-cold broth — lotus seeds and chunky lotus roots, seaweed, dates, dried longan, white fungus, soaked grains and slices of a herbal root similar to ginseng. Spooned into the mouth, the concoction is surprisingly mild; a thin syrup floating with pleasantly chewy hunks of sugary roots and seeds. Refreshed, the diners leap back onto their bikes and head out again past the great Chinese market, standing in wait of another dawn.
.

jackbl
25-03-2012, 08:10 PM
“Language disorder” trouble warned for children learning many languages
================================================== ===================
VietNamNet Bridge – Urban parents tend to force their children to learn many foreign languages at the same time, because they believe that the more languages the children are proficient, the more job opportunities they would have in their lives.


Nguyen Hong Hanh in Tay Ho district in Hanoi, who spent many years living and working in foreign countries, believes that foreign language skill is an indispensable skill people need to have in the age of global integration. Therefore, she sent the five year old daughter to foreign language classes, where the girl practiced four languages at the same time. She believed that the childhood is the ideal age for learning foreign languages.

Everything went smoothly in the first months, when the girl could easily acquire knowledge. However, things have got quite different recently, which has made Hanh realize that it was a blunder to force children to learn too hard.

Both Hanh and her husband have aptitude for foreign languages. Her husband can speak English, German, Chinese and French fluently. Therefore, Hanh believed that it would be not difficult for her daughter to learn the languages as well. Hanh and her husband spent time talking with the child in English, French and Chinese every evening.

However, recently, the girl has been in a jumble in foreign languages. The girl speaks English and French with parents and speaks Vietnamese with the grandmother. A problem has arisen that in the conversation with the grandmother, she cannot find suitable Vietnamese words and she has to use another language. However, she usually makes mistakes.

“The doctor said my daughter has suffered from the “language disorder” problem,” Hanh said. “My daughter has stopped going to foreign language classes. Meanwhile, I have to bring her to a special class everyday, where she is helped to practice Vietnamese.”

Pham Thu Thuy in Cau Giay district also thinks that it would be better for children to learn foreign languages at the age of 3-10. Scientific research works all have proved that in the first 10 years of life, it would be more easily for people to learn music, languages and other live skills.

Therefore, Thuy decided to send her first grader son to English, French and Japanese classes, hoping that the child would become a “language prodigy.”

However, the child has become afraid of learning languages just after a short time of attending classes. “He has been leaving his meal untouched for the last one month. He is afraid of learning foreign languages,” Thuy said.

“Sometimes, in his dream, he speaks a lot in a quite strange language that I myself do not know what it is,” she added.

Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa, who has been teaching foreign languages at a primary school in Hai Ba Trung district, said that children would be able to learn foreign languages well if they can feel the pleasure in learning.

She said that learning more than one foreign language at the same time is a difficult task. Not only the children aged 3-6, but high school students also complain that learning French makes them find more difficult when pronouncing English words.

Phuong Anh, a high school student, said that she began learning English since the day she entered secondary school. Therefore, she is now proficient in English and decided to learn French. However, she now cannot speak English in the right tone, and usually misspells words.

Dr Tran Tuan, Director of the Center for Training and Community Development, said that in the first years of life, learning the mother tongue should be put as the top priority. Children can begin learning foreign language at the age of 3-5, but they need to follow a scientific and suitable method of learning.

Source: NLD

Kalv
26-03-2012, 09:23 AM
.. Latest Translation updates: http://www.sammyboyforum.com/showpost.php?p=6066691&postcount=7985 ...

Good Job/posts/signature info - very informative/useful. Keep it up. Just back to support. Unable to Upz U again. Wishing all a nice day. :) Cheers.

.. Thanks .. deptrai4u ...translation ..

Great thread for help in translations. Many helpful Bros (deptrai4u etc.). Just Upz U back. :D Cheers.

dom01
26-03-2012, 10:10 AM
Thanks for all the information found in this thread.

Very useful to understanding tieng viet lovers. :D

jackbl
26-03-2012, 12:43 PM
Choosing a language school
=====================================
There have been a number of reports of frauds and dishonesty in promoting Language courses for Vietnamese students, particularly in the big cities. These institutions rely on the inability and lack of knowledge of students and their parents to check the credentials, quality and genuineness of the qualifications offered by these schools.

The cost of these scams is often tragic for the students who have saved their money only to receive far less than they were lead to believe. The fraud is in not only educational qualifications and poor quality facilities but also unscrupulous owners who deceive the parents, sometimes the teachers and the Ministry of Education, only to disappear with thousands of dollars in tuition fees. This also unfairly reflects on those local and international schools who offer genuine courses.

This article is a collection of short tips and suggestions on how to check the school and what they offer. The majority of the advice I offer here concerns English Language Schools because that is my specialty.

The first thing to check is what they are advertising.

Learn quickly!

This is always the easiest way to catch and draw in students; some are lazy and did not learn well in the local educational system, while others are in a hurry to learn. Most subjects take a long time to master, particularly Languages, Maths and Science. A beginner in English lessons would need a minimum of six to twelve months to get used to and use English up to a basic conversational standard if they are learning with Western techniques and native speakers, longer if it’s a more traditional style of teaching.

Forget it and accept that real education takes hard work, study, practice and a lot of time.

Achieve a high mark in IELTS!

I see this advertised a lot and its simply not true. IELTS and TOEIC involve a high level of language skills which take a long time to get right. There are specialized skills that require special training such as describing graphs and charts. The effort you need to raise your score by 1 point can take more than a year! Another problem is many teachers are not very familiar with the exam formats. The other serious problem is teaching listening and speaking skills if the teacher does not use effective teaching tactics.

Go to a real university or college and learn all the skills over a year or more. The extra work will certainly improve your score. But more importantly you will be more prepared for working in real language conditions in a company or an overseas school.

Modern classrooms and materials!

This is the beginning of many scams. You may be interviewed in a nice office with lots of pretty books but later you are told that you must learn at another campus or classroom.
Check the books – are they new? Do they look like someone actually uses them? Are they very old? Do they have mistakes in the books? Is the material modern – check the publication date inside the cover page. Will you study these in your classes?

Your course enrollment contract should say where you will learn, the number of people in the class, when and for long and what books you will use. If the school is unwilling to put that in writing then DON’T sign up!

Native speaking teachers!

This is a difficult thing to check. Vietnam needs many native language speakers, so the level of qualifications the teachers require depends a lot on the school hiring them. Highly qualified teachers, Vietnamese or foreign, are in high demand and can get good salaries in universities and government institutions. It is unlikely that you will find a teacher with high qualifications in a private school. You should be allowed to talk to them or watch them teach a class. Real teachers are not afraid to explain what they teach or how they do it.

Another difficult area is ‘backpacker’ teachers - young Westerners who have a TESOL/CELTA certificate for teaching. These certificates are often easy and quick to get, but teaching takes time to learn how to do well. Again – try to meet and talk to them first – can you understand them? What do they know about the subjects you want to learn?

DON’T just believe the school managers – talk to the teachers. You need to decide if the native speaker is worth the fee. Have a look at the last section in this article about checking accreditations.

Get an International qualification!

The National Ministry of Education strictly controls who can offer such courses and qualifications. Any school that says it has a ‘association’ or ‘partnership’ with overseas institutions should be carefully checked. Many of these courses are ‘bridging courses’, meaning they can be offered in Vietnam, but you would have to do further study in another country to get the full qualification. This is especially true for Masters and PhD courses.

A lot of these arrangements are between private companies, not fully licensed international schools. The Ministry actually punished a few ‘international’ schools in Vietnam recently because of their ‘international’ courses.

It usually takes three or more months to put together all the paperwork for real degrees – if it is that easy, then it’s too easy – be careful. This is your future and your money, so take the time to think everything out carefully.

It is easy to enroll!

The school does not ask many questions about what you have learnt before or if you have pervious credits for what you have studied. This is very important because real schools often require you to have studied a particular level of a subject before you are allowed to enroll, because that is part of the national educational structure and enrollment rules.

Honesty and deception

Buying a degree. There are many ‘degree mills’ online as well as real schools that offer degrees but you don’t have to do much work or study at all. Just pay the fee to get the degree. The danger here is your future – someone somewhere sometime will check… and then your career and reputation are finished.

Is it worth it? No! Why? Because of the shame, the loss of a job that is important if you have a family or business, and finally the time it will take you to get all of that back again. Staff of Vietnamese government agencies have recently been found to have ‘bogus’ degrees, and the cost to them and their families will be high.

Warning signs…

You ask questions or want to see detailed information but they seem reluctant to give detailed answers. It is a BIG warning if they say that all information will be given at the first lesson or session…after you have paid the fees. Real schools usually have a good reputation and do not have to ‘fish’ for customers and will allow you to make choices.

There is no accrediting (licensing or approving agency) authority on the website or paper information. This is often a license number that you can check with your Ministry or an international ministry of education. Or, you try to contact the accrediting authority, but find that it’s difficult or impossible.

There is not enough detailed information about courses, subjects studied, credits awarded or the standard of the qualification awarded at the end of the course.

Fees are for the whole course, not per semester or course time. It is rare for real schools to ask for all the money at the beginning of the course. Most real schools usually only want you to show that you can pay for three months or a year’s tuition – not actually pay it all at the beginning.

Checking Qualifications and Accreditations

Inside Vietnam, the national Ministry of Education will have information about which schools are authorized and licensed to offer particular courses. You should have the name of the school, the degree or course name, the directors or manager’s name, school address and contact information. Particularly important is the name of the ‘associated schools or universities’ and their license or educational school number should be on the website and the documents that you read or receive.

To check courses overseas, you need the same information and you should contact the national education department of that country. In Europe, England, America, Australia and New Zealand you may also have to contact the local education ministry for that state or province.

jackbl
26-03-2012, 12:45 PM
Students petition against Raffles School fraud
================================================== =====
Hundreds of students and parents have accused Raffles International School in Ho Chi Minh City, of not reimbursing for tuition fees as itpromised.

Students and their parents flocked to the school on Nguyen Van Troi Street, in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City on March 19, which was the deadline for reimbursement. A tense meeting between the students and school officials, lasted nearly 10 hours, but no agreement was reached. The local police eventually had to be called in to keep order.

Then students and parents sent a petition against the school, accusing them of fraud.

According to the petition, Raffles International School promised to reimburse student tuition fees within 60 days (from January 18 to March 19), but have failed to make full payment. The compensation for which they are asking amounts is still less than what the students already paid.

Students and their parents also asked the police to ban the school’s leaders from leaving the country.

Earlier, on March 17, Raffles International School sent a letter to students in which they offered the alternative of continuing the same programs in Cambodia, Singapore or Australia.

On December 29 last year, the Ministry of Education and Training decided to penalize three high-profile international training institutes in HCMC for offering programs they had not been accredited for.

Dan Tri

ilovedoggie
26-03-2012, 11:44 PM
I wonder how to say the following in a more vnmese and perhaps more convincing way:

Please squeeze more money from that bastard.

When he gives tip please ask for $10-$20 more.
Luc a ay cho tien tip e co the hoi a ay cho 10 hoac 20do nua.

When you have money don't anyhow spend.
Khi e co tien nhieu e dung tieu tien.

Please save the money.
Xin hay e tan tien e kiem dc do.

While you can work please work hard.
Luc e con lam dc xin hay e co gang len lam tot hon.

Be careful. If you sense anything suspicious please run.
E chu y. Neu e cam nhan co j e phai chay nhanh di.

Thanks for helping.

Love,
Dogg

deptrai4u
27-03-2012, 10:40 AM
I wonder how to say the following in a more vnmese and perhaps more convincing way:

Please squeeze more money from that bastard.

When he gives tip please ask for $10-$20 more.
Luc a ay cho tien tip e co the hoi a ay cho 10 hoac 20do nua.
[khi thanh kia cho tien tip, em phai xin them $20 nua!]

When you have money don't anyhow spend.
Khi e co tien nhieu e dung tieu tien.
[Em lam dc tien, dung tieu linh tinh]

Please save the money.
Xin hay e tan tien e kiem dc do.
[em co tien phai tiet kiet]

While you can work please work hard.
Luc e con lam dc xin hay e co gang len lam tot hon.
[Bay gio em lam dc, co gang di lam dc nhieu tien]


Be careful. If you sense anything suspicious please run.
E chu y. Neu e cam nhan co j e phai chay nhanh di.
[em phai can than, khi cam thay co gi kg hay, phai nhanh nhanh chay!]

Thanks for helping.

Love,
Dogg

added in []

sengseng2
27-03-2012, 01:07 PM
Can anyone help in translation of below phase.

"Ban khoe khong toi moi qua do"

Many thks.

jackbl
27-03-2012, 01:13 PM
added in []

When you have money don't anyhow spend.
Em lam dc tien, dung tieu linh tinh.

Bro can explain what is "tieu linh tinh"? Can't find it in dictionary/meaning dun match the sentence......

tiêu = to digest to dispel, to kill to resolve
linh tinh = trivial, trifling

jackbl
27-03-2012, 01:14 PM
"Ban khoe khong toi moi qua do"

How are u? I just went over there

sengseng2
27-03-2012, 01:18 PM
How are u? I just went over there

Many thks bro

Hurricane88
27-03-2012, 08:06 PM
How are u? I just went over there

can also I just arrived there...:)

what she is saying...alo alo are you horny...I arrive sinkie liao...do you want to cum to donate me some $$$...:p

ilovedoggie
27-03-2012, 09:19 PM
added in []

thanks brother deptrai!

anyone know how to translate this:

"Please squeeze more money from that bastard."

thanks,
dogg

jackbl
28-03-2012, 03:02 AM
"Please squeeze more money from that bastard."

Not so good to do that.... u can try google translate or vdict translate :D

jackbl
28-03-2012, 03:04 AM
Vietnamese women rescued from Malaysian trafficking ring
================================================== ========

Malaysia's press has reported that local police rescued eight Vietnamese women aged between 17 and 23 from a human trafficking ring.

Malaysian police raided a four-storey restaurant in Sunway, Kuala Lumpur, early in the morning of March 23 and arrested three local men and a Vietnamese woman suspected of being members of a human trafficking ring.

The victims said they had been told by the traffickers that they would have high paid jobs as waitresses but, in fact, they were forced to work as prostitutes.

The ring offered the young women the options of prostitution, working in hotels, or marrying local men to earn money to pay for their airfare and other costs it incurred to bring them to Malaysia, said Abdul Jalil Hassan, a Malaysian official for fighting vice.

According to initial investigations, the human traffickers were completing procedures for two of the women to marry local men, each of whom would pay 18,000-20,000 ringgit (VND120-140 million) for the marriage.

The suspects in the case are being held for further questioning while the victims will be sent to a witness protection centre after undergoing medical check-ups.

VOV

jackbl
28-03-2012, 10:45 AM
Rare moments
========================

In today’s Vietnamese society, family meals are becoming scarcer in big cities.

As modern lifestyles have staggered family members’ timetables, sharing meals among them has become rare. Family members in Vietnam tend to have meals alone or buy ready-made foods or simply dine out.

Surveys in Europe and North America have all confirmed the correlation between a fall in the number of family meals and calorie-rich, chemical additive diets. This has given rise to obesity, diabetes and heart diseases. Moreover, the less family members share meals, the higher the possibility of digestive disorders, binge drinking, smoking or drug addiction. The polls have also shown that children who grow up often sharing meals with their families are more likely to develop good eating habits and achieve better nutrition.

A family meal actually pertains not only what to eat, but also how to eat. Having meals at a fixed time, eating no snacks between two main meals, washing hands before eating, sitting up straight, eating slowly, sharing foods with others, tasting every dish, leaving no leftovers, and cleaning up the table are the first lessions children in a family have to learn. Aside from educating children about nutrition, taste and etiquette, family meals also help shape their personalities. It is in family meals that kids learn to listen to others’ stories, and to express their views as well as their feeling.

A survey has shown that children who have at least five meals with their families a week are more likely to get good grades and expose a low susceptibility to depression and addiction. The frequency of family meals exerts strong impact on children’s capabilities to follow their ambitions and take part in social work. Eating with their families regularly or not also influences children’s stress and emotional self-control.

Having meals, after all, both relates to the relationship between people and food, and implies a spiritual significance. It is absurd to compare having a meal to “pouring petrol into the body” as commonly accepted in the U.S. That very notion of regarding food as fuel has created the American “eat whatever, whenever, wherever” eating style. Not to mention the fact that the Americans have acquired the habit of eating in privacy, eating quickly and eating while at work.

In contrast with the American model is the French style with three features: eating at fixed periods (morning, noon and afternoon), eating a variety of dishes and always changing, eating with other people (families or friends). For the majority of the French people, eating is not “wasting time” but “taking the time” for families and social networks. A social survey conducted in France has shown that three out of four respondents welcome family meals not only because they enjoy good foods but also because they can share their thoughts, news and feelings with their loved ones.

In all cultures, family traditions are created during family meals. Ethnographers say the habit of having meals together has formed kinship and consanguinity. That means, even if people who are not a kinsman or a kinswoman will be considered family members if they frequently have meals together. This is relatively common in Asia. In today’s Vietnam, a number of families are still trying to preserve the family meal tradition, which is by nature preserving happiness. What really counts is how each member has to find ways to arrange his or her life in order to enjoy these precious and rare moments.

SGT

Pohchuan
28-03-2012, 09:38 PM
First time posting in this thread, here goes, correct me if I am wrong

Chao cac ban,

Ten Em la PohChuan. Em dang hoc tieng viet. Hoc da bon thang roi. Em noi tieng viet kong tot lam. Xin vui long cac ban day em o day. Cam on tui anh nhieu lam.

jackbl
29-03-2012, 12:57 AM
Saigon’s cyclo
=======================
VietNamNet Bridge – Cyclo is the favorite of foreign tourists, who see it as Saigon’s “specialty,” but this kind of vehicle is banned in Vietnam’s largest city.


‘Eradicating’ cyclo

The correspondent who wrote this article dropped by the head office of the cyclo trade association of District 1, on March 14. He saw nice cyclos covered by canvas and chained together on the pavement. Cyclo drivers had nothing to do than grouping up at pavement tea shops to talk.

An official of the cyclo trade association said: “Drivers don’t dare to run cyclo on the street because they are afraid of traffic inspectors. Tourist cyclo drivers always wear uniform but their vehicles are still captured.”

Cyclo drivers are not allowed to run on the street to seek passengers. They only serve tourists who use cycle services provided by the cyclo trade association. They earn VND40,00-50,000 ($2-2.5) per hour but they have to contribute VND10,000/hour to the association’s fund.

All cyclo drivers who join the cyclo trade association have pursued this job for at least ten years and they do not want to change their job.

Vietnam’s cyclo service firstly appeared in Saigon. According to historical documents, the first cyclos were seen in Saigon in 1939. It was invented by a French man named P.Coupeaid.

Cyclo, which is easy to use, flexible and good-looking, quickly replaced carts as the most popular mean of transport in Saigon in the early 20th century.

In other Asian countries, cyclo drivers sit in front of passengers but in Vietnam, they sit behind passengers, which enable passengers to view landscapes.

Prior to 1975, there were tens of thousands of cyclos in Saigon, who worked for private transportation firms. After the country’s unification, district authorities set up cyclo cooperatives.

The city’s 24 districts had around 40,000 cyclos, including up to 5,000 in Districts 1 and 4. Many families had both fathers and sons were cyclo drivers. The father ran cyclo in the daytime and son in the night time. Many cyclo drivers did other jobs.

A teacher who worked as a cyclo driver at night in the centrally-subsidized period recalled: “My teaching salary was not enough to support my family, so I worked as a cyclo driver at night in District 1. The local department of education blamed me for doing this job but I asked them how could I raise my children by my salary? They could not answer me.”

In the late 80s, cyclo corporatives broke up. The city planed to establish a cyclo trade association. This organization was born in 1991, with 900 cyclo drivers.

Mr. Nghia, chairman of the cyclo trade association of District 1, recalled: “The association borrowed VND50 million from banks to buy 80 cyclos for its members. Drivers paid by installments. But at the same time, the city banned cyclos to get into the center.”

Because of the ban, many cyclos were seized by traffic policemen and traffic inspectors.

Since 2008, cyclos have been banned from running in almost all roads. At present, there are less than 300 cycles in Saigon, including 30 of the cyclo trade association of District 1.


Why ban the cyclo?

Cyclos do not cause air or noise pollution. They are not bulky to make traffic congestion. They do not cause traffic accidents. But why they are banned on the street? That’s the question of cyclo drivers.

After four years of being banned, local people have lost the habit of using cyclo. However, cyclo is still the favorite of foreign tourists, who see cyclo as Vietnam’s traditional culture.

Ms. Ngoc, tour manager of a big travel company, said: “We will welcome five groups of foreign tourists by sea. Each group has from 1,300 to 2,000 tourists. All of them have ordered cyclo tours but we can supply cyclo tours to 100-120 tourists per each group because the cyclo trade association has only 30 cyclos.”

The cyclo trade association of District 1 is very busy. The association’s 30 drivers serve 1,500 to 2,000 foreign visitors each month.

“All big travel firms in the city are our clients. They book our service on daily basis but we have to refuse. We only receive small contracts, which require several cyclos on the evening. It is ridiculous! We have a lot of passengers but we cannot serve them!” said Mr. Nghia of the cyclo trade association of District 1.

Nghia said that the city authorities understood the demand of foreign tourists and they had assigned the Saigon Tourism Corporation (Saigontourist) to set up a team with at least 100 cyclos. However, other travel firms did not want to depend on Saigontourist. In addition, lack of investment was also a reason to prevent the establishment of such a cyclo team.

Nghia worried that cyclo – Saigon’s specialty would disappear in the near future.

Tien Phong

jackbl
29-03-2012, 12:05 PM
Tips for life
======================
This week, our column features different tips sent by readers, ranging from how to choose a language school, cut down household expenses to how to bake a pizza.

First of all, Stivi Cooke, a Hoi An based English teacher and a hospitality trainer, gave advice on how to pick a good language school. His tips include talking to teachers, checking classroom materials, verifying qualifications and accreditations and looking out for warning signs from an institution.

We hope this article is a good reference for language learners as well as those who are concerned about the quality of today’s English schools. Two of our readers also expressed their opinion regarding how to pick a good school:

“Read through your article words by words, recognized that I used to think about these problem and witnessed some of them too. More detailed that I was in the situation to find a good place to study IELTS, and I refused all the institutions with large posters, exaggerated adverts or unreliable sites due to my own experience,” commented Trinh Pham.

“I have found that the front desk staff can speak English, but they don't understand English. I met one of the teachers from the second institution and spoke to him about my experience with the front desk staff of his school and their apparent lack of understanding the language. He told me he has worked for the school for many years, couldn't comment about the staff's English and walked away. So now, I have withdrawn both of my sons from both schools,” a reader nicknamed Kimo shared her true experience in finding a language school for her children.

In recent years, language schools have mushroomed in Vietnam, making it harder for parents to pick a reliable one although most of them are willing to pay for kids’ education as long as it is of good quality. Reader Do Thu Van also agreed that we should not be penny pinching on education although she has been cutting down on other costs in her family in this bad economic weather.

“I used to have a habit of collecting restaurant and shop addresses advertised in newspapers or on TV and checking them out during the weekend. But now, eating out is only for special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries. Cutting off this activity can save a considerate amount in our family budget,” Do Thu Van shared her tips.

She also makes a list of what to buy and picks them up at the supermarket to avoid getting lost in other sections and shop unnecessary things.

Cooking and eating at home can indeed cut down a great deal of expenses. While many Vietnamese can easily cook their favorite foods at home, expats find it a hard task when it comes to getting ingredients for western dishes.

John Russack from America shared his experience baking a pizza from scratch in Hanoi, which does not only rely on cooking techniques but also involves searching ingredients and finding a Western standard oven.

“As best we try to assimilate into our new Vietnamese homes, we never fully give up the tastes of our native lands. This pizza represents so much more than just a pie baked in an oven. In a way it symbolizes who we are and where we come from, just as a Vietnamese family in Los Angeles may prepare spring rolls to remain connected to their homeland. Regardless of how resourceful we may be in finding it, food remains that all important link to our cultural heritage no matter where in this world we may land,” John concluded.

We hope you have picked yourself some good tips on saving, education or cooking from our articles this week. If you have some good suggestions and want to share them to other readers, feel free to email us at [email protected].

Have a great weekend!

jackbl
29-03-2012, 12:11 PM
A better place to live
=============================
Have you ever tried to make your neighborhood a better place to live? Collecting garbage, fixing a broken street light, planting a tree, etc. are a few of several simple ways to improve our living environment. This week, our local readers suggested some ideas which are beneficial for the community.

First of all, reader Le Dang recommended creating a forum where owners and finders of lost items can post information. He thought of this idea after finding a book left on a bench at his college but had no idea how to return it to the owner.

“If there was a forum like that, I could post information about the book I found on the bench with a message: ‘If you are the owner of the book, please contact the security office’. Obviously the chance that lost items get returned to the owner would be very high. A forum like that would encourage people to develop a good habit of collecting and returning lost properties,” concluded Le Dang.

In response to the idea of building a Lost and Found forum, reader Trinh Pham suggested designating a physical office where people can come directly to deposit items they found or reclaim their lost properties.

“The fact is that not all people can have an internet access to come to the forum/page, so we would add one more form of lost properties information gate like ‘Authorized Place, Non-Profit organization, volunteering team’,” commented Trinh Pham.

Another reader, Boi Boi, talked about pollution in the city, not only from bikes’ tailpipes but also from those who smoke and ride on the street. As smoke and ash dash into the nose and clothes of the passive smokers, they not only get eye irritation but also the risk of chronic diseases.

“It becomes worse for drivers with children who have to suffer the ‘chimney’ of poisonous smoke on the street every day. It has been reported that some drivers have been penalized for driving and talking on the phone. Why is there not a ban for those who smoke and drive at the same time?” he wondered.

Much as Vietnamese cities have to change to catch up with the world’s metropolises, one thing we can still be proud about is the food scene here. This week, two American expats compared the markets as well as the dishes of Vietnam with their home countries’. In the end, they both brought out the same verdict: Vietnam offers fresher ingredients and healthier platters.

“Raw meats hanging from hooks and piles of unidentifiable animal innards shock us into submission. Mounds of tropical fruits and leafy greens appear so inviting, and the hustle and bustle of regular people going about their daily lives captivates us. We use our cameras to document our fascination, and images are quickly dispatched back home,” found John Russack.

“While almost all types of Western food are available in the country’s major cities, Vietnam features an abundance of delicious, cheap and healthy fare that can differ greatly by region. With complex flavors and extremely fresh ingredients, some of the world’s top chefs, such as Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay, have made a point to highlight this country’s cuisine,” affirmed Brian Letwin.

We may complain about pollution, congestion, bad transportation system but let’s admit it: Vietnam remains a food heaven for foreigners who visit or stay in the country. With pho, banh mi or banh khot featured in top lists of world’s best cuisines, we feel lucky to live in Vietnam and discover the rich gastronomy of the country.

What are you waiting for? Go get some fresh food or try a new soup dish this weekend!

ilovedoggie
29-03-2012, 12:12 PM
Not so good to do that.... u can try google translate or vdict translate :D

Agree. I totally under estimate her.

jackbl
29-03-2012, 12:18 PM
Agree. I totally under estimate her.

I also under-estimate your power of Tieng Viet. Yours shd be good enough to write out that sentence :D

jackbl
30-03-2012, 02:18 AM
How our family cut down costs
========================================

We did not wait until the gas price went up by 10 percent to “tighten our belt”. Our family has been saving for years in many ways.

Previously we would travel three or four times a year, but now we only do so twice annually. We have stopped going to restaurants on trips and instead bring some food from home. Bringing our own home-made dishes helps save money and guarantees food safety. Besides, we do not have to worry about rip offs, bad service or long hours of waiting during the peak travel season.

For shopping, I limit myself from buying clothes, shoes, and bags excessively. Recently I cleaned up my closet and found several items that I had forgotten about. I have tried to use them as much as possible since they are all still in good condition.

I used to have a habit of collecting restaurant and shop addresses advertised in newspapers or on TV and checking them out during the weekend. But now, eating out is only for special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries. Cutting off this activity can save a considerate amount in our family budget.

When we go to the supermarket, I make a shopping list and only buy what I need, instead of just taking any random product. I also try not to go to sections of brand products to avoid temptations. There are hardly any leftovers in our fridge now since we cook and eat for the day. In addition, packaged food does not expire anymore.

Previously, my husband and I went to work on our own bikes, but now we go together as our companies are in the same area. A scooter that consumes more gas is now left at home and is only used for road trips. Sometimes, I joke that going to work together is an effective way to heat up our relationship.

Although we cut down expenditures on shopping, we still eat our favorite dishes and let our kids study whatever they like, as long as the course is of good quality.

Each person, each family has different spending habits and ways to control their family budget. I do not think my way can be applied to everyone, but I hope to help family members avoid throwing money out of the window.

The economy can run into trouble - bad weather, unemployment, diseases, disaster - any time, so saving in advance is the best policy.

jackbl
30-03-2012, 11:56 AM
Mid-day naps, uniquely Vietnam
=======================================
Have you ever been to the fair? I’m talking about one with a Ferris wheel, cotton candy, and rows of sideshow games. My favorite personal favorite is Whac-a-Mole where little heads pop up and down growing in numbers and speed.


That game came to mind the first time I walked into a darkened Saigon office at the end of the lunch hour. Thinking it was empty and someone had forgotten to lock up, I turned to leave and bumped a trash can. One head popped up from behind a desk. A second head shot up, followed by a third and so on. I’d Whac-a-Moled the entire office. It wasn’t the best first impression.

Midday naps are hardly unique to Vietnam. Spain has their famed siesta. In Bangladesh bhat-ghum translates to “rice sleep.” Full bellies result in heavy eyelids I suppose. When you add it all up, afternoon naps are embraced in countries throughout South America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

I talked with two Vietnamese career women about the tradition and its roots. Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang’s employer is foreign and while she doesn’t nap at the office, she’s no stranger to the tradition. She attributes it, in part, to the heat of the afternoon. She also believes employers know workers will wake up refreshed and will work harder and more efficiently the rest of the day. One of her co-workers, however, looks at it as more of a cultural tradition than a practical one.

“Maybe people are just lazy,” the colleague joked.

Some in my home country of America likely think that's the case. However things may be changing. Big name companies like Nike, Google, and Ben & Jerry’s not only encourage napping, they provide quiet rooms and in some cases comfy couches and chairs. The ability to nap during work is viewed as a perk of the job, right alongside quality health insurance and extra vacation time, but it also benefits employers. Studies show a quick 26 minute nap can result in up to a 34% increase in performance and raise alertness by 54%. Vietnam may have had it right all along.

I know personally of the beauty of a mid-day nap. During college I spent a summer studying in southern Spain. At first the idea of stopping in the middle of the day for a siesta seemed like a waste. I always had a list of things to do and sleeping was a luxury for which I didn’t have time. But checking off that to-do list during siesta proved impossible. Banks, restaurants, shops, and offices were all closed. I quickly realized there was nothing to be gained by fighting tradition. It was time to follow the crowd.
“If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you too?” nagged the voice inside my head.

If there was a soft bed with pillows at the bottom, yes. Yes I would. And so I did, with every siesta making me feel more and more like a true Spaniard. It was a dream come true.

vietboy
31-03-2012, 04:44 PM
First time posting in this thread, here goes, correct me if I am wrong

Chao cac ban,

Ten Em la PohChuan. Em dang hoc tieng viet. Hoc da bon thang roi. Em noi tieng viet kong tot lam. Xin vui long cac ban day em o day. Cam on tui anh nhieu lam.

My version:

Chao moi nguoi, (Hi everyone)

Ten em la PohChuan. Em dang hoc tieng viet. Hoc da co boun (4) thang roi. Em noi tieng viet khong co tot lam. Xin ban dc day em o day khong? ( please can you teach me here?) Cam on nhieu lam.

:)

ngropy
31-03-2012, 09:22 PM
Hello senior bros.

Anyone can help me translate this?

tih tih cua a ki cut ai cug noi het. e mun sua a lai rui mih ha cuoi. a nge loi e hk ha????

Thanks.. :D

jackbl
01-04-2012, 08:08 AM
狮城夫越南妻“夫唱妇随”,一起涉嫌拉皮条,接越南雏妓来本地卖淫,导致另外3名顾客因嫖雏妓 被控!

这名狮城龟公是程瑞明(42岁),目前已被捕;他的越南龟婆吴仙(32岁),至今仍在潜逃。

这对夫妻之所以曝光,是因为他们向黎喜成、陈华英和钟兴高介绍并教唆他们向雏妓寻求性服务。这3人已于昨日 ,连同另外6名年龄24至59岁的男子,因为嫖雏妓而被控。

也就是说,涉嫌嫖雏妓被控的男子,至今已经增至9人!

龟公竟是老板,曾开设计公司;老翁嫖雏妓处竟在购物中心

jackbl
01-04-2012, 08:36 AM
包括公司老板、董事和富家子,共6男子涉嫖雏妓,今早齐被控。

这6名男子年龄介于24岁至59岁,各面对1到3项嫖雏妓的控状。

根据控状,这6人涉嫌在去年7月间,分别向3名越南雏妓索取付费性服务。其中涉案最年轻的雏妓仅16岁,服 务其中3名被告,另两名雏妓案发时17岁。

据了解,6被告都是有钱人,其中包括公司老板和董事,当中最年轻的24岁被告,则是富家子。

Seletar
01-04-2012, 10:38 AM
包括公司老板、董事和富家子,共6男子涉嫖雏妓,今早齐被控。

这6名男子年龄介于24岁至59岁,各面对1到3项嫖雏妓的控状。

根据控状,这6人涉嫌在去年7月间,分别向3名越南雏妓索取付费性服务。其中涉案最年轻的雏妓仅16岁,服 务其中3名被告,另两名雏妓案发时17岁。

据了解,6被告都是有钱人,其中包括公司老板和董事,当中最年轻的24岁被告,则是富家子。

Lucky my name not in the list, next time book vb must check their I.C

Hurricane88
01-04-2012, 11:03 AM
Lucky my name not in the list, next time book vb must check their I.C

less than 18 not allowed into hotel with you @ hcm...:)

jackbl
01-04-2012, 02:37 PM
The way to a tourist’s heart…
============================================

…is through his stomach, says André Bosia, Executive Chef of Sofitel Metropole Hanoi


André Bosia, who worked in France, Scotland, Austria, Egypt, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Japan before he took up his current position in Vietnam four years ago, told Vietweek that Vietnamese cuisine, which is fresh and tasty, can be a great ambassador for the country and should be promoted abroad.

Vietweek: How did you come to Vietnam?

André Bosia: I had always wanted to come to Asia, so when the position came up at Sofitel Metropole, I was very interested. I already knew Vietnamese food, as the Vietnamese community in France is quite big. There are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants in Paris, and I always go there. So, I came here, and have worked for four years at Sofitel Metropole now.

When I arrived here and saw with my own eyes all these wonderful things, I wanted to discover more of the culinary art of Vietnam through the prism of French gastronomy.

At Metropole Hanoi, what do you do to make Vietnamese food different from what is offered by restaurants in Paris?

With the help of Hai and Van, who are the Vietnamese chefs of Sofitel Metropole’s restaurants, we make some food with a combination of French and Vietnamese styles. For example, we make nem (spring roll), a popular Vietnamese food, with foie gras and green mango. Foie gras is very common in France. At the Metropole hotel, Vietnamese food is a combination of both cultures.

You come from a country famous for its gastronomical delights. What is it that makes you like Vietnamese food?

France is very famous for its food, but French food is very different from Vietnamese food. In France, we use a lot of butter, cream, and similar ingredients. In Vietnam, you use a lot of fish sauce. You also use a lot of steamed vegetables and fish. So, your food is very light, while in France, food is very heavy. You don’t put butter and oil in the food. You use a lot of herbs. Your cuisine is very tasty and very light.

However, Vietnamese food is not easy to make, it takes long time to learn, a lot of practice.

How attractive is Vietnamese food compared to that of other Asian countries like as China, India and Thailand?

Indian food has many spices, especially powdered spices such as paprika, chili, and cumin. Vietnam uses fewer spices than India and China, while Thailand has a lot of strange food like scorpions. Vietnam uses a lot of fresh herbs. For example, we use garlic, onion and dill in making chả cá – a special fish dish in Hanoi. We don’t use powdered spices.

In Vietnam, everything is fresh. You don’t cook now for tomorrow’s eating. You do now for now. In France or some other Asian countries, we sometimes prepare food now and cook tomorrow. When I worked in Japan, we bought vegetables for three days. In Metropole Hanoi, every day we receive salad (vegetables), fish, meat, egg, herbs. We buy and use for only one day. So I think the taste is very good. Vietnamese food is light and fresh, and it is good for health, so many people in the world like it.

Some countries are strengthening promotion of their traditional food to boost tourism. Should Vietnam do this as well?

Yes, you should. I think Vietnam has started doing this. Last year travel agent Hanoi Tourist sent two chefs to France to promote Vietnamese food and organized a discover Vietnam program. You do this many times in Europe, and Vietnamese food will become well known in the continent. I think promoting its cuisine will get more people interested in Vietnam. It is an effective way to lure foreign visitors to Vietnam.

As chefs, we can use Vietnamese products, introduce them to our colleagues and customers. They would ask me how to use it. I would tell them, and say there are a lot of good products in Vietnam like fish sauce, black pepper and cinnamon. There are many items European people like, but they don’t know where they can get them.

It will be very good if Vietnamese food is promoted abroad. For example, the Vietnamese community in Australia is very big, and many Australian people don’t cook much, so they may go to Vietnamese restaurants. And after eating Vietnamese food in Sydney, they would find that it is very good, very tasty and easy to eat. Then they would be more interested in Vietnam.

What is the most important quality that determines the success of a chef?

The most important thing is that you want to learn. There is no fixed recipe. Sometimes, you have to change ingredients to make food better. For example, each time you cook, you should put only 10 grams of herbs into the food, until the recipe is balanced. Thus, you need to practice a lot, and find something special to add to a dish. And to become a good chef, you need to have good taste. Aptitude is also very important.

Is there any change you would like to see in Vietnam’s food business?

Hygiene is very important. The country should increase control over food hygiene, checking product quality more often. Many people get food poisoning although the situation has improved a lot over the past three years. One of my friends was sick for three days after eating bún (noodle) sold in the outside market. You need to follow hygiene regulations. All restaurant staff should undergo training in food hygiene.

By Bao Anh, Thanh Nien News (The story can be found in the March 16th issue of our print edition, Vietweek)

jackbl
02-04-2012, 01:26 AM
Vietnam for the Vietnamese
=======================================

Tourists and expats should understand Vietnam has bigger fish to fry than appeasing foreigners

The neurotic public discussion of Vietnam’s relative merits as a tourist destination has crossed the threshold into insanity.

A hailstorm of criticism kicked off with the inexplicable international publication of an American’s embittered blog post, which badmouthed all of Vietnam based on experiences he found unpleasant, all of which could just as well have happened anywhere in the world.

The debate has raged on, consistently underemphasizing or ignoring altogether, the economic factors primarily responsible for Vietnam’s pitfalls. It is as if the country’s sole purpose is to prevent crimes against its tourists and ensure no expat be kept up nights by loud music. The process has marginalized the Vietnamese people in a myriad of ways, most notably in its failure to recognize that the Vietnamese suffer disproportionately more from the same ills foreigners take as personal affronts.

The race to ‘defend’ Vietnam has only made things worse. The nadir may have been a recent letter to the editor, differentiating between “real Vietnamese” and the “low-class scum” that prey on tourists. I cannot think of anything sillier than a foreigner, no matter how long he’s lived here, daring to preside over Vietnamese authenticity.

It’s incredibly ironic that local folks who work in the more touristy parts of town could somehow be considered less than Vietnamese. The overwhelming majority of these people are so fair-minded in their dealings, they all but transcend the inherent dictates of an economy increasingly driven by free market principles. In my experience, they condemn injustices suffered by foreigners with more vigilance than the commonplace sufferings of their compatriots. With paranoiac fervor, they admonish every foreigner sober enough to listen, not to abandon their street smarts while traveling in Vietnam.

Although the complaints of foreigners are being granted increased airtime, they are nothing new. In 2001, I was thrilled to learn the young woman seated beside me in law school orientation had recently traveled through Southeast Asia, as I had. I raved about my experiences in Vietnam and was dumbfounded to hear her reply with a sermon which began, “If Vietnam ever wants to be a real country,” and went on to allege how she paid 20 percent more than a local would have, for a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

The median incomes of foreign tourists and expats exponentially exceed the average Vietnamese salary, which stands currently at 108 bucks a month. That locals sometimes pay less for equal value simply does not constitute an injustice. Furthermore, it is as if many foreigners, Westerners in particular, suspend their knowledge of rudimentary economics upon setting foot in the developing world. They begrudge vendors for attempting to maximize their profit margins, ignoring that such practices adhere to the most basic tenants of capitalism. Fixed prices have become the way of the world, but it is not how a free market operates, where the price of everything is supposed to be in constant flux based on annoyances known as supply and demand.

I do not waste any more time worrying about being overcharged in Vietnam than I do tormenting myself over the fact that an international student pays infinitely more than I did to attend college in California, which I might add, is also significantly more expensive for somebody from New York.

A vastly increased gap between rich and poor has gone part and parcel with Vietnam’s rapid development. As long as consumerism and the quest for material wealth continue to penetrate deeper into modern Vietnamese society, money will become a bigger part of identity and incidents of crime, both petty and violent, will rise.

But HCMC is becoming evermore like Los Angeles, and every year Vietnam more closely resembles the countries from which its tourists tend to hail. If the street crime here ever reaches Californian levels, it will be because its root causes were never examined, let alone addressed. This is the case in the US, which according to the New York Times imprisons not only a higher percentage of its population than any nation on earth but more total people than anyone else as well.

Perhaps it is because I come from America, the ultimate hotbed for crime and corruption of the highest order that I tend to dismiss foreigners’ gripes about Vietnam out of hand, absolutely unable to get worked up over scam taxis, pickpockets, aggressive vendors and the like. But worse things do take place in Vietnam, sometimes even to foreigners.

Crimes like street theft and muggings reveal perpetrators far too desperate to discriminate among potential victims based on anything other than calculated estimations of profit. Motorbike thugs follow the same code as corporate moguls, though you do not hear many foreigners in Vietnam admonishing Coca-Cola or Monsanto.

Vietnam, free of foreign rule and occupation for less than 40 years, remains at a crossroads. Since the US embargo was finally lifted in 1994, the country has completely overhauled its economy. Vietnam is a real country with real problems and it is neither reasonable nor plausible that the government would make sterilizing the Vietnamese experience for tourists and expats a top priority.

As it is, Vietnam, its increasing numbers of tourists and expats notwithstanding, has overgrown its infrastructure. Instead of attempting to please elites who live or visit here, whatever their nationality, Vietnam would be better off if the government concentrated on the concerns of its most powerless residents and did everything in its power to improve their life chances. Such efforts would benefit everyone who sits down for some tra da in this unbelievably wondrous land.

We could all benefit from the realization that even miracles cast shadows. It is nothing less than miraculous, the dignity with which this extraordinary people have transitioned from a tyrannically oppressed peasantry, to become the most successful repudiators of Chinese aggression, French colonialism and American imperialism the world has ever known. And now Vietnam stands as one of the globe’s most alluring destinations for tourists and expats, despite its drawbacks, which upon deeper inspection, represent nothing more than ordinary trends endemic to highly competitive societies the world over.

By Jeremiah Twain
The writer is an American freelance writer who is living in Ho Chi Minh City. The opinions expressed are his own.

Honey Boon
02-04-2012, 03:25 PM
thanks for reminding .... :)

Lucky my name not in the list, next time book vb must check their I.C

jackbl
03-04-2012, 12:07 AM
Relieving oneself in public: Urine trouble
=================================================
With the concern the government shows for sending tourists away with a good feeling about Vietnam I cannot understand why they do not start a campaign informing the people that public urinating is unacceptable.

My wife and I walk our two small dogs in the park at Nha Trang beach most evenings and I always take small plastic bags to clean up their droppings whether on sidewalk or grass. In the past we have been asked by the green uniformed attendants to stop allowing them on the grass but we show them the bag and they stopped bothering us. By the way, I never see a Vietnamese owner clean up after their dog and many dogs run loose.

When I do not have time to go to the beach I take them to the small memorial park that is right in front of the train station. That is just a block from our house. The attendant there is not satisfied with my cleaning up. He still wants to make a fuss. My wife was with me the other evening and I told her to ask him why he complains about us when people, both men and women, can be seen every evening urinating in public even though a toilet is in the park. They refuse to pay! He just mumbled something to my wife and we took the dogs home.

The other night, I thought I would trick him and went to the second section of the park, away from his usual sitting spot. As

I was walking a man started to urinate beside the walkway just as the attendant came from his usual spot and started to speak to me (I still speak almost no Vietnamese by the way, sadly!).

I took his hand and pointed him to the man urinating and gestured that he should leave me alone and stop that behavior. He strode off to exercise his official duty but he was very hesitant and the man just ignored him. A few minutes later another man took his place for the same purpose. After awhile there are sections of the sidewalks where you cannot walk without having your nose assaulted by the smell of urine. It is disgusting. I cannot speak for other Asians but I doubt people urinate on the streets of Tokyo or Beijing.

By George Richards

jackbl
05-04-2012, 02:18 AM
Hanoi named among top Asian cities for street food
================================================== ===
CNN Go, CNN’s travel website, has recently published its top ten list that saw Hanoi as one of Asia's most impressive cities catering to street food lovers.

The top ten voted food paradises include Penang of Malaysia, Seoul of South Korea, Bangkok of Thailand, Fukuoka of Japan, Taipei of Taiwan, Singapore, Manila of Philippines, Phnom Penh of Cambodia and Xian of China.

According to CNN Go, Hanoi is also a street-eater's paradise, with a plethora of options for those who want to eat like a local. “In fact, many swear that the best food in Hanoi is found on the sidewalk, with dishes that often feature fish sauce, lemongrass, chilies, and cilantro and other fresh herbs,” it writes.

The travelling website calls Hanoi “the birthplace of many quintessential Vietnamese dishes, such as pho and bun cha, and the city is often cited as one of the world's great food capitals.”

“The city, which celebrated its 1,000th birthday last year, has put those centuries to good use perfecting its curbside nibbles. Although vendors often cook in small shop fronts, they serve their wares on the sidewalk, on small plastic tables and chairs that can seem woefully inadequate for overgrown foreigners,” CNN Go comments.

jackbl
05-04-2012, 04:09 PM
Going Beyond the Guidebooks
=====================================
Whether we call this colorful enigma Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City, our sprawling city tells as many stories as it has inhabitants. We have expats like me living in highrise bubbles safely insulated from the fabric of the city. Backpackers migrate to Bui Vien Street and congregate in bars and restaurants catering to their every Western need. Out in the Binh Thanh district, the locals go about their daily business in bustling markets and sidewalk shops a world apart from upscale An Phu just across the river.

Indeed, different communities call our teeming metropolis home, but how often do our worlds cross paths outside of District 1, where HCMC offers the requisite landmarks such as Ben Thanh Market, Vincom Center, the Reunification Palace and more. But as uniquely Vietnamese as these stops on the tourist trail are, are they truly emblematic in terms of building lasting memories of Saigon in our minds?

The same shops lining Vincom Center beckon shoppers in Tokyo, Los Angeles, London and beyond. Ben Thanh Market captivates our senses with its bustle and color, but haven’t we seen the same in Bangkok or Borneo? We can easily succumb to a jaded “been there, done that” mentality and quickly tire of the “same, same but different” offerings of our daily routines if we don’t seek out the uniqueness our surroundings offer.

Each of HCMC’s nine million people has a story to tell, and taking a long walk through our fair city allows us to listen. Indeed, straying away from the typical expat and tourist trails captivates our imaginations with scenes so different from the reality we each call our own. Forget everything you know about the place and fall in love with it all over again by exploring the crowded streets anew.

So what is the real Saigon? It’s the man on the sidewalk fixing flat motorbike tires near the zoo. It’s the crowd of laughing school children playing badminton near a pig roasting on a spit. The wizened lady in her conical hat cutting durian stacked next to her battered bike, office workers enjoying an iced coffee at an impromptu street vendor café, and a young woman praying at an altar inside her beauty salon all add depth and character to an already colorful streetscape.

This is the Saigon hidden from the tourist trail and our own expat lives if we don’t open our minds and venture beyond our usual routines. Looking past the concrete and glass exposes our hometown’s true soul, whose uniqueness builds a lasting impression slow to fade from our imaginations. Every city on earth is a collection of streets and buildings, but it’s the people who make each dot on the map unique. I guarantee if we venture deep into this city on foot and just open our eyes to the people around us, each of us will take in experiences making our time in HCMC priceless and one of a kind.

jackbl
06-04-2012, 10:35 PM
Vietnamese taught at a French school
==============================================

Jean de La Fontaine, a famous school in Paris, is the first and only school in France that teaches Vietnamese to secondary pupils along with their subjects.

Vietnamese was introduced into the school in 1995 through cooperation between the Vietnamese embassy in France, the French embassy in Vietnam, the French Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sport and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (Association of Francophonie Universities).

A large number of French and Vietnamese French families attended a lunar New Year gathering for parents of pupils studying Vietnamese at the school. Some of the families were represented by three different generations. Everyone said they love to celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival (Tet).

They were also pleased at the teaching of Vietnamese to link their children to the home country. The Vietnam-France Association was founded to help strengthen exchanges between the parents, and also provide learning materials and information about Vietnamese traditions and culture.

Taking part in the event with his wife and a 12-year-old son, Nguyen Van Hai said he has always arranged for his son to visit relatives in Vietnam at least once a year. He said he was moved to see so many French friends gathering at the event to enjoy Tet.

“I like to go back to Vietnam with my grandparents and swim at the beaches in Nha Trang and Phu Quoc. The Vietnamese sea is very warm, even when it rains or storms. I am also looking forward to Tet because I will be given some lucky money," said his son, Nguyen Tam.

Delphine Arnaud, a French woman, said she took her 12-year-old son, Yael, to the Tet event because he has been very keen on Vovinam (Vietnamese traditional martial arts) since he was a little boy and his teacher encouraged him to learn Vietnamese to understand more about the country’s history and traditions.

She said she celebrates Tet every year with him and gives him small traditional Vietnamese gifts.

Ms. Arnaud said she wants to send Yael to Vietnam so that he can have a better understanding of Vietnamese culture.

Paule Boury and his wife have adopted three Vietnamese children. He said he has known about Vietnam for a long time because both his and his wife's grandparents and father had lived there. He also said they had been to the country more than 18 years ago.

Their three children are now learning Vietnamese at the school and they have been members of the association for seven years.

They thanked Vietnam for their wonderful children and said they have committed to teach them never to forget their roots.

Le Vu, Chairman of the Vietnam-France Association, said in spite of financial and human resources difficulties the association is trying its best to let people know that there is a school in Paris that teaches Vietnamese as a main subject.

VOV

jackbl
07-04-2012, 08:36 AM
When students are tired of getting good grades from teachers
================================================== ====================

VietNamNet Bridge – Ten is the highest level in the Vietnamese grade scale, which is given to excellent pieces of school works. However, students now have become tired of receiving 10 grades from teachers.

On the first days at schools, students all get excited when they receive 10 grades from teachers for their school works. Most of the students would show off the good marks to their parents, because these should be seen as an excellent learning achievement.

However, students later do not feel joyful when they get 10 marks any more. The problem is that they can get 10 marks for school works every day. And the 10 grade is given not only to a few students. Up to 2/3 of primary schools in big cities can get 10 marks every day.

Nowadays, when a parent asks his child about the learning records, the child would say: “of course I get 10”. Every student would feel ashamed if he cannot get 10 for the tests or exams.

In principle, 7 or 8 grade is given to the “good” works, and 5-6 marks mean the students are at “average” level. However, nowadays, 7 or 8 marks would not make students and their parents satisfactory, while 5-6 would be dishonorable for them.

The Ministry of Education and Training has many times called on to fight against the “achievement disease” in schools (students are appreciated higher than their actual ability). However, the problem has not been settled at all.

At schools, teachers like giving excellent marks to students to show that their students improve every day thanks to their teaching. Meanwhile, parents and students only accept 9 or 10 grades, because lower marks would be the “problems.”

Experts have warned that the achievement disease would make students delude themselves. When receiving 10 grades, they would think that the lessons are too easy for them, and they believe that they are very good already and no need to learn hard. Meanwhile, parents would also entertain illusions about their talented children.

Some parents have complained on education forums that their children get so many 10 marks that made them surprised. “I am not sure about the learning capability of my son. He gets 10 marks every day. However, a friend of mine said that every student can get 10 marks nowadays,” a woman complained.

The woman said she fears that one day, her child would get lower marks, and he would be “shocked” because of this and dares not go to school any longer.

She has every reason to worry about that. This happens that many students suffer from the crisis of conscience since they get bad marks from exams, while they always got good marks at the lessons in class.

Local newspapers have recently reported the cases of students, who decided to give up school because of the low learning results after the first semester. Other students reportedly tried to commit suicide because they felt ashamed with the unsatisfactory exam results.

In 2011, an excellent student in the central region killed himself after the university entrance exam, just because he did not do the exam questions well as expected. As he was a physics majoring student of a high school for the gifted, he vowed that he needs to obtain excellent marks from the exams, but this did not come true.

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan, said on the online dialogue organized by the government information portal on March 6, that it should be considered a normal thing if children get 6-7 or 3-4 marks. He admitted that his child at the school also sometimes gets 3-4 and he does not punish the child for this.

C. V

jackbl
07-04-2012, 02:47 PM
Are teachers rich or poor?
===================================

VietNamNet Bridge – There are big differences in the income of teachers. While the majority of teachers complain that the income is not high enough to cover their basic needs, some “branded teachers” can earn billions of dong a year. The common thing of the groups of teachers is that they do not receive much money from the state budget.


Extra teaching hours bring major income

In big cities, nearly all teachers of primary and secondary schools give extra teaching at private tutoring classes. In the past, the classes were located at education centers. However, nowadays, teachers open the classes right at their homes, which allows them not to have to share profits with others.

It’s easy to attract students to private tutoring classes nowadays, because nearly all the students want to go to extra classes after the school hours. Even those, who do not want to attend the classes, also have to attend the tutoring lessons provided by their teachers, or they would receive bad marks for school works.

A parent whose son is going to a school in Dong Da district said that 2/3 of the students in his son’s class go to the private class run by their school teacher. Every student has to pay 60,000 dong for every teaching hour, or 120,000 a week. As such, with the current number of students, the teacher can earn 20 million dong a month from the private tutoring classes.

In Thanh Oai district in the suburbs of Hanoi, a secondary school teacher said that the students of the school have 4 private tutoring hours a week, for which they had to pay 200,000. On average, a class comprises of 30 students, and a teacher has two teaching shift a day. This means that a teacher can earn 30 million dong a month.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, a monthly income of 10 million dong would be considered “high income.”

The tuitions would be much higher if students want specific tutoring hours. Thu, a parent in Cau Giay district, said that her second grade son last year learned with a teacher who demanded 100,000 dong per teaching hour. As the class had fewer students than other normal classes, the tuition per student was higher.

Hundreds of millions of dong in income for general school teachers

Every year, thousands of students in big cities attend the entrance exams to prestigious schools, such as the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, the High School for the Gifted under the Hanoi University for Natural Sciences, Luong The Vinh, Marie Curie high schools.

In order to prepare for the entrance exams, all the students have to attend the extra classes where they can learn with qualified teachers and pay sky high tuitions.

The Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted is the targeted school for many students in Hanoi. Therefore, the teachers of the school are considered “branded teachers,” whose classes are always full of students.

A student of the school said that the tuitions demanded by the school’s teachers are “reasonable”. She has to pay 500,000 dong a month for 12 mathematics teaching hours. Besides, she also attends other classes, which costs her 1.5 million dong in total for extra lessons.

“All the teachers at my school give private tutoring classes. They do not have weekends,” she said.

It is estimated that a branded teacher can earn 50-60 million dong a month, if he has a busy weekly teaching schedule, from Monday to Saturday, with 4 teaching shifts a day. Meanwhile, less prestigious teachers can also earn hundreds of millions of dong a year.

Phong Dang – Minh Hien

jackbl
08-04-2012, 01:32 PM
When Vietnamese tour guides badmouth their country
================================================== ======

I am lucky to have some chances to travel overseas. It is interesting to see how tourism in other countries works. However, I sometimes get annoyed by the instructions of certain Vietnamese tour guides.

One time in Paris, when we were driving pass a long bridge, a tour guide said to us: “Please pay attention! This bridge has several spans but vehicles can run smoothly. In Vietnam, bridges are bumpy, which exhausts us.”

When we cruised upon the Seine River, the guide started to mention the Nhieu Loc canal in Saigon: “Ho Chi Minh City has plans to turn Nhieu Loc canal into a tourist site like the Seine, but we will probably have to wait for a few generations.”

Another time, when we visited the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, a tour guide reminded us: “There are a lot of visitors here so please go in a group. Anyway, it is easy to spot Vietnamese tourists: they are those who only look at goods without buying.”

When we were walking on the clean streets of Singapore, we were told: “There is a great penalty for public littering. Sometimes people have to hold garbage in their hand for a long time before finding a trash bin. Vietnamese are not so patient so they just throw it on the street. ”

Every time they introduce a foreign culture, local Vietnamese guides tend to bring up something negative about Vietnam. These are bad comments, derogative remarks, and scorn towards the country they come from.

I do not know how a tour guide is trained in school and at a travel agency. They were born, brought up and are working in Vietnam. Why can’t they express some love for their homeland, show some sympathy and confidence in the future here?

It is lame to compare Vietnam and other developed countries we travel to. Vietnam still has a lot of difficulties and many people are still living in poverty. Despite the many drawbacks that we see every day, we cannot deny the positive changes in the country in recent years. I hope the tour guides will stop comparing and putting negative messages into tourists’ minds.

jackbl
08-04-2012, 01:36 PM
Did the tour guide badmouth or just tell the truth?
================================================== =====

The story by Thao Phuong about local tour guides who ‘badmouth’ Vietnam when they take tourists overseas has received an enormous response from Tuoi Tre readers.

Some think that tour guides should consider their words carefully, as they act as a culture ambassador to both domestic and international tourists.

“Every country has its good and bad points. Tour guides cannot just take the short-comings to introduce and laugh at, create misunderstandings, and negatively impact to the country,” wrote reader Tan Khoi.

Khoi suggested turning to provincial or national forums to discuss ongoing issues with likeminded people to figure out solutions together.

A reader nicknamed momvang thought that these lame comparisons are made by a few tour guides, most of whom are young and inexperienced graduates working on contract in some travel agencies.

“Other countries have their own problems too. My foreign friends fell in love with Vietnam due to people’s friendliness and the country’s safeness. Why should we Vietnamese talk bad about the place where we were born?” she wondered.

On the other hand, some readers stood on the tour guide’s side and found that it is totally right to point out the country’s weak points, from which we strive to better ourselves.

A reader nicknamed LangThang found the author’s view shallow and close-minded, although he agreed that the tour guide may have expressed his views in a straight-forward way and hurt some sensitive tourists.

“The tour guides are patriotic enough to say that the final purpose is to make Vietnam become better, to catch up with other countries. It is better than those who try to ignore problems and do not dare to speak up about the country’s weak points,” he wrote.

“From criticisms, we can learn a lesson and better ourselves. If we feel shameful and react to criticisms, we can never keep up with other people,” said reader Tran Quy.

“I disagree with the author. Living in Hanoi, I see people littering, spitting in public. Many cross Chuong Duong or Long Bien street and throw garbage into the Hong River. No one feels ashamed and no one scolds anyone. The authorities also say nothing about dirty streets filled with potholes. Why do you blame the tour guides for telling the truth?” wrote reader Vuong Van Gioi.

Local tour guides also raised their own voice regarding the issue.

“Since childhood, we were educated to see the truth and have our own points of view. The stories told by tour guides were not meant to badmouth the country. They are opinions of a responsible person. Probably the author herself had some bad experience and grew antipathy to the tour guides?” wondered My Hanh, a former tour guide.

Tour guide Nguyen Tam said some of his colleagues are concerned about Vietnam’s development compared to other countries, and they reflect that fact so that everyone can consider the issue.

“It is telling the truth, although it is hard to accept. I don’t find it bad. It is just a reminder for us to study and work harder,” he wrote.

Minh Nhat, an English tour guide who has been taking foreign tourists around the country, had another view. He shared that local tour guides should never badmouth Vietnam to either domestic or foreign tourists.

“As a cultural ambassador, no one wants to talk bad about their own country and people. In reality, tour guides are not painters who only offer beautiful images of their homeland. Tourists are very sensitive and can find out if we tell the truth or not,” he wrote.

jackbl
09-04-2012, 03:00 AM
Local tour guides are meant to educate tourists
================================================== ========

I have read an article by Thao Phuong and do not agree with her point that local tour guides badmouth Vietnam when they take tourists overseas. Badmouthing is turning a good story into a bad one for some reason of individual intention. I found all the comparisons remarked upon by tour guides in the article to be true.


First, everyone knows about bumpy bridges in Vietnam and they have been talked about over and over again. It is also common for Vietnamese to see goods in a supermarket and they do not buy. How can we shop in a foreign country when our budget is limited? In the article, the author also concluded that: “Vietnam still has a lot of difficulties and many people are still living in poverty.” This is nothing to be ashamed of. The last remark about throwing garbage on the street reflects a bad habit of the Vietnamese which we can see every day. The three anecdotes are all true, so how can we accuse the tour guides of badmouthing the country and its people?

Secondly, as a Vietnamese person, I know that our country is poor and many people are still needy. I also see positive changes in the current development. However, it is not because we are poor that we accept bumpy roads and potholes caused by careless or corrupt constructors. It is not because we are poor that we feel ashamed to be told that we have no money to buy luxuries or goods which are more expensive than back home. Above all, it is not because we are poor that we are unaware of keeping public areas clean by not littering everywhere.

These acts are not related to being rich or poor, but they are instead connected to the awareness of each individual in society. Except for poverty, we are not inferior to other countries in intellectuals, resources, patriotism and a spirit to overcome difficulties. How can the author call those remarks lame comparisons?

The tour guides did not compare the economy of Vietnam and other developed countries. They were just comparisons of social awareness told by local guides to local tourists. Comparing ourselves to others and then learning from their good points is worth doing.

There is a proverb: “He that travels far knows much.” We travel to see, to compare and then strive to better ourselves in life and work. Only tour guides who do not understand local history or relay false stories to foreign tourists should be criticized. The Vietnamese themselves understand the limitations in their own country. Tour guides have a right to share their feelings about their people, to express their worries and concerns about their country while taking tourists on world tours. And I believe that many Vietnamese in a tourist group would sympathize and understand because they have concerns about the country’s current situation too.

jackbl
09-04-2012, 10:01 AM
Pointing out weak points
===============================

This week, the focus is on an article by reader Thao Phuong, who shared her experience travelling overseas and hearing Vietnamese tour guides criticizing tourism back home.

“One time in Paris, when we were driving pass a long bridge, a tour guide said to us: ‘Please pay attention! This bridge has several spans but vehicles can run smoothly. In Vietnam, bridges are bumpy, which exhausts us.’ When we cruised on the Seine River, the guide started to mention the Nhieu Loc canal in Saigon: ‘Ho Chi Minh City has plans to turn Nhieu Loc canal into a tourist site like the Seine, but we will probably have to wait for a few generations,’” she recalled.

In the article, Thao Phuong found it lame to compare Vietnam with other developed countries since the former is still growing and encountering several difficulties, especially poverty.

“Despite the many drawbacks that we see every day, we cannot deny the positive changes in the country in recent years. I hope the tour guides will stop comparing and putting negative messages into tourists’ minds,” she wrote.

Thao Phuong’s letter to Tuoi Tre has elicited different reactions from our readers. Some agreed that Vietnamese tour guides are not professional enough and do not think thoroughly before speaking.

“I'm sure most Vietnamese guides in these countries are self-taught and are not required to have any special accreditation or special knowledge. Finally, since you're paying for their service in the first place and seem quite content to write Tuoi Tre readers about this, why don't you simply tell the guides that you are not happy with their attitude?,” wondered Carl Robinson.

“Don't take it so hard Thao, you should simply tell them that it’s also easy to spot a Vietnamese tour guide, they are the only ones standing around complaining about their homeland,” wrote Class Clown jokingly.

In a response article, Dao Thien Kim said she found what the tour guides said to be all truths and poverty is not an excuse for not feeling ashamed of the differences between Vietnam and other developed nations.

“I know that our country is poor and many people are still needy. I also see positive changes in the current development. However, it is not because we are poor that we accept bumpy roads and potholes caused by careless or corrupt constructors. It is not because we are poor that we feel ashamed to be told that we have no money to buy luxuries or goods which are more expensive than back home. Above all, it is not because we are poor that we are unaware of keeping public areas clean by not littering everywhere,” she reasoned.

Besides comments from readers who are tourists and are concerned about Vietnam tourism, we also received feedback from current and former tour guides about this issue.

“Since childhood, we were educated to see the truth and have our own points of view. The stories told by those tour guides were not meant to badmouth the country. They are opinions of a responsible person. Probably the author herself had some bad experience and became hostile to the tour guides?” wondered My Hanh, a former tour guide.

Minh Nhat, an English tour guide who has been taking foreign tourists around the country, had another view. He shared that local tour guides should never badmouth Vietnam to either domestic or foreign tourists.

“As a cultural ambassador, no one wants to talk bad about their own country and people. In reality, tour guides are not painters who only offer beautiful images of their homeland. Tourists are very sensitive and can find out if we tell the truth or not,” he wrote.
How about you, our readers? Do you feel ashamed to have your short-comings pointed out to you? Do you get annoyed at hearing someone, especially a person of the same nationality, badmouthing your country? Share with us your opinions regarding this issue via [email protected]

Have a relaxing weekend!

jackbl
12-04-2012, 02:28 AM
Corruption still popular among local businesses
================================================== ======

Local enterprises still engage in corrupt practices in exchange for favorable conditions for business activities, said a research on corruption situation in Vietnam.

Corruption has become more and more popular among Vietnamese business community as well as between enterprises and the State agencies, leaving far-reaching impacts on the local business environment, said the research results announced on Wednesday by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Development and Policies Research Center (DEPOCEN).

The results are based on the direct interviews with 270 enterprises, associations and governmental officials. Most of the respondents admitted they are victims of corruption but also bribe-givers themselves,

The survey participants are fully aware of the negative impacts of corruption on the local business environment, as well as relations among enterprises and between enterprises and the public sector.

Some 40% of the respondents said unofficial expenditures accounted for around 1% of the total annual business expenditures, while 13% said such expense made up 5%.

A considerable 63% of the surveyed enterprises shared the view that corruption occurred between enterprises and the State management agencies right in the process of business registration and other licensing processes. “The complicated and ambiguous system of trade licenses is a cause of corruption in Vietnam,” said a respondent.

Regarding the land use procedures, 40% of the enterprises believed they had to have personal relationships to receive allocated and transferred land.

Businesses also spend hefty unofficial expenses on tax, custom and market management agencies.

The survey participants expressed neutral opinions on biddings and goods procurements, but a half of them admitted giving gifts to the officials in charge of biddings is very common.

Corrupt practices between enterprises and enterprises are also popular. Organizing biddings is considered a transparent way to select capable suppliers, but not all enterprises follow this way.

Only 30.45% of the surveyed enterprises replied they chose suppliers via biddings, but less than 8% said they always do so.

Even during the bidding process, enterprises are willing to adopt preferential polices for the contract negotiators of the other parties, with 30% of the respondents saying they regularly do so and 40% sometimes or rarely do.

Most enterprises said they often pay kickbacks worth below 5% of the contract values, while a few others said the percentage is over 10%. Kickbacks in the service sector are said to be higher than in production and trading.

The popularity of corrupt practices in the local business community partly explains why Vietnam always ranks among the bottom nations in the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International in the last seven years, regardless of the efforts to reform the country.

SGT

xiaolibiantai
12-04-2012, 05:08 AM
Seems quite quiet this thread...except for master jackbl's news posting... Cheongsters of Viet scene going on low profile?

jackbl
12-04-2012, 08:46 AM
Seems quite quiet this thread...except for master jackbl's news posting... Cheongsters of Viet scene going on low profile?

All went up the mountain to learn tieng viet on their own. No internet access :D

Hurricane88
12-04-2012, 09:24 AM
All went up the mountain to learn tieng viet on their own. No internet access :D

all had improved their tieng viet and so no more asking...or all knew where to get long and short hair dictionary to translate and learn tieng viet...:)

Honey Boon
12-04-2012, 12:23 PM
actually is the vbs that improve their communication skills..... english or mandarin .... so now we no need to learn liao ;)

all had improved their tieng viet and so no more asking...or all knew where to get long and short hair dictionary to translate and learn tieng viet...:)

Seletar
12-04-2012, 01:20 PM
actually is the vbs that improve their communication skills..... english or mandarin .... so now we no need to learn liao ;)

Last week went to club 36, I asked the vb in TV, she answered me in TH, another vb talked in TA, looks like they learn the languages before they come. :)

jackbl
12-04-2012, 11:50 PM
Salary absurdity
==========================

VietNamNet Bridge – The salary of a doctor, who is the head of a scientific research department with over 20 years of experience, is equivalent to the salary of a charwoman of a middle-class family and lower than the salary of a taxi driver in Hanoi or HCM City. The salary of a worker in a foreign-invested garment firm is enough to feed the worker.

Though the salary policy has been reformed for a long time, there are absurdities of salaries and income in Vietnam.

Firstly, salary and income is not paid based on qualification, but on power and job title.

Salary is the price of labor and it reflects the level and result of labor in reality. However, salary in the public sector is leveled and does not encourage people to study and improve their expertise and responsibility at work.

To enjoy salary increases, some civil servants do not rely on their qualification and personal endeavor at work, but through their personal relations and gaps on personnel policies.

As a result, many talented and hard-working people do not have many chances to have their salary rise; salaries of major employees are lower than assistant employees; retirement pension is higher than the salary of working-age people; the real income is lowering while the number of civil servants keeps rising; income not from salary is on the rise, particularly for civil servants who work in the fields of “power”. This is closely attached to corruption and bribery for promotion.

There are young people whose talent and expertise are not high, but enjoy a towering salary and are appointed to high position than others, who are better than them in all aspects.

Secondly, the nominal rise of a salary is always lower than the reduction of real income and the minimum salary increases continuously, while the minimum level of income for imposing personal income tax is not adjusted regularly.

Whenever the minimum salary rises, the price of goods often increases at higher level. Consequently, the real income of salary earners may be lower than before.

Notably, sometimes salary is increased for a part of workers in the society but it brings about negative impacts on the society when prices for goods also increase in the market.

Besides high inflation rate over the last four years (approximately 50 percent), nominal salary has also been adjusted. However, the starting point for imposing personal income tax – VND4 million ($200) – was maintained until late 2011, even though it became “outdated’ very shortly after it was applied.

This absurdity has unintentionally turned workers into “rich people” because their income easily reaches the level for paying personal income tax, which should be only imposed on the rich.

Thirdly, representatives of laborers to defend laborers are paid by employers.

The trade unions in enterprises in the private and foreign-invested sectors are set up in formalism. They are not the true protectors of laborers’ interest. The profound reason is most leaders of trade unions in these enterprises are recruited and paid by employers.

Moreover, at many enterprises, the salary and salary negotiation policies do not meet the market principles. Low salary and complicated regulations on legal strikes have resulted in the increase of spontaneous strikes in the foreign-invested sector.

In fact, many enterprises abuse their workers by asking them to work overtime, reduce interests of workers or pay low salary for workers though they are able to pay higher. These are among the main reasons for increasing strikes and massive resignations of workers at industrial zones and export processing zones in Vietnam, especially at big cities where the living cost is expensive. This situation causes losses for employers and harms Vietnam’s prestige and FDI attraction policy.

Worse, some businesses recruit and fire workers constantly. In these cases, employers complain about the poor quality of labor. But the true reason is to avoid paying labor interests and exploit workers by paying salary at the starting point. This trick causes false scarcity of labor and losses to workers.

Many foreign-invested enterprises always report losses but they still pay high salary to employees, thanks to the price transfer trick. This is also popular in state-owned enterprises, which hold a monopoly in some industries. For example, the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) owes huge debts but it still pays very high salary to employees. A joint venture airway reported heavy losses but it still paid huge salary to its officials.

In 2009, US President Barrack Obama called the act that CEOs of loss-incurred banks received millions of USD of salaries is unmoral. Recently, the Japanese Prime Minister stated to not receive their PM salary until the nuclear power incident is solved.

Strikes, especially strikes in the foreign-invested sector, should not be only considered as the signal of instability of investment environment in a certain province, but also the signal of social injustice, which needs the state’s assistance to protect legal interests of workers.

Sometimes, they should be considered as the signal of backwardness and the requirement for restructuring the economy.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong

jackbl
14-04-2012, 08:12 AM
University students learn to become “playboys”, “kept women”
================================================== ============
VietNamNet Bridge – Attending parties through the night, being keen on gambling, “addicted to laptops” and earning money by serving as kept women--all have become the new lifestyles of a part of Vietnamese students nowadays, who always strive to escape from the parents’ control.


Parties – an “indispensable part of life”

Vietnamese students nowadays believe that they need to lead the lives independent from their parents and they need to decide themselves, not their parents, what they will do in their lives.

The students try to “liberalize” themselves by attending the parties through the night. They not only gather together on holidays or birthday parties, but also on ordinary days. The students from well off families attend luxurious parties and drink the bottles of wine worth millions of dong, while the ones from poor families gather together at tea shops to drink the teas worth 2000 dong and gossip.

B Thanh, a student of the Industry University, said that he spends most of his free time on parties, where he can meet friends and share everything with them. “If you cannot enjoy the life now, you will feel regret later,” Thanh said, adding that only foolish students would spend time learning hard.

Gambling – the bad habit of many students

As for many students, reviewing lessons has become a “luxurious pleasure.” Therefore, when getting tired of going out, they would not go to bed or do school works, but would gang together for gambling. And when getting tired of gambling, they would turn on laptops to watch online films. The watching may last for indefinite time, and students can stay up through the night to watch films.

Addicted to the Internet

Currently, laptops are no longer luxurious things to students. Therefore, it’s easier sitting for hours in front of laptops to surf on Internet and read funny stories. A society of people who like sitting for hours in front of computers has been established on a social network. The society has attracted a lot of members who always click “like.”

Thanh, a student of the Electronics and Refrigeration Junior College, said that he can work with computer for 10 continued hours. Thanh said that he can live without meals for one day, but he would get crazy if he is away from his laptop for one day.

The kept women – students

Gambling, parties and spending money like water have been applauded by the student circle as the most favorite pastimes. However, in order to be able to join the games, students need to have money.

One of the easiest ways for female students to earn money is to serve as the kept women for the rich men.

Q, the student of a junior college, quietly leaves the dormitory in the evening and only returns after the midnight, climbing the wall into her room, as the dormitory is locked by that time. Q’s timetable proves to be different from everyone else: she sleeps in daylight, and works at night, while spending no time on learning. The girls sharing the same room with Q, said that night is the time for her to earn money from the rich men.

T, a student of the same junior college, has also become “famous” as a call girl. Rumor has been spread out that T can earn 500,000 dong for every night. Therefore, T has a special nickname “T 500”.

Minh Hien

jackbl
14-04-2012, 04:08 PM
Don’t let taxi drivers rob tourists
==========================================

At the end of July last year, four of us in my family traveled to Malaysia to attend our son’s graduation ceremony. From Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport, we took a budget flight and arrived at the low cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur’s airport around midnight. We had booked a hotel at Chowkit, in the city center, and took a taxi from the airport.

Since he had been studying there, my son knew that taxis did not run by meter, but a deal was always made between passengers and driver. I was a little worried that we would be ripped off at that late time of day. However, I was relieved when the aged taxi driver asked for VND750,000 (US$ 36) for a distance of 60km.

Although we made a deal on a price, the driver drove through the streets to find us the hotel without asking for more money. After that night, we took other taxis around Malaysia and met nice drivers.

It was my first time going to Malaysia and I had good impression of the country owing to cheerful drivers who do not rip off passengers at midnight. Two months after the trip, through the media, I heard a story about three Malaysian tourists going from Ben Thanh market to Tan Son Nhat airport and were scammed by taxi forVND4 million (US$200) and MYR300 (US$100).

I think bad and good people exist everywhere. Some Malaysian drivers were said to raise the price while other Vietnamese drivers return money and luggage left by passengers in the car. The thing is that we should not let taxi drivers rob tourists and drive away with their luggage in the car anymore.

The case of the Japanese tourist who was robbed by a taxi driver reminded us of the incident where two Singaporeans, who were delegates of the 80th Interpol General Assembly in Hanoi, fell victim to a scamming taxi driver who overcharged them by 40 times the normal fee, and even took away their cell phones.

It is a nightmare to just arrive in Vietnam and get ripped off by taxi drivers. To prevent this situation, foreign guidebooks have shown how to take a taxi and how to handle a scam. But what do taxi companies and the authorities do about the cab operation? What have they done to ensure that taxi drivers do not ruin the country’s image?

jackbl
14-04-2012, 04:11 PM
I have regained my trust
===============================

TuoiTreNews: Ayumi Ono, a 27-year old Japanese tourist who was robbed last Thursday by the Saigon Hoang Long taxi on the way to her hotel on De Tham Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, sent a letter to Tuoi Tre readers before departing for Japan. She retold her feelings on the incident and expressed her thanks to the responsible people who helped her find the luggage.

------
I visited Vietnam before and fell in love with the country and people. To discover more about Vietnam, I went on a 5 day and 4 night trip as a tourist at the end of March.

This trip allowed me to learn more about the people, including the good and bad ones. After the incident, I know how to catch a cab in Vietnam: buy a ticket for a taxi in the airport and upon arrival ask the driver to bring you luggage down before paying.

I was surprised it was so difficult and time-consuming to find lost luggage in Vietnam. I was more surprised that the management of Hoang Long taxi did not actively solve the case. Although confirming that their staff drove me, they did not hurry to find my luggage. Maybe because they were not the victim they did not understand the feelings of someone who was robbed in a foreign country, like me.

I had almost lost my trust and hope about the possibility of finding my luggage until I went to the airport and was helped by Tran Van Thien, a member of the security and order management at Tan Son Nhat. He helped me get my luggage back, as well as my trust that there is justice in life and there are responsible people who sympathize with a victim like me.

Many tourists, as well as me, are in need of those working with a heart like Thien. I would like to thank him and I will never forget the day the taxi driver promised to come and return my luggage. It was a stormy day and it was not Thien’s shift, but he waited with me from 3pm until the evening. And I will not forget the warm meal he invited me to when the weather got rough outside.

jackbl
15-04-2012, 12:38 PM
过去10年有超过10万名越南女外嫁到新加坡、台湾、马国、韩国等地,导致越南男人一妻难求。当地政府担心 越南成为“光棍国”,立法禁止婚姻中介安排越南女嫁到国外。

在越南介绍女子嫁到国外的国内外中介,将面对最少8到10年监禁,严重的话甚至可入狱20年。

据了解,目前嫁到国外的越南女,绝大部分都是走法律漏洞。中介会安排她们以旅游之名出国相亲,找到对象后回 越南,由未来夫婿替她们申请“单身证”,再嫁出国。

jackbl
15-04-2012, 10:48 PM
My Dong Problem
=========================

There are two things that visitors to Vietnam, be it for a short stay or a long residency, quickly find daunting about this country.

First is the crazy traffic. Gawking with eyes wide open from a taxi, newcomers flinch at the sight of near-collisions and gradually realize that the country seems to have a Darwinian concept of right-of-way. Fear kept me in taxies for months before I finally summoned the nerve to get a motorbike and brave the streets of Hanoi.

Taking taxies, however, frequently presented me with the second problem: The dong. Many foreigners here are accustomed to using credit and debit cards back home, but here they are expected to use cash. I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels awkward removing a large stack of currency from an ATM, especially on a windy day. Nor can I quickly calculate how much that, say, 1.76 million dong equals in US greenbacks.

But when it comes to the dong, I also suffer from a particular disability. (Um, the currency, I mean… oh, never mind.)

Here’s how the trouble might pop up: I’m riding in a cab and run up a 76,000 fare. Unable to find exact change or something close in my wallet, I hand the driver a 100,000 note.

A few seconds pass as I wait for my change. But the driver seems to be waiting on me. Is he really thinking I meant to give him a large tip and step out?

Now he says something I don’t understand. In rudimentary Vietnamese, I say, “Hai muoi” to get 20,000 back. Now he raises his voice louder and waves a10,000 dong note for me to see.

And then it dawns on me: That’s the same bill I handed him. Once again, I was confused by all those zeroes. And I would smile, apologize and laugh ha-ha as I reached back into my wallet for the right amount.

But it’s not just the zeroes and the ubiquitous image of Ho Chi Minh that causes my dong confusion. Chances are you don’t have this problem, but plenty of males of Northern European ancestry do. About one of every 12 of us are genetically cursed with red-green color blindness. It is much rarer among other people.

Maybe “curse” is too strong a word. But I have been known to mismatch socks that, to me, seemed the same shade of brown, even if one was apparently green. And I hated the fad of bright orange golf balls and how they would simply disappear in a fairway. (It was Mrs. Larson, my kindergarten teacher, who first noticed that my paintings featured orange lawns.) The best thing about colorblindness, perhaps, is a skill I’d rather not have to use: the ability to spot camouflage on a battlefield.

But here in Vietnam, I’m sure my colorblindness has cost me money. On a few occasions, I have handed over a 100,000 note thinking it had one less zero. I know this because the merchant surprised me with change I didn’t know was coming.

What I don’t know is how many times I mistakenly gave a cabbie, say, two notes totaling 150,000 dong for a 60,000 fare—and my error wasn’t pointed out. And a couple of times I’m pretty sure that has happened, since later I’d be fumbling through my wallet and wondering what happened to that 100,000 bill I knew had to be there.

And I suspect that some ruthless cabbies may be wise to the confusion of color- challenged foreign males and exploit our handicap. On one recent occasion, having learned my expensive lesson, I could have sworn I handed the cabbie 100,000 and he then showed me a different 10,000 note. I felt I was being conned. On another day, I might have raised my voice and walked out, daring him to follow. A couple of times I’ve short-changed drivers who I was convinced had hot meters. But somebody else was with me so I just grumbled, took his 10 and gave him a 100. A second 100, I think.

So, what should be done about this problem? And I do think that many people, including many Vietnamese, think that were is something wrong with the dong and agree that the currency needs a facelift.

The simplest fix is obvious: Get rid of the unnecessary zeroes. Why not makelife easier by phasing out those last three zeroes? Or maybe make the salient digits BIG and last three zeros smaller. The 1,000 dong note would become the 1, and 2,000 the 2, and so on up. I and other color-challenged humans would have a much easier time distinguishing the 10 from the 100. (Coins would be a nice substitute for the smaller notes, but I know the Vietnamese authorities have tried this and it didn’t take.)

In America, I would say that’s my two cents on the subject. Here, based on recent exchange rates, that would be my 416 dong worth. That’s what my calculator says, anyway.

xiaolibiantai
16-04-2012, 07:26 AM
过去10年有超过10万名越南女外嫁到新加坡、台湾、马国、韩国等地,导致越南男人一妻难求。当地政府担心 越南成为“光棍国”,立法禁止婚姻中介安排越南女嫁到国外。

在越南介绍女子嫁到国外的国内外中介,将面对最少8到10年监禁,严重的话甚至可入狱20年。

据了解,目前嫁到国外的越南女,绝大部分都是走法律漏洞。中介会安排她们以旅游之名出国相亲,找到对象后回 越南,由未来夫婿替她们申请“单身证”,再嫁出国。

Shit! My plan of ever getting a Vietnamese wife thwarted!! :p

Hurricane88
16-04-2012, 09:37 AM
Shit! My plan of ever getting a Vietnamese wife thwarted!! :p

dun worry...still can find so long you go to Vn to find yourself...:)

jackbl
16-04-2012, 09:55 AM
dun worry...still can find so long you go to Vn to find yourself...:)

How many u found? I think u are very hardworking in finding one in VN.... :p :D

Hurricane88
16-04-2012, 09:58 AM
How many u found? I think u are very hardworking in finding one in VN....

I had one one new gf who I just knew her for 2 months and 3 more in the pipeline...anyway cannot stopped hunting...just in case things dun work out...always needs spares...:)

counting down to my retirements...:)

jackbl
16-04-2012, 12:20 PM
Pick pocketing on city buses
==================================
Pick pocketing has become widespread on buses in Ho Chi Minh City, and cutpurses even threaten their victims and witnesses with knives if they resist.


Their tricks are usually employed on busy buses during the rush hours from 6:00 – 9:00 and 16:00 – 19:00, when they have a chance to jostle with passengers. They always hold a jacket which acts as a cover for their hands while they put them into victims’ pockets.

One of the cutpurses recently identified and filmed by Tuoi Tre is Tuan ‘sun’ (or toothless Tuan), who often operates on bus route 19 from Ben Thanh Market to the National University in Thu Duc District. Tuan often covers half of his face with a yellowish brown cap and wears a backpack to store stolen items and weapons for attacking victims.

Identifying the culprit

On April 2, Tuan ‘sun’ leaned into a sleeping student, hid his left hand under his jacket, and searched the man’s thigh pocket while his eyes looked around to caution witnesses.

After a while, he moved to a seat next to a young female student. He pretended to lean towards the window to look out and put his hand into her backpack. Another passenger saw what Tuan was doing and signaled to the girl with a touch on her shoulder. She then moved away with the zip of her backpack half opened.

As the bus approached Ben Thanh Market, Tuan stood up to shoulder his way into a group of passengers waiting at the door to get off. He grabbed a wallet from a young man’s pocket, quickly jumped off the bus, entered a public restroom and exited in another shirt.

The following day, he got on bus number 53N-4382 and secretly searched many passengers’ bags and pockets with the same tricks. He decided to try to pick a thick wallet from the back pocket of a young male student. However, the man was cautious and protected his pocket in time.

On another bus, Tuan found a seat behind another student and put his hand into her backpack. Upon realizing that many passengers were looking at him, he glowered at them and brandished a knife in his pack to threaten anyone thinking of intervening. After several seconds he took the girl’s red purse and hid it in his jacket.

He took another bus back to a motorbike shed and rode his Attila scooter to his boarding room in Lane 1F, Section 15, Hamlet 3, Tan Kieng Ward in District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Both the witnesses and the girl were too afraid to publicly cry out to catch the thief as they are regular commuters on the route.


Robberies in public

Many people have said their pockets and bags are cut and goods stolen very often on buses in the city. Aggressive pick pocketing gangs often work in pairs or groups of three. One of them gets on the bus to steal, while another rides a motorbike following the bus to help the thief escape if he is caught.

Around 16:30 on April 3, on a bus number 53N-4320 of Route 19, many passengers panicked and shouted “Pickpocket!”, and pointed at a man around 40 years old who was stuffing a wad of 100,000 dong bill notes into his pocket. The pickpocket said in a muffled voice, “I will stab any idiots who touch me” and jumped onto a motorbike driven by an accomplice towards Binh Trieu Bridge.

The victim was Le Thi Van, a worker from Thanh Hoa. She cried, “He took 1.9 million dong I saved to pay debt and also my mobile phone.”

Nguyen Thi Nguyen, a student at the Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities, was terrified by what she witnessed on one journey. In January 2012, also on Bus 19, a female student cried out when her things were stolen. A man wearing a cap with a tattoo on his arm approached, touched her face and smiled derisively, muttered “Little but tough, huh?” and then jumped off the bus. Blood oozed from a 3 to 4 centimeter-long cut on her face immediately.

Chief of the Security Team of the Center for Public Transportation Control, Tran Chanh Trung, confirmed that he received reports about these robberies and organized task forces to stamp the problem out.

Last year, 26 pickpockets were arrested and three this year for committing the crime, he added.

However, he said it is essential for passengers to protect their belongings carefully. The Center has also stuck warning notices on buses and made oral warnings on loudspeakers to remind passengers about pickpockets’ actions.

PVT, a bus driver on Route 33, said he knows pickpockets on Bus Routes 33, 19, and 601 by their faces. But he does not dare to help passengers anymore because he was insulted and threatened whenever he warned a passenger about a pickpocket.

jackbl
16-04-2012, 10:57 PM
A Banh Mi For Everyone
===============================
The American magazine Food and Wine recently shared with the world a secret we in Vietnam have already long known to be true. Vietnam is a foodie’s paradise, and more specifically Saigon’s ranking in the magazine’s top ten cities worldwide for street food is a testament to our sidewalk chefs knowing their craft and executing it well.

Great food is indeed one very pleasant perk of daily expat life in Vietnam. Even if our Vietnamese language skills leave much to be desired, the selections out on the street require little translation. We can simply follow our noses and choose with our eyes.

Walking more than a block or two without running into one of our city’s mobile food carts seems to be a difficult proposition. But let’s be honest, descending into this wonderful world of sidewalk dining is most unnerving for the newly initiated. We come armed with tales of horror from those adventurers before us whose stomachs did not quite take the journey intended while sampling the foods.

Rest assured though, as good eating options do abound here in Saigon, and what better way to dip our toes into this vast ocean of food than the banh mi. A couple of stops on our sandwich tour are well known, and others not quite so. Yet no matter which food cart becomes your go to source for an authentic taste of Vietnam, the basic premise remains the same…crunchy golden baguettes with fluffy insides, crisp vegetables, tangy herbs, a slather of sauce and, outside of eggs, protein choices unlike any easily found back home.

Nhu Lan is perhaps the best known sandwich stand in town. The soaring Bitexco Tower across the street may symbolize a new Vietnam rising, but this food stand at 50 Ham Nghi Street still remains a vestige of the more traditional Saigon. Order the banh mi thit nuong and watch as crispy barbecue pork sliced fresh off a rotating spit drops into the awaiting nest of bread. “Tasty” and “delicious” seem such clichés when describing an almost bacon-like creation rounded out with mayonnaise and pickled daikon, cucumbers, and carrots; yet these two simple words truly say it all.

Banh Mi Ba Lac’s central District 1 location, at 41 Nguyen Hue, may be on the beaten path, but the rich flavors in these sandwiches are anything but common. Choose from neatly arranged pyramids of pork ranging from juicy roasted slices with reddish edges to sweet-salty cha lua sausage, with of course the normal complements of cilantro and pickled vegetables. A generous portion of mouth searing chili peppers kicks the heat up a few notches into a sensory overload matching a hot Saigon afternoon.




Smoke wafting lazily from Banh Mi 37’s tiny charcoal grill draws us down quiet, narrow Alley 39 just off bustling Nguyen Trai Street. 37 fires up the flames after 4pm to grill up an “only in Vietnam” experience a world removed from this District 1 neighborhood’s more typical sit-down restaurant fare. Tender caramelized meatballs hinting of lemongrass, teriyaki infused mayonnaise, sweetly pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro, cucumber slices and a hot pepper spread stuffed into a crunchy baguette all combine to launch our tastebuds on a blissful journey.

The top of the alley at 69 Nguyen Huu Canh next to The Manor highrise complex in Binh Thanh District hosts a no-name food cart allowing us to heed the advice that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A friendly woman cracks eggs into a battered hot plate to cook up fresh banh mi op la while we wait under an awning offering respite from the morning sun. A few strokes of her knife spread brown paté across an open face baguette soon filled with the omelet, hot peppers, soy sauce, cucumbers, cilantro, and tomatoes. For those of us more accustomed to pastries and cereals, this is breakfast reinvented.

Looking for a great vegetarian option to start the day? Tucked away on a quiet side street near the airport, Café Giai Khat (38C Tan Son, Tan Binh District) takes the ubiquitous baguette and turns it into a proper meat-free treat. A fluffy omelet is paired with crisp cucumber, soft tomato, soy sauce, and a generous amount of hot sauce. An ice cold ca phe sua da makes for both a complete breakfast and some sweet relief from this banh mi’s spicy heat.

Fast, fresh and affordable, at prices ranging from VND12,000 to 25,000 (US 50 cents to US$1), these sandwiches are a great introduction to Vietnamese street food culture. The varieties of banh mi available to us morning, noon and night provide a meal suitable to almost any taste. Perhaps a few banh mi under our belts will whet our appetites enough so that we dare to venture deeper into our city’s rich cuisine.

vietboy
17-04-2012, 07:56 PM
Hello senior bros.

Anyone can help me translate this?

tih tih cua a ki cut ai cug noi het. e mun sua a lai rui mih ha cuoi. a nge loi e hk ha????

Thanks.. :D

did a browse through the pages and came across this. seems like nobody decode this leh. i see already i only can BLUR. i can only see the last sentence as "Anh nghe loi em khong ha? :confused:
any profs can help this guy out? KT? Jackbl? Lovesprout?

jackbl
18-04-2012, 07:40 PM
any profs can help this guy out? KT? Jackbl? Lovesprout?

No head no tail.....

player79
18-04-2012, 10:16 PM
actually is the vbs that improve their communication skills..... english or mandarin .... so now we no need to learn liao ;)

it mean that vb getting more clever. Which mean more tien needed.:)

vietboy
18-04-2012, 10:25 PM
No head no tail.....

ya hor... no context...
ngropy, maybe u can provide more info on the context of the orginial conversation so our profs can help u.

ngropy
18-04-2012, 10:59 PM
ya hor... no context...
ngropy, maybe u can provide more info on the context of the orginial conversation so our profs can help u.

thanks for the headsup vietboy and jackbl bro.. :D

i wanted to give some context but this was sms wrongly to me. so i have no context too. usually still can try decode using my viet dictionary or iphone app. but this time around i can't find most of the words with the dictionary and furthermore i cannot guess the shortform words. got no context also.. so i try my luck asking here... hehe.. thanks anyway..

vietboy
19-04-2012, 08:11 PM
thanks for the headsup vietboy and jackbl bro.. :D

i wanted to give some context but this was sms wrongly to me. so i have no context too. usually still can try decode using my viet dictionary or iphone app. but this time around i can't find most of the words with the dictionary and furthermore i cannot guess the shortform words. got no context also.. so i try my luck asking here... hehe.. thanks anyway..

chey....

she sms to u wrongly ha? so this means that she also have a singkie guy who knows TV. skali is one of the bros here! :D

80% of those words are short-formed, how possibly can u find that in any dict?

my guess: she and that guy are talking about something about the guy's that is funny previously. she mentioned that this thing is known by all, so she just wanna mention it so to laugh about it with the guy. something like that.

sgbiker23
19-04-2012, 10:42 PM
hi there does anyone know is there a club in singapore call paradise?

vietboy
20-04-2012, 09:24 PM
hi there does anyone know is there a club in singapore call paradise?

no, i only know of this Tieng Viet lovers club. :D

u post wrong thread lah. here not singapore club thread. :D

ngropy
21-04-2012, 03:26 PM
chey....

she sms to u wrongly ha? so this means that she also have a singkie guy who knows TV. skali is one of the bros here! :D

80% of those words are short-formed, how possibly can u find that in any dict?

my guess: she and that guy are talking about something about the guy's that is funny previously. she mentioned that this thing is known by all, so she just wanna mention it so to laugh about it with the guy. something like that.

icic.. ya loh.. coz i saw her sms have "a" and i suppose it to be "anh". So i figure out she must be talking to a guy. just want to decode see what is happening around my surrounding.. hehe.. ;)

jackbl
23-04-2012, 09:01 AM
Using Food to Celebrate Our Differences
================================================== ===========
Food is the perfect medium for us to both celebrate and bridge our cultural differences. Whether we hail from Vietnam, The United States, Germany or beyond, food is the one constant near and dear to all our hearts. A meal showcasing the best of a local culture is a great way to open dialogue between people of different backgrounds.

The journey ingredients make from market to plate is one of the more noticeable differences between Vietnam and my native America. While some of the meats, fruits and vegetables are found in either country, any similarities end here, for each country cooks up its own distinct flavor.

Back home my fellow Americans are likely to shop once a week in a large air conditioned supermarket. Groceries arriving home in plastic bags are transferred to large pantries, refrigerators and freezers for use in the upcoming week. These groceries consuming a good portion of the household budget are generally frozen, processed or canned.

Much to my surprise and delight, Vietnam’s street market culture has opened my Western eyes to the value of freshness and daily shopping. The wide selection of fruits and vegetables laid out in narrow shophouses exudes freshness and is such a refreshing change from prepackaged items in the average Western grocery store.

Shopping fresh every day would prove time consuming and laborious to a Western person leading a hectic life, yet I notice many Vietnamese value this time honored tradition.

Whether we shop Vietnamese or Western style, the preparation of the actual meal showcases the uniqueness of our cultures as well. American food stereotypically plates up on the heavier side with large pieces of grilled or oven baked meats paired with a starch, such as bread and potatoes. Smaller bite size pieces typify the average Vietnamese stir fry, with rice the ubiquitous base. Perhaps one of the reasons for this difference is the Western use of knife and fork versus chopsticks and a spoon.

I will go out on a limb here and posit that the average American is more likely to use a convenience food rather than cook from scratch. Anything other than cooked from scratch seems a foreign concept here in Vietnam. How many of us expats have been so proud to prepare a “home cooked” meal of jarred spaghetti sauce and packaged noodles pulled out of a kitchen cabinet?

Were we to apply the Vietnamese approach to our Western cooking, that ten minute spaghetti meal would morph into many hours of careful preparation, starting with a visit to the market to buy flour for the noodles and fresh vine ripe tomatoes for the sauce.

Indeed, we Westerners seek out ease and efficiency and would prefer everything done at lightning speed. Vietnamese on the other hand value tradition, and if food takes hours to prepare, so be it.

For example, the flavorful broth we enjoy with our steaming bowls of pho is a recipe shared by generations of cooks before us. Many people still spend hours boiling bones to impart deep color and rich flavors for the perfect taste. Buying a can of chicken stock at the grocery store surely would save a day’s worth of preparation, but something factory-made can never compare to the freshest and most natural of ingredients turned into delicious food by our very own hands.

Neither approach is wrong, for we are products of our environment and upbringings. Celebrating our differences with local food is such a delicious avenue to better understand each other. Indeed, time spent at our neighbor’s table conquers cultural gaps that could normally leave us confused and scratching our heads in amazement.

For me, my taste of Vietnam has left an impression of deep textures, rich colors, and bold flavors so different from the predictability back home. I am thankful to have one foot in both worlds.

jackbl
23-04-2012, 12:26 PM
The Milk King
====================
The roundabout at Nguyen Tri Phuong and Ngo Gia Tu on the border of Cholon and District 10 is an odd place for an outlet of one of Taiwan’s foremost snack chains. And yet on the wall of an unaffected, sidewalk-dining, local-style restaurant, is the unmistakable trademark of the Starbucks of the soy milk world, Yonghe Doujiang Da Wang. The name in Mandarin is a mouthful and the ostentatious translation is just as tough on the tongue — ‘The Eternal Harmony Soy Milk King’. Fortunately, the drinks and cuisine here are anything but.

Soy milk should be understood as the native equivalent of a latte in Asia, and it’s particularly popular in Taiwan. Taiwanese soy milk is thick, creamy, sweet and healthy, and Yonghe is considered by many as providing the tastiest concoction of what’s essentially crushed soybeans in water. Not all soy milk quite pleases the unadventurous palate, but Yonghe does a good job — as a credible franchise that’s been around since the 1980s, the quality is reliable, and the food items on the menu — based on favourite Chinese breakfast staples — are superb.

Cheap & Cheerful

The friendly, chubby, long-term owner is the first to admit that this is a tribute to the famous brand rather than an outlet, but decor notwithstanding, it’s easy to be fooled. Called Sua Dau Nanh Vinh Hoa in Vietnamese, every dish tastes as it does in Taiwan itself, which generates a lot of business with the staff of the nearby Taipei Economic & Cultural Office.

Even better, the dishes on offer are inexpensive. The soy milk, labelled on the menu as sua dau nanh (VND12,000) works as a thirst-quencher with ice or as a hot beverage with an oddly familiar mellowing quality on a warm evening. The store’s deep-fried dau cha quay (VND10,000) are like long toasty batons, as crispy and crunchy as the traditional northern Chinese variety; likewise the banh trung and banh mo hanh (egg and spring onion pancakes respectively, each VND17,000) are crusty and gently salty, and easy on the stomach.

More familiar international dim sum items from the Yonghe menu are also available here: bamboo baskets of steamed dumplings and buns are made on request at the counter, with favourites such as the banh bao tau xa (VND12,000), a bun stuffed with Chinese sweet bean paste, and regular fried dumplings (ha cao chien,VND35,000).

The tropical Vietnamese environment may be at the other end of the thermometer from the climates where these dishes became traditional winter breakfasts for the northern Chinese. But transported as they are to an unlikely corner of Ho Chi Minh City, they’re still welcome additions to the growing melange of local and international cuisine. — Michael Arnold.

Sua Dau Nanh Vinh Hoa, 243 Nguyen Tri Phuong, Q10. Open daily from 6am to 1am.

jackbl
23-04-2012, 12:30 PM
His 1st official visit oversea since he took up the President post...... Envy him :)

Singaporean President begins Vietnam visit
===============================================
VietNamNet Bridge – President Tony Tan Keng Yam arrived in Hanoi on April 23, beginning a four-day official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang.

Vietnam-Singapore relations have developed well over the years through the exchange of high-level visits.

In 2004 Vietnam and Singapore signed a joint statement on the framework of comprehensive cooperation in the 21st century, laying a firm foundation for strengthening bilateral friendship and multifaceted cooperation.

In 2005 the two countries signed a framework agreement on Vietnam-Singapore Connectivity, centering on finance, investment, trade-service, transportation, post communication-information technology, and education-training.

Singapore is one of Vietnam’s leading trade partners, with two-way trade increasing considerably from US$7.7 billion in 2006 to US$8.7 billion in 2011.

Vietnam imports petrol, plastics, metals, machinery and chemicals from Singapore, and mainly exports seafood, coffee, crude oil, gem stones and electronic appliances to the island country.

Singapore’s investment in Vietnam has increased constantly since 1998. By March 2012, Singapore had 1,008 investment projects in Vietnam capitalized at US$24.16 billion, mostly focusing on property, processing and manufacturing industries, and construction.

VietNamNet/VOV

jackbl
23-04-2012, 02:14 PM
Vietnamese parents now tend to award children with money
================================================== ========

VietNamNet Bridge – A debate has been raised by VietNamNet’s readers about whether to give money to children to reward for children’s efforts.


A lot of Vietnamese parents nowadays believe that giving money to children is the best way to ask the children to do the things they want.

When asking the son, a 3rd grader, to go to the shop near his home to buy a pack of cigarettes, Kien in Hoai Duc district in Hanoi, said: “Go and buy. I will give you 5000 dong.”

The boy immediately left for the cigarette shop, without any words. 5000 dong is the sum of money he always receives after fulfill a thing as requested by the parents. Therefore, he believes that paying money is a must when someone is served.

When asked why Kien promised to give the boy 5000 dong, Kien smiled and said that if he had not offered the “award,” the boy would not have left for buying cigarettes for him. As such, Kien now can earn his money by providing services to his father.

Hue, a mother in Thanh Tri district, also thinks that it would be better to encourage children with money. Every time when her child cries or refuses meals, she would promise to give the child money.

“My child suffers from the anorexia. Therefore, I have to promise to give her 2000 dong to persuade him to eat meat,” she said. “Sometimes I have to give 5000 dong.”

When asked if this is a good way to use money to educate children, Vietnamese parents all have a common voice that this should not be an education method. Surprisingly, both Kien and Hue do not agree to the education method. However, they still use the way every day to seek their wishes fulfilled.

Educators have warned the parents who try to use money to educate children that the cash bonus would “harm” the children. They would always bargain with parents about the sums of money the parents need to give them when asking them to do something. Especially, they would not understand the value of the money, and that their parents can only earn money from sweated labor.

Ha, the man in Quoc Oai district in Hanoi, related that one day, she asked a niece to go buying a pack of cards for the guests to play after the family party. As the niece said she did not want to go under the sun, Ha gave 2000 dong to the girl, saying that this is the award for her.

However, to Ha’s surprise, the girl did not accept the “gift.” “You cannot buy anything with 2000 dong now,” the girl said. Finally, she only left for the pack of cards after Ha gave her a 5000 dong bank note.

“Instead of using money to stimulate children, why don’t parents think of bringing the kids to the parks or buying the toys they like?” Huong, a parent whose child goes to the Song Phuong Primary School questioned.

In the eyes of international labor managers, Vietnamese people keep a combination of odd features: they are both frugal and squandered.

While the students in 1990s were told that money would associate with crimes, the students in the 21st century believe that everything can be bought with money, while they would not go to school if the parents to not give them money.

Nowadays, in many families, money is given to children when they fulfill normal duties such as doing home exercises, cleaning rooms, washing dishes or taking care for younger brothers.

Nguyen Hien

jackbl
25-04-2012, 08:23 AM
What message are you sending?
==========================================

Hi, my name’s Stivi and I live in Hoi An. When we fail to communicate well we have many ways to describe that in English, ‘Crossed wires’, ‘don’t get it (get the idea)’, ‘not a clue’ (don’t understand) and so on. The never-ending confusion between foreigners and Vietnamese re-occurs because of the significant differences in our respective cultures more than the relative difficulties of speaking each other’s languages. This is often funny, exasperating and bemusing.

Last Sunday I was relaxing at a quiet bar at An Bang (Cam An) beach not far from town. A young Vietnamese man sitting near me, short and slightly fat, was chatting with another local expat (foreigner living in Vietnam) in reasonable English. After the westerner moved away, the lad turned to me and said, ‘So what do you teach?’ I was confused because I didn’t know the man. “Sorry”, I said, “do I know you?” The young man continued, “What English do you teach?” “How do you know I’m a teacher?” “I see you around… you have the red bike, yeah?” “Look, I’m sorry, WHO are you?” “Oh, I’m the bar manager (of a local bar)”. He stopped talking and simply turned back to a small tourism book he was reading.

The whole encounter was less than a minute but I couldn’t stop thinking about it later on. The lad was working for a familiar western-style bar that was often visited by foreign tourists yet he didn’t introduce himself nor explain why he asked me or how he knew me. I was puzzled at the lack of social manners, especially as he should have known better.

This topic is not new and every expat has a good story about this. This ‘walk into the middle of the conversation’ happens frequently and is sometimes quite annoying. My students often text me to cancel a lesson but don’t identify themselves on the phone so I have to check the phone lists to find out who called me. Some students invite me to coffee but answer with, “hi, can you guess who I am?” Another maddening habit is to practice English at unpredictable times via text – “How r u?” and I have no idea who is talking. The other strange habit is saying “Hello” to other Vietnamese on the phone but not telling me who you are!

I don’t particularly worry about this strange habit but I do wonder ‘What’s the message you are sending?” Western people place great importance on greeting strangers in appropriate ways. Most of the people failing to identify themselves or their questions are trying to learn English or work in English-speaking environments and this is a very important part of Western culture and some Asian cultures. If I didn’t identify myself in Japan for example, they would often shun me or never reply.

As one local expat restaurant owner told me, “If they can’t understand that they need to tell people their names, why should I employ them to serve my customers?” He added, “I sometimes get customers complaining about strange conversations with my staff where they (the staff) ask, “What’s your name? Where are you from?” and then wander off without saying goodbye or thank you”, leaving the customer wondering what just happened.

I have seen the Vietnamese greet each other very carefully, identifying status and age clearly to establish respect, yet this is a common complaint I’ve heard.

The message you send is ‘I don’t really care’ – if you fail to tell me who you are or you are only asking questions to practice English.

Another interesting gaff I experienced recently was attempting to contact a local resort about English teaching, but the number on the card didn’t match so my calls failed to go though. When I finally visited the staff member in person, they explained that the local area phone code should have one more zero. I asked her why they didn’t print on the card (it is a very famous five star resort), she paused and laughed and said, “You should know that, you have lived here long enough!”


I was surprised – is this the message you want to send to people who have professional contact with your hotel?

The people on my street don’t have much English speaking ability and have never learned much about foreigners, but they greet me warmly every morning without fail. They snap “NO!” when they can’t understand – it’s the only word they know and I understand that. Yet they do try to tell me their names and their relationships to each other.

But if you work in English language environments you should be careful about the message you send.

Getting the wrong message across is bad, but is usually forgiven if some attempt is made to explain again what you mean. This doesn’t happen very much in other Asian countries because people understand the importance of sending the right message and it’s good business and social etiquette.

After all… I did introduce myself at the beginning of the story, didn’t I?

Stivi Cooke

jackbl
26-04-2012, 08:33 AM
Call-girl ring operates via sex website in Vietnam
================================================== ======
Starting from a sex website, www.alauxanh... -- registered in the US -- has developed into a nation-wide call-girl ring with hundreds of sex workers who are willing to serve moneyed men.


The ring runners are also the website administrators, who recruit moderators or pimps to monitor sex workers and search for new beautiful girls from various provinces to add to the website.

Tuoi Tre Newspaper discovered and investigated three website administrators: Luan, Tri, and Minh.

The website’s leader is Minh, who initially contacted Tri to establish the blog alauxanh with the aim of introducing and supplying sex workers to wealthy men.

Early in 2011, Luan joined Minh and Tri in buying the domain name alauxanh abroad, with a server located in the US, to conduct the business. Afterwards, Minh tasked Luan to look for ‘long-legged girls’.

After recruiting new girls, the pimps will sleep with them first to examine their attitude, get three measurements, and take nude photographs to report to the alauxanh administrators.

This prostitution ring’s slogan on the website is: “Wherever you are and whenever you want, we will send the long-legged to wholeheartedly serve you.”

On the home page of the website are hundreds of photos of naked girls posing in various positions. Under each photo is information about the girl including three measurements, her serving attitude, code and prices.

The prices swing from VND200,000-10,000,000 (US$9 – 481) per encounter or per night.

Those girls who receive complaints about their unenthusiastic or disobedient service will be dismissed and smeared on the website, for instance, “Be careful, this girl is infected with HIV”.

The prostitution ring doesn’t earn money directly from the encounters between the clients and the sex workers but from member registration for the website.

If a man wants the phone number of a girl in the ring, he must register to become a website member by purchasing a scratch card worth VND500,000-5,000,000, which will expire in a certain period of time.

All contacts with the administrators must be made via email to ensure secrecy. The clients must send a message containing the scratch card code that they have bought to complete the registration.

The clients can register by transferring money to the administrators’ accounts at Dong A or Vietcombank.

After successful registration, the clients are able to obtain the cell phone number of a prostitute and a password. The girl will only go with those providing the right password.

The website administrators divide their clients into several grades including VIP, gold and strategic members. The higher grade the members are, the more likely they will be to access the newest and hottest girls.

jackbl
27-04-2012, 08:53 AM
Fake virginity for sale
===============================

VietNamNet Bridge – Small ads offering virginity have become quite popular on the Internet recently.

“I’m a student of a university in Saigon. I need to sell my virginity at the price of VND25 million ($1,200) to have funding for my mother’s operation.” This is a small ad on several websites.

“I want a man who is proper, good-mannered man and does not contract social diseases. I live with my friends so please send texts to me.”

A correspondent called her number and a man answered the phone. He said that this girl boarded at his house. She was very poor and did not have a cell phone so she had to use his number.

This is another advertisement. “I cannot afford to pay school fees, accommodation, traveling, etc. I have only one way – selling my virginity. I sell it at the cost of VND20 million (around $1,000). Call me or email me if you are serious.”

Calling to the number in the small ads, one girl said: “My name is Phuong Thao. My life is very painful! My family used to be well off but since my father had a concubine, he has neglected his business. My mother has not wanted to lose her husband so she has sought every way to take him back. My family has gone bankrupt because of my father’s affairs.”

“It hurts to do this dishonored thing so please do not bargain with me. If you agree to buy my virginity, I would like to have some money paid in advance to pay accommodation charges, my debts and my school fees,” the girl suggested.

When the correspondent offered VND12 million ($600), the girl entreated: “VND15 million please! Let’s think about it, it is very cheap! I’m stuck so I sell at that price!”

Reading small ads like these, many generous people were willing to help pitiable girls to overcome their circumstances without having to sell their virginity.

Mr. Cao Phong, from District 1, HCM City, says that after reading a similar small advertisement that he believed to come from a piteous girl, he wanted to assist the girl.

He called and sent text to make an appointment with the girl at a coffee shop near the Con Rua (Turtle) Lake in District 3.

But he and his friend immediately knew that they were cheated when they firstly saw the “pitiful student.” The girl skillfully played a poor, pitiable girl who was self-respecting but had to sell her virginity because she was at her impasse, but some details revealed herself as a “play girl.”

Mr. Phong analyzed: “That coffee shop is the venue of well-to-do people. A poor student made an appointment at such a café shows that she is not poor as she described herself.”

The girl asked Phong to pay 20 percent of the total money (VND20 million) in advance. She would go to a hotel and text Phong the address. After the transaction, Phong would pay her the remaining money.

“She called herself a poor and well-bred girl but she was very professional in making a deal with me. I was so afraid to seek to withdraw,” the man says.

However, many people were trapped by these girls, who are not poor girls as they introduced, but prostitutes or play girls.

Doctor Truong The Dung, leader of Niem Tin, a voluntary group to help disadvantaged people in HCM City says that his group took initiative in seeing several girls who posted virginity-selling advertisements on the Internet, but all of the cases are dubious.

According to doctors, fake hymens are offered for sale everywhere, priced of less that VND100,000/product ($5). Any girl can become virgins for tens of times.

ANTG

jackbl
28-04-2012, 08:14 AM
Becoming Friends With Vietnam
====================================
Recently I found myself wandering through Binh Thanh District to bask in the color of a Vietnam thoroughly hidden from the usual expat trail. By now I am accustomed to locals gawking at my presence and whispering amongst themselves, and I just casually chalk it all up as the price of admission to living in Vietnam. What did catch me off guard though this particular day was one young mother’s unusually strong reaction to my “westerness.”

As quickly as her young son had jumped in front of my path to wave and shout a friendly “hello, hello,” she snatched him back into the safety of her arms and began admonishing him while covering his eyes. I cannot help but wonder about his future reactions when he and a Westerner once again cross paths. I got to thinking about how children inherently do not care about our differences. Indeed, this is a learned behavior over time, and this boy’s mother proved her worth as a master instructor.

Given the West’s historical track record in Vietnam, I can understand where people are coming from if perhaps they somewhat resent my presence. I truly do get it. Nowadays we may arrive in droves for reasons of a different kind, but the basic fact remains…we are guests in someone else’s home.

I think many an expat can relate to sometimes feeling just unwelcome enough to want to pack it all up and return home to our native lands. Many Vietnamese even seem to assume that since I am Western, they can talk about me in my presence. Their stares and laughter require no translation, and if only they realized my Vietnamese vocabulary is just large enough to include their derogatory words hurled my way.

Growing up in America, my mother was quick to admonish me for pointing or staring at strangers. As a young boy I could never seem to wrap my head around why an outstretched finger and lingering gaze were such uncouth manners. Fast forward a few decades and mom’s lessons once again prove correct as I now find myself on the receiving end of what in the West would be considered a gauche display of crude behavior.

I think back to living in Germany and how easily my acceptance and assimilation had come. The language posed no particular challenges, and though different, the food, mindset, and way of life really were not so far off from my own. The ability to maneuver seamlessly between my American and German worlds came so naturally that feeling “foreign” remained a foreign concept.

Expats in Vietnam face significant hurdles to this sort of full-on integration, and we do identify more as outsiders negotiating a confusing land. Vietnamese words prove difficult to pronounce, the food can seem a bit unusual, and thick books delve into the inherent differences between our cultures. In my case, not being able to speak the language is one of the biggest self-induced obstacles in bridging the cultural gap.

Were I proficient in Vietnamese, perhaps I could have engaged the young Binh Thanh woman in conversation to prove we both are human after all. This is not to say that promoting some sort of understanding remains impossible, for repeated basic interactions also knock down barriers of mistrust and suspicion.

For example, my first forays into the street market behind my apartment were met with the usual uncomfortable stares and comments. Now random strangers shake my hand with a friendly hello, and helpful shopkeepers ensure I pick out only the freshest ingredients at the local Vietnamese prices. Even my portions of barbecue beef and noodles have become larger and meatier when I squat on my tiny stool at an elderly woman’s food stand.

Over time we have met each other halfway, and I am becoming part of my neighborhood’s colorful fabric. The process did not happen overnight and still remains a work in progress. Even if only in this one tiny part of Vietnam, at least I feel I am carving out a small slice of home.

The American author and poet Maya Angelou succinctly observed, “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” As frustrating and unwelcoming as Vietnam can feel from time to time, living here has opened my mind to so many fresh ideas and great experiences. To recognize and celebrate our differences is to understand that spice is the variety of life. I have become friends with Vietnam.

Lookgood
29-04-2012, 07:50 AM
Becoming Friends With Vietnam
====================================
Recently I found myself wandering through Binh Thanh District to bask in the color of a Vietnam thoroughly hidden from the usual expat trail. By now I am accustomed to locals gawking at my presence and whispering amongst themselves, and I just casually chalk it all up as the price of admission to living in Vietnam. What did catch me off guard though this particular day was one young mother’s unusually strong reaction to my “westerness.”.......

You have lot of story to tell...keep coming

Tran
29-04-2012, 10:18 AM
Dear bros,

Can u guys please help me translate thank you.


Gio no van bat tao the la may ngay nay tao kg di voi trai , kg di chich voi trai kg ngu o khach san

jackbl
30-04-2012, 12:32 AM
Vietnamese students experience tough internship in Singapore
================================================== ========

VietNamNet Bridge – The excellent students of the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade, who have been promised an internship period of working in a “modern international and professional environment,” have complained that they are assigned to do simple manual works.

In early February 2012, 48 excellent students of the third and fourth year of the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade, one of the most famous universities in Vietnam, were chosen for the one-year internship and working period in Singapore. 37 students were told to work at Changi Airport and 11 at Wingtai fashion retail chain.

The selected students were told that they would have the chance to work and practice in a modern, professional working environment, improve their foreign language skills. Especially, they were promised to enjoy attractive wages of 450 Singaporean dollars a month at minimum.

Just two months after leaving for Singapore, the students emailed to the school board of management, complaining that they are the victims of the “labor exploitation,” and “discriminatory treatment.” They also pointed out that the working and living conditions are quite different from what they were promised.

The selected students all are working at SATS, the company which provides land services to Changi international airport. The students’ daily work is pushing wheelchairs for disabled, while some of them have been forced to help undress passengers to relieve themselves.

Especially, the students have been forced to take the night working shifts, 1-9 am.

“We will try to bear the hard work, modest income, discriminatory treatment. However, working from one to nine o’clock would damage our health,” a female student said.

The student said that they had not been informed about the works and the provisions of the contracts signed with SATS until they attended a training course at the airport. Meanwhile, the partner has been usually late in paying wages and allowances. The utensils have low quality, while Internet access speed is very slow.

“I am studying at a leading university in Vietnam where we are taught the principles to avoid disadvantages when doing business with foreign partners. However, I am feeling that I am being cheated,” a student said.

While the problems of the students remain unsettled, the Hanoi Foreign Trade University is looking for other students for the next working trips to Singapore.

Dao Thi Thu Ha, MA, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Division of the Hanoi University for Foreign Trade said on the afternoon of April 23 that some months before sending the 48 students to Singapore for the internship period, the President Hoang Van Chau himself and the advanced party flew to Singapore to check the places where his students would work.

Ha said the university joined forces with Singaporean Interisland, a job brokerage firm, to organize a workshop about the internship. Interisland said it would introduce laborers for SATS and Wingtai – the partners the university is cooperating for the first time.

Ha affirmed that the broker interviewed every student to test their qualification and explained to students about the works and the wages. “All the students, when asked if they are ready to push wheelchairs to help special passengers, answered “yes”,” she said.

Ha also said that working at night is inevitable, because the airport runs 24/24 hours a day, affirming that this was informed to students before they left Vietnam. However, facing the opposition from the students, SATS has agreed to remove the night shift from 1-9 am.

When asked about the commission Interisland pays to the school for the introduction of the students, Ha said that the commission is “inconsiderable,” about 100 dollars per student, adding that the school does not do this to make money, but just aims to create conditions for students to have internship periods in foreign countries.

Source: VnExpress

RockViet
30-04-2012, 12:50 AM
30-04-1975
Độc lập 37 nam ky niem

Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc
独立 - 自由 - 幸福
Independence - Freedom - Happiness


không có gì quý hơn độc lập tự đó
有什么比独立自由更可贵
nothing more precious than independence and freedom

jackbl
30-04-2012, 09:41 AM
The life of taxi drivers
=============================
Tan Son Nhat International Airport is the most crowded taxi assembly area in Ho Chi Minh City, with at least 10,000 cabs hurriedly going in and out and parking along nearby roadsides every day.


It is also the location to easily have most clients instead of driving around the city.

The airport’s parking lot is now able to accommodate only 360 of the taxi cabs from nine companies registered to operate there, not including a number of taxies from other provinces.

It was about 8am when several groups of drivers were having breakfast. However, they abruptly flocked to their cars that were parked on the roadsides. After a whistle was sounded, two policemen showed up and detained some of them. Each of the unfortunate drivers was fined VND800,000 ($38) and had their driving license revoked for one month.

Driver Tran Xuan Vinh said that the limited parking area has forced them to wait outside for up to four hours for their turn to enter the airport. The best place to wait is nearby roadsides, even though they might be fined at any time.

Amidst the parching heat, the taxi drivers were gathering at a makeshift shop near the airport to have some bread and play chess.

Nguyen Hai Son, who has driven a taxi for nearly 15 years, said that it is a hard job. “Married men face divorce, single men face life as a bachelor, and it is even more strenuous for women,” he lamented.

Son’s wife left him and their children after tens of years living together since the work forces him to be out all day.

Huynh Thi My, a female driver who has been working in a taxi for four years, said that previously she did various jobs but then to driving to make more money. She used to have a happy family but now lives alone in a rental room.

Taxi drivers are from various classes, including both errant and bachelor. For example, Doan Quoc Viet from Can Gio District said that after graduating from the HCMC University of Economics he and a friend opened a carpenter shop, which then suffered big losses and shut down.

Le Van Duong said he is tasked by his company to submit a fixed amount of VND500,000 ($24) per day, thus he tries to earn double to have an income for himself. However, it is more difficult as increases in petrol prices have led to a fare hike, resulting in fewer passengers even as are more taxi companies have opened.

Despite their hard work, many drivers have bought books to study foreign languages including English, Japanese and Chinese in their free time to be able to offer foreigners a ride.

Hurricane88
30-04-2012, 09:42 AM
Dear bros,

Can u guys please help me translate thank you.


Gio no van bat tao the la may ngay nay tao kg di voi trai , kg di chich voi trai kg ngu o khach san

my try...since I dun have the details of what was discussed...

now he asked me to swear that I have never gone out with any men lately...dun sleep or fuck any men in hotel...

my famous quote "if you trust WL then pigs can climb tress..."

jackbl
30-04-2012, 09:44 AM
my try...since I dun have the details of what was discussed...

Wow suddenly ur TV improved :D

MimeBoxer
30-04-2012, 04:39 PM
my famous quote "if you trust WL then pigs can climb tress..."

Bro, I am coming back to HCM mid May. ;)
Now at Yangon, high and dry....lol

Hurricane88
30-04-2012, 06:13 PM
Bro, I am coming back to HCM mid May. ;)
Now at Yangon, high and dry....lol

nowadays dun post my schedule to hcm publicly...pm you roi...:)

S.B.Y.1
30-04-2012, 06:21 PM
nowadays dun post my schedule to hcm publicly...pm you roi...:)

Why ???? Fear got kidnap :D

Hurricane88
30-04-2012, 09:34 PM
Why ???? Fear got kidnap :D

hahah...long story...wait I sms you to let you know...:)

MimeBoxer
01-05-2012, 01:16 AM
nowadays dun post my schedule to hcm publicly...pm you roi...:)

Got it, should be good to go for me as well. :D

jackbl
01-05-2012, 01:18 AM
Women hardest hit by downturn
=====================================

Gender biases sharpen in Vietnam as unemployment soars

In 2010, the unemployment rate among females in Vietnam was 8.3 percent, compared to 5.9 percent among males, according to a new report.

When the going gets tough, it gets tougher for women.

Nguyen Thi Huong discovered this bitter truth after spending more than a month in a fruitless search for work.

Huong joined the growing ranks of the unemployed after her firm, a silk producer in Hanoi’s Van Phuc craft village, shut down after its business dwindled. The 23-year-old weaver widened her search to industrial parks in the neighboring province of Vinh Phuc, but had no luck.

“Companies which offer good salaries do not want to employ females, while those accepting women offer wages that are too low, not enough to live on,” she said.

Gyorgy Sziracki, director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Country Office for Vietnam, said over one million youths enter Vietnam’s labor market each year. Many of them, especially females, find it hard to get and keep jobs.

In 2010, the unemployment rate among females was 8.3 percent, compared to
5.9 percent among males, according to the ILO.

Studies have shown that companies with high demand for female workers mainly operate in labor-intensive sectors such as garment, footwear and seafood. However, these sectors, hurt by higher input costs and lower sales, have narrowed production and reduced their workforce.

Pham Xuan Hong, vice chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said the biggest difficulty for garment producers is low purchasing power in both local and foreign markets. Many small- and medium-sized garment firms have shut down their business as a result, he said.

Nguyen Huu Quy, labor and social insurance director under the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vinh Phuc Province, said: “Few firms in our province’s industrial parks have demand for new workers. A footwear company, which employs more than 3,000 workers, has actually asked its employees to take off work in turns because it has fewer orders from foreign customers.”

Tran Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information, said many women are having to accept unstable work with low income, and face high unemployment risks because of their limited qualifications.

Bias against women

In Vietnam, especially in rural areas, education is less of a priority for daughters than sons.

Phan Truong Son, the deputy director of a trade company in Hanoi, said his newly-established firm needs to recruit five more sales representatives. Son does not want female employees. “Women often pay less attention to their work than men,” he said. “They can also go on maternity leave for months, affecting our work.”

Son’s firm has 20 employees, and only two of them are women.

Le Quang Trung, deputy head of the job department under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the number of firms shutting down or facing bankruptcy has increased amidst the economic slowdown, resulting in a high unemployment rate.

Trung said enterprises will continue to face many difficulties in the first half of this year, so the high unemployment rate is likely to persist. Manual laborers, skilled workers and managers may all lose their jobs, he said.

Vietnam’s economic growth eased to 5.9 percent last year from 6.8 percent in 2010. The government is targeting 6 percent growth for 2012.

A recent report issued by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that more than 7,600 Vietnamese companies shut down last year. Of the 622,977 licensed companies in Vietnam at the end of 2011, 12.6 percent have closed, it said.

Cao Sy Kiem, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises, said the number of companies that have shut down is expected to continue to rise as the economy remains sluggish.

According to the Management Board of HCMC Industrial Parks and Processing Zones, the number of laborers needed is expected to go down to 30,000 this year, much lower than the 50,000 last year.

Few companies have announced plans to recruit more employees this year.

According to the HCMC Center of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information, some 36,000 applied for unemployment insurance in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 57 percent over the same period last year.

In Vietnam, most of the unemployed people are youths, according to a recent ILO report. Up to 50.4 percent of Vietnam’s unemployed are in the 15-24 age bracket.

Young people are finding it harder than other age groups to get jobs in Vietnam, and this does not augur well for the future, experts have said.

However, the problem is worse than mere unemployment, as the quality of work for youth is decreasing. Many young laborers are working for low earnings with little protection, and more work is being done in difficult conditions, the ILO said in its report.

The 2011-2020 Vietnam Employment Strategy report estimates the unemployment rate among youth aged 15-24 at around 7 percent over the previous decade, compared to the overall rate of 2.88 percent.

The youth unemployment rate is likely to grow as 1.5-1.6 million young people enter the workforce every year. Several limitations, including access to quality training and imbalances between training and market needs, will continue to remain stumbling blocks to this generation, experts warn.

Andrea Salvini, an economist with the ILO Office for Vietnam, said: “When the country moves up the ladder of economic development, and the traditional family structures of household business engaging in subsistence agriculture changes, young workers are those most exposed to phenomena of joblessness.”

He said high youth unemployment presents high individual and social costs. Individual costs refer to income losses and lack work experience while social costs include a reduction in the labor force for the society as a whole.

Poor employment outcomes early in life are often the first steps for recurrent unemployment and inactivity later in life, Salvini said.

In all this, women are the greater sufferers because of ingrained prejudices that provide them with less education, less training, less pay and more workplace discrimination, experts said.

By Bao Van, Thanh Nien News

S.B.Y.1
01-05-2012, 02:29 AM
hahah...long story...wait I sms you to let you know...:)

No need to tell that all your millions of dolars
are stached in a SwiSS bank akoun ;) :D

And Pak's ONLY prized possesion is The SaronG

jackbl
01-05-2012, 01:36 PM
Relieving oneself in public: Urine trouble
=============================================
With the concern the government shows for sending tourists away with a good feeling about Vietnam I cannot understand why they do not start a campaign informing the people that public urinating is unacceptable.

My wife and I walk our two small dogs in the park at Nha Trang beach most evenings and I always take small plastic bags to clean up their droppings whether on sidewalk or grass. In the past we have been asked by the green uniformed attendants to stop allowing them on the grass but we show them the bag and they stopped bothering us. By the way, I never see a Vietnamese owner clean up after their dog and many dogs run loose.

When I do not have time to go to the beach I take them to the small memorial park that is right in front of the train station. That is just a block from our house. The attendant there is not satisfied with my cleaning up. He still wants to make a fuss. My wife was with me the other evening and I told her to ask him why he complains about us when people, both men and women, can be seen every evening urinating in public even though a toilet is in the park. They refuse to pay! He just mumbled something to my wife and we took the dogs home.

The other night, I thought I would trick him and went to the second section of the park, away from his usual sitting spot. As I was walking a man started to urinate beside the walkway just as the attendant came from his usual spot and started to speak to me (I still speak almost no Vietnamese by the way, sadly!).

I took his hand and pointed him to the man urinating and gestured that he should leave me alone and stop that behavior. He strode off to exercise his official duty but he was very hesitant and the man just ignored him. A few minutes later another man took his place for the same purpose. After awhile there are sections of the sidewalks where you cannot walk without having your nose assaulted by the smell of urine. It is disgusting. I cannot speak for other Asians but I doubt people urinate on the streets of Tokyo or Beijing.

By George Richards

jackbl
02-05-2012, 09:20 AM
Coconut rice is Ben Tre classic
=====================================
The coconut tree has become the symbol of the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre.

Therefore, indigenous dishes from the province often bear the sweetness and flavor of its specialty such as coconut candy, coconut leave cake, coconut sweet soup, steamed fish with coconut water and fried mushroom with coconut.

One of the specialties that must be mentioned is coconut rice served with fried shrimp with coconut water.

To make the coconut rice is simple. Peel off the cover and extract the water. After washing the rice through, put it together with coconut water, then cook it until the rice is done.

Fresh shrimps bought from the market must be cleaned; their heads and tails cut off and then put in a pot with coconut extract, put it on a small fire and add main spices. The dish will be done when the shrimps turn red and the flavor overwhelms the kitchen.

jackbl
03-05-2012, 10:58 AM
My Ha Long Bay Visit
===========================
Before I moved to Vietnam, one of the things that most impressed me about the country were pictures I had seen of Ha Long Bay. The beautiful pictures showed romantic views of limestone islands sitting in gorgeous blue water, and I knew this would be a place that I would have to visit! Much to my surprise, when I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City I realized that this magical place was pretty far away. Unfortunately, after a year of working in, and traveling around, this impressive country I had yet to accomplish my goal of visiting the bay. Recently, while on a business trip to Hanoi, I took a few extra days and finally got to Ha Long Bay.

I booked a tour with a local Hanoi travel agent recommended by a friend. I knew that I didn’t want to go for a cheap, low budget tour on my first visit to the bay so I decided to go for one of the nicer, but still affordable, options. When I had everything booked I could barely sleep because I was so excited.

A bus picked me up in Hanoi in the morning and we made the long drive to the boats. I was surprised how long the drive took as I originally thought that Ha Long Bay was closer to the city. Still, the ride was comfortable and we made it to the water with few complaints. Plus, while we drove along, we got the chance to introduce ourselves to the other travelers who would be joining us on our adventure.

We boarded a small boat at the somewhat chaotic and crowded marina and rode out to the larger boat we would be spending the night on. The boat was beautiful with a rustic, wooden exterior that fit perfectly with the timeless location that surrounded us. Although the boat looked like a more traditional vessel, inside it was equipped with all the modern amenities that you would expect in a modern hotel room. The beds were comfortable and the rooms were surprisingly large for being on a boat.

Slowly, the boat moved into the area of the towering islands. Although I had seen many pictures I was unprepared for how truly impressive the rock formations are in real life! They were truly amazing to look at and compared to nothing else I had ever seen.

Eventually, the boat came to a stop where the rocks formed a kind of natural harbor. Here we exited and got the opportunity to check out a large cave toward the top of one of the large islands. The inside of the cave was massive, bigger than any other cave I had been to and I was surprised that it was in as good of shape as it was, considering the amount of tourists that pass through it daily. While I thought the cave was nice, the best part was the view it afforded from its high location. The boats resting on the calm water next to the islands were truly a sight to see, it reminded me of something you would see in a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie!

After exploring the cave, we had a couple of hours to kayak around in the clear, blue water. I had really been looking forward to the kayaking and it didn’t disappoint. Although the outside temperature was cooler than in HCMC I was surprised by how warm the water was as I paddled along.

Once we were finished kayaking it was time for dinner on the boat. We ate some delicious seafood as the sun sat around us and the rocks were bathed in an orange light. Once night fell I retired to my room where I peacefully went to sleep. I rested peacefully as the water was gentle and there was barely a sound outside.

In the morning we watched the sun rise over the landscape, had a simple breakfast and cruised out of the bay. Overnight, clouds had crept into the area and we got the chance to see a more mystical, foggy side of the bay. This was charming in its own way and I felt like an early explorer discovering a new land.

Finally we made it back to the mainland, boarded a bus and returned to the city. I didn’t want to leave such a magical place but I knew this would be the first of many trips as I don’t think I could ever spend enough time in this picturesque land that is truly a natural wonder.

jackbl
04-05-2012, 12:17 AM
Giving private tutoring – the main bread earner for poor teachers
================================================== =========

VietNamNet Bridge – In big cities, private tutoring can help teachers become millionaires. Meanwhile, in rural and remote areas, private tutoring is the main source of income for many teachers.

The information that the Ministry of Education and Training intends to tighten the control over the private tutoring has raised big worry for many teachers and parents. While parents emphasize that their children need to go to extra classes to be able to pass the university entrance exams, teachers say they need to give private tutoring lessons to earn money to cover their basic needs.

Going to private tutoring classes to prepare for exams

Minh Dang, a student of the HCM City Transport University, has affirmed that he could pass the university entrance exams because he went to mathematics, physics and chemistry majoring private tutoring classes.

“In my village, there are no exam preparation centers, and there is no Internet for us to look for materials,” Dang explained. “Meanwhile, the lessons at school can only provide basic knowledge, just enough to serve the high school final exam. If we do not go to extra classes, we would not be able to practice with complicated questions which cannot be found in official textbooks.”

Agreeing with Dang, Hoang Tram, a 12th grader in Long Thanh district of Dong Nai province, also said she has to go to literature, physics and English classes to prepare for the university entrance exams, the most important exams in the life of every Vietnamese student.

“I do not want to learn with my teachers, but I try to choose the classes run by famous and qualified teachers,” she said. “Meanwhile, my friends from other schools go to the classes run by my school teachers, because they want to get familiar with different types of exam questions.”

“Passing the university entrance exams is our most important goal,” she added.

Especially, the parents also force their children who are the students of primary schools to go to private tutoring classes as well. There are many subjects the children need to practice. Nursery school children have to practice writing to prepare for the first grade, while primary school students need to practice writing and foreign language skills.

Bich Nga, a parent in district 1, said that she cannot teach the child herself, because the girl does not want to practice writing and do mathematics questions at home. Therefore, Nga decided to send the child to a private tutoring class, where she is prepared well for entering general schools.

How can teachers earn their living without private tutoring?

“I am jealous with the teachers who can give private tutoring,” said Thu Hien, a teacher of a secondary school in Lam Dong province. Being a literature teacher, Hien cannot open private tutoring class, because of the low demand for the literature lessons.

As a result, Hien has to take any other jobs she can find to earn extra money: she types documents and edits essays as a part time job. Hien, though having the service length of 10 years, can earn 3 million dong a month only in total. The sum of money is just enough to feed herself only.

“Teachers cannot live on salaries. Therefore, all of use have to take extra jobs to take extra money,” she said, adding that if the monthly salary is high enough, no one would be foolish enough to spend their free time on private tutoring classes.

“How can live with the monthly modest salary if we do not give private tutoring hours?” said Phuong Linh from a secondary school in HCM City. She gets 3.2 million dong a month from the teaching at school, and she earns 500,000 dong from tutoring two students.

The monthly income of 3.7 million dong a month is just enough to cover basic needs. The room rent alone costs her 1 million dong a month.

Source: Dat Viet

haojian
05-05-2012, 09:16 PM
hi any bro can translate this

Yeu thi Kho.... Kg yeu thi lo .....! Tha chịu kho ...! Chu kg chịu lo .....!heee

my wife posted this on her facebook

thks

vietboy
06-05-2012, 02:55 AM
hi any bro can translate this

Yeu thi Kho.... Kg yeu thi lo .....! Tha chịu kho ...! Chu kg chịu lo .....!heee

my wife posted this on her facebook

thks

let me try:

love then difficult/hard... no love then worry....! forgive takes pain...! would rather not worry...!

actually all these can be found using vdict if u even bother to do some searching.

why bother to know wat she writes on her FB since u decided to divorce her?

Hurricane88
06-05-2012, 10:45 AM
love then difficult/hard... no love then worry....! forgive takes pain...! would rather not worry...!
actually all these can be found using vdict if u even bother to do some searching.
why bother to know wat she writes on her FB since u decided to divorce her?

dun lidat say lei...he still loves his wife...otherwise you think he bothers...:)

but i wonder WHY???...he dun even bother to learn basic tieng viet and understand Viet culture before marrying a viet...:)

I had been learning for more than 5yrs plus and still dun really understand...hahaha...:)

jackbl
06-05-2012, 02:42 PM
Yeu thi Kho.... Kg yeu thi lo .....! Tha chịu kho ...! Chu kg chịu lo .....!heee

love then difficult/hard... no love then worry....! forgive takes pain...! would rather not worry...!

Lo can be lỗ which means LOSS.

IMO,
Tha chịu kho ...! Chu kg chịu lo .....! Rather accept unhappy/miserable than accept LOSS

Bro Vietboy, can check the above sentence with your BX so that I will know whether my interpretation is correct. Thanks :)

jackbl
06-05-2012, 02:46 PM
but i wonder WHY???...he dun even bother to learn basic tieng viet and understand Viet culture before marrying a viet...:)

Some have Bx who can speak mandarin and english well, then he no need to learn. If bx can't hold these 2 languages well, then better to learn more and understand their culture more. Occasionally I also misunderstood something :D

Golden question
06-05-2012, 03:26 PM
let me try:

love then difficult/hard... no love then worry....! forgive takes pain...! would rather not worry...!

actually all these can be found using vdict if u even bother to do some searching.

why bother to know wat she writes on her FB since u decided to divorce her?

Maybe he want to consolidate info for his divorce case

Golden question
06-05-2012, 03:26 PM
Some have Bx who can speak mandarin and english well, then he no need to learn. If bx can't hold these 2 languages well, then better to learn more and understand their culture more. Occasionally I also misunderstood something :D

yah,like me.Damm lazy to learn dont know why,so pei seh:(

jackbl
06-05-2012, 04:26 PM
yah,like me.Damm lazy to learn dont know why,so pei seh:(

If u dun want to learn then get your bx to learn. It will be useful for her to comm with your parents and neighbours. :)

ilovedoggie
06-05-2012, 08:14 PM
need some help:

e dang ngoi 1room.nua a dung keu da nua nha. because tu da la tu le phep giah cho nguoi lon hon minh ma thoi.

i am sitting 1 room. later u dont call "da" anymore ok? because word da is polite word for people older than oneself only?

:confused:

xiaolibiantai
06-05-2012, 11:14 PM
need some help:

e dang ngoi 1room.nua a dung keu da nua nha. because tu da la tu le phep giah cho nguoi lon hon minh ma thoi.

i am sitting 1 room. later u dont call "da" anymore ok? because word da is polite word for people older than oneself only?

:confused:

Do you always reply to her talking to you as "da" (pronounce as ya). Read somewhere before "da" is how people response in south Vietnam when older people call them. Means when people older than me call me, I reply with da (ya). When people younger than me call me, I don't use da at all. Maybe that's what she meant.

Pohchuan
07-05-2012, 12:39 AM
I had been learning for more than 5yrs plus and still dun really understand...hahaha...:)

I have been learning tieng viet for only 3 months and now VBs are using tieng viet to talk to me in yahoo messenger, si beh xiong

Anh da cho cac em ay biet, anh chi hoc tieng viet ba thang, chi biet mot it thoi, nhung cac em ay van muon anh viet va noi bang tieng viet voi cac em ay. Kho lam. Ai co van de giong nhu anh? :))

ilovedoggie
07-05-2012, 12:52 AM
Do you always reply to her talking to you as "da" (pronounce as ya). Read somewhere before "da" is how people response in south Vietnam when older people call them. Means when people older than me call me, I reply with da (ya). When people younger than me call me, I don't use da at all. Maybe that's what she meant.

exactly. after i asked her more that's what she told me. i forgot haha.

so young to old : use "da"
old to young: use 'uh"

right? thanks:)

volcano
07-05-2012, 01:00 AM
exactly. after i asked her more that's what she told me. i forgot haha.

so young to old : use "da"
old to young: use 'uh"

right? thanks:)



dung roi.....:)

'da' is also use when a junior is talking with a superior.

for e.g a general worker who is older in age will also answer 'da' to the superior whom might be younger in age.

hieu chua....:)

jackbl
07-05-2012, 03:46 AM
Read somewhere before "da" is how people response in south Vietnam when older people call them. Means when people older than me call me, I reply with da (ya)..

Another TV expert found here :D

jackbl
07-05-2012, 01:11 PM
Vietnamese students experience tough internship in Singapore
================================================== ========


Fact and fiction about Vietnamese students keeping toilet door in Singapore
================================================== =================

VietNamNet Bridge – President of the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade Hoang Van Chau met local press to clarify the story about Vietnamese students who have to work as toilet doormen in Singapore.

The sensational news that excellent students of the Hanoi Foreign Trade University have to push wheelchairs for disabled and help undress passengers to relieve themselves has stirred up the public. In thoughts of many people, it’s terrible that students of a reputable school like the foreign trade university have to do the manual works.

Could you please explain the information about the Hanoi Foreign Trade University’s students having to take manual jobs in Singapore?

This is the internship and working program in Singapore which aims to bring practical knowledge to students and helps them work as real employees. The Hanoi University of Foreign Trade has signed a contract with Interisland, a Singaporean human resource firm on sending students to Singapore to follow the above said program.

The Singaporean government only accepts the students of three schools for the program – the Hanoi Foreign Trade University, University of Technology and RMIT. Students of other schools still keep out of the program.

What do the students have to do and what are their interests in the contract?

The students have to serve at the airport and assist the sale at a fashion company which sells products of well known brands. The Singaporean side pays the air tickets, pays salary (no less than 450 Singaporean dollars a month), 50 dollars in food allowances and 70 dollars for travel. Besides, Vietnamese students get free accommodations and enjoy insurance policies.

What would you explain the complaints of the students about the living and working conditions, as well as the unsuitable works the students have to take?

The complaints are just the information appeared on students’ Facebook, blogs. or the conservation exchanged by students on Internet. The complaints of some students have been quoted by local newspapers, while readers do not have the information from different sides to have a more comprehensive outlook on the issue.

On Facebook, a student wrote that she has to “push WC.” In this case, “WC” is the abbreviation for wheel chair. Meanwhile, this has been interpreted by some people as “toilets”. As a result, a local newspaper reported that students of the Hanoi Foreign Trade University have to work as the toilet doormen.

In reality, some students have to work in shifts or take heavy works. Some students do not have fluent foreign language skills, which made them misunderstand when listening to foreigners. It’s true that students got the 50 dollars in allowance late. The unhygienic pots and pans, slow Internet access can be explained by the fact that the provisions are not mentioned in the contract. And students all know about this.

In foreign countries, Internet is not free like many places in Vietnam, while Internet fee is very high. The Singaporean side has shown goodwill by allowing Internet access, while it’s workers who have to arrange for Internet access themselves.

It might true that some students were asked to help undress passengers. The passengers could be disabled, and it would be reasonable if the airport staff is asked to help.

I think that some students from well off families, who do not have housework when staying with parents, now cannot bear the hard pressure of the works. Some students might think that they are the students of the most reputable schools in Vietnam and they could only enroll in the school if they got very good results in the university entrance exams; therefore, the work does not fit them.

Source: Tien phong

xiaolibiantai
07-05-2012, 01:57 PM
Another TV expert found here :D

No expert lah. I played the Vb scene in 2008/09. It's a wonder that I still remember my half fuck TV now.

Hurricane88
07-05-2012, 04:15 PM
I have been learning tieng viet for only 3 months and now VBs are using tieng viet to talk to me in yahoo messenger, si beh xiong

Anh da cho cac em ay biet, anh chi hoc tieng viet ba thang, chi biet mot it thoi, nhung cac em ay van muon anh viet va noi bang tieng viet voi cac em ay. Kho lam. Ai co van de giong nhu anh? :))

you should be glad of this little achievement...VB likes tieng viet as their natural language...as a foreigner who can speak a little bit, the VB will felt honored and more comfortable to speak to you...otherwise why do I bother to advise you...:)

haojian
07-05-2012, 06:46 PM
thanks bros for the translation, i just want to understand what she thinks of our marriage and confirm its better to divorce rather than stay together for our kids sake.

divorce is a big step and is forever for ourselves and our kids.

KangTuo
07-05-2012, 10:31 PM
No expert lah. I played the Vb scene in 2008/09. It's a wonder that I still remember my half fuck TV now.

not only expert but also old bird :)

KangTuo
07-05-2012, 10:33 PM
as a foreigner who can speak a little bit, the VB will felt honored and more comfortable to speak to you...

didn't you heard before that vb say "con trai sillypore biet noi tieng viet, xao nhieu nhieu" :D

vietboy
07-05-2012, 11:43 PM
but i wonder WHY???...he dun even bother to learn basic tieng viet and understand Viet culture before marrying a viet...:)

I had been learning for more than 5yrs plus and still dun really understand...hahaha...:)

exactly! i also have this big question since that day he start asking for translation here and mentioned he got a viet wife.

vietboy
07-05-2012, 11:49 PM
thanks bros for the translation, i just want to understand what she thinks of our marriage and confirm its better to divorce rather than stay together for our kids sake.

divorce is a big step and is forever for ourselves and our kids.

my advice: anything u and you wife do or decide to do, think of yur kids' future. yur actions now will have a huge impact on them in the future.

vietboy
07-05-2012, 11:57 PM
Lo can be lỗ which means LOSS.

IMO,
Tha chịu kho ...! Chu kg chịu lo .....! Rather accept unhappy/miserable than accept LOSS

Bro Vietboy, can check the above sentence with your BX so that I will know whether my interpretation is correct. Thanks :)

yes prof jackbl u r right!

vietboy
08-05-2012, 12:08 AM
I have been learning tieng viet for only 3 months and now VBs are using tieng viet to talk to me in yahoo messenger, si beh xiong

Anh da cho cac em ay biet, anh chi hoc tieng viet ba thang, chi biet mot it thoi, nhung cac em ay van muon anh viet va noi bang tieng viet voi cac em ay. Kho lam. Ai co van de giong nhu anh? :))

yur si beh xiong = si beh 凶 or si beh 爽??
:D

vietboy
08-05-2012, 12:08 AM
didn't you heard before that vb say "con trai sillypore biet noi tieng viet, xao nhieu nhieu" :D

No only heard b4 : KT XNN
:D:p

jackbl
08-05-2012, 09:38 AM
No only heard b4 : KT XNN

Anyone care to explain when we say "bluff" we write as "xao" or "sao"???

Hurricane88
08-05-2012, 10:24 AM
Anyone care to explain when we say "bluff" we write as "xao" or "sao"???

I was taught...xao...:)

Hurricane88
08-05-2012, 10:45 AM
exactly! i also have this big question since that day he start asking for translation here and mentioned he got a viet wife.

haojian stories can be found here more than 2 yrs ago...then he discussed about his bx and kids...his stories are not new...:)

the problem with arrange marriage or thru marriage agency is there is no love and you dun have enough time to learn their culture...:)

when any man marry foreigner wife is a big risk...if the foreigner spouse know how to speak our language ie. english or mandarin then our mind should be thinking hey...where she learn all these????

otherwise pls spend some time to understand the wife to be and see who she is and learn their cultures...spend some time to know every family members...etc....marriage is a big risk...our women charter in singapore is not easy on man...divorce is also a big problem for kids, etc....just dun think using small head...think thrice using big head...:)

I had been travelling to Vn for the past 5yrs and still learning plenty of things each trip...there are some nice decent girls around...also some very bad indecent girls...you need to spend time to get to know them....yes she may sleep with you...to Viet cultures...this is really nothing...sleeping with you doesn't equate loving you...you still need to really spend time understand her and her understand you...:)

let me tell you a true story...
"a decent VB first time met a sinkie man in hcm and then they just happy to be together after chatting online for a month...they lam tinh a few times...before the man fly home...the VB told the man...I still want to see you if possible even I am married...the sinkie man was stunt...this VB who he had f**ked a few times....just had an affair when she is getting married...even her mother knew she was in the hotel with a sinkie man...she dun sleep in the hotel at night with him...but just go out with him in the day and spend alot of time in the hotel room in the day...morale of the story...lam tinh to them is nothing...the rich VB had no say who she marries....marriage to them is arranged by their parents....but they still like to have fun...."

xiaolibiantai
08-05-2012, 12:13 PM
Anyone care to explain when we say "bluff" we write as "xao" or "sao"???

We've been through the "Vietnamization Program"?

jackbl
08-05-2012, 02:12 PM
We've been through the "Vietnamization Program"?

Sorry Sir, I dun understand, can explain to ignorant ppl like me? :)

Hurricane88
08-05-2012, 02:29 PM
Sorry Sir, I dun understand, can explain to ignorant ppl like me? :)

what he was mentioning...there is a old thread...known as Vietnamisation Program (http://www.sammyboyforum.com/showthread.php?t=29742)

tomcat007
08-05-2012, 02:49 PM
what he was mentioning...there is a old thread...known as Vietnamisation Program (http://www.sammyboyforum.com/showthread.php?t=29742)

Uncle Hurricane,

Uncle Jack where got donch know what is Vietnamization Program... He is so vietnamized roi until maybe English is like his 2nd language whereas Tieng Viet is his mother tongue roi...

Nan Hong Gui
08-05-2012, 10:08 PM
ha ha lol i also not very understand

jelioboy
08-05-2012, 10:09 PM
Anyone care to explain when we say "bluff" we write as "xao" or "sao"???

I was taught...xao...:)

hello sifus! not sure if i can contribute humbly to this... seems not fashionable to say xao nhieu nhieu roi...

if addressing a girl and want to say she rat bluff, can say 'xao qua me'
if addressing a guy and want to say he rat bluff, can say 'xao qua ba'

otherwise, non gender specific normally i say 'xao qua di'

KangTuo
08-05-2012, 10:23 PM
hello sifus! not sure if i can contribute humbly to this... seems not fashionable to say xao nhieu nhieu roi...

if addressing a girl and want to say she rat bluff, can say 'xao qua me'
if addressing a guy and want to say he rat bluff, can say 'xao qua ba'

otherwise, non gender specific normally i say 'xao qua di'

i was told that only in sillypore or those WL then will say the phrase "xao nhieu nhieu"

within a vn family, they will say "xao wa" or "xao ke"
once they say XNN, the family will know their daughter been in contact or did work as WL.

:)

jelioboy
08-05-2012, 10:26 PM
....yes she may sleep with you...to Viet cultures...this is really nothing...sleeping with you doesn't equate loving you...you still need to really spend time understand her and her understand you...:)

let me tell you a true story...
"a decent VB first time met a sinkie man in hcm and then they just happy to be together after chatting online for a month...they lam tinh a few times...before the man fly home...the VB told the man...I still want to see you if possible even I am married...the sinkie man was stunt...this VB who he had f**ked a few times....just had an affair when she is getting married...even her mother knew she was in the hotel with a sinkie man...she dun sleep in the hotel at night with him...but just go out with him in the day and spend alot of time in the hotel room in the day...morale of the story...lam tinh to them is nothing...the rich VB had no say who she marries....marriage to them is arranged by their parents....but they still like to have fun...."

bro...from this really learn something different from you....ask you another scenario...if go out a few times, come back to your place, things heat up and end up lam tinh even not officially ban gai and chua nam tay, have been acting coy before that, not even a peck on the cheek...after that said that lam tinh is serious and wants commitment...co xao qua di k?

is it really lam tinh nothing to them? if so, really eye opener for me...i really thought the decent girls really traditional...

jelioboy
08-05-2012, 10:32 PM
i was told that only in sillypore or those WL then will say the phrase "xao nhieu nhieu"

within a vn family, they will say "xao wa" or "xao ke"
once they say XNN, the family will know their daughter been in contact or did work as WL.

:)

oh i see...i have never heard xao nhieu nhieu before cos maybe my bit of TV is vietnam-trained, not sillypore trained haha...

you are right...its spelled 'xao qua' though...normally add a 'di' or if really close friends or family, jokingly can say 'xao qua ba' or 'xao qua me'...ba - father, me - mother...even though not addressing the father or mother...

'qua' meaning a lot...dep qua, nhieu qua, khung qua....

volcano
08-05-2012, 11:47 PM
Anyone care to explain when we say "bluff" we write as "xao" or "sao"???


OMG...u really dunno or u trying to xao others...:rolleyes:

now u got the answer roi :)

tomcat007
09-05-2012, 12:17 AM
oh i see...i have never heard xao nhieu nhieu before cos maybe my bit of TV is vietnam-trained, not sillypore trained haha...

you are right...its spelled 'xao qua' though...normally add a 'di' or if really close friends or family, jokingly can say 'xao qua ba' or 'xao qua me'...ba - father, me - mother...even though not addressing the father or mother...

'qua' meaning a lot...dep qua, nhieu qua, khung qua....

Yes, it's spelt qua, but Vietnamese are very creative. Since their alphabet set does not use w, most SMS "wa" instead of "qua", or used j in place if i because j is only 1 punch on phone keyboard whereas i is 3 punch on phone keyboard. KT's version of TV is very effective if want to sian VB. heh heh..

KangTuo
09-05-2012, 12:42 AM
or used j in place if i because j is only 1 punch on phone keyboard whereas i is 3 punch on phone keyboard

this version of explanation is no longer valid. replacing a letter with another letter is just to be cute and creative.

why no more valid?
Ans: many vb use iphone(s) or handpone with qwerty keyboard already :)
Reason: many carrots/roberts in JC/GL offer iphone in return for love and sex :eek:

ps: many vb uses old traditional phones but in their bag or home, there are 1 or 2 iphone

for carrots - iphone is not a trand now. most want iphone 4s or ipad :rolleyes:

vietboy
09-05-2012, 08:51 AM
oh i see...i have never heard xao nhieu nhieu before cos maybe my bit of TV is vietnam-trained, not sillypore trained haha...

you are right...its spelled 'xao qua' though...normally add a 'di' or if really close friends or family, jokingly can say 'xao qua ba' or 'xao qua me'...ba - father, me - mother...even though not addressing the father or mother...

'qua' meaning a lot...dep qua, nhieu qua, khung qua....

There's xao lon & xao cat & xao cu chim too! :D:p

Also jokingly can address friends or family members e.g. Sisters n brothers n cousins as ong noi & ba noi, grandpa & grandma. :p

tomcat007
09-05-2012, 09:00 AM
There's xao lon & xao cat & xao cu chim too! :D:p



This one... Not good lah.. Very impolite leh...

tomcat007
09-05-2012, 09:03 AM
this version of explanation is no longer valid. replacing a letter with another letter is just to be cute and creative.

why no more valid?
Ans: many vb use iphone(s) or handpone with qwerty keyboard already :)
Reason: many carrots/roberts in JC/GL offer iphone in return for love and sex :eek:

ps: many vb uses old traditional phones but in their bag or home, there are 1 or 2 iphone

for carrots - iphone is not a trand now. most want iphone 4s or ipad :rolleyes:

Shit! Since when did this world progress to iPhone 4 / 4S? I'm still stuck in the 3GS era. Before keep it at home before embarrassing myself in front of VBs... And, does Apple produce a pad for women for use when they lai ang??

Hurricane88
09-05-2012, 09:08 AM
if addressing a girl and want to say she rat bluff, can say 'xao qua me'
if addressing a guy and want to say he rat bluff, can say 'xao qua ba'

otherwise, non gender specific normally i say 'xao qua di'

me too really never heard in hcm ppl says XNN....most they said xao qua...or just xao...:)

tomcat007
09-05-2012, 09:13 AM
Shit! Since when did this world progress to iPhone 4 / 4S? I'm still stuck in the 3GS era. Before keep it at home before embarrassing myself in front of VBs... And, does Apple produce a pad for women for use when they lai ang??

KT

Of course my above post is just kidding. Anyway, my last Viet babe is a certain con gai from Hanoi in 2009. Maybe you will remember which one since you saw us crossing the road from Rohor beancurd stall to M51 side. Yup, I've been out of the VB game since her. Moved my playground to Batam. But now am looking to make a comeback. Heh heh heh

Hurricane88
09-05-2012, 09:14 AM
bro...from this really learn something different from you....ask you another scenario...if go out a few times, come back to your place, things heat up and end up lam tinh even not officially ban gai and chua nam tay, have been acting coy before that, not even a peck on the cheek...after that said that lam tinh is serious and wants commitment...co xao qua di k?

is it really lam tinh nothing to them? if so, really eye opener for me...i really thought the decent girls really traditional...

haha...dun think you ever face this problem in Vn...unless you had promised too much before hand...if nothing was promised...and still lam tinh then you can be sure she will not hold you responsible unless she got pregnant which caused some complications...still can be resolved if detected early...so need to wear protection for safety...:)

vietboy
09-05-2012, 10:23 AM
This one... Not good lah.. Very impolite leh...

Noticed the expressions at the end of the sentence? Hihi. :D

Only use those for ppl u really close with jokingly and end with a grin or laugh after u said those. :D

jackbl
09-05-2012, 11:03 AM
There's xao lon & xao cat & xao cu chim too!

What xao cat????!!! Is it xạo cặc???

jackbl
09-05-2012, 11:05 AM
OMG...u really dunno or u trying to xao others...:rolleyes:

Which xao is it??? Is it xạo???

xạo = unreliable

sạo = to tell tales

So which one more correct???? :confused: :rolleyes:

jackbl
11-05-2012, 09:23 AM
Saigon at a glance
============================

Okay, you are a visitor to Saigon and you only have 24 hours free time on your hands. What is the best way of spending that time in this historical and vibrant city?

Well, the options are endless but here are some pointers in the right direction. You have arrived with most tourists heading to hotels in District 1. Well the first port of call should be Saigon Notre-Dame.

Cathedral in Cong Xa Paris Square in downtown HCMC. It is a real landmark and it is a quick in and out trip. Short and sweet and of course free. Next up should be the Reunification Palace on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia. For a small fee of around three dollars you can visit the former home of the President of South Vietnam and one of the locations.

Not only is it a journey back in time but you get a wonderful view of the tree-lined street of Le Duan with its French design obvious.

A short five minute journey from there is the War Remnants Museum which is not for the fainthearted. The horrors of Agent Orange and U.S. bombing missions during the American War are evident and hard-hitting. A very sombre trip but one which I think all tourists to the city must make, if they have any interest at all in the country they are visiting.

From there you can head down to Cach Mang Thang Tam Street and the new statue of Buddhist Monk Thich Quang Duc who burned himself to death to make a political statement about the treatment of Buddhist Monks in the early 1960s in District 3.

If you want to see the Chinese part of town from there it is a short journey to Cholon in District 5 and 6. There is the former premises of the Le Grande Mondial which was the most profitable casino in the world during the 1950s and straight up the road from there is St Francis Xavier church (Father Tam church) in Hoc Lac Street where former President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem was captured during the military coup in November 1963 before his execution.

After all that history you will want to relax a little and heading to Saigon Pho 2000 which is ideally located next Ben Thanh Market in downtown for a bite to eat. Then you can do a spot of shopping and wheeling and dealing.

There is of course high end and low end shopping facilities located throughout Le Loi Street and cafes aplenty for your downtime.

The Rex Hotel is the most famous location in the city. It was a popular haunt of journalists and U.S. servicemen during the American War.

The top floor restaurant and bar is a must for any visitor to Saigon. There is live music among all your other necessities but it is more than that. You can feel the history as you sit there with a nice view of the city.

Of course you can be very bold and forget about the city tour and instead go to the popular Cu Chi Tunnels with buses running regularly or you can hire a motorbike and take the two hour journey there. Word of warning, though, it can be dangerous if you are inexperienced on a bike. The great thing about this part of the nation’s history is that it has been turned into a fun area with groups of Vietnamese and tourists alike taking in the historical aspect and having a picnic at the same time with a lot of green areas in the complex.

SGT

jackbl
11-05-2012, 01:45 PM
Awful hobbies of teens
============================

VietNamNet Bridge – Flaying tattooing and listening to music that causes bloodcurdling sensations are hobbies that harm physical and mental health of Vietnamese teenagers.

i-dosing - the kind of music that is mixed by sharp explosive noise – is considered “digital drug.” When listening to this music, listeners will fee scared and satisfied.

“This kind of music can be mixed by specialized software. I tried and I was shocked. The feeling was indescribable. Young people can be highly addicted to this kind of music,” says Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hieu, director of an audio company in Hanoi.

This so-called i-dosing is apparently a new form of digital drug that are audio files designed to induce drug-like effects.

In Vietnam, i-dosing is shared among youngsters on social networks. Despite warnings of harmful effects when listening to i-dosing on websites, the number of people who download i-dosing is rising remarkably.

“My friends talked a lot about i-dosing. I downloaded it from the Internet and tried. It made me dazzled, giddy and buzzing in my ears,” one wrote on an online forum about his first experience with i-dosing.

Meanwhile, many teens commented: “that’s music!”, “music must be strong and make me blow up”, “to be more satisfied with i-dosing, you should use headphones that cover your entire ears and sit on a dark room, alone.. Many teens wrote that once they listened to i-dosing, they did not want to enjoy ‘lighter’ music.

This kind of music has been warned to harm listener’s health in many countries in the world.

Some teens favor flaying tattoos. To have tattoos of this type, people have to accept extreme pain. Tattoo makers use specialized knives to flay pieces of skin. After that they cover with chemicals over it or to let these wounds to become scars, which emerge as terrified patterns. To have such tattoos, many teens went to Thailand.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Hai, a senior tattoo maker, said that Vietnamese tattoo makers are not skilled enough to make these kind of tattoos. Only rich people can get such tattoos by going to Thailand or Taiwan.

Nam Nguyen

vietboy
12-05-2012, 12:00 AM
What xao cat????!!! Is it xạo cặc???

Which xao is it??? Is it xạo???

xạo = unreliable

sạo = to tell tales

So which one more correct???? :confused: :rolleyes:

sao is correct. so it shld be sao cat instead. there is no such word as xao cac

jackbl
12-05-2012, 03:59 AM
so it shld be sao cat instead. there is no such word as xao cac

What is cat???

Pohchuan
12-05-2012, 11:21 AM
yur si beh xiong = si beh 凶 or si beh 爽??
:D

Tuy cac em ay, thinh thoang "si beh 凶", doi khi "si beh 爽". If they use difficult words, qua 凶, mot it 爽. If they start to flirt, it becomes 爽 lam, 凶 chut.

CptCum
12-05-2012, 12:11 PM
I want to go wet-nam to hôn và ôm cô gái xinh đẹp!!! :D

vietboy
12-05-2012, 02:32 PM
What is cat???

Cat literlly mean con chim :D:p
Anh hieu chet lien chua?

jackbl
12-05-2012, 02:32 PM
People who sell blood to support their families
================================================== =======
VietNamNet Bridge – In Vinh City in the central province of Nghe An, there are over 20 people whose main source of income comes from selling their blood.

“We earn our living by selling our blood. Calling it a job but we are reluctant to sell our blood. Though our blood is quite washy, we only sell safe blood. We never cheat anybody,” Mr. Tinh says about his ‘job.’

Born in Ninh Binh in northern Vietnam, Tinh and his mother left their hometown to Vinh city after a family event. They became stevedores at the Vinh Railway Station. Tinh got married with a poor girl and had several children. At that time, the railway station re-organized stevedoring system and Tinh was unemployed. The man became a waste collector while his wife turned into a blood seller.

Income from collecting waste was not enough to support his family; Thinh has joined the team of professional blood sellers.

In 2000, Tinh’s wife died. The man has still lived with “blood selling job” to bring up his children. “Thanks to this job, my children can go to school. I hope that they will not have to do this job like me and my wife,” Tinhs aid.

Next to Tinh’s tent, in the hamlet of porters in Vinh City, is the tent of Ms. Thuy, Tinh’s sister-in-law, who has also sold her blood for 30 years.

“I have done this job for 30 years. I want to give up but I cannot. Sometimes my daughter called me from her school to ask for money. I was short of cash so I had to go to hospital to sell blood,” Thuy said.

The hamlet of Tinh and Thuy is called the hamlet of blood sellers because most of residents there earn their living from selling their blood.

In the hamlet, Ms. Hien is a senior blood seller. She is respected by locals for selling her blood to support her daughter who is studying at a medical university.

Hien was born in the central province of Thanh Hoa. After being forsaken by her husband 25 years ago, the woman left her hometown to Vinh city with her three children. No home, no money, the woman went to Vinh Hospital to sell her blood.

“That was 1987. I received only VND32 the first time I sold my blood. Tears came to my eyes but my heart got warm when I think of a meal for my children and I could pay rent on time,” Ms. Hien recalled.

Since then, whenever she had to pay rent, when her children were sick, when her children had to pay school fees… the woman went to hospital.

Ms. Hien and other blood sellers had to go to many hospitals to sell blood because hospitals only purchase blood from the same seller after each three months.

“Selling blood is the last resort for us. Many people fainted after selling blood. Some people are in Thanh Hoa province but they went to Vinh to sell blood,” Hien said.

From her blood, Hien’s children could go to school. One of them is now a medical student. As her children have grown up, the woman has given up this ‘job’. She now sells ice tea in front of Vinh Hospital.

According to blood sellers, to sell blood often, they have to take a lot of iron pills and salted lemon water.

“All professional blood sellers have to take a lot of iron pills but we have our own pride. Our blood is clean, which is tested. Though it is washy, it is safe,” said a blood seller at Nghe An hospital.

These people have new names, which go with their blood types, for example Ms. Thanh A, Mr. Chien A, Mr. Tinh A, Ms. Ngoc O, etc.

Blood sellers in Vinh City have grouped up to become a community who are willing to help each other.

Dr. Nguyen Hoang Cat, deputy director of the Center for Hematology and Blood Transfusion of Nghe An province, said that in the past, when the source of blood for Nghe An Hospital was scarce, professional blood sellers were the main source and they were managed by cards, granted by the center. However, when the blood donation has developed in Vietnam, blood sellers have to go to other hospitals.

Mai Lan

jackbl
13-05-2012, 12:57 AM
Cat literlly mean con chim :D:p

First time heard about this. Maybe my teacher not good enough.... BTW how to write this word with diacritical mark???

jackbl
13-05-2012, 01:00 AM
Tuy cac em ay, thinh thoang "si beh 凶", doi khi "si beh 爽". If they use difficult words, qua 凶, mot it 爽. If they start to flirt, it becomes 爽 lam, 凶 chut.

Your level of TV has improved so much that even I also dun understand what u are referring to :D :p..... I need to go up mountain again to continue my study :( :rolleyes:

ilovedoggie
13-05-2012, 03:31 AM
I need to go up mountain again to continue my study

your mountain is ks room on high floor right?:D

vietboy
13-05-2012, 09:40 AM
First time heard about this. Maybe my teacher not good enough.... BTW how to write this word with diacritical mark???

According to my bx: Cặt

vietboy
13-05-2012, 09:42 AM
Your level of TV has improved so much that even I also dun understand what u are referring to :p..... I need to go up mountain again to continue my study :( :rolleyes:

I also catch no ball to he wrote. Maybe i join u in the mountain to study together. :D