This morning I was in the center of District 5 (Cholon) to replace the seat cover on my motorbike (Smokey used it as a scratching pad). As I was waiting, the owner of the shop started speaking with me. He kept asking many questions and I just could not recognize the words. They were very strange Vietnamese words. Finally he walked away after I responded “Khong Hieu” to him.
About 10 minutes later, his son started speaking to me in English. He asked how old I was and I answered back in Vietnamese. He then turned to his father and spoke a different language. I then realized that the owner was not speaking to me in Vietnamese at all. The son later told me that he spoke Chinese to me.
What a relief, maybe my Vietnamese is not really that bad after all. The question is, though, why did the owner speak to me in Chinese?
🙂
A very interesting day in Saigon…
Because you’re Amer-Asian. My brother-in-law is half Vietnamese, half white, and people in Vietnam invariably mistake him for being Chinese or Korean. Perhaps someone would care to offer another explanation?
Man I feel like that in Hanoi sometimes – me speaking Mien Nam (Southern Vietnamese) and all. Sometimes I feel like I’m speaking incorrectly but then I remember, oh yeah, Mien Bac, Mien Bac.
People tend to think I look Chinese or Singaporean. Weird, I used to get Mexican back in the states. Must be my new glasses.
Well because you were in Cho Lon, babe? I think you knew that Cho Lon here is just like China Town in US. They speak Chinese and Vietnamese as two main languages.
If you wanna improve your Vietnamese… Find a new Vietnamese girl friend and ask her to practice with you. Or you don’t have to waste your time on a girlfriend, just try to communicate with your friend by Vietnamese.
I recommend that I’ll talk to you by Vietnamese instead English. Do you agree?