Vietnam travel tips - Cultural etiquette

Vietnam is the perfect destination to “get your feet wet” when deciding to travel to the massive continent of Asia for the first time. Vietnamese people on the whole are very friendly and welcoming in major cities, although if you leave touristy areas you may notice some harmless staring due to infamiliarity. With a little bit of cultural awareness of polite etiquette, your trip to Vietnam will go off without a hitch!

DON’T

• Assume everyone speaks English or French. Although English-language skills are in high demand and children start learning very early, the population does not get much chance to use these academic skills in everyday life. When you speak with a local person, make sure to speak slowly and clearly so they can try to understand you better, as many may be quite shy to speak with you at first.
• Use the serving spoon while eating in restaurants. Vietnamese cuisine is usually prepared in a communal way unless you are at a noodle shop ordering soups. It’s normal for a group to order many dishes and then share them amongst the members. Each dish comes with a serving spoon—use this spoon to put food into your bowl, and use your own cutlery to eat.
• Stick chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice. This is reminiscent of two burning incense sticks used at funerals and is considered “unlucky”. Place your chopsticks across the bowl, not pointed towards anyone, to signal you have had enough to eat.
• Lose your temper in public. Southeast Asia in general has the concept of “saving face”. Avoid embarrassing others and hold back aggressive or quarrelsome behaviours, especially when bargaining over prices in markets or during activities. It’s best to keep a smile on your face and ignore politely.
• Join political protests or discuss the government. Vietnam is a communist country with a one-party government. Speaking out against the government on social media or in public is ill-advised. Joining protests is a definite No-no!

PLEASE DO

• Speak Vietnamese and use honorifics. Vietnamese is a very difficult language with 6 nuanced tones used to differentiate between words. That being said, local people love to hear foreigners try their best to interact with locals. Greet others with “Xin Chao” (seen chaow) to say hello, and cam on (cahm uwn) for thank you. Vietnamese is especially special in how you relate to others, using a special set of honorifics based on members of the family. It’s not considered rude to shout “em oi” while in a restaurant to get the server’s attention. When in doubt of the person’s age in relation to you, use “anh” for man and “chi” for woman.

• Remove your shoes before entering temples, pagodas, or a person’s house.
• Accept tea or rice wine even if you do not like or want it. A tiny sip is considered just as polite as drinking the whole thing. Likewise, don’t leave food in your bowl or on your plate as this is considered very impolite to waste food.
• Pass and receive money/items with two hands.
• Haggle and bargain for prices, but do not make the price so low that you offend the seller. For example, if a seller is asking you to pay 100,000. VND for an item, do not say 20,000. VND as the price is too low. Politely you could ask for 50% of what the seller asked, such as 50,000. VND, and this would be considered the beginning of the bargaining. Depending on the item/quality, you could expect to end up somewhere around 75,000. VND.
• Round up to the nearest whole number when taking taxis. If your taxi costs 32,000. VND it’s acceptable to give 35,000 VND or 40,000 VND without receiving change.
• If you are happy with the service from tour guides, boat rides, and cruises throughout the country, feel free to tip the staff. Recommended values such as 500,000 VND ($20 USD) for overnight cruises, 20,000 – 50,000 VND ($1 – 2 USD) for a single boat ride such as in Ninh Binh or a floating village in Ha Long Bay, 200,000 VND/day of tour for tour guides ($10 USD) and 100,000 VND/day ($5 USD) for private drivers can be taken into consideration.