Something frustrating when studying a foreign language
is that the textbooks typically just discuss things related to the country of that language.
For example, if you study English,
you read about places to visit in London,
the capital of Ireland,
and famous figures from American history,
but they never write about things related to the reader's country, right?
I encountered the same thing when studying Vietnamese.
For example, this book goes into great detail about the geography of Vietnam.
"Monsoon."
"Delta."
"Natural disaster."
Yeah, that's interesting I guess.
But what about the geography where I'm from?
All three of these things . . .
I just had to learn on my own.
And that's just geography.
A lot of things related to people's way of life, you pretty much can't learn on your own.
In this video, I want to teach you guys the English words
for some characteristic habits of Vietnamese people,
so you can talk about your own country more precisely.
We'll start out on the street to talk about traffic.
Probably the first thing foreigners notice about traffic in Vietnam,
other than the number of motorbikes,
is the honking.
That's called "honking."
You can also say "honking the horn," but it's not necessary.
"Honking" is enough.
Something else that shocks and pisses off foreigners
is the way so many Vietnamese people carelessly run red lights.
In English, we call that "running red lights."
And something foreigners just find funny is when Vietnamese people travel three,
four,
or even five to a motorbike.
In English, there's no really concise way to express that, so we'd say,
For example:
And finally, one thing I like about traffic in Vietnam:
jaywalking.
Where I'm from, police can be very serious about jaywalking, and they can even fine you for it.
But in Vietnam, you can cross wherever you want.
That's called "jaywalking."
I don't know why.
Ok, let's finish talking about traffic, but continue with things that happen outdoors.
First, I want to talk about these legendary "dép tổ ong" sandals.
You guys need to understand that we don't have those things in English-speaking countries,
so English doesn't have any common word for them.
Some of my students tried giving them the name "bee's home sandals," but that's not very accurate.
This thing here is called "a bee's nest" or "a beehive,"
and this structure inside the beehive is called "honeycomb."
So if you ask me, the best term for "dép tổ ong" is "honeycomb sandals."
For example:
I really don't know what to call the sport đá cầu, because we don't have it in the West.
On Wikipedia, they say:
But if you guys just say:
foreigners will picture the shuttlecock used in badminton.
It's probably better if you say:
but even that term requires more explanation.
You can compare it to the sports "hacky-sack" and "footbag" in the West.
Sometimes, after they finish their shuttlecock kicking,
Vietnamese men like to smoke "thuốc lào" to relax.
"Thuốc lào" is something else we don't have in the West.
For the leaf itself, Wikipedia uses the term "wild tobacco,"
but no one knows what that is.
If you call it "strong tobacco," foreigners will understand more accurately.
As for the bamboo pipe, we don't have that either,
but any kind of pipe that uses water inside is called a water pipe.
In a little bit, we're going to go home and learn about some things there,
but before that I want to talk about some things that don't necessarily happen outdoors,
but rather in the Vietnamese community.
The first place we'll visit are the schools, offices, and institutions of Vietnam.
If you want to get priority treatment, what do you have to do?
You've got to slip some envelopes, right?
In English, the exact word for that is "bribing."
And there's a lot of slang related to it, too, like "grease someone's palm."
"Grease" means "to lubricate,"
and this right here is a "palm."
Do you get it?
Lubricate someone's palm,
so that everything will move through their hands smoother and quicker.
Next, we're going to look at a very familiar place:
all the cafes and iced tea stands around this country.
Can you guess what I'm thinking of?
"Chém gió."
There might not be any term in English that has the exact meaning of "chém gió,"
but we've got some that are close.
If you use "chém gió" in a not entirely negative way,
that is, chatting aimlessly about unimportant things,
then the phrase "shoot the breeze" is all right.
But that phrase sounds a bit innocent and childish.
A cooler way to say it is "shoot the shit."
I don't know why.
And if you use "chém gió" in a negative way, that is, saying a bunch of bullshit that isn't true,
then "bullshitting" is probably the most accurate word.
You know, I just learned how to use the camera on this phone,
the pictures it shoots are friggin' awesome!
Nicer than an iPhone 7 even!
Oh, totally.
My phone, too.
Ok, let's go home.
One more thing that's related to how you guys talk is the act of "mắng"-ing.
Of course, it's not just Vietnamese parents who "mắng" their kids,
But I find they generally do it more than parents where I'm from.
The dictionaries online translate "mắng" as "to scold."
That word isn't wrong, but it's pretty old-fashioned.
A more natural term is "to yell at,"
but that term isn't suitable in all situations,
because it implies scolding with a seriously raised voice.
WHY ARE YOU COMING HOME SO LATE AGAIN?!
If someone "scolds" you at normal volume, but still speaks in a threatening way—
Why did you come home so late again?
Next time, I'll ground your ass.
—then the most accurate term is "chew out."
Are you going to put that phone down and go to school?
All this chewing out business is an ugly part of Vietnamese home life.
Let's look at something more beautiful:
"thắp hương."
Like honeycomb sandals and shuttlecock kicking, "thắp hương" is another thing the West doesn't have,
so when you introduce it to foreigners, it'll take some time to explain.
"Thắp hương" includes two parts: the first is making offerings,
and the second part is "praying."
So you can talk about "thắp hương" in the following way:
I find that among the offerings, there's often a bottle of liquor,
and in the countryside, they often use liquor that's homemade, or at least handmade.
Where I'm from, making liquor at home isn't very common,
but it used to be, so English has a term for it.
If the product has low alcohol content and is made just be letting rice ferment,
then there's no special word for it. It's just called "homemade rice wine."
But if the product has high alcohol content and is made through distillation, it's called "moonshine."
Finally, I want to mention one more thing related to eating and drinking:
"bón cơm."
Of course, mothers around the world "bón cơm" for their kids,
but the unique thing in Vietnam is that they continue doing it for a very long time,
until the kid is four, or five,
or even older.
Take this picture, for example.
Jesus.
That boy must be 10 already.
In English, "bón cơm" is "to spoon-feed,"
and where I'm from, spoon-feeding a kid who's already able to eat by himself is viewed really negatively,
because doing so is just going to make him less independent and less self-confident.
Because of this, "spoon-feed" also has a figurative meaning,
which is "to care for or help someone excessively,"
in particular, to teach using methods that are too easy,
which don't stimulate the students to learn independently and think for themselves.
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