HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE Lecturer : Dr. BẢO ĐẠT Student : QUAÙCH THỊ NGỌC UYỂN Class : DIP 6A Communication and culture TOPIC “ Design and pilot an empirical investigation into some aspect of intercultural issues such as culture bump or culture shock. This is done by interviewing with a foreigner in Vietnam about his/her cultural experience such as intercultural obstacles to living in Vietnam, how expectations met or fail to meet, what was the most outstanding culture shock experience, what are some beliefs and values one should learn from such cultural experiences, etc… Please conduct a project individually or with a partner of your own choice. If a joint project is submitted, it is understood that the participants agree to receive the same grade for that assignment.” Student: Quach Thi Ngoc Uyen – DIP 6A 2 Communication and culture English is now the dominant or official language in over sixty countries and is learnt in every country (Crystal, 1997). Approximately, 450 million people speak English. From this fact, it can be understood that the English language is a vital means of communication for millions of people around the world. As know so far, English is commonly used as a medium for the communication of information and news. About three – quarters of all telex messages and telegrams are sent in English. Eighty percent of computer date are processed and stored in English. Much satellite communication is carried in English. Popular culture has also played an important part in spreading English. English is spoken in hotels and travel agencies, at airport, and in shops that tourists frequent … Vietnam is a country on its impetus. Ho Chi Minh City is the biggest one in whole country. It is an important center of culture, sciences, technique and commerce, and there are also lots of foreigners living here. They cope with lots of difficulties in daily life. (i) About languages: A foreigner coming to Vietnam to live, his main language is often English. It will be difficult for him to get used to local area when he can’t speak Vietnamese while most of Vietnamese can’t speak English. Althought in Ho Chi Minh City, there are lots of people who are good at English and Vietnamese students are also good at foreign languages, but they often work for businesses or schools. Therefore daily activities of foreigners living in Vietnam will cope with difficulties of divergent languages. They feel shock on contacting local customs and habits. Student: Quach Thi Ngoc Uyen – DIP 6A 3 Communication and culture (2) About paper procedures: Wedding is a complicated procedure. A foreigner wants to marry a Vietnamese, they have to wait for a long time. Sometimes, their papers are returned. They obtain a marriage certificate with difficulty. Characteristics of Western people are brisk and punctual. They do treasure time. But living in Vietnam, they feel inconvenient when waiting for paper procedures. Therefore, the experience of a foreigner living in Vietnam is that they are worried of illegal papers which occupy lots of their time. (3) About currency: Services of eating, drinking and commodities in Vietnam are much cheaper that those in Western countries. But when paying they are flabbergasted on price quotation. For example, a dish of rice is only one dollar, but they hear “Eighteen thousand dong!” It is quite tired of calculating the rate of exchange! It is one of the problems which causes shocks to foreigners in Vietnam. (4) About housing: Proverb said, “Eating Chinese dishes and living in Western houses”. In Western houses, there are full of comforts such as eclectricity, water and airconditioners. They live in buildings while in our country, houses can’t satisfy their demands. In case of long term living, foreigners will rent high ranking and expensive apartments. They condermn that our people live in slum districts. It is a clash in culture, life of the two mankind civilizations. (5) About traffic Englishmen coming to Vietnam are surprised and embarrssed on seeing that we keep drive on the right instead on the left as their long standing habit. They are overcome by fear when passing across the streets. Motorbikes rushing through the lines before green traffic light nearby make a high dive into them. There is often jammed traffic because of narrow streets. The streets have much dust, old vehicles always make noise and are causes of heavy polluted environment. Air pollution is caused by the gases, smoke and dust. These hamrful gases cause difficulty in breathing and many other respiratory diseases such as asthama and tuberculosis. The foreigners feel awful when they meet these cases. Student: Quach Thi Ngoc Uyen – DIP 6A 4 Communication and culture (6) Eating and drinking: Vietnamese dishes are very appetite and diversified. We process food for table companions using chopsticks. Foreigners will feel embarrassed when they are unfamiliar with this style. Forks and knives are their uses for eating and drinking. They don’t know how to eat if we invite them for meals in a Vietnamese family. It must be that he will waver and we, Vietnamese hosts also hesitate when we entertain a person with his habit of using forks and knives. In big restaurants in Vietnam, there are enough comforts to serve foreign guests. But if living in long term in Vietnam, there is no reason why he goes to expensive and luxurious restaurants to eat? Then he reluctantly has to eat at common restaurants. And problems of sanitation will be set up. Our people, they have little money and common restaurants are their familiar places after work. Here it incurred a cultural strike between two ethnic groups, between the rich and the poor. (7) About entertaiment: A foreigner comes to live in Vietnam. He wants to have relaxation after hard work. He may visit famous landscape sights or go to the countryside to learn about Vietnamese culture. And a thing which makes him not to be joyful is that litter scatters everywhere at amusement places full of charming landscape. Vietnamese inhabitants do not have the sense of protection of environment. For example, when foreigners sight – seeing Ha Long Bay. It is set in a magnificent landscape of rolling green hills. Suddently they meet by chance some Vietnamese people throw trash onto the water. They feel disappointed because polluted water can directly harm to people’s health and kill fish. It is not interesting in a countryside with fresh air, trees laden with fruit, peaceful rivers or yellow rice fields because country folks can’t exchange languages with foreigners. Foreigners want to know something about traditional music arts but there are no translators. They watch classical dramas but know nothing. They are tired of. They may not experience this stage. Student: Quach Thi Ngoc Uyen – DIP 6A 5 Communication and culture (8) About habits and customs: Apart from worship, offering sacrifices are Vietnamese belief forms. On these occasions of holding death anniversaries, dishes are put on trays so long. It is not hygienic because of flies. Moreover, eating cool food will be easy to cause diseases. Especially foreigners are quite surprised on seeing people eating and drinking next to coffins in funerals, not including tumultuous drums and wind instrumentss producing a stir in an area. They are bad customs which our government is managing to convice the inhabitants to quit. What should we do to extricate the strikes relating to customs and habits, nation culture? Everyday on media, they warn us to protect environment, keep green, clean and beautiful sanitation. In hamlets, there are always meetings to propagandize local residents to abolish unsound customs, to live simply and wholesome. Conclusion: In brief, in order to experience in some fields of culture and to be able to extricate strikes, foreigners living in Vietnam should know how to get used to current situation. It is suggested him to consider events in life in Vietnam as a mater of course. He should ignore the discrimination between Vietnamese and his civilized people. He should know that he is lucky to be the citizen of a country which nature gives favor. He is allowed to live in a society which develops soon due to sciences and technique. And for us, we have to learn English or other foreign languages. Especially, English is a widespead and important language in the world today. It is used for everything from international conferences to news reports. It is used not only for communication between native speaker of English, but also between non-native speakers. It is the most widely used language all over the world and it will be used by more and more people in the world. Vietnamese students should study proficiency in foreign languages. Having proficiency in foreign languages we can grasp necessary information quickly, avoid hazards caused by natural phenomena. Proficiency in foreign languages can help us to comminicate with each other easily. (1,258 words) Student: Quach Thi Ngoc Uyen – DIP 6A 6 Communication and culture References: Crystal, D (1997) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language, Cambridge: CUP, p. 106 Heath, S.B. 1983 “Ways of words: Language, life and work in communities” New York: Cambridge. Rogoff, B, 1990 “Cognitive development in social context”. New York: Oxford. The Earth. C, 2007 “Pollution” HCM City. Student: Quach Thi Ngoc Uyen – DIP 6A 7 . other foreign languages. Especially, English is a widespead and important language in the world today. It is used for everything from international conferences to news reports. It is used not only. is the most widely used language all over the world and it will be used by more and more people in the world. Vietnamese students should study proficiency in foreign languages. Having proficiency. jammed traffic because of narrow streets. The streets have much dust, old vehicles always make noise and are causes of heavy polluted environment. Air pollution is caused by the gases,