The Vietnamese Smile: An Enigma
Dr Duong B T, a lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Arlington, USA, describes the Vietnamese smile as follows:
"The Vietnamese smile at almost everything and anything. In Vietnam, they will smile when foreigners cannot pronounce their names properly. They will smile as a friendly and silent gesture to welcome foreigners to their homes. They will smile to please their superiors. They will smile to show their interest in what a speaker is telling them. They will smile to help their friend forget a mistake the latter made.
On the other hand, the Vietnamese smile can be used as a polite screen to hide confusion, ignorance, fear, contrition, shyness, bitterness, disappointment or anger...
Smiling at all times and places is a common characteristic of all Vietnamese. There are, however, no guidelines to tell foreigners to what meaning each and every smile is in a particular situation.
Remember that the Vietnamese smile may mean almost anything and that people from other cultures need not feel frustrated, irritated or offended if they cannot guess its exact meaning".
Dr Duong B T, a lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Arlington, USA, describes the Vietnamese smile as follows:
"The Vietnamese smile at almost everything and anything. In Vietnam, they will smile when foreigners cannot pronounce their names properly. They will smile as a friendly and silent gesture to welcome foreigners to their homes. They will smile to please their superiors. They will smile to show their interest in what a speaker is telling them. They will smile to help their friend forget a mistake the latter made.
On the other hand, the Vietnamese smile can be used as a polite screen to hide confusion, ignorance, fear, contrition, shyness, bitterness, disappointment or anger...
Smiling at all times and places is a common characteristic of all Vietnamese. There are, however, no guidelines to tell foreigners to what meaning each and every smile is in a particular situation.
Remember that the Vietnamese smile may mean almost anything and that people from other cultures need not feel frustrated, irritated or offended if they cannot guess its exact meaning".