Cultural differences , big issues to concern !!!!

Hi guys , SEC has been said to be a place for us to improve , practise and indulge our English , to see , to discuss and to make new friends !! However , due to some subjective and objective reasons , SEC seemed to be quiet for a long time . It''s time for us to reactivate it , and the following will come to the discussion about Culture !!
The knowlegde about culture will benefit not only in business but in daily life , especially tourism as well .
So guys , don''t be hesitant to show and share your experience about this topic , the contributions from each will benefit for all !!
Go ahead !!

Friends , Have u ever been to Taiwan ??? Once U get a chance to come there , U will learn some very strange and surprising customs !!
As you know , giving gifts or presents is often appreciated in dealing with business partners , especially international ones . However , how to choose a gift and in what way U should present are also problems .
As far as I am concerned , if U give ur Taiwanese business partners a GREEN HAT , U are yourself destroying the relationship !! In that country , men with GREEN HAT is understood to have a wife suffering from what is called ADULTERY .
Can u ever imagine what the consequence will be following ur very unintentional kind-hearted action and goodwill !!??
Some which are considered to be very simple , very normal ,but to other cultures , they may upset the others . This kind of misunderstanding is so funny and dull , the problem arising , in fact , is not worth happening !! We can really manage to ignore it , why don''t we come here to share yours and learn from others , it would be great !!

Cultural awareness is really important for you, especially in business and when you live in a foreign country. We have just had some mini lectures on cultural awareness, how to raise it, etc... I will go back to you with some humble contributions just to liven up this discussion.
Thanks
You hear that? That is the sound of inevitability...

Just in case I live abroad for a long time, do I have to pay close attention to cultural differences, since I am on my own and on the weak side. Therefore if I do not adapt to their culture, I will not be able to adapt and will be thrown out of the track.
That is the only reason that makes me care about culture differences.
In all the other cases, from my own view and experience, I reckon that I do not have to keep an eye on their respective culture. I do what I like, I eat what i want, I give them the present I want to give, I get dressed the way I feel comfortable and confident. I behave the way I have behaved to all the others.That is extremely boring to have to shift ourshelves to satisfy everyone.
I was born to satisfy myself , not to satisfy everyone.
Why don''t you all ever ask yourshelves that have they, foreigners ever tried to dig into our Vietnam culture, and these differences between Vietnam culture and theirs, and have they ever made any effort to adapt to our culture and make us unshocked.
Why do you all put yourshelves on the deep down low position ?
I do not deny that culture awareness is not important, even I do think that it is crucial. But I point to the fact that we know to free our mind from culture shock, not to satisfy them.
I have been the way I have been. And there have not been any serious consequences.They respect me and by return, I respect them. Unless, I throw them out of my mind. They do not deserve to receive so much welcome if they do not "biết điều".
They, as well as we, should or must be open-minded to consider all the culture shock they or we cause merely arising from cultural differences,
If we all (including foreigners) all keep an open-minded view, then everyting will be OK.
The last thing I want to stress is that we learn about the other culture not to SATISFY the others
Rape me my friend !! Rape me again !!! yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I am not the only one !! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.....

Yes, you can live the way you like. After all, life is ours and we live it our way, isn''t it? But if you do so, don''t ever complain that they are spending increasingly more hate on you. OK? I don''t fear hate, so I live it my way. If you fear hate and fear disgrace, live otherwise. Life''s short and if we live it the way we don''t like in the slightest, we''ll regret after we''ve been in hell. But it''s important that how you live doesn''t mess up or affect others'' lives. For example, if you want to crank up music as if to break down the wall with the sound, make sure it doesn''t turn into earfukking sound in others'' ears. *****m up, you can do anything you like so long as it doesn''t break any law, unwritten or written, any socially accepted conventions, rules and regulations. This is not about culture awareness as such but to some extent, I think.
That''s all. A very simple rule of life if you want to really enjoy your life.
You hear that? That is the sound of inevitability...

Sgh , ur thought is very bitter about this topic if I don''t wanna say that U have got a very pessimistic thinking about life and people around U .
As the matter of fact , We learn about other cultures for the purpose of making ourselves more comfortable living in a foreign country !!
U said U would like to do anything u like !! strong characteristic !!
but it seems to be inapt . according what u thought , U certainly don''t care what pp think about U , about ur style , but , You know , U r not living in this world alone , We r living with people , and we still have what is called interaction .
We all here often highly praise a foreigner who knows how to use chopsticks and we do have many surprises to hear their Vietnamese speaking !! Few days ago , I came to Binh Quoi 1 to see the specialized perfromance memorizing Music Composer Trinh Cong Son , there is an American woman wearing "Ao Dai "- Vietnam tra***ional dress- sang one of the most famous songs in Vietnamese . Many pp , at that time , are silent listening to her and then are noisy giving so many big applause !!
U are right , sgh , when saying U live for urself , not for the others ,. However , some funny and dull actions derive from cultural misunderstanding will make U become stupid one day , maybe U don''t care , but U r making urself , ur image worse and worse and that , in fact , doesn''t mean U live for urself anymore !!
Why don''t U think U have done a good job of adapting urself in Vietnamese culture and now it''s time for broadening the sample by learning to adapt in an international one !
knowing about other cultures will be very fantabulous !!
we are waiting for ur contribution , sgh , Captor and many others !!!
Cheers

Sorry I hafto delete the message I poured my insightful thoughts into, the message I posted exactly here in this place. Some guys, most of them being my friends, seem to get hurt. How ridiculous they are! If I''m ever wrong in something, I find it so easy to simply admit it. Aiming at entrenched drinking habits is always one of the most sensitive issues to people there. So better have it out of here. So sorry.
Shall be back for more but on other aspects.
Được captor_of_sin sửa chữa / chuyển vào 21:44 ngày 07/04/2004

Thanks Captor for giving a very good example about society !! It''s so popular but in my opinion , refusing or not totally depends on u , a good and flexible guy knows how to manage in most circumstances !! I am myself allergic to beer ,whenever I have a drink , I must lie in bed for nearly a week taking lost of medicine and injections !! The health problem makes it a must-to-do for refusing any kind of alcoholic drinks !! When working with a good partner , I think he will be empathetic enough to accept ur refusion !! But it''s not easy at all , huh !!!
Learning about other culture doesn''t mean that U should imitate their mannerism , U just need to be aware in order to avoid some regretful mistakes .
Furthermore , Learning about multiculture is not only a lesson U have to learn but to some , it is an interest as well , my case for example !!

You two do not have a good grip of what I say. Please scan my posst again before sending your feedback.
I love to get deep insight into cultural differences. That means i love Coolbiz ''s topic, but I hate the way you two approachand demonstrate this topic.
Quoted from Captor_of_sin :" When we live in Rome, do as the Romans do".
Thus, by return, when foreigners are in VietNam, do as the Vietnamese do.
thoáng em đến như trăng mùa cũ...thoáng em đến câu thơ vừa chữ...thoáng em đến ngỡ như muôn trùng...thoáng em ghé như hoa phù dung...đã chia sớt cho ta lửa ấm...đã nuôi lớn trái tim lặng câm...từ em qua có đêm bình yên...vì em đấy mà ra thiêng liêng... 

Hì..hì, cái em bé sgh này chẳng đọc kỹ phần post của anh gì cả. Anh có nói gì em đâu??? I even encouraged you to live as you like, so long as it doesn''t break any social and institutional law. With the Roman stuff in issue now, I think foreigners haft to adapt a bit to VN way of life but not to the full extent. We need some harmonization here, either in living or in business. Yes, harmonization is called for. We can''t expect them to live exactly as we do, or they can''t make us live the way they do. Harmonization is necessary. I''ve just read a report on ODA harmonization, which is really interesting. They don''t like to have so complicated stamping system in issuing a decision but we can''t let them do away with it completely, so some harmonization is called for, so to speak.
 
You hear that? That is the sound of inevitability...