Schwarting - Final Blog

The Vietnamese people received a bad reputation in the Untied States in the 1960s through 1975 because of the Vietnam War.  Even though they were American citizens, they were treated like outsiders just based on their culture and what they looked like.  Today, the Vietnamese still are not fully accepted by the American people. My goal is to raise awareness of their culture and lifestyle and eliminate Vietnamese ignorance.  To do this, I will first look at the Vietnamese culture.  Then, I will explain the concept behind my research.  Lastly, I will explain my results and explanations. 

Culture is defined as a “learned pattern or behavior and attitudes shared by a group of people” (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p.88).  The Vietnamese culture focuses on traditions and family.  They are proud of their culture and where they came from.  They are a high context society (Ashwell, 2005).  They also have many different nonverbal gestures that our different then other cultures.  A woman and a man may not shake hands otherwise it is viewed as inappropriate (Ashlwell, 2005).  The Vietnamese sense of values seems a lot stronger then American values.

Next, I will explain the concept behind my research.  When I was conducting my interviews, I focused on the culture shock aspect of coming to the United States.  Culture shock is described as, “A state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment” (Culture shock,” 2012).  Culture shock is a normal part of the human process, just like any other transition experience (Martin & Nakayma, 2012, p.332).

I interviewed Anh Ha, Anh Le, and Terri Tran for this project about culture shock and got some of their stories.  Even though most of my questions were about culture shock, I received way more information through observations and their stories.  Through their stories, interviews and observations, I found that three categories that I found interesting that differed between Americans and the Vietnamese people. 

The first observation I made about all three of my participants is their use of time.  All three participants were late in various activities.  Anh Ha showed up about Ten minutes late to a school meeting while Terri Tran showed up 15 minutes late to work.  They both causally walked in and headed straight to work like nothing was wrong.  I work with Terri Tran and she does this on a daily basis and it is almost expected out of her.  She does however leave exactly on time, not a minute early or a minute late if she is not overly busy.  She is one of the hardest workers and does not waste time during the work hours like the rest of the employees do.

The second observation I made was the attachment they had to material things, which was non-existent!  I am very attached to my iPhone and will not let it out of my sight while Anh Ha can drops and cracks the whole screen and act like it is not a big deal.  Terri Tran told me how she threw away her wedding dress when she was moving into a new house.  Her husband went and dug it out of the trash and Terri found it and threw it away again.  When I asked her why she did this she responded, “I don’t have any use for it anymore” (Tran, 2012). 

Lastly, I noticed how generous they all were.  When I was invited into Anh Ha and Anh Le’s home, Anh Le gave me some ice tea without asking but did not take any for herself.  It was such a sweet gesture that you wouldn’t usually experience when walking into an American home.  Terri Tran insisted on giving me her phone cover once she saw mine was unprotected which then left hers unprotected.  While I waited for my phone cover to arrive in the mail, Terri put two ponytail holders around her phone to protect hers.  I felt bad for having her phone cover but she would not let me give hers back until my came in the mail. 

After all my research, I discovered that the Vietnamese are such a sweet, caring, nice and loving culture.  They care about their family and friends more then themselves.  They do not place a high importance on materialistic things.  They will do anything in their power to help you.  It makes me sad to realize that they have not got the best treatment based just on the way they look or because of people’s ignorance.  Once you realize how they were raised, you will not take offense if they are 10 minutes late to a meeting or event.  Once everyone is educated, then there will be no more prejudice or ignorance and people can finally all be treated equally.  Wayne Dyer once said, “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.”    

 A funny but true way on how exchange students 

were culture shocked when they came to America

References:

Ashwell, M. (2005). Vietnamese gestures and politeness. Retrieved from http://www.adoptvietnam.org/travel/vietnamesepolitegestures.htm    

Culture shock. (2012). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture shock

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2010). Intercultural communication in contexts (5th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

Ha, A. H. (2012, October 15). Interview by M.S. Schwarting [Personal Interview]. Culture shock.

Le, A. L. (2012, October 15). Interview by M.S. Schwarting [Personal Interview]. Culture shock.

Tran, T.T. (2012, November 2). Interview by M.S. Schwarting [Personal Interview]. Culture shock.