The first English word I knew is "Hello", and it might be the most common word in English. I remembered what I thought at that time was : Oh, it's very simple and easy to greet others. Of course now I know many other ways to do it. But it's very handy for a person who don't know any English word at all, he/ she can use the word "Hello" in most cases. Is it one of the reason why English now become the most popular language all over the world?
In Vietnamese, this thing is more complicated. Every one know this word "xin chào" or " chào" (means hello) , but it is commonly used in the formal situations, between strangers. Mostly people don't say that to others when they meet. Instead, we normally say/ ask:
- Where are you going ? (of course you needn't to answer "Im going to the toilet" though you are now doing it ;)) but say "Im going over there"
- What are you doing? (the same)
- Have you got your lunch/ dinner? - What about you?
- You haven't come back home, have you?
- Are you fine now?
- How is your work/ study going on?
- Anything new/good/nice?
- Would you like to try this ( when you are eating something and see an acquaintance)
- Are you now going out?
- Your bussiness is good?
- You seem to be busy nowadays?
- (Hi) Sister/ Brother/ Aunty/ Uncle/ Niece/ Nephew...
- Oh you looks good/great today.
- The weather today is so good/bad.
...
In fact, we don't care much about the answer, whatever they are, because it's just a informal and warm way to say "Hello" to others. You might get shocked first time when you hear this kind of greetings from Vietnamese people :), am I right?
So what are you doing now? :)) Please share with us how to greet others in your countries.
Replies
Stupid Flanders? Tell me you're being sarcastic. I know you are. 'Cause it's not physically possible for you to be that lame, AWESOMEGURL. :)
Oh, I love to pretend to be like Ned Flanders when ppl around ask me to be more "politically correct" or not "inappropiate", you know... Sometimes to play the Ned Flanders character can be kind of funny ;)
"Politically correct"?
Gasp! Whatever happened to my rebellious Catwoman?
He's so ''vanilla'' that makes vanilla seem spicy. I wonder... perhaps you're doin' that to mess with people or you want 'em to shut up. Well, that's genius! Carry on. Hell, I even join you.
Hello Kiriku!
Am I right? :D,
The commonest greeting in our language (Persian) is hello, how are you? Are you fine? and sometimes followed by questions about close relatives' health such as how is your father, mother, brothers, sisters, kids..... but before you say goodbye to someone, it is polite to say " Let's go home" and of course, it is just a greeting, you don't really invite him/her to your house :)
Goodbye Kiriku, lets go home :D.
Saba, you seems to be in a good mood today (actually no need to answer this, you know) haha,. And yes, let's go home. Thank you for a valuable comment, it really makes my day.
Exactly, we hope to have a Vietnamese word which is equal to Hello, not just in common sense, but in daily usage, but haven't found it yet. What is a pity.
It's pretty amazing to know that "hello" is not a common word in Vietnam. In my place, a simple "hi" or "hello" is the usual greeting.
Does it mean that Vietnamese people love to talk? If you begin a conversation by long statement, does it mean you want to start a conversation with someone?
Usually when someone says "hi", the usual answer is "hello" The opportunity to talk further is bleak unless the greeter poses another question like the questions you posted above. If that is so, then I can say that Vietnamese people are great conversation starters.
Hi Anele, actually we don't want to start a long conversation by that kind of greetings, as you know, it's just our habit and custom. If we have more times we can talk further for sure, but mostly that kinds of questions should be responded in the simple and short way,even a little vague because we all know nobody really care about it. Hope it would not make you confused... :) And maybe you are right, we Vietnamese people love talking, haha.Thank you for a wonderful comment.
Hi Deepa, I absolutely agree with you, we have some common greetings everywhere. I would like to know about various and different ones.
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