Sunday, March 17, 2013

Lost in translation in Vung Tau

Foreign langauges aren't vogue in Vietnam and the beautiful Vietnamese seem to be in no hurry to want to learn any. Vung Tau has a few locals who can speak a smattering of Russian and some who speak fairly good English but the communication gap woth foreigners in Vietnam is much larger than in any country in the ASEAN grouping.

At a so-called French cafe we asked for a cappuccino and a couple of omelettes. My experienced friend asked the waitress to repeat the order and she wrote it down as expresso and baguettes! We ended up eating what we wanted but I was honestly shocked with how this whole situation transpired until the stories started pouring in.

A Russian housewife once ordered french fries for her daughter and was delivered a plate ful of burnt potatoes and chillies. The aggressive waitress said "you Russians don't know what french fries are!!"

I find these Vung Tau situations odd since Vietnam is known for an excellent service culture

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