No matter how many you speak, no matter how many you've heard - there's always something that scares the heck out of you.
As most of us now acknowledge. knowing a few words and even the odd expression (the odder the better) launches you into the hearts of the people you meet as you travel. The immediacy of their response is almost child-like at times; and though pride is a sin, (self-flagellation is about to commence), there is nothing like that feeling when you've made a stranger from another culture laugh, smile and accept you, no matter how foreign you are to each other.
This is a great site (link below) that I found whilst researching Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh and the link below is a nice video from the site owner on how to speak simple Vietnamese. I use the terms simple and Vietnamese together as a perfect example of an oxymoron.........simple Vietnamese just doesn't exist.
So if you can be bothered, have a look and imagine how ridiculous we'll be sounding as we say to the market trader "Hi, how are you? Oh my God that is expensive!"
Vietnamese language lesson for travellers - Part 1 - Rusty Compass travel video
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