Vietnamese Gestures and Politeness
By Mark A. Ashwill, author of Vietnam Today
Visitors to Vietnam will be interested in this guide to gestures and polite behavior when talking to Vietnamese people. The chart below lists nonverbal behaviors and their meanings in Vietnamese culture.
Like other Asian societies, Vietnam is classified as a "high-context society." This complex and important concept has been the topic of countless books and articles in the field of intercultural communication. In Understanding Cultural Differences (1996), Hall and Hall define a high-context communication, or message, as one in which most of the information already is in the person,while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message. In a low-context communication, by contrast, most of the information is in the explicit code-the words themselves.
What follows is a summary of nonverbal behaviors and their meanings in Vietnamese culture.
Nonverbal Expression |
Meaning in Vietnamese Culture |
| Nodding | Greeting; affirmative reply; agreement |
| Shaking one's head | Negative reply; disagreement |
| Bowing | Greeting; great respect |
| Touching a child's head | Not appreciated, but not offensive |
| Avoiding eye contact | Showing respect to people senior in age or status or of the
opposite sex |
| Winking | Not acceptable, especially when directed at people of the
opposite sex |
| Frowning | Frustration, anger, or worry |
| Pouting | Disdain |
| Smiling | Agreement; embarrassment; disbelief; mild disagreement; appreciation; apology |
Non-verbal Behavior |
Meaning in Vietnamese Culture |
| Shaking hands | Friendly greeting between men (but not the elderly). Not customary
between women or between a man and a woman; acceptable between a Vietnamese
woman and non-Vietnamese man. |
| Palm of right hand out, fingers moving up and down several
times |
"Come here."Not used with people senior in age or status. |
| Holding hands with or putting an arm over the shoulder or
a person of the same sex |
Friendly gesture with no sexual connotation |
| Holding hands with or putting an arm over the shoulder of
a person of the opposite sex |
Not usually done in public |
| Crossing arms | Sign of respect |
| Placing one or both hands in the pockets or the hips while
talking |
Arrogance; lack of respect |
| Patting a person's back, especially someone senior in age
or status |
Disrespectful |
| Pointing to other people while talking |
Disrespectful, threatening |
| Putting one's feet on a table or sitting on a desk while talking |
Rude |
This article is excerpted from Vietnam Today, A Guide to a Nation at the Crossroads, with permission from the publisher. Copyright 2005 Intercultural Press
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