Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Learn Vietnamese with Video - How to Talk About Safari Animals in Vietnamese

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Learn Vietnamese with Video - This Vietnamese Lesson is NOT Just for the Birds!!

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Learn Vietnamese with Video - This Vietnamese Lesson Proves That Curiosity Doesn't Kill the Cat!

[uncle ho]

Good to come here learn Vietnamese.

[jackbl]

Originally Posted by uncle ho

Good to come here learn Vietnamese.

You are vietnamese so u come here to teach

[jackbl]

Learn Vietnamese with Video - If This Vietnamese Video Lesson Makes You Feel Froggy, Then JUMP!

[jackbl]

No more free rides for foreigners in Vietnam
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Two foreigners being pulled over by the traffic police on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in the popular tourist destination of Mui Ne. The recent ban in tourist areas on renting motorbikes to foreigners without local driver’s licenses has renewed the call to make it easier for them to drive legally. PHOTO: QUE HA

As several provinces have banned renting motorbikes to foreigners without local driver’s licenses, people are once again calling on Vietnam to make it easier for them to drive legally


During his two-week stay in Nha Trang last November, Gololobov Andrey wanted to travel around the coastal town by motorbike.

Despite not having a Vietnamese driver’s license, the 42-year-old Russian tourist had no problem renting a motorbike.

But Andrey died when he lost control of the bike and collided with a wall on Tran Phu Street after crashing into the plastic stools outside a café. Witnesses said he was traveling at around a hundred kilometers an hour – double the speed limit.

Following a rash of accidents involving foreigners nationwide, authorities in Khanh Hoa Province (home to Nha Trang) have forbidden local shops from renting motorbikes to foreigners without Vietnamese driver’s licenses.

The decision was made following a recent directive handed down by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Meanwhile, the traffic police in several tourist areas like Mui Ne and Phu Quoc Island too are cracking down on foreign drivers.

The move aims to protect foreigners in Vietnam, where roughly 30 people die from traffic accidents every day.

In the first half of this year, more than 5,500 traffic accidents nationwide killed 4,913 people and injured 3,465 others, an increase of 193 cases and 255 fatalities over last year.

Enforcing the Traffic Law for foreign drivers, however, is controversial, with experts and insiders concerned that it will negatively impact tourism and frustrate the expat community, which has long been critical of how difficult it is to obtain a Vietnamese driver’s license.

According to the VNAT directive issued on August 21, foreign tourists renting motorbikes has become more common, and the demand has created a bustling market of motorbike rental shops in tourist destinations and big cities.

“Hiring a motorbike is considered an adventurous and interesting way to tour the country, but driving amid Vietnam’s complicated traffic poses serious risks,” according to the directive.

At a recent consular meeting in Moscow on July 9, Russian representatives urged their Vietnamese counterparts not to let Russian tourists rent motorbikes if they do not have local driver’s licenses.

Foreign privilege

Typically, traffic police in Vietnam are reluctant to pull over foreigners due to language barriers, allowing many violators to get away scot-free.

Captain Truong Quang Phuoc of Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc District said the number of foreigners violating the Traffic Law and causing accidents is on the rise of late.

“The most common violation is drinking and driving. Other violations include not wearing a helmet and carrying too many passengers,” he said.

Alex, a British expat living in HCMC, explained what happened when he was pulled over: “When I got off the bike, the police officer saw that I was a foreigner and told me to continue.”

In many cases, foreign drivers found to be at fault in fatal accidents receive far more lenient punishment than locals.

Taiwanese expat Chen Chang Hao was convicted of “violating regulations on controlling road means of transport” for driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into a local man in Binh Duong Province, killing him, in May 2012.

Hao was eligible to receive up to three years in prison, in addition to paying a fine of up to VND50 million. However, on August 14, the HCMC People’s Court decided to fine him just VND30 million (US$1,410), sparing him jail time or even probation.

In 2011, the same court expelled Makhov Vladimir Vladimirovich from Vietnam for traffic violations that caused the death of a local man.

The court said Vladimirovich was taking his wife from the Thuy Si Resort in Phan Thiet Town in the central province of Binh Thuan to Mui Ne Town by car, although he did not have a Vietnamese driver’s license. On his way, he crashed into a street vendor, who later succumbed to critical injuries.

Tough talk

Although there are no official nationwide statistics, several localities have reported an increase in traffic accidents caused by foreigners. They had already taken measures to tackle the issue before the recent VNAT directive.

In May, Binh Thuan authorities promised to clamp down on shops that rent motorbikes to foreigners without driver’s licenses following 20 road accidents involving tourists in Mui Ne during the previous three months.

Lieutenant Colonel Dang Tran Duong, chief of Phan Thiet’s traffic police, said the increasing number of foreign tourists driving on local roads constitutes a threat to public safety.

At a meeting on traffic safety in August, Bui Tuyet Minh, director of Kien Giang Police Department also warned about the increase of foreigners driving recklessly on Phu Quoc Island, which is a UNESCO-recognized World Biosphere Reserve and one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations.

“Local authorities in Phu Quoc will not hesitate to pull over foreign drivers in order to avoid regretful cases,” she said, adding that common violations include driving in the wrong lane and drunk driving.

Unfeasible requirements

Meanwhile, many people said that in addition to cracking down on foreigners without driver’s licenses and the shops that rent motorbikes to them, relevant authorities should simplify the procedures for them to drive legally.

According to regulations, only foreigners who have lived in Vietnam for at least three months can apply for a driver’s license. Since there is no test available in English or any other foreign language, applicants must be relatively fluent in Vietnamese.

Nguyen Van Dung, head of Nha Trang’s traffic police, said most foreigners to rent motorbikes are tourists who are in Vietnam for a less than a month and therefore cannot satisfy the three-month residency requirement.

Nguyen Van Dan, deputy director of the Khanh Hoa Department of Transport, said the language barrier is the biggest problem.

Local media reports on the ban against renting motorbikes to foreigners without driver’s licenses have attracted a number of comments online.

Paul Simos, who has written a book he sells online that instructs foreigners in Vietnam how to obtain a local driver’s license, said there should be a quick practical test for the issuance of short term licenses.

“This way they will be in the system and legal,” he said.

“Why is it so easy to rent a motorbike without a license? Enforcement should begin with the motorbike rental shops,” wrote another netizen.

Pham Huu Nam said it is necessary to enforce the Traffic Law thoroughly for both local and foreign drivers.

“However, there should be easier requirements to allow foreigners to obtain a local license,” he said, adding that the driver’s license exam in Vietnam should be available in the languages commonly spoken by tourists.

However, Melvyn Jones, who said he visits Vietnam every year, pointed out that if foreigners were to obtain Vietnamese driver’s licenses, it would not reduce the amount of accidents.

“Both Vietnamese and tourists can drive like lunatics. What is needed is more training and law enforcement.”

[jackbl]

Many famous discotheques in Saigon raided
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VietNamNet Bridge - Suspected as sensitive places which are the home to prostitutes, drug addicts and gangsters, a series of large discotheques in Saigon have been checked.

The New Saigon Discotheque (No. 11 Cong Truong Me Linh Road, District 1) has a prime location in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. This place was once famous for the name Bar 1102, known in slang as "second to none." This discotheque is designed as a magnificent castle, luring hundreds of people every night.

More than three days after being checked at the New Saigon discotheque at dawn on August 18, Lan Chi, 20 years old, living in District 10 said she would never dare go to such a place. The 2nd-year student of a private university said, on the night of August 17, she and her friends entered the disco to attend a friend's birthday party. This was her first time so Chi was overwhelmed by the spectacular scenery with colorful lights and rumbling sound.

"We just drank beer and watched others dancing. Everyone looked beautiful. Some friends of mine are also very stylish. It was so fun so we were there until midnight," Chi said.

At dawn, hundreds of policemen suddenly broke into the disco. There were about 400 people still dancing in the deafening music and flashing lights at that time. The space was densely with cigarette smoke.

Seeing police, hundreds of visitors found their way out but the entrances were blocked. Trained dogs were used to seek drugs. At the end of the check, dozens of people who were positive to drugs and some suspects were asked to go to the police office for investigation.

"The scene there was chaotic. When the light was turned on, a lot of people were nervous and frightened but some were still calm. A group was rigorously checked by the police. Later I knew that they were detected with drugs and weapons. Now I'm very scared," Chi said. Chi and her group had to submit their identification papers for the functional forces.

District 1 Police seized 17 pink tablets, a plastic packet of powder, three shisha pipes and many foreign wine bottles... Through on-the-spot tests, 13 customers including 11 men and 2 women were positive for drugs. In addition, 26 others were taken to police headquarters for being suspected as members of criminal gangs. Among the suspects in custody, police discovered Nguyen Ngoc Cuong (31 years old) held a police card. Urgent search at this man’s house on Cach Mang Thang Tam Road, District 3, the authorities also found a police hat, a gun firing rubber bullets, 9 bullets and the gun use certificate granted by the police of Lam Dong province.

After investigation, police determined that the police card used by Cuong belongs to another. Cuong said he picked out the card in District 3. The gun use certificate is faked and the gun is the gift from an overseas Vietnamese.

Earlier, in the early morning of June 29, the police raid Club 39 in Kumho Plaza Building, 39 Le Duan, District 1. At that time, there were more than 500 people in the club. The police seized over 20 drug users and suspected for investigation. Club 39 is located in the basement of the building. This place is the destination of young people of rich families and playboys at nights. In the early year, this bar was checked twice in over a month. The police also seized drugs and many suspects.

The Gold Club 02 disco (No. 2 Ho Huan Nghiep, District 1) is the biggest and most stylish players disco in Saigon. Located on the center road, next to many other bars but Gold Club 02 is always packed with young men and women every night.

In the early morning of a day in April, when hundreds of people were playing inside, the police force silently approached. Policemen controlled two guards outside, who were suspected to sell drug to customers. Hundreds of police officers blocked the road and struck inward. Detecting the police, many people threw drugs to the floor. Like a number of other clubs, this place violated the law.

HCM City police also combined with interdisciplinary teams of social and cultural forces to check dozens of restaurants, bars, small discos in the city.

As the home to the highest number of clubs in Saigon, District 1 authorities said they would continue checking clubs here in the coming time in order to prevent and stop crime, a senior official of District 1 said.

Translated by Le Ha

[12cheong]

Originally Posted by chanyboy

hi bros, this one a longer paragraph... I can make out the tinh-yeu, em, ko, co & sang bit..

"Chac la co tinh yeu dep len wen mat dg sang Singapore rui phai ko e?"

Would be glad bros can help to translate the above...

And there's these abbreviation hard to translate properly "cko" & "mjh". What do these mean?

mjh = mình? i.e. "their"?

My guess:

Chac la co tinh yeu dep len = Sure got beautiful lover come
wen (quen) mat = forgotten
dg = dang or dung
sang Singapore rui phai ko (khong)=go Singapore already is it

[jackbl]

Eight delicious Chinese cuisines in Saigon
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VietNamNet Bridge - Along with cuisines of various regions in Vietnam, Chinese cuisines with unique characteristics contribute to the multicolored culinary painting of Saigon.

1. Hu tieu ca (fish kuy teav)

“hu tieu ca” or fish kuy teav is a famous dish of Chinese. The fish used in this cuisine is snakehead fish, which is cut up into fillet slices and mixed with salt and seasoning powder.

The consommé is cooked from pork bones and is flavored with spices, particularly one named “tang xai”. Fish kuy teav is served with salad, beansprouts, chili, lemon and soy sauce.

2. Mi vit tiem (Duck noodles)

This dish of the Chinese is processed to suit the tastes of Vietnamese. The consommé is sweet but not fatty; duck meat is crispy but soft. Also, the cuisine is attractive with fresh noodles made from eggs. When you try this dish, you will feel the softness and sweetness of noodles besides the crunchy sweet cabbage.

3. Sa te noodles

This is the dish of the Chinese in District 5, 6 and 11. What made the taste of this cuisine is the broth, which is prepared from 20 kinds of flavors and spices.

A bowl of sa te noodles includes broth, noodles, beef or beef balls and various kinds of fresh vegetables such as cucumbers, beansprouts, carambola fruits, basil, coriander ....

4. Tieu porridge

This kind of porridge is similar to pig’s tripes porridge of Vietnamese with ingredients such as heart, liver, small intestine, kidney... in addition to mushrooms, fresh squid and a lot of onion leaves, ginger, etc. This dish is suitable for chilly days or for those with colds.

5. Pha lau

For gourmets in Saigon, pha lau is a special cuisine that they cannot ignore. Pha lau is processed from stomach and small intestine, lung, liver and heart of cows. These things are mixed with five spices, then fried and boiled again. Coconut milk is the main ingredient of the broth of pha lau, making the sweet and fatty tastes of the broth. Pha lau is served with bread.

6. Sui cao

Sui cao are processed similar with wonton but sui cao are much larger and with more filling. The filling is usually made from chopped shrimp, pork, vegetables ... and mixed with spices.

Sui cao are made by spreading a square wrapper (a dough skin made of flour, egg, water, and salt) flat in the palm of one's hand, placing a small amount of filling in the center, and sealing the sui cao into the semicircle shape by compressing the wrapper's edges together with the fingers. Sui cao can be boiled, steamed or fried.

7. Cade sticky rice

This cuisine is the mixture of sticky rice, egg yolk and very faint aroma of durian. The major ingredient is cade, which is the mix of eggs, sugar, coconut juice, durian according to a unique recipe to create a charming fragrance. Besides cade, there are coconut and crushed peanuts to make cade sticky rice delicious.

8. Quy phuc linh (Tortoise Jelly)

Quy phuc linh in Vietnamese of Guīlínggāo in Chinese is also known as Tortoise Jelly or Turtle Jelly. This is a jelly-like Chinese medicine, also sold as a dessert.

It was traditionally made from the powdered plastron (bottom shell) from the turtle Cuora trifasciata (commonly known as three-lined box turtle or golden coin turtle) and a variety of herbal products, in particular, Smilax glabra.

More often, commercially available guīlínggāo sold as a dessert does not contain turtle shell powder at all, despite the product name and the prominent turtle images on most brands' labels. They do, however, share the same herbal additives as the medicine and are similarly marketed as being good for skin complexion when ingested.

In addition to the aforementioned dishes, Chinese in Saigon have many other delicious dishes such as Yangzhou fried rice, Peking duck, Ho noodles, dim sims, mi chi ca, che hot ga….

T. Van

[jackbl]

Learn Vietnamese with Video - Learn Vietnamese Outback Vocabulary

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Vietnam’s population hits 90 million
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VietNamNet Bridge - With nearly 89 million people, Vietnam has become the 13th most populous country in the world and 3rd in Southeast Asia.

The information was released by Deputy Minister of Health – Mr. Nguyen Viet Tien - at the conference reviewing 10-year implementation of the Population Ordinance, which took place on Tuesday in Hanoi.

According to Tien, although the growth rate decreased (an increase of one million annually) in recent years, the population density was quite large, up to 267 people per one square kilometer, adding Vietnam to the group of countries with the world's highest population density.

In addition, the gender imbalance at birth is still a big issue. Hung Yen province in northern Vietnam has the highest gender imbalance ratio at birth of 130.7 boys/100 girls. The desire to have a son to “worship the ancestors and take care of the" is still quite common in Vietnamese families.

According to Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu, from the Institute of Population and Social Affairs, the percentage of pregnant women who know ahead of the sex of the fetus in 2012 increased to more than 81 percent. The Population Ordinance bans prenatal sex selection but the ratio of gender imbalance at birth increased steadily. Thus, the violation of the regulations on gender issues was quite popular.

Besides, Vietnam is in the golden age of population but the quality of human resources, the quality of the population is limited. The rate of people who can read and write high is high but the training level is low. Less than 15 percent of the population (aged 15 and over) are technically trained.

Hence, the Ministry of Health has established the Population Law Drafting Committee to amend a number of issues, such as donation, selling of sperm, eggs, embryos, surrogate pregnancy, consultancy services of sex selection at birth, sex selection, etc.

According to Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu, the Population Law should be adjusted in the direction of tightening the regulations on abortion, the conditions for abortion.

Le Ha

[jackbl]

Good news for those who wanted to visit DANANG city :


Singaporean, S. Korean carriers to fly to central Vietnam’s hub daily
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Korean Air and Singapore’s Silk Air will add four more flights to Da Nang City this October, following the schedule expansions of domestic carrier Vietnam Airlines and other foreign airlines earlier this year.

Korean Air will have three more flights per week from Seoul from October 27, and Silk Air will add a Thursday flight from Singapore to its current schedule from October 31, making the two carriers fly every day to Da Nang, Vietnam's third-largest city, Balcony Media Group said recently in a press release Friday.

According to the release, the flight additions will satisfy more demand from Australian, the UK and other European countries with Silk Air and from the US with Korean Air.

It also said the three flights by Korean Air will boost the number of flights from Seoul to Da Nang every week to 14 – including those provided by South Korea’s Asiana Airlines and Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines commenced two new flights to Da Nang from Seoul and Cambodia’s Siem Reap July 1, while Hong Kong-based Dragonair on March 28 started flights between Hong Kong and Da Nang every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and added a weekly Saturday flight to the route from July 6.

Currently, three Chinese airlines – China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines are also offering flights from Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai respectively to Da Nang, the release said.

[jackbl]

XNN starts from school???????


80% of Vietnamese college students lie to parents: survey
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The percentage of students who lie to their parents increases as they grow older, an expert reported at an education conference on Tuesday.

Professor and Doctor of Science Tran Ngoc Them, the director of a cultural studies center under the Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, quoted a poll by the Vietnam Institute for Research on Educational Development as saying that eighty percent of Vietnamese college students lie to their parents, while sixty-four percent of high school students do so.

The survey also said that half of middle school students tell lies to parents, while the figure topped 22 percent among elementary school kids, Prof Dr Them added at an event in Da Lat City.

Social changes and a better living standard have exerted certain negative impacts on local students, in addition to good effects, the expert said.

He was referring to complaints about a surge in school violence, selfishness and narcissism among students, and the cursing of teachers and family members on Facebook, among other ill manners.

This may stem from the failure of teachers to teach their students life skills, apart from stuffing them with academic knowledge, local educators have said.

There is an absence of instructors formally trained to teach life skills, so schools often forget about this important part of education, Prof Dr Them explained.

Dr Huynh Van Son, a psychologist at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, suggested that parents should work with schools to teach students how to behave in social scenarios and respond to real-life circumstances to help rectify the situation.

[jackbl]

It’s not only food, it’s culture
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“Easy, easy, don’t break the pancake, you’ll hurt it…” the young chef told a group of foreign learners who were trying their best to make Vietnamese pancake banh xeo at the Saigon Cooking Class, a place for expats who want to conquer Vietnamese foods.

Born in 2009, the Saigon Cooking Class located in District 1 in downtown Ho Chi Minh City is what French lady Ilda Briosca has devoted herself to. Living in Vietnam for almost 7 years, Ilda has had a crush on Vietnamese cuisine since 2008 when a friend of hers opened a Vietnamese restaurant where traditional and modern recipes were combined.

Getting inspiration from that, the woman who saw something special with Vietnamese cuisine went to numerous schools to learn about the foods she’s in love with. However, Ilda said she wasn’t satisfied with those schools so she came up with the idea to bring all knowledge she had acquired about Vietnamese foods into a place where she could inspire other people.

“I opened my cooking school, because I wanted to offer people what I wanted to seek for myself. I wanted to put everything I have learned in Vietnam about the cuisine at HCMC Hoa Tuc restaurant, local markets and traditional kitchen utensil, as well as everything I love from Vietnamese food in my cooking class so all tourists and expats can discover what I discovered in the past years without having to search for months,” Ilda, who can cook lots of Vietnamese dishes, shared.

According to Ilda, who called herself passionate with Vietnamese food, cooking is an important and fascinating way to bring Vietnamese culture to foreigners.

“What and how local eat revels much about their history and culture,” she expressed.

Not only offering hands-on cooking, each class of Saigon Cooking Class attaches a tour to Ben Thanh market where learners themselves can experience the local culture vividly as well as buy fresh ingredients for their dishes.

“Through the market tour, our chefs can show a lot of different ingredients, and talk about local traditions with learners,” Ilda said.

Vu Trong Khang, 23, a Saigon Cooking Class’ chef said he felt happy seeing excited faces of learners when he told them about local traditional things through the foods.

“We not only cook and show people how to cook, we also have to introduce the history of the dishes, local culture as well as the differences between cooking methods in Vietnam and their countries,” he expressed.

Vietnamese food is not only “phở”

According to Ilda, the famous Vietnamese beef noodle is not very preferable at her class because it takes a long time to be done though it’s not complicated. The successful dishes, as she said, are banh xeo, bo la lot (grilled beef rolled with betel leaves), fried spring rolls and bun thit nuong (grilled pork with noodles).

“In their imagination, Vietnamese food is historically represented by beef noodle soup. As soon as they discover something different, they prefer bo la lot, banh xeo, bun thit nuong more than pho,” Ilda talked about her learners.

“Vietnamese cuisine recipes are endless, from North to Central and South. Even in the South, people cook in different ways. You can continue to learn for all your life,” she added.

Learners of the class are mainly from Australia, America, Europe and Asian countries/territories such as Hong Kong and the Philippines. They include both short-time visitors and expats. To many of them, coming to the class is not only about learning cooking, but also for exchanging with people and relaxing. Some of them even admitted that they never cooked at home.

Asked about expanding the class, Ilda said she prefers a small place with around 10 learners for a class. “I don’t want to have the class too big, because when you have a very big cooking class, the quality is not ensured.”

To her, the best moment is hearing the laughter of learners and their sighs of contentment when eat what they have cooked.

“I like to see people’s faces when they’re surprised because they are able to do the food. I love to see people’s reaction when they look at their presentation then laugh and taste it,” she added.