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Topic 2 - Culturetradition and festival section 1: CULTURE - CUSTOM 1. If I were to meet in your culture, how should I greet them to be polite and show respect? - Firstly, take off your hat. - Open a polite smile. - Using polite greeting sentences to greet those people, for example the sentences equivalent to: good morning, sir. - However, you should study the way to use proper titles when addressing different subjects. This is not the same to English. For example, if that person is an old woman, you are supposed to greet her with: Chao ba a! whereas a greeting sentence toward an old man is Chao ong a!. - It is desirable to call Vietnamese professional and government officials by their title, i.e., Mr. Assemblyman, Mr. Doctor, Mr. Lieutenant, etc. - Instead of saying such formal greeting sentences. You can also expressing your respect toward those people by asking them some familiar questions, equivalent toHow are you?, Have you had your dinner yet?, and so on. - About the handshake etiquette, in Vietnam, the older would be the one who offer his/her hand first. So youd better not offer to shake hand until that person shows that he/ she is going to do so. Women, especially those in the countryside, still shy away from shaking hands, especially with men from their own country. It is best not to offer to shake hands with a woman unless she offers her hand first. | 
