CUSTOMS IN TWO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

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Each country in the world has its own nationality and styles which represent for the people live in that region. There are various ways to distinguish people among countries, for examples, the customs in each country such as language, behaviors, etiquette, food and manner which are easy to recognize in daily life. Vietnam and New Zealand have some differences in culture and are the best example to choose as my comparison because of the foundation and the influences of western countries and America in the past to these countries. In this essay, I will compare the customs between Vietnam and New Zealand with regards to the language; greeting; the dining etiquette.
Vietnam and New Zealand have differences in language in aspects of tones, voice and sound. Vietnamese, Vietnam’s official language, has six tones in each syllable which can be used to make a meaningful word or sentence (Kwintessential, n.d.). Vietnamese also has three dialects, which are divided into three different regions such as the North, the Central and the South of Vietnam, and they are understood by most Vietnamese speakers (NC State University, n.d.). However, there are some other languages which are spoken by ethnic minorities and tribes inhabiting in mountainous areas (Kwintessential, n.d.). Different with English, “Vietnamese verbs do not change forms, articles are not used, and nouns do not have plural endings, no prefixes, no suffixes, no definitive and no distinction among pronouns” (NC State University, n.d.). Because of the complicated alphabet and tones, Vietnamese is quite hard for foreigners to learn or understand and it makes Vietnamese words more diverse. In compare with Vietnam, three official languages in New Zealand are English, Maori and NZ Sign La...

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...sion, the more strict the protocol (Kwintessential, n.d.). They must keep the elbows off the table and the hands on the table while eating (Kwintessential, n.d.). When using utensils, fork must be used in the left hand and knife must be used in the other hand (Kwintessential, n.d.). After finish eating, folk and knife must be laid parallel on the plates (Kwintessential, n.d.).
In my point of view, though there are some differences between the customs in two countries, Vietnam and New Zealand still have similarities in regards to the greeting protocol and dinning etiquette. Customs in Vietnam seems to have more various than New Zealand’s because there are more protocol to follow and get to know with. In conclusion, looking at the customs is the best way to distinguish two different countries in the world and it is also a chance for us to understand other’s culture.

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