I know one answer is that there are many chinese vietnamese, but ive seen many vietnamese with no chinese blood in them talk chinese, especially kanto.

i'm chinese and i can speak viet. there's nothing odd about that

uhm no, vietnamesw with no chinese blood can't speak cantonese

yeah, I've seen a lot too. I know a Vietnamese woman, who works in a store. She's full Vietnamese, but she can speak Cantonese. Every time my mom visits that store, she speaks Cantonese to her.

BTW. I know she's full Vietnamese, because my mom asked her.

Thats not unusual my uncles wife , full Viet can Speak Cantonese..

vietnamese chinese will tell other vietnamese they are vietnamese ethnically chinese, but when asked by other chinese from other countries most vietnamese chinese said they are vietnamese, i have noticed that alot, i do that myself too

I don't know. All the full Vietnamese I know don't speak Chinese.

I used to live in Hong Kong for 2 years. That is the reason why I can understand cantonese.

my friend's mom is learning chinese right now..

I tried speaking Cantonese with a Mandarin speaker (he was asking for directions) It was like trying to speak to an alien

of course... 2 it just like spanish people talking to american

what u chatting about original poster?

lol

i think some viet can speak and read chinese here

and maybe vice versa

^
yeah, I think supernovasp knows

yeah hes dodgy

you're alright ranmat

^
王(Vuong)說中文?

才不是 2

they could.. go learn chinese/cantonese....

Manun, you're Hakka, right? Do you still speak the Hakka dialect?

Err doodes because the Chinese and Vietnamese languages are almost mutually intelligible.

Its like how come so many Koreans are able to speak Japanese and so many Laotian are able to speak Thai?...

As someone pointed, many people who are ethnic Chinese say they are Vietnamese.

it is kinda odd if u are chinese from taiwaan, HK and Mainland China

I find that extremely odd as well. unless he's an ethnic Jing from China

yah...

Enuff Viets here in Toronto speak cantonese or mandarin. Alot of my friends are pure viet, and they speak cantonese. I'm chinese, but I lernt Vietnamese from watching all those chapter movies.

my parents are chinese that lived in vietnam. they can speak both but they teach me viet more than cantonese.

You can fool people by saying that... Being Chinese means you came straight from China.....

but they're chinese descendant. asian ppl who's born here isn't american.

there are alot...i mean alotttt of chinese mixed with viets...or chinese born in vietnam and can speak both vietnamese + chinese and considers themselves part viet...there not much full viets anymore...all the viets friends i knoe are part chinese and speak both languages

then what makes a full chinese or a full vietnamese if you don't go by blood?

You should have said you're an ethnic Hoa.. it would have made everything easier cause I don't know any Chinese who can speak Vietnamese aside from Chinese who moved to Vietnam...


Knowing ones language does not automatically make you ethnically part of that group ...
They are Hoas.. not Hoa - Viet

Most Viets I know in real life are part Chinese or have some kind of Chinese blood in them which is why most of them tell "I'm Viet but I'm also 1/4th or 1/8th Chinese". This is probably the reason why.

then what makes a full chinese or a full vietnamese if you don't go by blood?

[/quote]


huh? wat are u talking about..i was saying that it is kool if u are chinese and learned vietnamese...but i have seen alot of chinese born in vietnam and even consider themselve viet

DaiNamViet sums up this arguement well.

Trust me, if you know one of the languages relatively well, its not hard to switch to the other. They are both tonal languages for one, Vietnamese has borrowed a lot of words from Chinese and they are very similar anyway.

Yepp, thats the only dialect and language i can speak in chinese.
Can only understand canto and mandarin but not speak, but hakka is an almost dead language so its cool and its ancient.

Probably, You are a Chao Chow speaker? I have some Chao chow friends from Laos and I can't tell if they switched from Lation or Chao Chow


Cool, my parents can speak Hakka too, but use Cantonese instead ...

I think I'm a full Viet because both my parents were born in Vietnam, speak only Vietnamese...and as far as I know...all my ancestors come from Vietnam. But then my last name is "Ha" and a lot of Chinese people tell me that that's a Chinese last name. Apparently lots of Koreans also have the last name "Ha"

In Toronto, I find a lot of Chinese borned in Vietnam consider themselves Chinese...not Vietnamese...even though they still keep the Vietnamese spelling of their name. It's really annoying because they get mad if people think they're Vietnamese. Like a Chinese-Vietnamese girl in my class. She spelt her name as "Vinh" so I said to her.."oh, you're Vietnamese"...and she cut me off abruptly and said "No, I'm Chinese!"...then I said..."but your name is spelt in Vietnamese"...then she cut me off again..."No, I'm Chinese!"...so I got ticked off by her attitude and I said "well then change your name back to your Chinese spelling-- that would be 'Wing'..if you didn't know!" It's so annoying...like she's ashamed to be related to Vietnam or something. If you don't want to be mistakened for Vietnamese then don't write your name using Vietnamese spelling! Kinda stupid isn't it?! There's a lot of people like her in Toronto.

Why do the Chinese who lived in Vietnam changed their names into Vietnamese spelling? Were they forced to or was it just easier to communicate with Vietnamese people with Vietnamese names... like I use my English name instead of my Vietnamese name (since "Dung" has a different meaning in English LOL)

The chinese are like that, they'll identify themselves as Vietnamese when it suit their interest only.

Do you know that when Vietnamese boat people came to Hong Kong, if the Hong Kong government found out that someone is an ethnic chinese, they'll be sent back to Vietnam right away?

Ask

Why no ethnic Chinese here would tell you about their nationality situation in former South Vietnam? (and also in North Vietnam)?

Why, not being Vietnamese, they could not be considered Vietnamese refugees by the UNHCR, and had to write their names using Vietnamese spelling to make believe so?

Why in Hong Kong, some Hongkongese exchanged their ID cards with real Vietnamese boat people to go abroad?

Why? why they are not "the educated fringe of the Vietnamese people who left" as some here pretend they are?

It would be just a courageous and so easy and simple question of intellectual honesty... to say why, and how.

I would support always saying what is, or was. No offense meant here!

ddha,
those in Toronto who answered you "they are Chinese" are probably HongKongese who exchanged their ID cards with some Vietnamese boat people (and so they don't speak Vietnamese) to flee Hong Kong before it becomes communist in 1997.

She's an idiot.. she is Vietnamese .. Vietnamese Hoa.. Hoa minority that is ..

i'm Huynh

whats that about?

Why?
1) Chinese immigrants. Canton is near Vietnam.
2) We Chinese owned you for a vewwwwy long time
3) Chinatown is infested with Viets
4) A crapload of Chinese Restaurants are run by Viets, just to get customers. I mean, what average American would go eat at a Vietnamese place?
5) Viets love Cantonese

#2 is invalid, but it's a good one

Get outta Here you Troll

I'm sorry, Rapappa : you exactly reversed the situation.

I don't care about the Whites' calling some places "Chinatown". I do too, because I really don't care.

Why the Chinese talk Vietnamese, and why the Vietnamese don't talk Chinese in "Chinatown"? Shall I tell you? It's because of a strong cultural domination by the Vietnamese over the other cultures (among the Asian refugees).

Yeah, look at the Chinese restaurants: they are mostly empty... and look at the Vietnamese restaurants: they are full of customers

If you are Chinese, then ask your father what was his nationality (and thus military) situation in (North or South) Vietnam? He will tell you, if you don't know.

OK. I say what is, but I'm not anti-Chinese/Hoa. People do what they have to do, and I can understand that. But I do hate that they brag BS, and try to make believe I just don't know what...

Lots of Vietnamese here say they are part Chinese, because in the 1980's, Vietnam deported lots of Vietnamese-Chinese, and they became boat people. That why you will see most full Vietnamese in Vietnam in a higher ratio than overseas.

2nd, A lot of the stores of China town, are run by Chinese-Vietnamese, which is why they have both Chinese and Vietnamese writings on them.



Yeah and I guess you never hear whites talk about how dirty some Chinese super markets and restaurants are.

I guess she's more proud to be associated with Chinese than Vietnamese. Whatever it's her right and her choice.


So the majority of Overseas Vietnamese especially in the US are actually ethnic or part ethnic Chinese? Because virtually every Vietnamese person I know always say they are part Chinese in one way shape form or another.

What r u smoking? What you're saying doesn't even make sense.

Not all. I'm full Vietnamese. There were 2 immigrations of Vietnamese.

The one before Saigon fell to the Communists and Vietnamese were evacuated to America. And the 2nd one in

The 1980's after the Sino-Vietnam war, where Vietnam kicked out the Chinese-Vietnamese in Vietnam and they became boat people and other Vietnamese decided to pretend they were Chinese so they could leave as well.

#3 is actually kinda true. Last time I was in Chinatown with my family, I saw so many Vietnamese there. I was like WTF? Isn't this supposed to be Chinatown?


Okay gotcha but just one last point to make, if a good portion of the overseas Viets are actually ethnic Chinese, can't one argue that many overseas Vietnamese achievements are actually the achievements of overseas Chinese?

LOL...yeah...I do notice that.



Hmmm...that's kinda confusing...why would they send them back to Vietnam if they're not ethnically Vietnamese?

er.. not in NYC..