[Papi Rico]

(10-24-2014 10:36 AM)Going strong Wrote:  

Very good data here, Papi Rico, gracias
but, what about normal girls from the streets and shops, do they speak some English??

De nada, amigo!

A great question indeed. Large Vietnamese employers in most industries have been requiring at least basic English for most entry-level positions. I would say Da Nang is a bit behind Saigon and Hanoi on English levels, but this is beginning to change with all the new businesses coming in and the accompanying pressure to learn English.

I would venture to say that if you cold approached a 20-24 year old during your morning jog along the Han River, she would more likely than not speak basic to intermediate English. To cut to the chase: do not worry about the pool of eligible women, provided you have an engaging personality and are not bent out of shape.

As an aside: I'm with you on the importance of English, but I'm currently in a city where about 2% of the local population speaks passable English, and guess what, that's still better than being in a city where English is spoken by 98% of the local (whale) population.

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I'm caucasian, late 20's

Parlay44:
Just curious. How did you end up in Vietnam? Were you in the military?

I suppose I never got around to the introduction thread. The third month in at my first corporate job I had a massive meltdown and decided to do my own thing out in SEA. I wanted a big city with massive amounts of talent, great nightlife, and generally decent living conditions. Saigon made perfect sense at the time: not overplayed like BKK, no crime as in Manila, actually pleasant in some parts unlike Jakarta, and would not break my bank like Sing or KL.

This guy swayed me with his highly inspirational piece on location-independent living in Saigon (posted elsewhere in the forum):
https://medium.com/@jonmyers/bootstrappi...9744367386 After I booked my one-way ticket, I sent that post to my family and friends to pre-empt "Why Vietnam?". Never met the author in person, but we corresponded by email and I am still waiting to buy him a drink.

Lastly, I had been following Beyond Borders and Vacancier Permanent--specifically their writings on location-independent living and life in Asia--for quite some time prior to my lifestyle transformation. I must credit them for planting that seed somewhere in the back of my head. Major props to you both, drinks on me!

Haven't looked back ever since.