A few ways in which the Vietnamese and Koreans behave differently

Abstract

Korean and Vietnamese cultures are close but not similar. Korean culture is very hierarchic, ritualized, and it emphasizes its monoculture while Vietnamese culture is characterized by its village democracy with less rituals and its resistance to the cultural imposition. The misperception of cultural similarity has made people in the two countries fall into traps of fake similarities and behave the same as in their native culture. Wrong behavior leads to misunderstanding, and misunderstanding leads to conflict. This paper does not compare the behavioral cultures of the two countries but only mentions a few situations in which the Vietnamese and Koreans behave very differently. Awareness of the differences in behavior between the two cultures can resolve the misunderstandings, conflict and increase cultural integration in companies, multicultural families as well as all citizens involved in activities related to the relation between the two cultures.