Although we are constantly reminded that all human beings share
most of our natural characteristics in common, there are undoubtedly
noticeable differences between people of different race and nationality,
and nowhere is this more apparent than in the attitude to strangers. In
this respect, Ghana and Vietnam are clearly at opposite ends of the
visible spectrum. In one, every new face is greeted with a wide grin and
an eager attempt at conversation and in the other the foreigner is made
to feel that some strange transformation in transit has rendered him or
her invisible.
It is unfair to compare any country to Ghana, which has often been described as the friendliest place on the globe. Ghana has the advantage that its national language is English so it can speak to the whole world in a way that a community locked in its own vernacular cannot. Not only do Ghanaians speak English, but they want to use it to greet and converse with every visitor. The children may call out 'Oboroni' (European) but their next words are almost invariably 'How are you?' Adults may say 'Akwaaba' but repeat immediately, 'You are welcome!'
Vietnam is making great efforts to learn English. It is a compulsory subject in every school from the age of entry. So far, however, only those people employed to interact with foreigners, for example in the tourist trade, use English freely. There are a few survivors from an era when the schools taught French, and an intermediate-age group with a smattering of seemingly reluctantly acquired Russian, but most people are shy of trying to communicate in a foreign tongue. However, the issue seems to go deeper than a problem of communication.
A generation of Vietnamese may have been persuaded to be suspicious of all foreigners but this seems to have resonated with something fundamental in the national psyche. People everywhere are capable of shunning people they don't like, sending them to Coventry, as the English say, but it is a conscious action requiring at times considerable effort and concentration. The Vietnamese, however, seem to have a capability to be blind to what doesn't immediately attract their interest, and the neglect is achieved with no apparently effort.
Anyone doubting this curious phenomenon has only to walk down a busy street in Hanoi and not dodge a person on an intercepting path. This experiment should be attempted only by someone of robust physique and good health, and with a similarly endowed target, because there is a high probability of suffering a collision. The stranger may be invisible, but he is not immaterial, and as such is capable of giving and receiving a bruise.
All comparisons are invidious, and everywhere there are people who diverge widely from perceived national stereotypes. In government ministries in Accra one can find plenty of officials with the international standard blank face, and there are a few policemen and policewomen who have learned not to smile, although most still do. Similarly, there are plenty of greeting smiles in Vietnam, especially in old Saigon, with street vendors and motorcycle taxi operators eager to practice their English. Whatever national stereotypes are formed, it is important to remember that they must be subject to constant revision, as the nations become more closely integrated.
It is unfair to compare any country to Ghana, which has often been described as the friendliest place on the globe. Ghana has the advantage that its national language is English so it can speak to the whole world in a way that a community locked in its own vernacular cannot. Not only do Ghanaians speak English, but they want to use it to greet and converse with every visitor. The children may call out 'Oboroni' (European) but their next words are almost invariably 'How are you?' Adults may say 'Akwaaba' but repeat immediately, 'You are welcome!'
Vietnam is making great efforts to learn English. It is a compulsory subject in every school from the age of entry. So far, however, only those people employed to interact with foreigners, for example in the tourist trade, use English freely. There are a few survivors from an era when the schools taught French, and an intermediate-age group with a smattering of seemingly reluctantly acquired Russian, but most people are shy of trying to communicate in a foreign tongue. However, the issue seems to go deeper than a problem of communication.
A generation of Vietnamese may have been persuaded to be suspicious of all foreigners but this seems to have resonated with something fundamental in the national psyche. People everywhere are capable of shunning people they don't like, sending them to Coventry, as the English say, but it is a conscious action requiring at times considerable effort and concentration. The Vietnamese, however, seem to have a capability to be blind to what doesn't immediately attract their interest, and the neglect is achieved with no apparently effort.
Anyone doubting this curious phenomenon has only to walk down a busy street in Hanoi and not dodge a person on an intercepting path. This experiment should be attempted only by someone of robust physique and good health, and with a similarly endowed target, because there is a high probability of suffering a collision. The stranger may be invisible, but he is not immaterial, and as such is capable of giving and receiving a bruise.
All comparisons are invidious, and everywhere there are people who diverge widely from perceived national stereotypes. In government ministries in Accra one can find plenty of officials with the international standard blank face, and there are a few policemen and policewomen who have learned not to smile, although most still do. Similarly, there are plenty of greeting smiles in Vietnam, especially in old Saigon, with street vendors and motorcycle taxi operators eager to practice their English. Whatever national stereotypes are formed, it is important to remember that they must be subject to constant revision, as the nations become more closely integrated.
John Powell
To learn more about life in general and the intriguing story of the grassroots industrial revolution in the turbulent Ghana of the second half of the twentieth century, read John Powell's novels The Colonial Gentleman's Son and Return to the Garden City or his non-fictional account The Survival of the Fitter. More details of these books and photographs of the informal sector artisans of Suame Magazine in Kumasi will be found on the following websites.
To learn more about life in general and the intriguing story of the grassroots industrial revolution in the turbulent Ghana of the second half of the twentieth century, read John Powell's novels The Colonial Gentleman's Son and Return to the Garden City or his non-fictional account The Survival of the Fitter. More details of these books and photographs of the informal sector artisans of Suame Magazine in Kumasi will be found on the following websites.
