DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

INTERCULTURAL LACUNAE IN HUNGARIAN-VIETNAMESE COMMUNICATION WITH EMPHASIS ON ENTREPRENEURIAL INTERACTIONS

ISTVÁN LÉNÁRT

2016

Page 1 of 228 Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Humanities

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

ISTVÁN LÉNÁRT INTERCULTURAL LACUNAE IN HUNGARIAN-VIETNAMESE COMMUNICATION WITH EMPHASIS ON ENTREPRENEURIAL INTERACTIONS

Doctoral School of Linguistics Head: Dr. Gábor Tolcsvai Nagy, PhD, DSc

Intercultural Linguistics Doctoral Program Head: Dr. Tamás Gecső, PhD, Associate Professor

Chairperson of the Committee: Dr. Mária Ladányi, PHD, DSc

Opponents: Dr. Ágnes Huszár, PhD, Dr. habil. Dr. Irina Markovina, PhD, Associate Professor

Members of the committee: Dr. Zsuzsa Vladár, PhD, Dr. habil., secretary of the committee Dr. Klára Falkné Bánó, PhD, Dr. habil. Dr. Gabriella Dóra Borbás, PhD, substitute member of the committee Dr. Ágnes Albert, PhD, substitute member of the committee

Supervisor: Dr. Tamás Gecső, PhD, Associate Professor

Budapest 2016

Page 2 of 228

Page 3 of 228 Motto:

“In Vietnam, everything is possible if you know how to work in ways that are culturally appropriate. Your success depends on you – your way of working, your knowledge, your understanding, friendships that you establish with Vietnamese – not your nationality.”1

VIETNAMESE COMPANY PRESIDENT

1 In: Ashwill 2005, 160.p., unnamed company president

Page 4 of 228 Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS...... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... 10 INTRODUCTION ...... 12

PART 1. SCOPE OF DISSERTATION ...... 14 PART 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ...... 16

2.1. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, INTERCULTURAL LINGUISTICS ...... 16 2.1.1. Definitions, history of Intercultural Communication ...... 16 2.1.2. Intercultural Linguistics...... 18

2.2. LACUNA THEORY ...... 21 2.2.1. Meaning and etymology of the word lacuna ...... 21 2.2.2. Definitions of the technical term lacuna ...... 21 2.2.3. History of Lacuna Theory ...... 23 2.2.3.1 Milestones of Lacunology ...... 26 2.2.3. Typology of lacunae ...... 27 2.2.3.1. Linguistic and cultural lacunas by Markovina ...... 27 2.2.3.2. Ertelt-Vieth: an open system of classification ...... 29 2.2.3.3. The Y-Shaped Model ...... 30 2.2.3.4. Schröder’s classification of lacunas ...... 33 2.2.3.5. Further classes of cultural lacunas ...... 33 2.2.3.6. Intercultural versus intracultural lacunas ...... 34 2.2.3.7. Further bipolar classifications of lacunas ...... 35 2.2.3.8. The cognitive mapping of the linguistic lacunicon ...... 36 2.2.4. Perspective of lacunology in Intercultural Communication research ...... 36

PART 3. HYPOTHESES ...... 38

3.1. FIRST HYPOTHESIS ...... 38

3.2. SECOND HYPOTHESIS ...... 38

3.3. THIRD HYPOTHESIS ...... 38

3.4. FOURTH HYPOTHESIS ...... 38

Page 5 of 228 PART 4. METHODOLOGY ...... 39

4.1. PRELIMINARY RESEARCHES ...... 41

4.2. THE QUESTIONNAIRE-BASED INTERVIEWS ...... 42 4.2.1. The process of assembling the questionnaires ...... 42 4.2.2. Introduction of the questionnaires ...... 44 4.2.2.1. Personal data ...... 44 4.2.2.2. Stereotypes ...... 44 4.2.2.3. Case studies ...... 45 4.2.2.4. Statements ...... 46 4.2.2.6. Associations ...... 46 4.2.2.6. Proverbs ...... 47 4.2.2.7. Habits, lacunae ...... 47

PART 5. ANALYSIS OF SURVEY ...... 48

5.1. PERSONAL DATA ...... 48 5.1.1. Potential and limitations of the survey ...... 51

5.2. STEREOTYPES ...... 52 5.2.1. Stereotyping as a linguistic term...... 52 5.2.2. A good businessperson ...... 54 5.2.3. Stereotypes about Hungarians...... 56 5.2.3. Stereotypes about Vietnamese ...... 57 5.2.4. Stereotypes about Hungarian businesspersons ...... 58 5.2.5. Stereotypes about Vietnamese businesspersons ...... 60

5.3. CASE STUDIES ...... 61 5.3.1. Kinship terms ...... 62 5.3.2. Making an appointment ...... 64 5.3.3. Borrowing inside the family ...... 66 5.3.4. Singing ...... 68

5.4. STATEMENTS ...... 70 5.4.1. Ethics ...... 71 5.4.2. Sensitivity and silence ...... 74 5.4.3. Horizon ...... 76 5.4.4. Reliability...... 77 5.4.5. North-South ...... 79 5.4.6. Directness ...... 81

Page 6 of 228 5.4.7. Intrusion into private space ...... 82 5.4.8. Gentle and polite speech...... 84 5.4.9. Overconfidence ...... 85 5.4.10. Willingness to involve a foreigner in the business ...... 87

5.5. ASSOCIATIONS ...... 88 5.5.1. Hungary ...... 88 5.5.2. Vietnam ...... 90 5.5.3. A Hungarian person ...... 92 5.5.4. A Vietnamese person ...... 92

5.6. PROVERBS ...... 93 5.6.1. Vietnamese proverbs on money ...... 93 5.6.2. Hungarian proverbs on money...... 94 5.6.3. Vietnamese proverbs ...... 96 5.6.4. Hungarian proverbs ...... 98

5.7. HABITS, LACUNAE ...... 99 5.7.1. Differences when living in Hungary ...... 100 5.7.2. Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians ...... 102 5.7.3. Strange, awkward experiences in Hungary ...... 108 5.7.4. Changed habits ...... 109

5.8. EXAMPLES OF VIETNAMESE-HUNGARIAN LACUNAE ...... 111 5.8.1. Some characteristics of lacunae in Vietnamese...... 111 5.8.1.1. Classifiers ...... 111 5.8.1.2. Final particles...... 112 5.8.1.3. Kinship terms ...... 112 5.8.1.4. Phonemes ...... 113 5.8.1.5. Tonal lacunae ...... 113 5.8.2. Further lacunae identified in the interviews ...... 114

PART 6. RESEARCH FINDINGS, NEW RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 119

6.1. RESEARCH FINDINGS ...... 119 6.1.1. Social hierarchy reflected in language (hypothesis no. 1) ...... 119 6.1.2. Linguistic imprints of different concepts of family (hypothesis no. 2) ...... 120 6.1.3. Time horizon (hypothesis no. 3) ...... 122 6.1.4. Classification of lacunas (hypothesis no. 4) ...... 124

Page 7 of 228 6.2. NEW RESULTS ...... 127 6.2.1. Lexical lacuna as focal point of research ...... 127 6.2.2. Extension vs. narrowing of the Lacuna Model ...... 128 6.2.3. Multiple/complex lacunas ...... 130 6.2.4. Mixed methodology ...... 130 6.2.5. The Lacuna Paradox...... 131 6.2.6. Marked versus unmarked lacunas ...... 132

6.3. RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 133 6.3.1. Further application of Lacuna Theory in Intercultural Linguistic research ...... 133 6.3.2. Compilation of cultural dictionaries ...... 133 6.3.3. Business Manual based on lacunas ...... 134 6.3.4. Description of a culture by lacunae from artistic texts ...... 134 6.3.5. Research on networks of lacunae ...... 135 6.3.6. Additional researches on intracultural lacunas in Vietnam ...... 135 6.3.7. Lacuna studies through slang and swearwords...... 136

TABLE OF FIGURES ...... 138

TABLE OF TABLES ...... 139

TABLE OF APPENDICES ...... 140

REFERENCES ...... 141

APPENDICES...... 152

Appendix no. 1.: Questionnaire, Part 0, English version ...... 152 Appendix no. 2.: Questionnaire, Part 1, English version ...... 153 Appendix no. 3.: Questionnaire, Part 2, English version ...... 155 Appendix no. 4.: Questionnaire, Part 3, English version ...... 159 Appendix no. 5.: Questionnaire, Part 4, English version ...... 163 Appendix No. 6.: Questionnaire, Part 5, English version ...... 164 Appendix no. 7.: Questionnaire, Part 6, English version ...... 165 Appendix no. 8.: A good businessperson (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results ...... 167 Appendix no. 9.: Stereotypes about Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results ...... 170 Appendix no. 10.: Stereotypes about Vietnamese (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results ...... 172 Appendix no. 11.: Stereotypes about Hungarian businesspersons (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results .... 174 Appendix no. 12.: Stereotypes about Vietnamese businesspersons (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results .. 176 Appendix no. 13.: Associations about Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results ...... 178 Appendix no. 14.: Associations about Vietnam (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results ...... 180 Appendix no. 15.: Associations about a Hungarian person (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results ...... 182 Appendix no. 16.: Associations about a Vietnamese person (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results ...... 184 Appendix no. 17.: Gender of respondents ...... 186 Appendix no. 18.: Highest degree of respondents...... 186 Appendix no. 19.: Nationality of respondents...... 187

Page 8 of 228 Appendix no. 20.: Cultural dimensions: Hungary and Vietnam ...... 187 Appendix no. 21.: Cultural map of the World (World Values Survey) ...... 188 Appendix no. 22.: Country clusters of the GLOBE study ...... 188 Appendix no. 23.: Word meaning (Pansiuk) ...... 189 Appendix no. 24.: Vietnamese proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 190 Appendix no. 25.: Hungarian proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 194 Appendix no. 26.: Vietnamese proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 196 Appendix no. 27.: Hungarian proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 203 Appendix no. 28.: Differences when living in Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results, categorized .. 205 Appendix no. 29.: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results ...... 210 Appendix no. 30.: Strange, awkward experiences 1. (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results ...... 212 Appendix no. 31.: Strange, awkward experiences 2. (Grouped, from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results ...... 216 Appendix no. 32.: Changed habits (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results ...... 219 Appendix no. 33.: Examples of Vietnamese-Hungarian lacunae ...... 223 Appendix no. 34.: Vietnamese meat products ...... 225 Appendix no. 35.: Hungarian meat products ...... 227

Page 9 of 228 Acknowledgements

I owe a sincere gratitude to those who helped me along my way to become a PhD candidate since early 2010. First and foremost, my thanks go to Dr. Tamás Gecső, Associate Professor of Eötvös Loránd University as well as Head of the Intercultural Linguistics Doctoral Program. Professor Gecső has been my tutor and mentor since 1994, when I first attended his astonishing lectures on the Introduction to General Linguistics as a student of Hungarian language and literature.

It is a true pleasure to have been able to work with Dr. Irina Markovina, one of the founders of Lacuna Theory and Professor of Psycholinguistics at Moscow Linguistics University cum Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. Without her valuable comments the questionnaires could hardly have reached their final format. I am especially thankful to Professor Markovina for her kind invitation to hold a presentation in her class in Moscow: It remains an unforgettable memory to me.

The selfless help generously offered by Dr. László Cseresnyési, Professor at Shikoku Gakuin University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of Language and Culture, in revising the draft dissertation and sharing ideas and suggestions is another invaluable contribution to my work.

The dissertation would have never reached its final format in terms of spelling, orthography and style without the invaluable help of Professor Dr. Paul Adams from California State University, Fresno. I feel sincerely honoured to have Professor Adams’ professional guidance and friendship.

Furthermore, I express my gratitude to Dr. Nguyễn Văn Hiệp, Director General of the Institute of Linguistics of Vietnam, who kindly invited me to the Annual International Conference on Linguistics to present my preliminary research on this same topic. Bùi Đăng Bình, PhD student and lecturer of the Institute of Linguistics of Vietnam, also supported all my endeavours, especially with consultations on Vietnamese grammar, syntax and phonetics.

Page 10 of 228 Dr. Nguyễn Hồng Cổn, former Head of the Department of Applied Linguistics of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam National University, wholeheartedly helped me during the six months when I was lucky enough to study at the Linguistic Department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi, followed by another three months in the Linguistic and Cultural Center of the same university. I am not less thankful to Dr. Đinh Văn Đức, former Head of the Department of Applied Linguistics of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, for his support.

Last but not least: I feel I run out of words when I am about to express my thankfulness to all those kind persons who assisted me in the survey, especially Ms. Cao Thị Thanh, Ms. Hoàng Quznh An , Ms. Nguyễn Hương Thủy, Ms. Nguyễn Thanh Ngà and Ms. Nguyễn Thu Thủy. I feel truly and deeply honoured to have their support and friendship.

István Lénárt Hanoi, September 2015

Page 11 of 228 Introduction

William Shakespeare, if he were living in today’s Vietnam, could possibly write the second part of Comedy of Errors.

In this imaginary play, one of the leading characters, Antipholus of Syracuse, would promise to set up a meeting with his brother (later it would turn out that by the word “brother” he referred to a close friend rather than a blood relation). Then Dromio of Ephesus would try to prove he is the twin brother of Dromio of Syracuse, claiming he is 21 years old (later it would be revealed that he counts according to Vietnamese habits; thus, he added 1 more year to the number a European person would have provided as age2).

In the subsequent scene the mother also would disclose that she did not register the kids when they were born, just paid some money for fake birth certificates. The Duke would then decide to set the date of the execution of Egeon for the first day of the following month (then it turned out that the Duke used the lunar calendar, so the date would be 2 weeks later than expected).

As illustrated above, what is taken for granted for some individuals in a certain context may “run counter to the usual range of experience”3 of some other participants of that same situation. When we presume that the age of a person is a fixed and indisputable number, it may turn out that we were wrong, as age also depends on the method of calculation. While a Hungarian person considers age as a strict and scientifically determined number, usually matching with the exact date of birth, in Vietnam firstly, age is often calculated from the date of conception of the mother, and secondly, real age and “official age” often differ (as the population registry is still not digitalized, especially in the countryside; moreover, people often falsify their children’s documents if they aim at sending them to school later). Besides, Vietnamese usually do not celebrate birthdays; consequently, the date of birth does not

2 In Vietnam people often calculate age from the date of conception of the mother. 3 As worded by Bratt Dellinger, providing a definition to the term lacuna, see: Dellinger 1995b.

Page 12 of 228 bear the same importance as in Hungary; sometimes even the family members are unable to determine the exact date when the kids were born.4

The above example could be and will be followed by many more below. Through identifying cultural gaps – lacunas5 – we aim at getting closer to understanding Hungarian-Vietnamese communication patterns, in both general and business contexts. We are convinced that through revealing such lacunae, mutual understanding can be improved, the number of misunderstandings and miscommunications can be reduced and the efficiency of doing business can be improved.

4 Meanwhile, date of death of the grandparents (and parents) is remembered and commemorated every year in the form of a death anniversary, when the whole family usually gets together 5 In the dissertation we use the plural of lacuna in the two different forms lacunas and lacunae with identical meaning.

Page 13 of 228 PART 1. Scope of dissertation

"Texts are the flesh and blood of a culture" as it is set forth by Brett Dellinger (Dellinger 1995a). The statement coincides with the principles of Intercultural Linguistics and confirms that linguistic analysis can be a powerful tool for comparing different cultures, analysing their contacts, examining intercultural misunderstandings or even preventing intercultural conflicts.

In this dissertation, we research the intercultural encounters between Vietnamese and Hungarian individuals with a special emphasis on the entrepreneurial sector. We aim at gaining a deeper insight into Hungarian-Vietnamese intercultural relations in order to raise the effectiveness of interpersonal communication as well as business contacts between the two countries.

Our research is an action research, which aims at revealing the differences of Hungarian and Vietnamese communication in a real-life situation. We intend to share its results with all those who are or will potentially be involved in the development of Hungarian-Vietnamese bilateral economic relations. A subsequent research may develop a communication program that prepares Hungarian individuals for efficient communication for doing business successfully when entering into the Vietnamese environment.6

As Intercultural Linguistics is a young subscience emerging from the early 2000s, it still lacks a consistent and coherent terminology as well as a widely accepted research method. We cannot agree more with the statement of Ertelt-Vieth: “*…+ the claim for intercultural studies must not be based merely on moral appeals for understanding solidarity, but rather on empirical grounds, on empirical analysis of cultural errors.” (Ertelt-Vieth 1990, 160.p.). Keeping this in mind we – ambitiously enough – chose a method relatively unknown in European literature, the Lacuna Theory, as the theoretical basis for our study.

6 Our view stands close to that of Labov, who – based on the experiences of his activity as an expert in the Ann Arbor lawsuit – pointed to the ethically dubious nature of the position of a linguist who observes social processes as an outsider, in a "calm and dispassionate" manner. “If we can answer the needs of the present without compromising that possibility, we may be able to resolve the conflict between the social being and the linguistic analyst. We'll also have a much better chance of getting research support from our fellow citizens. And we may get a satisfactory answer to our own final question as to whether or not we have wasted our time on earth.” (Labov 1982, 166-167.p.)

Page 14 of 228 Thus, through a theory originating from the Russian Ethnospycholinguistic School, our purpose is to obtain a twofold goal: firstly, introducing Lacuna Theory to a wider scientific community besides the research conducted mainly in Russian- and German-speaking areas so far; and secondly, contributing to the building of a stronger methodological background to Intercultural Linguistics through applying Lacuna Theory in the business field.

We can summarize the main targets of the challenge we undertook:

1. Analysing Hungarian-Vietnamese communication in general and in the field of business in particular; 2. Introducing Lacuna Theory to Hungarian and other researchers in English-speaking countries; 3. Attempting to better elaborate the methodology of Lacuna research; 4. Contributing to the better standardization of the methodology of Intercultural Linguistics in general; 5. Raising effectiveness of intercultural communication in Hungarian-Vietnamese relations.

All along our work we attempted to rely on an empirical, scientific approach, first of all through analysing data gained from our research. Nevertheless, where we felt it necessary, we added cultural, historical or other types of background information based on our own experience and on various literature on Vietnamese culture and language. We essentially agree with the thoughts of Thêm, who – when compiling one of the most remarkable writings on Vietnamese identity and culture – stated that such oeuvres must be based on a systematic (and scientifically verifiable) methodology: “The requirements of contemporary science do not allow us to be milling around in one place and satisfy ourselves with an approach lacking of systematic approach and revealing at the same time too many contradictions”7 (Thêm 2008, 13.p.). For this reason most of the general remarks on culture, values, customs and personal experiences of the writer are shared in footnotes throughout the dissertation. With the above in mind we tried to avoid being diverted to other sciences such as anthropology, culture, history or management studies.

7 Translated by LI. (All further translations from non-English originals will be provided by LI unless otherwise stated.)

Page 15 of 228 PART 2. Theoretical Background

2.1. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, INTERCULTURAL LINGUISTICS

2.1.1. Definitions, history of Intercultural Communication

The term “intercultural communication” first appears in 1959 in Edward T. Hall’s work The Silent Language (Hall 1959). Thus, he is generally considered to be the founder of this scholarly field (Leeds-Hurwitz 1990, Rogers and Steinfatt 1999, In: Rogers et al. 2002, 3.p). Hall was influenced by different scientific fields, including cultural anthropology, linguistics, ethology and Freudian psychoanalytic theory (Hall 1992). “Culture is communication and communication is culture” as he stated, highlighting the inseparability and interdependence of the two fields (Hall, 1959, p. 186). From the ’70s and ’80s Intercultural Communication became a more and more widely used technical term in the US and Canada (see Földes, 2007).

The underlying notion of Intercultural Communication, culture, must also be clarified in this dissertation. Hereby, we rely on the definition of Goodenough and consider it as base of our further statements: “A society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves. *…+ we should note that culture is not a material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people, behaviour, or emotions. It is rather an organization of these things. It is the form of things that people have in mind, their models for perceiving, relating, and otherwise interpreting them.” (Goodenough 1988)8

Several theoreticians attempted to define the area, including Gudykunst and Kim, declaring that Intercultural Communication is “a transactional, symbolic process involving the attribution of meaning between people from different cultures” (Gudykunst and Kim 1992, 14.p.). Samovar and Porter defined intercultural communication in the following manner: “*…+ intercultural communication occurs when a member of one culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture. More precisely, intercultural

8 Among the numerous definitions of culture, we take note of another approach from Thêm: “Culture is an organic system of material and spiritual values created and accumulated by humans through their practical activities in an interaction between them and their natural and social environment.” (Thêm 2008, 32.p).

Page 16 of 228 communication involves interaction between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems differ enough to influence the communication event.” (Samovar and Porter 2012, 8.p.). We consider this latter wording of Samovar and Porter as the definition of Intercultural Communication in our dissertation.

Falkné states that under the term intercultural communication we mean the “interactive communication of representatives of different cultures”9 (Falkné, 2008, 13.p.), while Hidasi claims that “If the communicating parties are not representatives of the same culture, consequently they have a different cultural background, then we can speak about intercultural communication, that is to say that communication between cultures. As is known, we can also understand intercultural as communication between representatives of subcultures differing in some parameter (socially, in terms of different generation, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc.) living in the same country.” (Hidasi 2008, 6.p.). Földes uses a strongly linguistic approach when claiming that “Most of the linguists understand intercultural communication as linguistic interaction between people from different cultural groups.” (Földes, 2007, 20.p).10

The interdisciplinary characteristic of intercultural communication is demonstrated in Table 1 (Gibson 2010, 25.p.), introducing a cluster of scientific fields in interaction. According to Gibson, through these areas we can understand intercultural communication.

Figure 1: Allied sciences of Intercultural Communication Gibson (2010)

9 This and other Hungarian literature in this dissertation is translated by IL if otherwise not marked. 10 We mention the definition of Intercultural Communication of Knapp & Knapp-Potthof: “*…+ we can define ‘intercultural communication’ as taking place whenever participants introduce different knowledge into the interaction which is specific to their respective sociocultural group, which is relevant in the sense that it determines how a particular interaction should normally be verbally or non-verbally accomplished, but which is taken for granted and thus can affect the process of communication.” (In: Jolowicz 2006, 67.p.).

Page 17 of 228 Földes differentiates between various fields of research in Intercultural Communication (Földes, 2007a, 24-29.p.) including: (1) the constructivist approach (Drescher, 2004), where the scope of research is intercultural interactions from the perspective of participants; (2) the structuralist semiotic approach (Greimas, 1995), examining communication as a manifestation of a discourse activity; (3) the lacuna model (Ertelt-Vieth, 2004), which focuses on gaps, hiatuses that may lead to intercultural misunderstanding and (4) research of cultural scripts (Goddard, Wierzbicka, 2004), where the subject of research is not the participants’ language but the so-called Natural Semantic Meta-language (NSM) developed by Wierzbicka. Linguistics must play a wider role in intercultural communication research, as Földes states.

2.1.2. Intercultural Linguistics

While Intercultural Communication is a relatively well-defined scientific field with more than half a century’s history, Intercultural Linguistics seems to be much less precisely delineated both in terms of field of research and methodology.11

Taking into consideration Finke’s statement about the potential of defining a culture- centered linguistics, we can see that such a subscience can only be partially autonomous (Finke 2002, 39.p. In: Földes 2007), that is to say that linguistics should be considered as a network rather than an autonomous, separate field. Table 1 above from Gibson also suggests that Intercultural Linguistics can be understood as nodes of separate sciences such as Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Communication Science and so on.

Despite the growing popularity and presence of an intercultural approach in scientific discourse, especially in the humanities, some linguists – including Glück (Glück 1998, In: Földes 2007, 17.p.) – even deny its necessity. There is no doubt that some subfields of linguistics, such as pragmatics, or at least certain schools of them, try to exclude the cultural aspect from their field of research. Grice’s maxims are excellent examples of an attempt to define culturally independent universals of discourse (Grice 1997).

11 When discussing the problems of defining Intercultural Linguistics, we highly rely on the detailed and in- depth analysis of Földes (Földes 2007). It gives clear indications of the history, potential as well as possible methods of this field.

Page 18 of 228 At the same time various schools and theories attempted to move into the direction of shaping a culture-based linguistics. In Hungarian linguistics interculturality appears in several fields including Communication Studies (Hidasi 2004, 2008), Translation Theory (Valló 2000) and Cognitive Linguistics (Kövecses 2006). Worth mentioning are views of Baoczerowski, as evaluated and worded by Földes: “The arguments of BAOCZEROWSKI (2006: 188) can expressly be considered as a kind of Cultural Linguistics already, according to which worldview manifested in language (which is an integral part of that culture) includes the axiological and ideological aspects as well.” (Földes 2007, 17.p.)

On the international scale only some of the numerous theories and schools will be pinpointed below, including Palmer’s Cultural Theory, in which the author attempts to synthetize linguistic anthropology and holistic cognitive linguistics (Palmer 1996); Wierzbicka’s contribution to the field by her works on intercultural pragmatics and semantics (Wierzbicka 2006); the Culture-contrastive Linguistics of Kniffka (Kniffka 1995); the perspective of Kusse and Unrathscharpenack, which considers linguistics as a part of Cultural Studies (Kusse and Unrath-Scharpenack 2002, 10.p.). Noteworthy in the first place is the Russian Slavistics, which aims at drawing up the “Linguistic Picture of the World” (языкова картина мира) (Eismann-Deutschmann); and in the second place is the Linguistics of Cultural Studies (культурологическая лингвистика) (Elizarova 2000) as well as the Chinese “Cultural Linguistics,” which presumes a mutual interaction between language and culture (Höhenrieder 2004).

Despite both Hungarian and international efforts to define Intercultural Linguistics, Földes emphasizes that no fully coherent definition of the field and its methodology has been elaborated so far. Even the definition of Hermanns and Zhao (Hermanns, Zhao, Miaogen 1996, 414.p.) is not sufficiently accurate when stating that “Intercultural Linguistics sees languages as constitutive components of cultures, and is therefore interested in the interrelation between languages and other components of cultures.”12 (In: Földes 2007, 24.p.). Földes adds the necessity of introducing the dimension of linguistic and cultural links in parallel with investigating differences. Furthermore, he claims that cultures are not

12 In: https://books.google.com.vn, data retrieved on 15 September, 2015. Original quote in Hermanns, et al. 1996, 331.p. is: ”die interkulturelle Linguistik ’Sprachen als konstitutive Komponenten von Kulturen ansieht, und die deshalb Zusammenhängen zwischen Sprachen und anderen Komponenten von Kulturen interessiert ist”.

Page 19 of 228 autarkic, homogenous entities but rather constantly changing ones, in interaction with each other and should be considered and observed accordingly.

Földes states two further aspects when trying to shape the field of a coherent Intercultural Linguistics. Firstly, as researchers already have a specific cultural background, “There is a risk that when describing and evaluating other cultures, they absolutise the organizing principles and values of their own cultures” (Földes 2003, 31.p.). Secondly, Földes uses the term Inter- and Transcultural Linguistics with reference to the necessarily transcultural feature of the field (Földes 2003, 31.p.).

Page 20 of 228 2.2. LACUNA THEORY

2.2.1. Meaning and etymology of the word lacuna

The word “lacuna” means “a gap or blank space in something: a missing part”, a “deficiency’ (Merriam-Webster, 2014), and originates from ancient Greek, referring to the people of Sparta as Lakōnikos (Greek, its equivalent in Latin is Lacōnicus), considered as being very brief in oral communication (“laconic brevity”) (Anokhina, 2013, 167.p.). The second meaning of lacuna is from the medical field: “a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure”.

Etymons of “lacuna” include such cognates as: lake, laconic, lace, lactation, liquor and morphemes such as lac-, liq- and lag- (Anokhina, 2013, 167.p.). Interestingly, in Russian literature the word lacuna (лакун) appeared in the ’50s: Grodzki refers to a Russian dictionary published in 1955 with the following definition: “Luecke, Zwischenraum, fehlende Stelle im Text” (“holes or spaces that are missing in the text”).13

2.2.2. Definitions of the technical term lacuna

Following the definition of Sorokin and Markovina we can state that the term lacuna refers to “phenomena of a culture that have no equivalents in another culture regarding both linguistic as well as cultural specifics” (In: Jolowicz 2006, 74.p.). Antipov gives a compound and clear definition when claiming that “lacunas are items that exist in one culture and not in another” (Antipov et al. 1989, 85.p.14).

In line with the definition of Grodzki (Grodzki 2003) and Dellinger15 (Dellinger, 1995a) “Lacunas16 are single specific objects or events and specific processes and situations, which ‘run counter to the usual range of experience of a speaker of another language’”. Dellinger adds that lacunas are usually perceived as “something incomprehensible, unusual (exotic),

13 The quote can be found in the endnotes of the Introduction of Grodzki 2003, 22.p., where the author refers to Ertelth-Vieth (1990) as the original source. The English translation is from Grodzki. 14 In: Grodzki 2003, 35.p. 15 The definition is from Grodzki (Grodzki 2003, 13.p), who uses the clause from Dellinger in quotation marks (Dellinger 1995a). 16 The plural form of lacuna varies in different sources: lacunas and lacunae are both applied. We will also use both forms in identic meaning.

Page 21 of 228 strange (unknown), erroneous or inaccurate in a text”, but lacunas can also be characterized as “superfluous, astonishing (peculiar), unexpected” or “unpredictable”. Grodzki defines lacuna as follows (Grodzki 2003, 13.p.): “Lacuna refers to items in a culture or in a cultural text that are not fully understood by non-members of that culture.”

With reference to Ertelt-Vieth and Grodzki, Dashidorzhieva defines lacuna as: ”Lacunas are elements or aspects of texts including cultures that do not correspond to the experiences of individuals of another culture”. (Dashidorzhieva, 2011a, 1.p.). Anokhina states in a similar manner: “The cultural and linguistic specifics in one culture can correspond to the ‘zero equivalent’ in another.” (Anokhina 2013, 5.p.)

Ertelt-Vieth gives a comprehensive definition of the term lacuna (Ertelt-Vieth 2003, 14-15.p) whereas she lists five points stating that “every result of intercultural research [...] that complies with the definition given in the first three points may be called a lacuna”. The author specifies the term by the following characteristics:

1.) ”Lacunas are elements or aspects of a text that do not correspond to the experiences of subjects of another culture.” 2.) “Understanding of texts in the broadest sense, including cultures, is an active, creative and perspective oriented process.” 3) “Lacunas do not describe stable meanings, but depend on the respective conditions of the actual encounter of exponents of at least two cultures or cultural levels at a given moment in time.” 4) “According to their substance we have mental lacunas, lacunas of activity and lacunas of objects.” 5) Culture-specific connotations and evaluations we call axiologic lacunas *…+.”

Grodzki emphasizes the linguistic aspect of the theory when stating: ”Lacunas refer to perceived or unperceived ’gaps’ in cross-cultural texts (in which there is a non-equivalent lexis or other poorly understood cultural items).” (Grodzki 2003, 13.p.)

Another concise definition of the meaning of the technical term lacuna in linguistics by Rohn is as follows:

“In the linguistic context the term Lacuna refers to linguistic feature that exist in one culture but not in another. In a wider context, the term is used for any incident in which something exists in one culture but not in another, including values, attitudes, knowledge, experience, or expectations. Lacunae provoke astonishment, irritation,

Page 22 of 228 perplexity, annoyance, but also curiosity and fascination in cross-cultural encounters.” (Rohn, 2010, 89.p.)

Rohn's definition draws the attention simultaneously to numerous aspects I consider highly important. The author deals with both the wider and the narrower interpretation of the technical term lacuna, he places the question into a linguistic context (at the same time he does not restrict it only to those phenomena that can be grasped by linguistics), and he also covers the reactions observed when perceiving a lacuna. Due to its complexity, subtlety and expressivity we use the above definition of lacuna throughout our dissertation.

In the theory of translation the term lacuna can be opposed to paronomasia and can be defined as a “lack of reference in the target language”17 (Kappanyos 2013, 249.p.).

2.2.3. History of Lacuna Theory

In a form of a new theory, an efficient tool for Intercultural Communication research has emerged from the early 1970s, mainly targeting the better understanding and deeper analysis of intercultural misunderstandings. Lacuna Theory first appeared with lacuna as a well-defined technical term in the early works of Russian ethnopsycholinguists J.A. Sorokin and his fellow researchers I.J. Markovina and E. Tarasov (Földes, 2007, Jolowicz, 2006).

The expression lacuna had already been in use in the 1950s by Canadian translation experts J.P. Vinay and J. Darbelnet (Anokhina, 2013, 168-170.p.). But while the Canadian School of Lacunology considered lacunas as translation gaps and limited its aims in revealing proper methods to eliminate these gaps in translation (Vinay and Darbelnet, 1958), the Russian Ethnopsycholinguistic School, in contrast, regarded the question more as an intercultural problem and used a wider perspective, elaborating the terminology, classification and methodology of lacuna research.18

17 The original term of Kappanyos is célnyelvi referenciahiány (Kappanyos 2013, 249.p). The author claims that certain linguistic items cannot be translated due to either the structural impossibility of translation (paronomasia) or due to lack of reference in the target language (lacuna) (see Kappanyos 2013, 6.p.). 18 The terms “gap in the text” and “Textlücke” had been widely used in the field of translation studies and literature before Sorokin. He and his followers “transformed it into an instrument of intercultural research” (Ertelt-Vieth 2003, 5.p.).

Page 23 of 228 Markovina, the outstanding representative of the Russian Ethnopsycholinguistic School states that communication is possible due to the common verbal consciousness of the members of the same linguistic-cultural communities (Markovina 2004, 58.p.). An underlying notion of Lacuna Theory is a binary opposition of the terms own and foreign. According to Stepanov similarly to the basic cognitive oppositions of space (up/down, left/right, near/far) and that of other types (life/death, male/female, young/old) own and foreign serve as permanent principles of a culture and form a basis of the ethnic identity of the individual (Stepanov 2001, 126-143.p.).

In the 1990s, another researcher of great impact, Pym, continued the study of lacunae from another aspect. He considered the question of translating lacunae from an intercultural viewpoint and claimed that translational lacunae were the limits of a specific culture; moreover, he stated that “The items that most resist translation may be considered good markers of the substantiality and limits of a culture” (Pym, 1993, 27.p.). In Pym’s approach, intercultural aspects are more strongly emphasized in comparison with Vinay and Darbenet.

One decade later Ertelt-Vieth, one of the most influential scholars of lacunology, whose typology of lacunae has stood the test of time, argued that lacunae were not only markers of a culture but furthermore were good starting points to analyse intercultural conflicts. As worded by the author:

“You might call the lacuna-model a store of categories that enables us to scientifically register, classify, and analyse the immense diversity of cultural peculiarities. Inductively many different aspects of a conflict situation or even the whole genesis of a conflict can be analyzed.” (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 6.p.)

Grodzki, an outstanding researcher and theoretician of Lacuna Theory, introduces the term “cultural glasses” arguing that in an intercultural situation we always experience reality from our culturally determined perspective. “Everyone in the world wears a pair of cultural glasses that create a cultural prism once the light of the foreign cultural artefact passes through the lens.” (Grodzki 2003, 13.p.). Lacuna Theory helps us to recognize these “cultural glasses” and raises our awareness and sensitivity in intercultural encounters.

As Jolowicz states: “Through our ‘cultural glasses’ we filter reality. They determine how we perceive and thus interpret culture and are responsible for the lacunas one can experience.

Page 24 of 228 Lacunas are gaps of experience, deficits of knowledge and niches [Ertelt- Vieth 1999: 132]. On the one hand, a recipient can perceive lacunas as something incomprehensible, unusual, exotic, strange, unknown, erroneous or inaccurate. On the other hand, the recipient can experience a lacuna as superfluous, astonishing, peculiar, and unexpected, as something that cannot be predicted.” (Jolowicz 2006, 62.p.)

Although Lacuna Theory is more and more accepted and widely applied in international literature of intercultural communication, even recently, various terms are used to describe a similar concept. As Mochalova claims in her recent study (Mochalova, 2013, 82.p.): “In scientific literature we can find various terms denoting differences in languages and cultures contrasted: non-equal lexicon, casual lacunas, dark places, agnails, лакуны, нулевая лексема, антислова, значимый нуль, слова-реалии, фоновые слова, слова с национально-культурным компонентом, национально-маркированные слова, варваризмы, etc.”19

In Hungarian-language literature the most widely used term is realia, appearing particularly in translation studies, although we can encounter many synonymous expressions, among others: "’cultural realia’, 'culture-word', 'untranslatable element', 'non-equivalent lexeme', 'culture-specific word', 'ethno-cultureme'" (Lendvai, 2005, 68.p.). According to Tellinger, under the special term of translation studies realia we understand an referred object as well as the word itself typical in a specific speech community. For instance, both the object "gondola" and the word gondola can be understood as realia with the meaning of a Venetian rowing boat with a specific shape (Tellinger 2005, 123.p.).

Klaudy discusses in detail the concept of realia, both in a narrow and in a broader sense (Klaudy 1999). ”In a narrow sense realia refer exclusively to peculiar food, drinks, clothes, etc. of a certain linguistic community, while in a wider sense it includes names, addressing forms, holidays, term related to religion, etc." (In: J. Horváth 97.p.).

19 As Mochalova continues: “In Russian linguistics words denoting concepts, objects, phenomena that are typical only for a certain linguistic community, and have no analogues in other languages, are determined by the following terms: ‘bezekvivalentnaya leksika’ (L. Barkhudarov, E. Vereshchagin, V. Kostomarov), ‘realia’, ‘ekzotizmy’ (S. Vlakhov, S. Florin), ‘culturemy’, ‘ksenonimy’ (V. Kabakchi), ‘words for the national-specific realities’ (A. Fyodorov).”

Page 25 of 228 The literature of translation studies applies several typologies of realia. Barkudarov differentiates between three types: 1. "words that denote objects, concepts or situations non-existent in the practical experiences of groups of speakers of another language"; 2. "words that denote objects representing characteristics of a certain nation's material and spiritual culture" (such as national dishes, clothes, shoes, etc.); and 3. "words and idioms denoting political institutions and social events typical to a particular nation" (1975 Barkhudarov, 93.p.). The Bulgarian authors Vlahov and Florin distinguish between three main groups such as: 1. geographical, 2. ethnographical and 3. socio-political realia (Vlahov, Florin, 1980, 51-69.p.).

Tellinger uses a term akin to realia, namely ethno-cultureme. As the author states: "In the Russian literature even in the ’70s and ’80s a broader interpretation of the term realia was formulated, which nearly coincides with the new notion – of ethno-culturemes. This latter term means a broader interpretation of realia." (Tellinger 2014, 123.p.)

2.2.3.1 Milestones of Lacunology

Here we highlight the most important milestones in the development of Lacunology in a chronological order based on Grodzki (Grodzki 2003, 41-42.p.)20.

1977 Jurij Sorokin publishes his first article introducing the Lacuna Concept as a tool to describe cultures. 1982 Markovina completes her doctoral dissertation under the guidance of Sorokin: “The Influence of Linguistic and Outer Linguistic Factors on Text Comprehension” 21. 1983 Sorokin and Markovina publish the first article in which they attempt to categorize cultural lacunas. 1988 Astrid Ertelt-Vieth publishes her article on the Lacuna Model in Germany under the title “Die sowjetische Ethnopsycholinguistik und das Modell der Lakunen in der landeswissenschaftlichen Forschung” ("Soviet Ethno-Psycholinguistics and the Lacuna Model in Intercultural22 Research”)23.

20 The above chronology follows Grodzki and lists most but not all milestones mentioned by her in Grodzki 2003. 21 Translated by Grodzki, In: Grodzki 2003, 41.p. 22 The original adjective landeswissenschaftlichen, translated into Intercultural as the term Landeswissenschaft, is itself a lacuna denoting a scientific field practised mainly in Germany, examining different countries and different cultures 23 Translation provided by Istvan Lenart, as the original article contained no translation

Page 26 of 228 1990 Astrid Ertelt-Vieth publishes an article of great significance in Lacunology about the contacts between German and Russian students in Moscow (see Ertelt-Vieth, 1990). The author introduces new categories of lacunae as well as the axiological dimension. 1994 Hartmut Schröder gives a concise analysis of the Lacuna Model, including classification of lacunae and application of the model, especially when examining multimedia texts. The article is followed by another one in English in 1995 (see Schröder 1994, 1995).

2000 Astrid Ertelt-Vieth further develops a new dynamic Y-shaped model through a study on Russian students’ travel to Germany (see Ertelt-Vieth 2000).

2002 Erika Grodzki applies the Lacuna Model in international advertising research to analyse creative strategies (see Grodzki 2003).

Besides the above-mentioned authors, we must mention the contribution to the research of lacunae of the following scholars: Brett Dellinger (on lacunae in commercial news broadcasts, see Dellinger 1995b), Britta Hufesein (application of Lacuna Theory in foreign language acquisition, see Hufeisen 1997) and Igor Panasiuk (translation theory, see Panasiuk 2005, Panasiuk and Schröder 2006).

2.2.3. Typology of lacunae

2.2.3.1. Linguistic and cultural lacunas by Markovina

Markovina applies a network of classification of lacunas (Markovina 2011b), whereas she opposes linguistic to cultural ones (see Figure no. 2). According to the classification of Markovina (1), linguistic lacunas can be either (1.1.) language or (1.2.) speech-related ones; meanwhile, categories of (2) cultural lacunas include (2.1.) ethnic-psychological ones, (2.2.) lacunas of communicative activity and (2.3.) lacunas of cultural space.

A graphic example for lexical lacuna is provided by Markovina. If we compare the English word oil to its Russian equivalent, we can find that oil can be replaced by the following terms: нефть = oil; масло = lubricating oil; (растительное) масло = vegetable oil; олифа = drying oil; рыбий жир = cod liver oil; ворвань = whale oil; нитроглицерин = blasting oil. The noun oil can be replaced by at least six corresponding lexical items in

Page 27 of 228 Russian and as Markovina states the origin of this lexical lacuna is the “mismatch in the national scope of the concept”24 (Markovina 2004, 59.p.).

Another example for grammatical lacunas (Markovina 2011, 46.p.) in the Russian-English context is the fact that some nouns have different grammatical genders in the two languages (i.e. fish is grammatically male in English but female in Russian)25.

Speech lacunas can be complete26, partial27 or compensated (i.e.: scones compensated by оладья: scones are sweet biscuits while оладья refers to a pancake-like Russian dessert). Cultural lacunas include subjective lacunas (also called ethnic-psychological lacunas, i.e.: lacunas of national character); lacunas of communicative activity and lacunas of cultural space.

Figure 2: Classification of lacunas (Markovina, 2011b, 8. slide)

Schröder differentiates between (1) cultural lacunas; (2) lacunas of contents and pragmatics of messages and (3) textual lacunas (Schröder 1995, In Grodzki 2003, 55-56.p.). Cultural

24 The original of the quote is: “несовпадение в национальном объеме понятий” (Markovina 2004, 59.p.). 25 Markovina demonstrates this phenomenon by an extract from the Russian translation of The Old Man and the Sea from Hemingway where the author refers to the fish as “he”, while the Russian translation as “она” (she) due to the female grammatical gender of the word рыба (fish) in Russian. 26 Markovina choses another example from H. Lee (Markovina 2011, 55.p.), that of “in this pursuit he was unhappy” and notes that the expression refers to a part of the Declaration of Independence of USA which talks about the pursuit of happiness. 27 Markovina chose an example of the Russian translation of a work of H. Lee (Markovina 2011, 53.p.), whereas the writer plays with the polysemic word picket in the sentence "The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard." Picket means a pole of a fence and a group of soldiers on duty at the same time. The Russian translation can only partially give back the meaning (“Поредевшие колья забора, качаясь, как пьянные, ограждали двор перед домом.”).

Page 28 of 228 lacunas include subjective lacunas, lacunas of communicative activity and lacunas related to cultural space. The group of lacunas of contents and pragmatics of messages involves lacunas of communication situation, lacunas of communication media, lacunas of acceptable contexts, lacunas of illocution and perlocution, etc. Textual lacunas can be grouped into three categories such as: lacunas of linguistic properties of texts, lacunas of discourse and lacunas of external form of texts.28

In consent with Markovina, Dellinger (Dellinger 1995a) claims that lacunae can be grouped into two main categories: linguistic and cultural ones. However Dellinger proposes a slightly modified categorization of lacunas. Cultural lacunae for instance, can be subdivided according to Delligner into four main groups such as: (1) subjective, or "national psychological" lacunae; (2) lacunae of communicative activity; (3) lacunae related to cultural space and (4) text lacunae.

Further subgroups highlighted by Dellinger under the above four categories are as follows: (1a) character lacunae (i.e. “Americans are workaholics”); (1b) syllogistic lacunae (i.e. ”German academics are interested in theory"); (1c) cultural-emotive lacunae (described as "national temperament”); (1d) lacunae of humour; (2a) mental lacunae (“all culturally- specific problem-solving strategies”); (2b) behavioural-specific lacunae (i.e. kinesics, movements, etiquette); (3a) perceptive lacunae (assessments of distance); (3b) ethnographic lacunae (“tastes in drink, food, clothing, eating out”); (3c) lacunae of cultural stock (“incompatibilities between cultures in the volume and size of the inventory of knowledge”)29.

2.2.3.2. Ertelt-Vieth: an open system of classification

The Russian-based lacunology studies were further developed from the 1990s by German theorists H. Schröder and A. Ertelt-Vieth. The latter elaborated a classification of three main categories such as (1) Subjective lacunas; (2) Lacunas of communicative activity and (3)

28 This is an example out of numerous studies applying the classification of Markoina is Kurdyukova-vyazankina D.B., Kharchenkova L.I. (2013). 29 Dellinger 1995, http://cnncritical.tripod.com/misc/cda.html.

Page 29 of 228 Lacunas related to cultural space (see the classification as well as subgroups in Table 4 below).

In terms of general criteria of lacunae, Ertelt-Vieth states30 that (1) lacunas are elements of texts; (2) texts can be understood in the course of an “active and perspective-bound process”; (3) lacunas have no stable meaning; (4) lacunas are “complexly intertwined and mixed and matched with other variables”; (5) the structure of lacunas “can be differentiated, between speaking levels, on an intercultural basis”; (6) “cultural-specific meanings of lacunas are axiological in form” and (7) the typology of lacunas is an open and expandable system of classification demonstrated by Table 4 below.

Figure 3: Classification of lacunas by Ertelt-Vieth (Ertelt-Vieth, In: Grodzk, 2003, 44.p.)

2.2.3.3. The Y-Shaped Model

Ertelt-Vieth further elaborated her previous model and introduced the Y-Shaped Model for classification of lacunas (Ertelt-Vieth 2000). The author differentiates here between four so-

30 Based on Ertelt-Vieth, In: Grodzki 2003, 42-44.p.

Page 30 of 228 called superior classes of lacunas as follows: (1) mental lacunas; (2) lacunas of objects; (3) lacunas of activity and a special class of (4) axiological lacunas (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 7.p.). With this threefold classification Ertelt-Vieth set up a restricted model: the three main categories cannot be extended. The two models “work in conjunction to the previous”31 one.

The first three3 types of lacunas and their interrelation can be seen in Figure no.3. below.

Mental lacunas in Ertelt-Vieth’s definition “denote differences in all cognitive or affective states or models, differences in the state of knowledge in its broader sense, such as

 conscious and subconscious,  so-called common sense and reflected knowledge,  rules derived from experience or ethics,  expectations and fears.” (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 7.p.).

Lacunas of activity “denote differing processes of thinking, talking, moving and other activities”, while lacunas of objects “denote differences in objects and in human environments” (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 12-13.p.)

Figure 4: Transitions of lacunas (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003)

The fourth type, axiological lacuna, does not appear in the above scheme as it forms a special dimension of the Ertelt-Vieth model, as axiological lacunae “denote culture specific

31 Grodzki 2003, 58.p.

Page 31 of 228 connotations and evaluations of differing phenomena. They are often the heart of misunderstandings and conflicts.” (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 54.p.)

Ertelt-Vieth set up a complex typology of subgroups within the above mentioned four superior groups such as:

(1) Mental lacunas: (2.4) lacunas of thinking, perception and (1.1.) culture emotive lacunas; orientation in space and time: (1.2.) lacunas of fond of knowledge: A./ syllogistic lacunas, A./ conceptual lacunas, B./ perceptive lacunas; B./ role-related lacunas, (2.5) lacunas of communicative means to C./ spatial lacunas, constitute identity; D./ time-related lacunas, (2.6) lacunas of oral texts and moving E./ mnestic lacunas; pictures; (1.3.) lacunas related to language (2.7) lacunas of virtual texts and pictures. knowledge: A./ lexical lacunas: . partial, (3) Lacunas of objects: . complete; (3.1) lacunas of written or otherwise B./ grammatical lacunas. recorded texts and images; (3.2) lacunas of public environment; (3.3) lacunas of geographic infrastructure; (2) Lacunas of activity: (3.4) lacunas of private environment; (2.1) lacunas of use of language; (3.5) lacunas of human body; (2.2) lacunas of paralanguage and body (3.6) attributive lacunas; language; (3.7) lacunas of food. (2.3) lacunas of etiquette, behaviour, routine and taboo; (4) Axiological lacunas

This latter group of axiological lacunas represents the second dimension of the model of Ertelt-Vieth and consists of the following subcategories (see Figure 5, In: Grodzki 2003, 44.p.).

The groups of lacunas are not discrete sets of categories; they can be overlapping and they are in permanent interaction with each other. The theoretical background of the model is cultural anthropology (Clifford Geerz), semiotics (Roland Posner) and communicative activity theory (Evgenij Tarasov)32.

32 Grodzki 2003, 53.p.

Page 32 of 228 2.2.3.4. Schröder’s classification of lacunas

A practical application of Lacuna Theory in analysing multimedia texts has been executed by Schröder (1994, 1995) and Dellinger (1995a, 1995b). Through observing Finnish spectators of television news on CNN and YLE channels the authors found that the Lacuna Model needs to be slightly modified in line with their finding: The model is not fully applicable for the in- depth analysis of multimedia texts.

Similar to previous classification systems, Schröder divides lacunae into three fundamental categories such as: (1) Cultural lacunas; (2) Lacunas of contents and pragmatics of messages and (3) Textual lacunas. Subdivisions along with brief explanation and/or examples can be seen below:

(1) Cultural lacunas A./ Subjective lacunas B./ Lacunas of communicative activity C./ Lacunas related to cultural space (in the sense of Markovina and Sorokin) (2) Lacunas of contents and pragmatics of messages A./ Lacunas of the communication situation (who communicates with whom, where, when) B./ Lacunas of communication medium (how participants communicate) C./ Lacunas of acceptable contexts (about what participants communicate) D./ Lacunas of illocution and perlocution (why and for what purpose participants communicate) etc. (3) Textual lacunas A./ Lacunas of linguistic properties of texts (graphemic; phonemic; lexical; syntactic prosodic, etc. lacunas) B./ Lacunas of discourse (lacunas of coherence and cohesion; of metacommunication; of text structure; of rhetorical-stylistic techniques, etc.) C./ Lacunas of external form of texts (paralinguistic; calligammatical; graphic-diagrammatic; graphic-iconic etc. lacunas)

2.2.3.5. Further classes of cultural lacunas

As Grodzki states (Grodzki 2003, 46-50.), “All lacunas are cultural in form”; consequently, cultural lacunas can be classified in a complex system of categories (see below).

Page 33 of 228

Cultural lacunas 1./ Subjective (or national-psychological) lacunas 1.1. Character lacunas (stereotypical view on national character) 1.2. Syllogistic lacunas (a common way of thinking of a society) 1.3. Culture-emotive lacunas (“cultural temperament”) 1.4. Lacunas of humour 1.5. Perceptive lacunas (perception of time and space) 1.6. Inter-reflective lacunas (perception of a national-specific behavior33) 2./ Lacunas of communicative activity 2.1. Mental lacunas (problem-solving methods) 2.2. Behavior-specific lacunas 2.3. Kinesic lacunas 2.4. Routine lacunas 2.5. Etiquette lacunas 2.6. Fond lacunas (speech background or comment background of a situation) 2.7. Paralinguistic vocal features (vocal quality, volume, tempo) 2.8. Lacunas of means of gaining identity 2.9. Lacunas of identity description 2.10. Language system lacunas (i.e.: how a text is created, in what language) 3./ Lacunas related to cultural space (in the sense of Markovina and Sorokin) 3.1. Geographic lacunas 3.2. Ethnographic lacunas (food, drinks, clothes, etc.) 3.3. Lacunas of cultural stock (knowledge on history, culture, etc.) 3.4. Lacunas of evaluative stereotypes

2.2.3.6. Intercultural versus intracultural lacunas

Another classification of lacunas differentiates between intercultural and intracultural lacunas – the former being defined as a phenomenon arising “in the interaction of two or more cultures”, while the latter can be observed “between cultural levels” (Jolowicz, 2006, 64.p.). Alternatively, following Feresztyn’ definition: “Lacunas present in the interaction of two or more cultures are called intercultural lacunas and those present between two or more groups of people of different levels within the same culture are called ‘intra-cultural lacunas’” (Feresztyn, 2006, 51.p).

Ertelt-Vieth demonstrates the category of intracultural lacuna with a lexical lacuna of routine: “Kehrwoche”. This expression is used by Swabians and Hessians meaning a

33 The author gives the example of Russian men’s habit to cook for their wives on 8th March.

Page 34 of 228 “behavior to sweep the road in a certain time schedule and in a certain way” (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 8.p.). By contrast, good examples for intercultural lacunas in German-Russian relations are “Gemütlichkeit” (with no Russian lexical equivalent) or “Zuhause” (compared with the Russian word „дом” with strongly different meaning) (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 8.p.).

It is worth mentioning the extended research work of the Russian expert of areal lacunology, G. Bikova, who sacrificed most of her efforts on intracultural lacunarity in Russia (Bikova 2001). In her terminology intracultural lacunas are “’white spots’ on the Russian semantic space” (In: Anokhina, 2013, 170.p.)

2.2.3.7. Further bipolar classifications of lacunas

Panasiuk made a significant contribution to Lacuna Theory when opposing connotative and denotative lacunas (Panasiuk 1999, In: Grodzki 2003, 52.p.). The author takes the example of the word “dog” that has the same denotative meaning in German and Russian; meanwhile, the connotative meaning is different in the two cultures (the correlation of Panasuik’s denotative and connotative meanings is demonstrated in Appendix 23).

Based on Schröder and Grodzki, Jolowicz summarizes some further bipolar categories of lacunas: Namely, he separates explicit lacunas from implicit ones, as well as differentiating confrontative and contrastive lacunas, and finally putting absolute lacunas in parallel with relative ones.

“If a lacuna is perceived by the recipient as a strange phenomenon requiring interpretation, it is defined as explicit lacuna. In contrast to an explicit lacuna, an implicit lacuna is imperceptible to the recipient. Furthermore, intense and deep lacunas are considered confrontative, whereas weak and not especially deep lacunas are characterized as contrastive. Lacunas can be either absolute or relative, depending as well upon the degree of intensity and depth of the experience” (Schröder 1995, Grodzki 2003; In: Jolowicz, 2006, 64.p.).

Page 35 of 228 2.2.3.8. The cognitive mapping of the linguistic lacunicon34

According to Anokhina’s terminology “The research of terms of lacunology (lacunicon) is devoted to empty places in the structure of the contrasting languages and the ways of zero verbalization in the written and oral discourse”. (Anokhina, 2013, 166.p.). Anokhina defines different vectors of lacunarity based on a methodology of cognitive mapping including: lacunae of language; lacunae of speech; lacunae based on vague elements of culture; temporal and cognitive lacunas, as shown Figure 5.

Figure 5: The cognitive mapping of the linguistic lacunicon (Anokhina, 2013, 171.p)

2.2.4. Perspective of lacunology in Intercultural Communication research

Conscious and systematic research of lacunae can become a useful tool for Intercultural Communication research. Multiple advantages of applying this paradigm include (Ertelt- Vieth, 2003): closing up the two areas of “world knowledge” and “language knowledge”; providing a compact methodology instead of the vague mixture of results of various different research fields; at the same time the possibility of synthesizing results from a wide range of areas. Moreover, the Lacuna-model is able to integrate distant theories such as the Russian Ethno-psycholinguistic School and the US-American cultural anthropology school of Geertz.

34 Another summary of the history of lacunology as well as an introduction to typology of lacunae including Anokhina’s categories can be found in: Szerszunowicz 2015.

Page 36 of 228 Ertelt-Vieth summarises the main potential of the lacuna studies: “You might call the lacuna-model a store of categories that enables us to scientifically register, classify, and analyse the immense diversity of cultural peculiarities. Inductively many different aspects of a conflict situation or even of the whole genesis of a conflict can be analysed.” (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 6.p.).

Page 37 of 228 PART 3. Hypotheses

3.1. FIRST HYPOTHESIS

Social hierarchy, respect based on status, rank and age are more strongly present in Vietnamese culture than in Hungarian.35

3.2. SECOND HYPOTHESIS

Unlike concepts on the notion of family in Hungary and Vietnam influence bilateral communication and result in dissimilar linguistic imprints that can be disclosed by utilizing Lacuna Theory as a research method.

3.3. THIRD HYPOTHESIS

The time horizon36 of Vietnamese entrepreneurs can be described as “short-term”.37

38 3.4. FOURTH HYPOTHESIS

Based on the current suggestions of typology in the literature, we cannot fully categorize existing lacunas. New types, groups or schemes of classification can be identified based on a mixed methodology elaborated under this dissertation.39

35 Both the first and the second hypotheses were motivated by the preliminary studies. The respondents expressed their opinion that social hierarchy and a different family model are more strongly present in Vietnamese language than in Hungarian. We intend to examine the linguistic imprints and the verifiability of these statements. 36 The expression time horizon is used here as a professional term of finance/controlling (see i.e.: Musinszky 2013, 15-22.p.); we can distinguish between short, medium and long-term (planning) time horizons. 37 Developing the third hypothesis was motivated primarily based on the contradiction identified in the preliminary research. We found that Hofstede’s opinion on the long-term orientation of Asian cultures (Hofstede 2010) is incompatible with the results of our preliminary research that clearly indicated that Vietnam – at least from in connection with business life – can be characterized by a short-term approach. On the contradictions of Hofstede’s research see in detail: Falkné Bánó K. (2014). 38 The first three hypotheses focus on the questions of content if Intercultural Communication; meanwhile, the fourth one concentrates on methodological problems connected to the theoretical framework. This last hypothesis can be considered as a research objective as well.

Page 38 of 228 PART 4. Methodology

The concept of this dissertation was drawn up in April 2010 in the form of a topic outline (Lénárt, 2010). At that time we aimed at taking the chance to conduct a survey targeting those Vietnamese citizens who graduated in Hungary, can speak Hungarian and have a deep knowledge of both Vietnamese and Hungarian cultures. Our purpose at that time can be summarized as gaining an insight to bilateral communication in general and in entrepreneurial interactions in particular.

Even though the original concept went through several changes in the last six years, the majority of the original ideas have stayed untouched. We targeted to identify and observe lacunas in the Hungarian-Vietnamese relation based on a survey, as well as examining intercultural linguistic similarities and differences.

Methodology relied on a questionnaire-based research conducted in the form of personal interviews with a target group selected out of a population of around 4000-5000 persons. Interviews were concluded personally after pre-arranging an appointment with the respondents. We selected individuals of dual identity who graduated from an institution of higher education in Hungary. We inserted those individuals into the sample who (1) still knew Hungarian language at a relatively high level and (2) who were either still active or had just recently retired from business life or from public administration. We closed the research with 638 questionnaires filled in.

Hungarian language skills were checked by a conversation prior to the interviews to filter out those who had lost contact with Hungary in the previous decades. A self-evaluation of language skills was inserted into the interviews (which resulted in an average score of 7.3 out of 10.0). Active connections with or interest in Hungary was ensured by choosing members of the Vietnam-Hungary Friendship Association for the role of interviewee40.

39 In the dissertation we present several attempts of elaborating a complete system for grouping lacunas (Markovina 2011, Ertelt-Vieth 2004, Panasiuk 2006, etc.). In our view none of the typologies present in the literature is able to fully account for all types of lacunas; this induced the setting up of this hypothesis. 40 We define the research as a questionnaire-based one. We note, however, that it is not far from being structured interview-based research, as the two methods cannot be separated by strict borderlines (“a fully structured interview that is practically a questionnaire”, In: Sztárayné 2011, 5.p.). In the latter case the respondents may respond to the questions more freely and elaborate their message more in detail, while the interviewer is rather directing the respondent along the pre-structured questions. In the course of the

Page 39 of 228 Such individuals usually join the organization with the purpose of keeping emotional and cultural ties with Hungary, as well as to practice the Hungarian language (and sing Hungarian songs) when reuniting at least one or two times annually. In addition to the members of the Friendship Association we contacted additional respondents based on the recommendations of those who had already concluded the interview. For such recommendations we kept the above requirements (Hungarian language skills, active or just retired from business or public administration) as entry conditions.

In line with the original topic outline, proverbs have been included in the questionnaires with the objective of revealing linguistic data, statements, observations of interlocutors regarding habits, natural and artificial environment, personal relationships, etc., all of which are deeply embedded in local culture. In total, the planned number of interviews was set to 500-700; we finally reached the number 638 in June 2015, when we officially terminated the data collection phase.

A personal, Vietnamese language interview had been conducted with respondents. Interviewees had been recruited based on the already-mentioned initial list of the Vietnam- Hungary Friendship Association. As an addition to the list of initial participants the so-called “snowball method” was applied: all interviewees were requested to recommend one or two additional persons to potentially participate from their own network.

Interviews were concluded in the presence of an interview assistant, an undergraduate student of linguistics from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under Vietnam National University41.

research we used six different sets of questionnaires. Some of those contained exclusively closed questions (i.e.: Questionnaire No. 4: statements). Thus, it could clearly be defined as a questionnaire, while in other cases (such as Questionnaire No. 3: case studies; Questionnaire No. 7: Habits, lacunas), we can rather talk about structured interviews. Consequently, both in the dissertation and in the topic outline we alternately use the terms questionnaire, interview and respondent, interviewee, interviewer. 41 Interview assistants helped in handling problematic situations such as in the case of translation problems or when the respondent was unable to answer in the Hungarian language or requested further explanation in the Vietnamese language.

Page 40 of 228 4.1. PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

Methodology relied on questionnaire-based research conducted in the form of personal interviews with a target group selected out of a population of around 4000-5000 persons. Interviews were concluded personally after prearranging an appointment with the respondents. We selected individuals of dual identity who graduated from an institution of higher education in Hungary. We inserted those individuals into the sample who (1) still knew Hungarian language at a relatively high level; (2) who were either still active or had just recently retired from business life or from public administration. We closed the research with 638 questionnaires filled in.

Hungarian language skills were checked by a conversation prior to the interviews to filter out those who had lost contact with Hungary in the previous decades. A self-evaluation of language skills had been inserted into the interviews. Active connections with or interest in Hungary was ensured by choosing members of the Vietnam-Hungary Friendship Association for the role of interviewee42.

In line with the original topic outline, proverbs were included in the questionnaires with the objective of revealing linguistic data, statements, observations of interlocutors regarding habits, natural and artificial environment, personal relationships, etc., all of which are deeply embedded in local culture.

A personal, Vietnamese-language interview had been conducted with respondents. Interviewees had been recruited based on the already-mentioned initial list of the Vietnam- Hungary Friendship Association. As an addition to the list of initial participants, the so-called “snowball method” was applied: all interviewees were requested to recommend one or two additional persons to potentially participate from their own network. Interviews were

42 We define the research as a questionnaire-based one. We note, however, that it is not far from being structured interview-based research, as the two methods cannot be separated by strict borderlines (“a fully structured interview that is practically a questionnaire”, In: In: Sztárayné 2011, 5.p.). In the latter case the respondents may respond to the questions more freely and elaborate their message more in detail, while the interviewer is rather directing the respondent along the pre-structured questions. In the course of the research we used six different sets of questionnaires. Some of those contained exclusively closed questions (i.e.: Questionnaire No. 4: statements). Thus, they could clearly be defined as a questionnaire, while in other cases (such as Questionnaire No. 3: case studies; Questionnaire No. 7: Habits, lacunas) we can rather talk about structured interviews. Consequently, both in the dissertation and in the topic outline we alternately use the terms questionnaire, interview and respondent, interviewee, interviewer.

Page 41 of 228 concluded in the presence of an interview assistant, an undergraduate student of linguistics from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under Vietnam National University43.

Two preliminary surveys preceded this current dissertation, based on two surveys with 13 and 21 respondents, respectively (see Lénárt, 2013a). In the first phase 13 Hungarian businessmen were interviewed. All of them were leading businesspersons from the Hungarian-Vietnamese relation, doing successful entrepreneurial activities for at least several years and having concluded trade and/or investment projects in the above field. In the second survey we interviewed 21 Vietnamese businesspersons living and working in Hungary. One key result of the surveys was that respondents confirmed the necessity of including the examination of stereotypes in the final questionnaires and further sophisticate the results gained. Moreover, stereotyping seemed to be interconnected with lacunae, providing a firm base for lacuna-related studies.

The preliminary studies confirmed the presumption that Vietnamese businesspersons are – or at least are seen as – thinking on a very short term in connection with earning money, gaining profit, building a successful business. The results seemed to be interesting in view of the arguments of Hofstede on the long-term orientation of Southeast Asian countries (Hofstede 2010).44

4.2. THE QUESTIONNAIRE-BASED INTERVIEWS

4.2.1. The process of assembling the questionnaires

Questionnaires were drafted, tested then gained their final form in a one-year period between October 2013 and October 2014, in the following steps:

43 Interview assistants helped in handling problematic situations such as in the case of translation problems or when the respondent was unable to answer in the Hungarian language or requested further explanation in the Vietnamese language. 44 According to Hofstede (Hofstede G., Hofstede G.J. and Minkov M. 2010) cultures can be well characterized through the application of scales formed based on pairs of oppositions such as masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, short-term/long-term orientation. The author claims that Southeast Asian countries are typically long-term oriented, that contradicts the results of my preliminary researches.

Page 42 of 228 1. Based on the preliminary studies and the targeted field of research, a questionnaire was assembled. The questionnaire was drafted in two languages: English and Vietnamese.

2. The questionnaire was pretested on Vietnamese citizens and corrected to reach an easily understandable format.

3. In January 2014 online consultations began with Irina Markovina, Professor of Psycholinguistics of Moscow State Linguistic University and one of the founders of Lacuna Theory, who gave valuable feedback and suggestions on how to modify the content and format of the questionnaires. In September 2014 online discussions were complemented by personal consultations in Moscow at State Linguistic University.

Primary modifications of the questionnaire included: (1) a more thorough investigation on Hungarian–Vietnamese mutual perceptions (this is when part no. 5 of the questionnaire, Associations, gained its final form with five questions including four free associations on (I) Hungarians, (II) Vietnamese and (III) Hungarian businesspersons and (IV) Vietnamese businesspersons); (2) the split up of the full questionnaire into six parts: one common part for personal data and five contentual parts as follows: stereotypes, case studies45, statements, associations and proverbs.

At this phase it became clear that instead of one general questionnaire, five separate, specific questionnaires must be applied to gain better results.

4. In early October 2014, as an addition to the previous formats, another chapter was added to the questionnaires. Besides the indirect approach (using associations, proverbs, case studies, etc.) in this seventh part we complemented the methodology with one more set of questions with the main objective of using direct questions about lacunae that interviewees had directly encountered or experienced.

5. The almost-final questionnaires were tested in late October 2014 on Vietnamese citizens to filter out possible mistakes, mistypes or terms or parts which were difficult to understand.

45 In the Hungarian version of the Theses this part is referred to as esetleírások (“case descriptions”).

Page 43 of 228 6. Interviews started in the last days of October 2014 and the last interview was concluded in June 2015 reaching the number 638.

4.2.2. Introduction of the questionnaires

A main concept of the methodology of the survey was to apply different approaches and compile results and draw conclusions based on several different methods. Gaining linguistic data related to intercultural differences and similarities is challenging, so for this reason we used six different methods (stereotypes, case studies, statements, associations, proverbs and habits/lacunae) that will be introduced below in 4.2.2.; meanwhile, results will be analysed in Part 5.

4.2.2.1. Personal data

Interviews were conducted anonymously. Participants were requested to provide basic personal information such as gender, age, nationality, occupation, name of school, specialization (major), year of graduation, highest level of education, time spent in Hungary and in Vietnam and level of Hungarian language skills based on a self-evaluation (see cumulated personal data in 5.1., original set of questions in Appendix 1).

Besides general information on personal background, we attached higher importance to two questions. Firstly, as already touched upon, self-evaluation of Hungarian language skills was considered as a key criterion to ensure the dual identity of participants of the survey. Secondly, as answerers had usually spent most of their lives either in Vietnam or in Hungary, the number of years spent in these two countries, or the proportion of the two values, bore importance and gave us an orientation on to what extent they were attached to Hungarian culture.

4.2.2.2. Stereotypes

This part of the questionnaire is in line with studies of Markovina (Markovina, 2011) and research methodology of Ertelt-Vieth (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003) as well as relies on the author’s

Page 44 of 228 preliminary studies. For results of this questionnaire and more theoretical background on stereotyping see 5.2. and Questionnaire 2 in Appendix no. 2.

4.2.2.3. Case studies

This questionnaire consists of four case studies from the Vietnam-Hungary relation. All interviewees listened to the short stories about specific intercultural encounters (two of them in business settings, another two with general background), and after each story they were requested to comment. Source of the case studies was real-life situations faced either by the author or by one of his friends in Vietnam.

From the point of view of a linguist who studies lacunae, kinship terms in Vietnamese language are an excellent field of research, a transparent system of words reflecting different culturally embedded phenomena such as respect of age and social status. Kinship terms may also reveal and help to understand better the richly layered connections in the Vietnamese family, the clan and society as a whole. For this reason our first case study dealt with a misunderstanding based on the lack of knowledge of addressing forms in Vietnamese. The Hungarian businessman in the example didn’t have knowledge about the fact that Vietnamese usually introduce their close connections as their siblings even if they are not relatives by blood.

The second case study highlighted another misunderstanding related to time management and connected to religion and superstition as well. Vietnamese people attach much higher importance to dates and times (and numbers in general) than Hungarians (or Europeans in general). When the Hungarian businessman got angry for the delay of the signature of a contract, he was not aware that his Vietnamese counterpart might not have found the appropriate or the lucky date to sign.

Relation to money in the Vietnamese family also differs from what can be experienced in Hungary. In the case study we introduced a story when the mother disposes of the money of her daughter without consulting her beforehand. For Hungarians this act is considered in general as a violation of personal rights. For results and reactions of respondents see 5.3.3.

Page 45 of 228 The last case study was a complex situation in the setting of a scientific conference where as an unexpected event, one participant suddenly asks the panel leader to allow him to sing a song. As he is allowed to sing, they interrupt the program of the conference and participants listen to him singing. This probably would be considered by most Hungarians as an unusual, awkward act. For detailed results see 5.3.4. and Questionnaire 3 in Appendix no. 3.

4.2.2.4. Statements

A set of 10 statements in the form of closed questions has been introduced to respondents, five out of those related to Vietnamese businesspersons, another five to Hungarian entrepreneurs (see: Questionnaire 4 in Appendix no. 4). Highly stereotypical statements were included from real utterances of respondents from previous research (see in Part 5).

This method enabled us to measure the answers on a scale from 1 to 9 on the level of agreement/disagreement. The content of the statements included: (1) business ethics; (2) sensitivity and the role of silence in communication; (3) long-term and short-term thinking (horizon); (4) reliability of businesspersons; (5) differences between Southern and Northern Vietnam; (6) directness of communication; (7) differences in interpretation of private space; (8) polite and gentle manner of communication; (9) overconfidence and show-offs in communication; (10) willingness to cooperate with foreigners.

4.2.2.6. Associations

Interviewees were requested to freely associate about (1) Hungary, (2) Vietnam, (3) a Hungarian person and (4) a Vietnamese person. The topic somewhat overlaps with the questionnaire on stereotyping, however, it was intentionally planned to complement this latter questionnaire. When requesting respondents to evoke their memories on Hungary or a Hungarian person, then they would be very likely to focus on those fields, experiences, and characteristics they remember for the reason of being unexpected or strange for them; therefore, we expected to identify further lacunae through these questions as well (see: Questionnaire 5 in Appendix no. 5).

Page 46 of 228 4.2.2.6. Proverbs

Proverbs were collected in four groups (see: results in 5.6.) such as: (1) Vietnamese proverbs on money, (2) Hungarian proverbs on money, (3) Vietnamese proverbs and (4) Hungarian proverbs. Through this questionnaire we hoped to gain valuable linguistic information which could further sophisticate the answerer’s view on the two countries and their cultures in general and about business-related activities in particular (see: Questionnaire 6 in Appendix no. 6).

4.2.2.7. Habits, lacunae

The questionnaire was elaborated with a focus on habits and lacunae with the objective to identify lacunae in the most direct way: by asking respondents to enlist them.

One possible method was using the notion of lacuna in the below interpretation of Ertelt- Vieth: “Gaps or – using a Latin term – lacunas between cultures refer to something strange, unfamiliar, possibly awkward, possibly memorable” (Ertelt-Vieth, A. 2003, 2.p.). With this quasi-definition in mind we asked interviewees to list out similar “strange”, “unfamiliar” or “awkward” experiences from the time they spent in Hungary (see: Questionnaire 7 in Appendix no. 7).

Another question (no. 4 of Questionnaire 7) was inspired by one of the respondents of our previous research (Lénárt, 2013a) who -- when asked about his experiences in Hungary – listed out the habits he changed after returning to Vietnam (he mentioned queuing up and saying “thank you” when you receive a gift in that research). This spontaneous utterance led us to inquire about changed habits after returning to the home country, in the hope of gaining information on lacunae in the Hungary-Vietnam relation from a wider source, a bigger sample.

The next question aimed at gaining insight into intercultural lacunae; for this purpose it inquired interviewees to enlist differences perceived when living in Hungary. Moreover, in our fourth question of Questionnaire no. 7 we requested respondents to give specific examples of Hungarian-Vietnamese intercultural differences in terms of communication, behavior and doing business.

Page 47 of 228 PART 5. ANALYSIS OF SURVEY

5.1. PERSONAL DATA

The average respondent was a 61,1 year- Age of respondents old male (81,9%) Vietnamese citizen 12 (96,1%). Distribution of age on Figure no. 10

6 shows a function evoking a Gaussian, 8 skewed right, peaking at value 61 with a 6 lower peak at 35. Most typically (person) 4 interviewees’ age varied between 58-72. 2

The vast majority of answerers had 0 recently retired or would stop working 31 34 38 45 48 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 74 78 81 (year) within a couple of years’ time. Year of Figure 6: Age of respondents graduation was for 68,5% of participants of the survey were between 1970-1982 (see: Figure no. 7).

The above-mentioned age group of interviewees indicates that primary experiences of respondents date back 3-4 decades ago when they were pursuing their studies in Hungary.

This may lead to some utterances such as Hungary being associated with a socialist country as well as a considerable number of Year of graduation 12 references to war in Vietnam (which 10 ended in 1975). Meanwhile, another 8 nearly 20% of respondents (19,7%) 6

4 graduated between 1982-2014, which (person) 2 results in a better and more 0

… homogenous coverage of different

Not Not

1990 1965 1971 1974 1977 1980 1984 1987 2000 2006 2009 1962 historical periods. (year)

Figure 7: Year of graduation

Page 48 of 228 Time spent in Hungary varied between 3 Time spent in Hungary and 28 years. The mean value was 6,3 40 35 years in line with the fact that most 30 answerers took part in five-year 25 university programs in Hungary preceded

20 (person) by a one-year Hungarian language course 15 10 (see: Figure no. 8). Over half (52,8%) of 5 answerers spent 5-7 years in the country 0 (roughly equivalent to the time needed 3 4.5 6 7 8 10 12 14 20 28 (year) to conclude a full master’s degree Figure 8: Time spent in Hungary program).

Almost all (96%) of participants of the survey were Vietnamese citizens vis-à-vis that 1% who declared themselves Hungarians, while 3% of answerers did not specify their nationality (see more details in Appendix no. 19).

A total number of 638 Number of questionnaires had been completed questionnaires Total: 638 filled out by respondents with a fairly uniform 110 105 1 distribution. Nearly one (17,24%) (16,46%) 2 sixth (16,7%) of 110 105 3 participants of the survey (17,24%) (16,46%) 4 had given answers to each 104 104 5 of the six types of (16,30%) (16,30%) 6 questionnaires (see: Figure no. 9). Figure 9: Number of completed questionnaires

Page 49 of 228 As interviews had been conducted in Number of questionnaires completed per person such a way that questionnaires were paired, consequently each 8% interviewee filled out 2, 4 or 6 of 20% them. Figure no. 10 shows the 72% proportions gained: 72% of interviewees filled out all six questionnaires, 20% of them 6 4 2 concluded four, the remaining 8% chose to answer only two.

Figure 10: Number of questionnaires completed per person

Consequently, the number of individuals who participated in the survey totalled 127 with a gender distribution of 81,9% male (104 persons) and 15,7% female (20 persons) while 2,4% (3 persons) provided no information (see Appendix no. 17).

All those interviewees who declared their educational background as having finished higher education in Hungary (see Appendix no. 18): 40% of them graduated as bachelor, 32% as master, 22% as doctor or higher (associate professor or professor), while 6% did not provide an answer.

Hungarian language skills were estimated based Hungarian language skills on self-evaluation of respondents, resulting in a 30 7,3 average on a 10-point scale. We can state 25 that even after decades since returning to 20 Vietnam, respondents were able to keep a high 15 level of Hungarian language skills: only 7,7% of 10(person) them estimated their own language skills to a 5 value less than 5 points out of 10, while the most 0 typical estimation was 8 points (23,9% of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 respondents). For more details, see: Figure no. (grade ) 11. Figure 11: Hungarian language skills

Page 50 of 228 5.1.1. Potential and limitations of the survey

The target group of the survey consisted of those Vietnamese citizens who studied in Hungary, therefore had a dual identity. Most of them have strong emotional ties to Hungary and can speak Hungarian at a relatively high level. The above background enables them to have an understanding of the two nations’ habits, mindset, culturally rooted behavior and way of communication as well. They are able to compare the two cultures and determine which aspects of the receiving culture (Hungarian) is unusual or strange to them, thus providing valuable information for identifying lacunae in the Vietnamese-Hungarian relation.

The relatively high number of interviews concluded (638) hopefully gives us a fairly sophisticated view on these individuals’ experiences. According to the estimations there are nearly 4000 Vietnamese citizens currently living in Vietnam who graduated in Hungary, the survey is expected to cover reasonably well this specific group.

Amongst limitations of the survey we must take note of the fact that respondents represent a generation that were submerged in Hungarian culture approximately three-four decades ago; consequently, their experiences reflect an earlier stage of Hungarians’ habits, way of communication as well as physical environment they encountered in Hungary. Moreover, aside from some exceptions, respondents mainly originated from the Northern part of Vietnam, from the vicinity of the capital, Hanoi. The geographical distribution of the survey consequently bears the traits of the Northern values and mentality. The survey does also not represent different educational backgrounds, as all respondents graduated from higher education institutions.

Page 51 of 228 5.2. STEREOTYPES

5.2.1. Stereotyping as a linguistic term46

The term stereotype originally denoted “a relief printing plate cast in a mould made from composed type or an original plate” according to the Oxford English Dictionaries (Simpson 2013) or in the interpretation of Gibson (Gibson, 2010, 12.p.) “a printing plate used to produce the same image over and over again”. In line with the first meaning of the noun stereotype as defined in Oxford English Dictionaries is “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing”. (Simpson 2013). Walter Lippmann argued that “the real environment is altogether too big, too complex, and too fleeting for direct acquaintance” (Lippmann, 1922, 16.p.); thus, we simplify reality that surrounds us into pictures because “Pictures have always been the surest way of conveying an idea, and next in order, words that call up pictures in memory” (Lippmann, 1922, 162.p.).

Katz and Braly approached stereotyping through adjectives (or characteristics) individuals assign to a certain ethnic/racial/national groups. In their study (Katz, D., Braly, K. 1933) they requested 100 undergraduate students to group 84 adjectives together with some social groups such as Irish, Jews, Chinese, Turks, etc. The study proved high correlation between adjectives and the different social groups matched with, thus highlighting the close effect of prejudice on stereotyping.

From the late ‘60s new intercultural management researches emerged, most prominently those of Hofstede, Trompenaars and others. Hofstede states that different cultures can be described along dimensions or clusters of values namely with the following ones: power distance (46-70), individualism versus collectivism (80-20), masculinity versus femininity (88- 40), uncertainty avoidance (82-30), long-term versus short-term orientation (58-57), indulgence versus restraint (31-35) (Hofstede, G, Hofstede, G. J. and Minkov, M. 2010)47.

46 This chapter, 5.2.1. relies on the theoretical part of the article “Typical Models in Trade and Business Relationship between Vietnamese and Hungarians” (Lénárt I., 2013a), which appeared in European Studies 74- 87.p., Hanoi 47 Numbers in brackets show results of the survey of Hofstede: The first number refers to Hungary, the second one to Vietnam (Hofstede, 2015).

Page 52 of 228 Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1999) elaborated a similar model for distinguishing cultures by setting up seven dimensions in the form of pairs of opposite values as follows: universalism versus particularism, individualism versus communitarianism, specific versus diffuse, neutral versus emotional, achievement versus ascription, sequential time versus synchronous time, internal direction versus outer direction.48

Falkné draws attention that stereotyping implies numerous risks and disadvantages such as:

“a) stereotyping does not take into account different variants within a culture; b) stereotypes, by exaggerating, give a very narrow picture on the behavioural forms of a culture; c) strengthens the view that one’s own values and behavioural patterns are natural and general, so whatever differs from that is inadequate and can lead to ethnocentrism, moreover to racism; d) it reflects the mistakes of generalization, as it disregards the effect of the individual to the cultural norms“ (Falkné 2008, 81.p.).

As Hidasi confirms (Hidasi, 1996, 207-208.p.), stereotypes are cumulated in our minds mostly through indirect experiences. She adds that stereotypes are usually negative, in many cases as a consequence of pervious unsuccessful contacts, miscommunication (or miscommunicatio as worded by the author) with representatives of other cultures. Adler argues that stereotypes “like other forms of categories, can be helpful or harmful depending on how we use them” (Adler, 2007, 77p.). She gives a five-point definition of helpful stereotyping: (1) consciously held, (2) descriptive rather than evaluative, (3) accurate, (4) used as the first best guess about a group before knowing a specific person from the group, (5) modified in line with our experiences.

48 Besides the works of great impact of Hofstede and Trompenaars form the field of intercultural management, we take note of an essential instrument, the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) Survey, an extensive research executed from 1991 in 62 countries with approximately 17 000 managers from nearly 1 000 institutions. The research uses nine dimensions: (1) Performance Orientation, (2) Uncertainty Avoidance, (3) Humane Orientation, (4) Institutional Collectivism, (5) In-Group Collectivism, (6) Assertiveness, (7) Gender Egalitarianism, (8) Future Orientation and (9) Power Distance and divides the countries of the world into 10 country-clusters such as: (1) Anglo Cultures, (2) Arab Cultures, (3) Confucian Asia, (4) Eastern Europe, (5) Germanic Europe, (6) Latin America, (7) Latin Europe, (8) Nordic Europe, (9) Southern Asia, (10) Sub-Sahara Africa. See: Hoppe 2007 and Appendix 22.

Page 53 of 228 Adler defines parochialism (Adler, 2001, 14-17., 85-86., 107-110.p.) as an approach to reality as follows: “I assume that the only way to be is my way. I assume that the only way to see the world is my way. I therefore view other people in reference to me and to my way of viewing the world” (Adler, 2001, 86.p.). Ethnocentrism can also counterwork effective intercultural communication, as shown in Bennett’s Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (Bennet 1993, 21-71.p.). Bennett describes six levels of intercultural sensitivity of the individual working or living in a culture different from his/her own: denial, defence, minimization, acceptance, adaptation and integration, the first three being examples of ethnocentrism while the latter three for ethnorelativism.

5.2.2. A good businessperson

In our previous study on stereotyping in the Hungarian-Vietnamese relation (Lenart, 2013a), we aimed at revealing business-related stereotypes to help businesspersons better understand their counterparts. We found a high proportion of overlapping results with the below ones, however some points which were not touched upon in our current research should be highlighted:

1. Stereotypes identified in the survey could be grouped into three main categories such as: (1) general stereotypes; (2) psychologically rooted ones and (3) communicational stereotypes. 2. Vietnamese male businesspersons were stereotyped as sometimes not being able to make their own decisions without consulting women. 3. Vietnamese tend to use false documents as well as verbal deceit and deceptive references to political connections.

By researching stereotypes we presume that these are condensed opinions, which in many cases are based on direct experiences and thus can serve as a good starting point for identifying lacunas in the Hungarian-Vietnamese relation.

We asked respondents to firstly describe how a good businessperson in their view is, secondly to end sentences such as “Hungarians are…”; “Vietnamese are…”; “Hungarian businessmen/businesswomen are...”; “Vietnamese businessmen/businesswomen are...” We gained the below results (for top 10 results see Table 1, for a complete list of results see

Appendix 8).

Page 54 of 228 A good businessperson No. Characteristics Frequency 1. Contributes to society 20 2. Generates profit 18 3. Creates values for society 16 4. Doing business respecting the law 12 5. Has a happy family 11 6. Gains a lot of profit 8 Has business ethics 7. Contributes to the country 7 Creates many jobs for people 8. Generates profit for company 6 9. Creates lots of economic values 5 Creates comfortable and youthful working environment Gets respect from people, community and society Good at doing business 10. Able to catch opportunities quickly 4 Contributes to the country’s development Creates values for company Earns a large amount of money Supports the community The company has its prestige in society Table 1: A good businessperson: top 10 stereotypes (Questionnaire no. 1.) *For full results see Appendix no. 8.

Out of the 192 utterances given by respondents, a number of answers confirmed presumably universally accepted characteristics of a good businessperson, such as the one who gains a lot of profit, earns a large amount of money, creates jobs, is able to manage and make business and so on. Another outstanding point was their contribution to society as a whole: Most references were given to contribute to society or create values for society (no. 1 and no. 3 in Table 1 above) that might be connected to the highly communitarian nature of Vietnam.

Besides society, different potential beneficiaries of a good businessperson’s activity were mentioned, including: the community, the country, the family, the company and people in general. It is worth mentioning that the fifth highest ranked characteristic of a good businessperson was having a happy family, what probably could sound surprising for a Hungarian, as the notion of family is not closely connected to business in the Hungarian mindset.

Page 55 of 228 5.2.3. Stereotypes about Hungarians

Answerers provided 115 descriptions for Hungarians. The adjective attributed to them by far most frequently was friendly, followed by kind, enthusiastic (nhiệt tình ) and hospitable. Hungarians are generally described by positive characteristics: All features mentioned more than one time by respondents show a positive evaluation. Among the randomly evoked negative remarks we can find: not very hard-working and their weak points are alcohol, coffee and cigarettes.

Hungarians are... Characteristics Frequency 1. Friendly 35 2. Kindly 24 3. Enthusiastic (nhiệt tình) 21 4. Hospitable 20 5. Intelligent\Clever (15 Hungarians won the Nobel-prize) 17 6. Enthusiastically help foreigners 16 Helpful (willing to help others) 7. Honest\Sincere 13 8. Emotional 12 9. Heartfelt 11 Open-minded 10. Good-hearted 9 Table 2: Stereotypes about Hungarians: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.) *For full results see Appendix no. 9.

A considerable number of respondents referred to Hungarians as a people with Asian origins: they are Europeans with Asian traits, they have many cultural similarities with Asians, they are open-hearted like Asians. Hungarians are also seen as a mixture of Europeans and Asians: they possess Western characteristics: friendly, open-minded, kind, as well as Asian characteristics: thoughtful, subtle and sometimes indecisive. Their interconnectedness was mentioned as a feature which differed from other European nations.

Hungary was mentioned as a small country, in the heart of Europe, with a small population of 10 million people, a country which is not dependent, but has limited means to defend itself from others. It is seen (in the period when respondents stayed and studied in the country) as more open and developed compared to other Eastern European countries in terms of citizens’ and governments’ intelligence and also remembered as a country which

Page 56 of 228 manufactured world-famous electronic and pharmaceutical products. Hungarian cuisine is considered as delicious.

Hungarians are seen to be patriotic with national thought, good friends of Vietnamese. They have a high level of solidarity and like to avoid conflicts as shown by the proverb “A bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit”. They are seen as smart, which is in connection with the 15 Nobel-prize winners in various fields. They live and work in a disciplined way and respect traffic regulations. Hungarians are remembered for their help to Vietnam during the war: they had many special feelings for Vietnamese in the anti-American war and despite being a small country with a population of 10 million and materially not rich, they helped Vietnamese without interest with high responsibility in politics, facilities and human training.

5.2.3. Stereotypes about Vietnamese

The most commonly mentioned characteristic of Vietnamese people out of the 119 stereotypes collected was the notion which can be described by different synonymic adjectives such as: hard-working, diligent and industrious. They are painstaking and make efforts to overcome difficulties. They are seen as hospitable people as expressed by the proverb Nhịn miệng đãi khách (a free translation: Refrain your consumption to serve the guest properly).

Vietnamese are considered to be honest in community or social issues; meanwhile, in private issues only honest with very close persons. They are also labelled as cunning and having low disciplinary and planning spirit. Short-sightedness is emphasized: they work for short-term goals and some Vietnamese nowadays put their benefit above everything which makes many traditional customs fall into oblivion.

Amongst other positive features such as friendly, open-minded, smart, clever, agile, brave a couple of negative ones have been mentioned including: greedy, have low work-efficiency, and low work-discipline, self-seeking and narrow-minded. They are labelled as East Asians who have problems with self-confidence: sometimes they are unsure about themselves in the international community.

Page 57 of 228 Vietnamese are... Characteristics Frequency 1. Industrious\Diligent 37 2. Hard-working 34 3. Clever\Intelligent 19 4. Hospitable 14 5. Friendly 12 6. Open-minded 10 7. Smart 8 8. Emotional 7 Ready to make effort to overcome difficulties\Knows how to overcome difficulties\Willing to face challenges 9. Long-suffering 6 Pain-taking 10. Creative 5 Table 3: Stereotypes about Vietnamese: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.) *For full results see Appendix no. 10.

The tough history and long periods of war in Vietnam, along with consequent characteristics of Vietnamese people, are mentioned: they had to suffer the exploitation and repression of the ruling class, they spent much time with fighting against foreign invaders: no time to develop the country, they are willing to sacrifice to defend their country, they do not yield to foreign invaders as well as they are plodding due to obscurantism. Vietnamese are seen as having little experience in determining the way of development.

An optimistic vision shapes up from the responses of interviewees: if Vietnamese have material and social conditions they will create value, young generations are well-educated especially in foreign countries such as Hungary or a new Vietnam will be formed step-by- step with a great impact on people and society in the future.

Vietnamese are considered to have low spirit of solidarity in times of peace, moreover low solidarity in the community and are advised to strengthen solidarity to develop further. Their collective consciousness is considered low. Many people are considered to live with low community level and social awareness.

5.2.4. Stereotypes about Hungarian businesspersons

Hungarian businesspersons were generally described by positive terms both in relation to their personal features and their business skills. In all, 114 stereotypes were identified. According to the answers Hungarian entrepreneurs were perceived as straight people who

Page 58 of 228 are able to do business very well. They are seen as friendly, sharp-witted, kind, enthusiastic, diligent, hospitable, well-educated, dynamic, sensitive, heartfelt, honest, intelligent, decisive, reliable partners in business, cautious and careful. Some negative evaluations are connected to them such as: not too clever, impatient in negotiating, sometimes too heartfelt, still without much success in Vietnam.

Regarding the evaluations connected to business, Hungarians are considered to know how to adapt to the market and work with comprehensive coordination. Hungarians are considered to be clever in business and having high social consciousness, definitive goals and flexible methods. They always appreciate profit. They abide by the law and rarely evade taxes. They are not acquainted with the Vietnamese way of thinking, working and business environment.

Hungarian businesspersons are... Characteristics Frequency 1. Straight\Downright 13 2. Intelligent 5 3. Not good at catching opportunities 4 4. Able to do business very well 3 Knowledgeable Professional Successful 5. Adapt quite easily and quickly / Agile / Calculate carefully / Careful / 2 Decisive / Disciplined / Dynamic / Eager to enrich / Eager to learn / Eager to seeking / Have the experienced business / Kind / Not very flexible in Asian economic market / Planned working style / Respect the law / Sensitive (in doing business) / Serious / Smart Table 4: Stereotypes about Hungarian businesspersons: top 5 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.) *For full results see Appendix no. 11.

However, they are said to be having low capital and sometimes they are not able to trade efficiently. Due to their open-mindedness they are considered as ones who can easily get tricked. Their way of considering transactions carefully sometimes makes them miss opportunities. Their cooperation spirit is seen as not too high.

Hungarian businesspersons are associated with a peaceful country in Central-Eastern Europe where business scale is not large and generally medium-sized business is done. They have numerous opportunities to do business with foreign countries and have to compete fiercely with the European Union and other countries of the world. Hungarian business environment

Page 59 of 228 is seen to be standard, especially in terms of legislation which influences Hungarian entrepreneurs’ thoughts and behavior: They work with a serious attitude and they always respect the law.

5.2.5. Stereotypes about Vietnamese businesspersons

Evaluation of Vietnamese businesspersons showed a positive image; however, more negative aspects were mentioned than in the case of their Hungarian counterparts. In all, 125 different descriptions were collected. The most frequently arising characteristics of Vietnamese are being dynamic, diligent and hard-working. They always make efforts to achieve their goals. They are clear-headed, decisive, friendly, sensitive, pain-taking, flexible, go-ahead, eager to learn, sharp-witted. At the same time they are small and weak, not far- sighted and have a limited vision and low discipline.

In contrast to Hungarians Vietnamese are said usually not to respect or even dodge the law and to evade taxes. They are seen as individuals who do not do business very well and are sometimes hasty and live by makeshift. Their English is poor and they have weak management skills. They live from hand to mouth and don’t have solidarity in business. Their success ratio is not high.

Vietnamese businesspersons are... Characteristics Frequency 1. Dynamic 16 2. Hard-working\Diligent 10 3. No long-term view and strategy\Run after short-term profits\Short- 9 sighted 4. Don’t abide by the law\Dodge the law\Evade taxes 7 5. Creative 6 Table 5: Stereotypes about Vietnamese businesspersons: top 5 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.) *For full results see Appendix no. 12.

Personal and political connections were considered to have a great impact on business life and behavior. As Vietnam is a market-oriented socialism, businessmen need to have a good relationship with their superiors. As market economy is young in Vietnam, they don’t have experience in developing stable business and they prefer to invest in political relations rather than in technology or doing something special. Some of them rely on development policies; meanwhile others try to build enterprises of international standards.

Page 60 of 228 A connection is presumed between the many wars Vietnam suffered along its history (“Vietnam is a heroic nation”) and the recent development of the country.

According to respondents both inside Vietnam as well as abroad there are many good Vietnamese businessmen. Some of them develop by their own capacity while others through relationships. They are willing to make efforts to improve themselves and succeed, but sometimes they are too sensitive and subjective. Usually they do not invest or venture but mainly focus on small projects.

Respondents regard Vietnamese entrepreneurs as being good at doing business, but they don’t take the initiative in long-term and risky investments. They try their best to get the largest profits at any cost. With some exceptions they lack capital and also lack appropriate technologies: They have limited financial capacity and the government promotes them ineffectively.

Communication problems can be partly due to the fact that Vietnam transits from poor state economy to market economy, where a peasant or a worker can become an entrepreneur. Vietnamese entrepreneurs also have limited opportunities to contact with foreign countries and are in short of foreign support.

Interconnectedness to the global economy is emphasized: Vietnamese businesspersons are in line with global development impetus; consequently, economic recession also affects them greatly.

5.3. CASE STUDIES

The third questionnaire of the survey consisted of four case studies. In each case, interviewees listened to a story about a concrete intercultural encounter between Vietnamese and Hungarian individuals. The case studies focused on lacuna-based misunderstandings or on such situations where the interpretation highly depended on the cultural programming of the individuals. Out of the four examples presented two took place in business settings, 1 presented an everyday family issue related to money, while the

Page 61 of 228 fourth one had a scientific conference as a background scene. All of the case studies were transformed versions of real events, experienced by or told to the author in Vietnam.

When evaluating the answers, we start by quoting the read-out story; consequently, we present the results based on the replies of interviewees.

5.3.1. Kinship terms

“A Vietnamese businesswoman, Ms. Hien, meets a Hungarian businessman, Mr. Béla. in Hanoi. During their talks it turns out that Mr. Béla wants to invest in real estate in Vietnam. Ms. Hien is not an expert in this field, so she recommends Ms. Trang, who works for a big real estate company. Ms. Hien says Ms. Trang is her sister (“chi ̣ của tôi” 49). Later on Mr. Béla reveals that Ms. Hien and Ms. Trang are not relatives. He feels cheated and cuts all connections with both ladies.”50

The most typical interpretations of the situation included the following statements: The reaction of the Hungarian businessman was not reasonable (14 mentions), hasty (4), quite rigid (2); the misunderstanding is due to language problems (11) or to cultural difference (4). Further opinions considered Mr. Béla’s behavior inflexible, extreme. Some respondents found it partly unreasonable, three of them graded it as well-reasoned.

Interviewees took note of the fact that Vietnamese use kinship terms for addressing the interlocutors: The misunderstanding is due to Vietnamese addressing form: Vietnamese usually call friends “elder brother” or “elder sister” as an implication to their experiences in business. There is a special addressing form in Vietnam formed by pairs of kinship terms such as: em-anh or em-chị; meanwhile, Europeans don’t use this way of speaking, which leads to misunderstanding. One answerer gave a quasi-definition of lacunae when stating that it is possible that the Vietnamese close way of speaking cannot be expressed in English. Another interviewee stated in a similar manner: “The English possessive cannot express the florid style of Vietnamese – this is a cultural difference”.

49 “Chi ̣ cuả tôi” literally means “elder sister of mine” where “elder sister” is a kinship term used for addressing a female interlocutor older than the speaker. 50 In Vietnam a widespread method of doing business is through introducing a reliable friend, former business partner or relative. As Ashwill states: in Vietnam“ *…+ the best way to develop contacts is through third-party introduction, known as sponsorship. This is an effective and usually reliable means of tapping into a network for the purpose of doing business” (Ashwill 2005, 100.p.).

Page 62 of 228 Moreover, the intercultural aspect of the situation has been mentioned when claiming: None of them noticed that they were talking to partners without cultural similarity (“and I mean the differences in ethnic characteristics may lead to differences in thinking and expressing thoughts”); consequently, the two sides both rushed to describe and evaluate the facts.

The different meaning and role of the term chị (elder sister) in Vietnamese language was pointed out by respondents: Mr. Béla didn’t understand the figurative sense of “my sister”, which is often used in Vietnamese business. Interviewees stated that the meaning of the term in this context is: “if you believe me, believe this ‘sister’” and that by using this kinship term Ms. Hien emphasized the close friendship with Trang, which couldn’t be understood by Mr. Béla. They stated that the reason of misunderstanding is lack of knowledge of Vietnamese addressing forms between younger and older: “chị của tôi” expresses respect , friendliness and creates trust 51 towards Ms. Trang. Respondents also claimed that Vietnamese often consider their older close friends as their elder brother or sister. It doesn’t mean that they are siblings.

An answerer identified this situation as the example of the institution of agency52 applied in Vietnamese business life: Agency means “I know this person so I will introduce him/her to you. This is a way Vietnamese deal with relationships: This is how she used ”. In the words of another respondent: “This is a common behavior in communication in Vietnam: They want to express their influence on the concerned person”.

Respondents articulated several pieces of advices to foreign entrepreneurs in Vietnam, such as: Foreign businessmen should study the receiving country’s customs and habits for success; entrepreneurs should try to exclude misunderstanding: Before doing business one should get to know habits, tradition, local people, local law and make decisions only after that. They added: It is necessary to study the introduced partners: If she is reliable, then the introducer has a really good intention. One respondent even quoted a proverb when

51 The importance of trust can be and is measured in different countries including Vietnam, where it shows a relatively high value of 41%, which indicates that “Society’s values are still largely oriented towards the family and a close circle of friends and relatives” (Nørland I. 2007, 81.p.). Meanwhile, “in post-Cold War Eastern European countries *…+ the level is generally very low” (Nørlund I. 2007, 82.p.). 52 In other literature (i.e. Ashwill 2005) another term, sponsorship, is used in the same meaning.

Page 63 of 228 stating: “Mr. Béla should remember the proverb: ‘When in Rome do as Romans do’ for not messing up again”.

Mr. Béla was also recommended to contact and work more with Ms. Trang, and if it is successful, then a mistake in introduction is not a basic factor: He should continue to work with her then. He was also suggested to find out the reason of the misunderstanding and to clarify it. He was advised to try to be more careful and find out more about Ms Trang: If she is a potential partner, then he should ignore the misunderstanding. Moreover, Mr. Béla was advised to gather and assess the authenticity of the information through multiple channels. Furthermore, he was seen as someone who did not learn carefully about the business environment in Vietnam and didn’t refer to his friends’ opinion. He was considered to be hasty to cut all connections despite the fact that to build a reliable foreign relationship is difficult and costly in terms of time and money.

Some of the answerers found Ms. Hien guilty of causing the misunderstanding, as she shouldn’t have used “slang” when communicating with foreigners. Answers presumed that if Ms. Hien had translated “my friend”, then Mr. Béla wouldn’t have misunderstood it (2).

Answerers made a distinction between European/Western and Vietnamese/Asian behavior: The reason of misunderstanding is the difference between Western and Asian people, as European people are straight and honest about relationship and money, which is different from Asian behavior. Others judged Mr. Béla’s behavior understandable, as he as a European businessman appreciates honesty. Vietnamese people are considered to bring relationships to work quite often while Hungarians are seen as people who do not lay emphasis on relationships in work.

5.3.2. Making an appointment

“Ms. Huong writes an email to her Hungarian boss, Mr. László which says:

”Dear Mr. László,

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan from Hanoi Corp. company called and sent me an email regarding the appointment for signing the contract. He would like to meet you tomorrow at 3 PM to sign it. If you cannot not make it tomorrow, then he suggests to sign it two months later, as next month is not appropriate for him.

Page 64 of 228 Please kindly notify me about your preferences.

Best regards,

Ms. Huong”

When reading the letter Mr. László gets upset: tomorrow he is busy all day, so he has to wait 2 months to sign the contract. He decides not to take the partner seriously and start negotiating with another one.”

Comments on this case study revealed discrepant opinions: Numerous respondents found Mr. László behaved properly (9), while others considered his behavior as not reasonable (6), even inflexible, subjective, impulsive, not clever or not wise, hot-tempered, premature, improper as well as rigid and hasty (3). Mr. László was recommended to be patient, as the issue is not urgent.

Respondents claimed that Mr. László should have made further endeavours to get to know the reason for the delay from his Vietnamese partner’s side (6) and to avoid missing a business chance: he didn’t look for the reasons before making a decision or maybe Mr. Tuan has some reason which is difficult to share. Or they presumed maybe Mr. Tuan had something important and had to leave for a while. They also recommended Mr. László to negotiate for a new appointment the earliest possible and to give priority to work and to re- negotiate the contract even if he had to wait for two months. They claimed Mr. László should have called Mr. Tuan to arrange the closest possible date for signing.

Differences between Hungarian and Vietnamese communication and behavior were also stressed: When cooperating with Asian or specifically Vietnamese partners, they should get to know their business style or Vietnamese are quite casual and inconsiderate in business while Hungarians as Europeans are straight, clear and honest; they (Hungarians) take their work seriously. Furthermore, according to interviewees, for Western people it is extremely important to keep an appointment on time. Answerers admitted Mr. László can have the same experience with the next partner.

Comments blaming Mr. Tuan included: It is Mr. Tuan’s fault, as he works without planning and doesn’t respect the partner or Mr. Tuan didn’t consider the contract important enough and Mr. Tuan’s behavior seems unreasonable, especially for the signing of the contract, which is important; moreover, Mr. Tuan’s behavior suggested that he doesn’t have the

Page 65 of 228 goodwill to cooperate and he worked in an unprofessional and insulting way. Some labelled the behavior of the Vietnamese person awkward.

Respondents confirmed time is an important factor of business life: Mr. László is right, as “time is money” or “time is golden”: In business you cannot wait for too long, you must start negotiating with another partner. They expressed their conviction that Mr. László’s behavior was understandable, as there is no business which can wait for two months.

Parties were advised to communicate more effectively: They should be cautious in communication and they need to discuss more to find a solution. They added both sides should continue negotiating for the best solution: This is a business chance and it is possible that with further discussions they can find out the most satisfactory solution. Interviewees suggested that Mr. László should discuss the date and time of mutual consent, or both parties should agree in a time if both are willing to cooperate. Some thought it was Mr. László who should come up with a solution. Mr. László was advised to cleverly invite Mr. Tuan for a lunch, which could help Mr. Tuan and Ms. Huong understand how to work with him.

The behavior of Mr. Tuan was interpreted as a possible expression of refusal: It is not a serious appointment but seems like a denial or this email means a refusal to negotiate with the Hungarian partner. Another idea raised: It is possible that Vietnamese wants to check the Hungarian partner.

5.3.3. Borrowing inside the family

“Phuong, a 29-year-old woman, says her elder brother was in a difficult situation last year. He had no job and the only way he could earn money was taking a job as a driver. But he needed to buy a small 16-seater bus to be able to do that.

Their mother decided to give her son the necessary amount, 11.000 USD, which she took from her daughter Phuong’s savings. At first Phuong was angry that her family took her money without even asking her. Then she accepted the situation, and two years later when she needed support for her studies abroad, her mother reimbursed her the money.”

A majority of interviewees considered this situation as not typical in Vietnam (20) while a smaller proportion (5) thought it was typical. Some admitted it can happen in Vietnam but is

Page 66 of 228 not very usual (3) while some claimed it usually occurs in Vietnam (3). Answers showed a more even distribution (consequently a more uncertain approach) in connection to Hungary: Some thought it is not typical for Hungary (3) or rarely occurs in Hungary (6), other presumed it can occur in Hungary (6); meanwhile, others claimed: A similar case doesn’t occur in Hungary (6).

The most common viewpoint of respondents reflected the idea that the mother made a mistake: The mother’s behavior is wrong (2) or the mother behaved in an unreasonable way. Respondents claimed that she should have consulted with her daughter (2) before taking a decision (5) and that the mother has partially violated Ms. Phuong’s individual rights and private property (2); moreover, her behavior is not right, as the consent of the daughter is needed. Interviewees seem to agree that the mother should have asked her daughter’s opinion and only if she agreed, then the she [the mother] could have given the money to her son. Moreover, they claimed that it is not clear why the mother was keeping her daughter’s savings and whether she had any right to use it or not and that offspring in Vietnam have their own accounts; parents cannot interfere with. By contrast, in Hungary family members are assumed to often discuss to reach a common consent.

Regarding the violation of Ms. Phuong’s rights, answerers reckoned that the personal right in Vietnam is not properly respected, as the money is Ms. Phuong’s individual property. A comparison between the current situation and different forms of behavior can be identified in the answers: Nowadays independence and equality of family members are higher: if you want to borrow something in Vietnam (especially property), then you need to ask for the owner’s opinion.

Another noticeable concept described by respondents refers to the difference between the notion of family in Hungary and Vietnam53: Vietnamese can easily understand this situation, the mother can say: “Where is the money I spent on bringing you up from? Didn’t you see your elder brother is facing difficulties while you don’t need that money for anything! So

53 Family plays a central role in Vietnam as discussed by scholars of diverse fields (Thêm 2008, Bich 1999, Dalton et el. 2001, etc.)’ many of them connect the family to the agrarian origins of society:. “A traditional East Asian agrarian society, for example, is normally focused around family relations (Pham Van Bich 1999). The family plays a role as a survivor value, and familial ties and traditional authority patterns are emphasized within such networks” (Dalton et al. 2001, 3.p).

Page 67 of 228 selfish!”. The role of the mother in the Vietnamese family is emphasized in statements such as: The mother may be the one who manages money, and she may use it effectively for the family. The mother was judged as quite decisive and believes in her decision: She thinks she can pay back the money any time.

Respondents confirmed that even for family members as wife, husband, parents and siblings, it is necessary to consult before using someone’s property – this expresses mutual respect and does not offend others.

The notion of the family in Vietnam is further elaborated when stating: In Vietnamese families mutual assistance spirit is very high; it is common that siblings help each other and Vietnamese family members can borrow properties if agreed. According to respondents in Vietnam, in villages it is possible for those who live in one house; meanwhile, in Hungary it is presumed to happen only in villages, where people live attached to each other.

Some further differences between Hungary and Vietnam can be identified in statements such as: It cannot occur in Hungary, as families have few children, or Hungarians live independently under discipline and law; they are not so complaisant as Vietnamese. Hungarians are seen as very fair and clear in terms of finance, even family members, and they observe the law and respect each other.

5.3.4. Singing

“At an international conference organized in Vietnam, one of the Hungarian participants reported about her shocking experience. She took part in a panel discussion where she was one of those five persons to present her research. Before her presentation a Vietnamese participant asked the leaders of the panel to allow him to sing a song. Although the program of the conference has been precisely set up, and there was no such program element as singing, the leaders agreed. He stood up and sang a Vietnamese song to the surprise of the Hungarian guest. All participants enjoyed the scene and rewarded him with a big applause. After the incident, the conference continued where it had been interrupted. But because of the song, the lady did not have enough time for her entire presentation and participants could not carefully discuss her really important recommendation.”

Page 68 of 228 Respondents sympathized with the Hungarian lady and understood the fact that she was shocked not to be able to finish her presentation. Some of them presumed that a similar case rarely occurred in Vietnam, or the situation was unlikely to happen; others even claimed that the situation was impossible to occur in Vietnam.

The conflict was attributed by a high number of answerers to the fault of the panel leader (11), stating that his behavior was not reasonable and satisfactory (3) or the panel leader should have carried out the planned program, assuring time, duration and quality of each subject at the conference (2) and the responsibility goes to the organizers for the unplanned item and its effect; moreover, the panel leader shouldn’t have allowed this unplanned event (2). Further remarks concluded similarly that the panel leader did not work seriously, professionally, and more or less did not respect the conference content; the panel leader must have guaranteed that all participants can have enough time; the panel leader should have arranged this program so that it would not affect the discussion in a negative way; the panel leader shouldn’t have allowed this action and the panel leader didn’t carry out the plan. Interviewees claimed that once the panel leader allowed such an item, they should have extended the time of the conference.

Some respondents sympathized with the Hungarian participant of the conference, claiming it affected the Hungarian lady in a negative way: “I don’t agree with letting the Vietnamese person sing”; or the Vietnamese man shouldn’t have asked to sing, as it made a negative effect on the lady.

Interviewees who blamed the lady for the situation supposed that the problem must have originated from the lady’s too-long presentation or that the presentation would have not failed if the Hungarian lady had known how to control her discussion and the situation. In addition they claimed that the Hungarian lady should have suggested keeping the time frames of her presentation. They also referred to the Hungarian lady’s European disciplinary habits: She should have explored the song’s meaning to understand the reason why the audience liked it and also suggested her to sympathize with the organizers.

Other respondents blamed the Vietnamese participants of the scene for being disorganized, which needs to be addressed and improved. They opposed Vietnamese to Hungarians presuming that in Hungary, plans and rules must be respected, and stating that Vietnamese

Page 69 of 228 should abide by the discipline in order to avoid affecting others in a negative way. They agreed that it was a bad habit in Vietnam not to respect rules and plans. Answerers confirmed that the situation was not consistent with Hungarian culture.

Respondents reckoned that the request for singing a song could be accepted during the interval or break among different program elements; others stated that the song item could occur during the break between presentations. They admitted that the experience must have been shocking for the Hungarian lady even if all participants enjoyed it. They interpreted the situation as more lively with the song and they presumed that the audience felt more comfortable when listening to the song – even though it put the lady at a disadvantage. Others claimed it might have led to an unforgettable experience for the Hungarian lady.

Some suggested that the timing of program points of an international conference shouldn’t be considered in a rigid “robot-like” style, as it might lead to failure or unsatisfactory results.

5.4. STATEMENTS

Respondents were requested to scale from 1 to 9 to what extent they could identify themselves with certain statements (10 in total), to give a further, textual explanation to their evaluation. Statements were worded intentionally in a more or less stereotypical way. One half of the sentences (five) drew up assumptions on Vietnamese entrepreneurs, the remaining five dealt with Hungarian businesspersons. The majority of the statements (eight, equalling 80%) were selected from one of the preliminary studies (Lénárt I., 2013b), carried out as preparation for this dissertation; the source of the remaining two is also the same study but those latter sentences have been slightly modified and tailor-made for the current research. Consequently, all statements are real, spontaneous stereotypical utterances of interviewees originating from previous research.

Table 6 shows values of 1 to 9 where score of 1 means that the respondent fully agreed with the statement; meanwhile a score of 9 stands for complete disagreement. Value 5 reflects a neutral opinion. The average of all 272 responses in total was 4.6, deviating by -0.4 points (8%) from the grand average. We can interpret the above as saying that reactions to

Page 70 of 228 statements were balanced in both directions (agreement-disagreement). In the difference from the average scores from -1.8 points to 1.4 points, the most significant disagreement could be observed in the case of statement no. 4, while the highest level of agreement was for statement no. 8.

Below we check the opinions given to all 10 statements one by one and give an analysis of the textual comments as well. In each case we will quote the original statement first, then highlight the most relevant information gained from interviewees.

Neutral, Completely agree no opinion Completely disagree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ∑ Avg* Diff** In Vietnam ethical business behaviour is 1 not an obligatory norm. 18 2 0 7 4 11 12 12 22 88 5.8 0.8 When communicating, Hungarian businessmen are too sensitive and unable 2 to bear silence from their partner’s side. 13 9 18 7 28 2 8 1 1 87 3.9 -1.1 Vietnamese businessmen are only willing to make any efforts if the project offers a very short-term financial return. They don’t like to fight for vague and long- 3 term goals. 14 11 17 14 9 10 2 9 2 88 4.0 -1.0 Vietnamese partners are amongst the 4 most unreliable ones in Asia. 8 4 0 2 15 12 13 20 16 90 6.3 1.3 Northern and Southern Vietnam are two completely different regions in terms of 5 business environment. 13 12 17 27 8 10 2 5 1 85 3.8 -1.2 Hungarian businessmen speak forthright on the topic (they do not "beat around 6 the bush"). 17 12 14 18 25 2 1 0 0 89 3.4 -1.6 Hungarians usually feel that Vietnamese 7 intrude into their private space. 6 7 6 6 22 13 6 9 13 88 5.5 0.5 Hungarians speak gently, patiently and 8 politely. 14 15 28 20 4 2 1 3 1 88 3.2 -1.8 Hungarians often speak overconfidently, they want to show more than reality 9 (show off). 6 3 3 3 12 17 15 17 15 91 6.3 1.3 When Vietnamese businessmen see a profitable business opportunity, they prefer to solve the funding within their own circles, and are reluctant to involve a 10 foreigner. 10 9 16 6 27 9 4 2 2 85 4.1 -0.9 Total: 119 84 119 110 154 88 64 78 73 879 4.6 -0.4 Table 6: Distribution of scores from responses given to Questions no. 4.1.-4.10. (Questionnaire no. 3.) *Average, **Difference from mean value

5.4.1. Ethics

“In Vietnam ethical business behavior is not an obligatory norm.”

Results show that respondents generally do not agree with this statement. The difference from neutral opinion is 0.8, a relatively high value, showing general disagreement. The highest number of maximum score “9” was given (in 22 cases representing 25%) to this

Page 71 of 228 sentence. The answers proved to be somewhat contradictory when we interpret the fact that besides a high occurrence of maximum scores, the lowest score of “1” was also selected in a high proportion (18 cases). Taking the textual explanations into account, we can state that the sentence was understood in two different ways, causing some distortion in the results. One interpretation of the statement refers to a theoretical, ideotypical way how things “should be” or “should not be” in Vietnam (see response: “Only when an enterprise attaches much importance to ethics does it develop in a long-term and sustainable way”). Meanwhile the other understanding of the statement is how the situation in reality is.

According to the textual explanation, 44% of respondents explicitly expressed their conviction that ethical behavior is or should be an obligatory norm in Vietnam, while 11% claimed it is still should not. For the latter opinion arguments included “it is not laid down in laws”; “it is not strict in Vietnam”; “behavior breaking rules has not been accused strictly, sometimes have been ignored”; “due to the weak system, non-ethical businessmen/businesswomen are not punished properly”; “in reality it is hard to control business ethics” and “victims are not protected”. When trying to point out the reason of such differences, respondents claimed that “Vietnamese awareness on law is low” and “they are not familiar with legal consulting services”. One respondent added that “in the past, it might not have been an obligatory norm but recently it has been changing”.

Interviewees very clearly stated that a considerable difference exists between Vietnam and Hungary or in a wider sense between “Europe” or “Western countries” (and “USA”) in this regard. They agreed that ethical behavior in business is a must for many reasons including: “to create value for the country and for society”; to “create high-quality products, maintain prestige and attract customers” as well as for “contributing to the country’s development”; “creating profits, expanding, developing and for sustainable development” and “for stable development”. They also state that ethical business behavior “plays an important role in building the enterprise’s prestige, even determining the success or the failure of an enterprise” as well as an important factor of “enterprises’ long-term existence and development” and “in all parts of the world only entrepreneurs who have ethical business behavior are respected”. The necessity of applying the principles of ethics in business is even more important, consequently “selling food at high prices during national disasters like flood

Page 72 of 228 is a condemnable act, trading with fake products, especially fake medicines, is harmful for society and is an unacceptable behavior”. A respondent quoted the saying “virtuous ones will be rich” and added that it means that in business, ethical behavior is necessary.

Another respondent claimed that the question of business ethics can be approached from different angles. If we understand it as not dodging the taxes or not behaving rudely with employees54 then it is still not an obligatory norm in Vietnam (consequently, these phenomena are still widespread in the country). However, if we examine the notion of not tricking customers or partners, then we can see it is a widely accepted concept of the local business community. Yet another interviewee added: “Business is about trickiness and flexibility, not about ethics”.

A bigger part of respondents acknowledged the presence of unethical business behavior in Vietnam and that “there are individuals who do business illegally”, “some enterprises actually defy this norm” or “there is a number of Vietnamese businessmen who only care about immediate profits”. Meanwhile, some claimed we cannot generalize, as “it depends on each individual/entrepreneur”. This is a recurring argument throughout the research, presumably mainly due to the fact that all statements are obviously expressing generalizations for all Vietnamese or Hungarian businesspersons.

In summary, we can state that the concrete answer and score for the question whether the respondent agreed with the statement or not reflects a general disagreement, suggesting that respondents refuse Vietnam as a place where ethical business behavior is a must. At the same time in the detailed answers respondents very clearly stated that illegal, unethical activity of businessmen and disrespect of the law and regulations are widespread in Vietnam. Moreover, replies showed that there was a considerable difference in this regard between Vietnamese and Hungarian or European/Western entrepreneurs.

54 The phenomenon of rude speech in offices and workplaces resulted in a new initiative by the Hanoi People’s Committee, which started to elaborate and plans to issue a code of conduct “to ban people from using derogatory language” (Vinh, 2015).

Page 73 of 228 5.4.2. Sensitivity and silence

“When communicating, Hungarian businessmen are too sensitive and unable to bear silence from their partner’s side.”

The second statement referred directly to communicational aspects of Hungarian- Vietnamese business relations. A rather strong agreement was expressed from the answerers’ side with an average score of 3.9, showing a -1.1-point difference in comparison with the neutral value. Only 1-1 respondents showed disagreement level 9 or 8; 46% of the answers belong to the first 3 values, meaning “completely agree” with the statement. Interestingly, several respondents interpreted “sensitive” as a fully positive term; meanwhile – at least in this context – the Hungarian or English terms (érzékeny or sensitive) have negative connotations. The following opinions suggest that respondents interpreted this adjective in different ways: “sensitivity is essential, especially at first contact when we don’t know the partner”; “sensitivity and caution are necessary to communicate in business”; “until you know the partner you must be vigilant and careful”.

The sentence contained two substatements. Regarding sensitivity, 22% of the respondents gave direct answers. Out of those, 19% considered Hungarians to be sensitive while only 3% saw them as “not too sensitive”. The approach that each individual is different also appeared among replies with such opinions as “some of them can bear silence” or “true but there are exceptions”. Some 26% of answerers gave clear indication if Hungarians can suffer silence: 22% out of those expressed their conviction that they could; meanwhile, 4% thought they could not. Another 12% said Hungarians “don’t like silence”.

Interestingly, the great majority of respondents replied by enlisting more characteristics (adjectives) which they found appropriate to describe Hungarians, such as: “cautious” (also “not cautious” and “not overcautious”), “enthusiastic”, “open-minded”, “friendly”, “straight”, “straightforward”, “honest”, “not too watchful”; or other ways to characterize Hungarians and their communication habits, for instance: “speak directly”, “speak to the focus”, “they consider carefully”, “Hungarians do what they say, they are straightforward and impartial”.

This statement yielded several opinions on the communicative role of silence in general and in business, including: “Hungarians don’t like silence as time-consuming and no

Page 74 of 228 communicative purpose”; silence “probably happens when no one understands the other – in this case to do business is impossible”; “nobody likes it when the other doesn’t say a word; silence can cause unexpected results”; “in silence it is hard to guess the partner’s opinion and his character which limits trust between the two sides”; “businessmen, they need to give their opinion (cannot keep silent)”; “in business silence means doubt or disagreement”. The most frequently expressed opinion of respondents stated that “no one likes silence”. Talking about negotiation style, answerers claimed that “carefulness sometimes causes an uninteresting and boring atmosphere in negotiations, which may lead to unexpected results”.

Respondents referred to the difference between Hungarian (Western) and Vietnamese culture in terms of sensitivity and bearing silence: The statement is “true for those who don’t know much about Vietnamese people and culture”; “they are Western people so Hungarians are sensitive and cannot bear silence”; “Hungarian businessmen are quite open- minded, which originates from cultural nature: They don’t try to get profit at any cost” and “European people (including Hungarians) really like their partners to give some clear ideas or opinions in communication”.

In terms of communicational habits, answerers mentioned different characteristics of Hungarians such as: “communicate open-mindedly, friendly and good-heartedly”, “Hungarians often speak straight and directly”, “they like clearness”, “talking about communication, Hungarians are quite sensitive, cautious and they don’t like when their partner doesn’t say anything”.

As summary, we can claim that respondents agree that Hungarians are sensitive and cannot bear silence. Interviewees identified sensitivity of Hungarian businesspersons as a positive characteristic, which helps them to be more cautious and vigilant. They also drew attention to the cultural difference when interpreting silence from the Vietnamese side.

Page 75 of 228 5.4.3. Horizon

“Vietnamese businessmen are only willing to make any efforts if the project offers a very short-term financial return. They don’t like to fight for vague and long-term goals.”

The general approach to this statement is agreement: Respondents gave an average score of 4.0, which is 1.0 points down from neutral opinion. Some 37,5% of answerers chose grade 1-3 as a sign of agreement. The sentence consisted of three substatements on whether Vietnamese entrepreneurs are ready to fight for 1./ short-term; 2./ long-term; 3./ vague goals.

A third (33%) of all respondents were confident that Vietnamese businesspersons make efforts only in the case of short-term projects: “Only a small part of Vietnamese businessmen is interested in not prompt business” or “another reason is their lust for immediate profit”. In connection with long-term goals, opinions differed: some (7%) claimed Vietnamese “don’t fight for long-term goals”, others assume they “make an attempt on long-term” or “for long-term it is likely they try”. Another reply stated, “Some have the talent to have a vision for the future and have financial skills, they dare and like long-term, not clear, adventurous plans”.

The usual assumption appeared again: “Each individual is different”, “it depends on each enterprise’s view”, “It is true for many Vietnamese businessmen, but not all”, “for long-term goals it depends on each individual” or “Vietnamese businessmen also have long-term projects”. In the case of vague goals 33% expressed their conviction that Vietnamese entrepreneurs don’t fight for those. Some respondents argued: “they prefer to work out clearly profitable projects to fighting for vague goals”.

The most widespread presumption on the reason why Vietnamese businesspersons usually think on the short-term was lack of capital: “Vietnamese entrepreneurs don’t have enough capital, as they are just entering industrialized economy”; “many Vietnamese have low capital, that’s why they think on short-term, they cannot afford long-term” or “it is possible due to limited capital of entrepreneurs”. Another reason for the motive is that of risk- avoidance: “Generally all entrepreneurs want the projects to offer a very short-term financial return to avoid risks and losses”. Another respondent divided the answer into two: “in case of under-capitalization, they will choose projects offering a very short-term financial return;

Page 76 of 228 meanwhile, in case they have enough capital, they will make efforts for long-term goals.” One interviewee referred to the general character of Vietnamese when stating: “it is possible because of limited resources and Vietnamese’s makeshift character”.

Personal characteristics of Vietnamese were also raised as a background factor of the phenomenon: “Vietnamese are short-sighted, the term ‘instant noodle’ is applied in all social and business activities”55 or “Vietnam is an agricultural country, people are short-sighted” and “short-term projects consume less expense and Vietnamese businessmen can exploit immediately while long-term investments need more capital as for example investment in a threshing-machine”.

According to respondents, private companies more frequently concentrate on short-term projects than state-owned ones: “Private companies work for short-term goals, they do small, quick business” or “private enterprises often make efforts in projects with short-term financial return; meanwhile, state-owned enterprises focus on durable development so they join in every field”. Concrete company names have been mentioned as well: “Nowadays many entrepreneurs put effort into long-term projects (FPT, Viettel, Vingroup, Sungroup, etc.)”.

Some atypical answers were found such as: “In business short-term and long-term projects alternate to ensure the stable development of the company” or “it depends on the project manager and where the capital is from”; moreover, “some Vietnamese entrepreneurs are living and working in Budapest, they bought houses and even invite their relatives over there”.

5.4.4. Reliability

“Vietnamese partners are amongst the most unreliable ones in Asia.”

The strongest disagreement was experienced when evaluating reactions to this statement. Over half (54%) of respondents gave scores within the interval “completely disagree”; the average shows the highest, a 1.3 point alteration from the neutral attitude.

55 Instant noodle is a widespread nutrition as well as one of the cheapest options for a quick meal in Vietnam.

Page 77 of 228 Some 18% of interviewees argued that “foreign countries work with Vietnamese” as proof that the statement is untrue. Some also added “foreigners want to cooperate” or “Vietnam is an economically attractive country“, and “more and more foreign countries come to Vietnam to invest”; furthermore, there is “much inward investment in Vietnam”. From the other side, respondents argued that Vietnamese businesspersons are also keen on working with foreign partners: “They appreciate to work with foreign countries, especially after integration”.

Answerers stated that Vietnamese entrepreneurs are improving in terms of reliability: “Vietnamese partners are more and more reliable” or “today, young businessmen have knowledge, experiences and they make huge progress”, “they have made large progress, have long-term vision and strategy now, so, they became more reliable”; moreover, “in the past, Vietnam was a poor country that could make Vietnamese partners unreliable, but today everything is changing”.

The highly stereotypical and strongly negative statement also resulted in many responses confirming that each individual is different and generalization is not the proper way to approach this question. Responses included: “In all countries there are reliable and unreliable partners”; “there are all types of people (see the proverb: Among five fingers there are long and short ones56)”; “some are unreliable, but most of them are reliable”; “in any country, there are unreliable partners: In Vietnam the root of them is higher because of not serious sanctions”, “no garden is without its weeds”, “there is always a black sheep in every flock” and “don’t put everything in the same basket”.

Respondents also emphasized the reliability of Vietnamese businesspersons when stating: “Although Vietnamese businessmen are short-sighted, they do not try by trickery” or “Vietnamese partners are reliable”. Another respondent claimed that “the matter is how investors choose and find out about business partners: good to use business consulting companies”.

56 This is a bonmot originating from a letter of Ho Chi Minh written in 1946 after the August Revolution. The original saying is: Năm ngón tay có ngón ngắn, ngón dài (Among the five fingers there are short ones and long ones as well). The abstract meaning is that although Vietnamese are different , they need to unite and support each other.

Page 78 of 228 A minority of answerers (11%) agreed with the statement, arguing that “Asian partners are generally less reliable than European ones”; “European people are more honest than Asians”; “some Vietnamese partners do not care about their prestige and long-term cooperation”; “Vietnamese partners create less trust”; “Vietnamese businessmen have not yet created prestige and trust yet”. Nevertheless, the opposite opinion regarding Vietnamese entrepreneurs also appeared: The “majority of them have the ability and responsibility so they gain prestige”.

Some respondents involved other nationalities in the comparison, implying that “in Asia Japanese businessmen are the most honest ones” and “in China there are also many unreliable partners: Vietnamese are still trying to make a good impression on business partners”.

The difference between Northern and Southern Vietnam was also mentioned with a connotation that Southerners are more reliable in business: “Southern people have done business for longer time, the environment is more competitive”.

5.4.5. North-South

“Northern and Southern Vietnam are two completely different regions in terms of business environment.”

Only a low proportion, 9%, of respondents disagreed completely with this statement. Average alteration from the mean is -1.2 points, a high value compared to overall results. Generally, replies can be described as strongly agreeing with the above sentence; meanwhile, a solid proportion of answerers (50%) stressed the difference between Southern and Northern business environment is only partial; 31% claimed there are considerable differences.

Southern entrepreneurs are seen as more professional and reliable than Northerners. Respondents confirmed that: “Southern businessmen are more professional, industrious and reliable compared to Northerners”, they are “more decisive and reliable in negotiating a contract” or “Southern people are more developed in terms of market ideas”. They claim that “business environment in the South is more convenient”.

Page 79 of 228 The most common argument for the differences is that the South bears the characteristics of European/Western countries: “South is Western style, North shows Asian features”, “Northern people’s style resembles Asians’ while Southerners are influenced by European people’s style”.

According to interviewees, the differences are shown in individuals’ behavior: “Southerners are more open-minded”, “Southern people are more generous and easier than Northerners because of more contact with foreign countries”, “Northerner people have high spirit of responsibility”, “Northerners are more cautious and careful while Southerners are more open-minded in business”, “Southerner businessmen prefer long-term projects, Northerners go for short-term goals”, “in the North they consider more carefully and don’t carouse much, while in the South think more generally they carouse”. Another argument for characteristics on the level of the individual: “Southern people like to engage in drunken merrymaking: they don’t need to earn too much money so they do business in a dynamic way and take decisions quickly”. Moreover, “Northern people make efforts to earn money for building a big house and to purchase something (they are economical) while Southern people don’t care much about externalities (house, clothes)”.

From answers a stricter and more strongly administrative North and a more vibrant and liberal South are shaping up: “South is more flexible”, “South is more developed than the North”, “Southern environment is more convenient “, “in Southern Vietnam, business is noisier, gaudier and more bustling than in the North”, “in the South entrepreneurs contact with a market economy earlier, the North is under the influence of administrative subsidies”, “in the South it is easier to do business while Northern Vietnam is quite outdated”, “the North is changing slower than the South”, “in terms of business environment North has more strict procedures”, “in the North business is based on administrative subsidies and is somewhat more complicated”, “the North is a centralized economy, in the South a market economy”, “North consists of undersubsidized, self-governing institutions, in South the market mechanism appeared earlier“, “in the North there is a plan mechanism; meanwhile, in the South there is a market mechanism”, “streets of Saigon are more bustling and heated than those of Hanoi”.

Page 80 of 228 Several answers rely on the fact that the two regions have different business systems and regulations: “They have some differences due to the influences of unlike regimes: in the North they did not open their markets and allow businessmen to freely do business with foreigners until 1970, while in the South they got accustomed to capitalism very soon”, “while the North never experienced capitalist economy, in the South it has been present for 20 years”, “Southern Vietnam’s living style is opener because it has contacted more with Western capitalism”.

Some further differences between South and North Vietnam as seen by respondents include: different business and living environment, style, habits, customs, regulations, dialect, personality, climatic conditions, transport, restaurants, distribution of mineral resources.

Finally, respondents confirmed that “more and more Northerners go to the South to do business”, in a sense that Northerners are opening up and trying to “make efforts to narrow the gap”.

5.4.6. Directness

“Hungarian businessmen speak forthright on the topic (they do not "beat around the bush").”

When asking about directness in speech, an overwhelming majority of respondents agreed that Hungarians speak straight on the topic (“yes, this is Hungarian nature”; “they speak fast and straight on the topic”, “Hungarians are very straight, put all their goods in the window”) while most of them stated that Vietnamese tend to “beat around the bush”. Few respondents (9%) chose values 7-9, meaning they completely disagree; meanwhile, 49% fully agreed with the statement (value 1-3). Respondents see Hungarians as straight people (29%), both in general and in business, while one respondent claimed that “related to doing business, sometimes they are not very straight and honest”.

The majority of interviewees identify straightforward speech with Western behavior (opposed to Asian attitude): “Asians ‘beat around the bush’ and are not as decisive as Westerner ones”; “this is the common character of entrepreneurs of developed countries”;

Page 81 of 228 “Hungarians use Western manners”; “they are not so careful with their words as Vietnamese”; “this is the general manner of Western businessmen”; “Hungarians represent some European characteristics, one of which is a straight way of thinking”, “these are Western characteristics”; “Hungarians don’t ‘beat around the bush’ as Asians”. One respondent quotes a linguistic example from the time he spent in Hungary as a student, claiming that “Dormitory – No cooking!” is a direct way of communication used in Hungarian dormitories.

We can also meet an opinion that Hungarians and Vietnamese have common traits, as both nations originate from Asia: “Because Hungarians originate from Asian people, they are also very clever; they show directly their opinion”. Hungarians are also compared to Germans as being less forthright in communication: “I had been in contact with many Hungarian businessmen when I studied in Hungary and I found that they usually don’t speak forthright on the topic like Germans do”.

Among the usual reactions against generalizations, we can meet the point of view that “most of them are straight, but not everyone” and “it depends on each person, each context and circumstances”. One respondent stressed: “There are delicate things that need to be expressed in an implicit way. If you said it straight, this could make the atmosphere stressful.”

5.4.7. Intrusion into private space

“Hungarians usually feel that Vietnamese intrude into their private space.”

The average value of 5.5 shows balanced results with a slight disagreement with this statement. Several answerers declared their disagreement by replying: “I don’t think so”. Meanwhile, 47% of respondents did not have a strong opinion on this and stayed neutral when commenting.

When claiming the statement is not true, several respondents referred to some positive characteristics of Hungarians, such as: enthusiastic (22%), friendly (19%), hospitable, open- minded, heartfelt, approachable, sociable, willing to share, willing to help others, helpful with Vietnamese and cherish Vietnamese.

Page 82 of 228 Respondents stated that Vietnamese people are curious in general and may ask questions that sound too private or impolite to Westerners. For instance, such questions asked by Vietnamese as a way to say hello to each other as “Have you eaten yet?”, “Where are you going?”” or “What are you doing?” often show they care about the other and does not express any form of impoliteness57. As one of the respondents worded: “Vietnamese people often ask close persons some questions related to private life.”

The above questions can be misunderstood “due to cultural and habitual differences”. Respondents confirmed that the reason for misunderstanding is the “lack of knowledge about Vietnamese culture”; moreover, Vietnamese people usually ask private questions to show their care, but do not mean to intrude into their partner’s private space. As respondents confirm, “Vietnamese are unintentionally curious or overconcerned: This makes Hungarians feel like” they intrude into their private space. If Hungarians understand Vietnamese, they will not think likewise. A respondent expressed his belief that the reason for such difference is: “because one of the traditional characteristics of Vietnamese is curiosity and care about acquaintances; Vietnamese may simply want to find the way how to know more and help others”.

On the other hand, respondents also claim that Vietnamese people are not aware of Hungarian culture: “Due to their lack of proper knowledge of Hungarian culture, Vietnamese people are usually considered to intrude into the other’s private space” or “most Vietnamese have only basic knowledge about Western communication culture when contacting with Hungarians”. As worded by another answerer: “Vietnamese people are often misunderstood and considered to be too curious and intrude into another’s private space because of their enthusiasm and lack of cultural knowledge”.

They further claim that Vietnamese “build their sibling-like close relationships” so there are some forms of behavior which are considered by Europeans as an intrusion to their private space. Interviewees argue that Vietnamese are more direct than Europeans due to their open-mindedness: “They cherish, share joy and sorrow” with each other. They state that the

57 We note that besides the above questions, Vietnamese often ask about the age (How old are you?), sometimes ask about topics that might be considered sensitive in Europe such as about earnings (How much is your salary?).

Page 83 of 228 “openhearted and emotional behavior of Vietnamese people might be considered as impolite”.

A difference in communication and behavior is identified by a respondent who states: “Vietnamese people are curious: They don’t knock the door or ring the bell but rather call the host’s name. This comes from care about people around.” Several respondents quoted the Vietnamese saying: “Dear winter melon, love the calabash. In spite of different species, you share the same trellis”.

An analogy raised by an interviewee compared intrusion to private space to different preferences of food when saying: “We should respect each other because culture is diversity. For example, Western people like cheese and find grilled cuttlefish’s smell terrible while Asian people feel the opposite way”.

The opposition between Hungarians as Westerners and Vietnamese as Asians appears among the answers several times: “I find Hungarians approachable, enthusiastic and open- minded similarly to Asian people” or “Asian people’s characteristics are different from Western people: They are curious and care more about their partners’ families”. Respondents mention however, that the “situation is changing over time” and nowadays young Vietnamese to a lower extent intrude in others’ private space. Furthermore, “marriage between foreigners and Vietnamese is more and more accepted”.

5.4.8. Gentle and polite speech

“Hungarians speak gently, patiently and politely.”

The strongest consent could be observed when examining the opinions regarding this statement. Replies showed a -1.8 point alteration from a score of 5, resulting in an average of 3.2 points. A total of 65% of answerers completely agreed with the sentence (score 1-3), while 30% expressed more or less neutral opinion and 5% disagreed completely with it.

Besides strong agreement, several respondents mentioned that individual differences can be traced: “Some are like that, others are on the contrary”, “depending on each individual”, “usually true, but not for everyone”, “there are some exceptions”, “someone is impolite and hot-tempered”, “there are still some who are hot-tempered and impatient”, “some are

Page 84 of 228 impolite and brutal”, “there are some exceptions who can lose control when angry: these cannot succeed in Vietnam”.

Further than repeating the characteristics (gentle, patient and polite) referred to in the statement, respondents mentioned a variety of further adverbs or adjectives such as: “Hungarians are still ebullient besides gentle, polite and patient personalities”, “Hungarians speak gently (especially at public places)”, “they don’t speak loudly but calmly, patiently and politely”, “they are patient and polite in communication”, “they are cheerful and polite”, “they are very polite and do business seriously”, “they have good manners”; moreover, “they are not often angry”. An answerer also noted that Hungarians “always keep order, silence and queue up at public places”.

In comparison with other nationalities Hungarians are considered to be “not so furious as Germans”, “Hungarians are better than Russians: they are really tactful”, “Hungarians have some Asian features, so they are sometimes furious and speak aloud”, “compared to Americans, it is sure that Hungarians speak gently, patiently and politely” and “compared to European people, Hungarians are more delicate”.

An emotional connection between the two countries’ citizens can be presumed as respondents expressed: Hungarians “cherish Vietnamese”, “I like these characteristics of Hungarians”, “I like their way of speaking”. Interviewees stated that; these communication features are stronger, especially in the case of speaking with “elderly people and women”.

5.4.9. Overconfidence

“Hungarians often speak overconfidently; they want to show more than reality (show off).”

The majority of respondents (52%) were more against the statement than for it. The average 6.3 score reflects a quite strong, 1.3 point alteration from the mean value. Only 13% agreed with the statement.

Along opinions of dissent the following characteristics were attributed to Hungarians: “polite”, “friendly” and “sociable”, “simple”, “straight”, “balanced”, “enthusiastic”, “diligent”, “not overconfident”, “modest”, “plain people”, “lovable”, “open-minded”, “good-

Page 85 of 228 hearted”, “honest”, “secretive and simple: not racist”, “not self-righteous” and they “cherish Vietnamese people”. Moreover, Hungarians are considered to “behave correctly” and “respect other people” and to be “cautious”. Even if they are confident, they “don’t show off”. An overwhelming majority (71%) of answerers confirmed that Hungarians usually “don’t show off”.

An interviewee attributed Hungarians’ confidence to “their beautiful women and special language”.

According to answerers there are “more Vietnamese who speak overconfidently and show- off than Hungarians”. Hungarians are perceived as “very self-confident” “Western” people who show their confidence but do not show-off. Respondents claim it is possible that “when they show their confidence, it is considered as show-off”.

Hungarians are perceived as Europeans: “Hungarians are confident as other European people”, “they are European people with an Asian soul, so they are also really simple and modest, not overconfident”, “Hungarians are European people: They have confident manner and attitude”, “Hungarians are European people, so they often speak straight and show the problem clear”, “Hungarians are European people: They live in a straight and confident way”, “Hungarians are Western people, so their style is fast, confident”.

A couple of exemptions from the above-mentioned positive features are noted, namely: “They have a national superiority complex about language, country”, “they often show their confidence, sometimes it makes me feel that their mentality is higher than Vietnamese one”, “some of Hungarians are overconfident sometimes they make me feel that they think they are over than Vietnamese people”. An answerer added “in Vietnam overconfidence is not always good”.

Similarly to answers to the other statements in this case, respondent stressed again that it is impossible to generalize: “this depends on each person”, “it is according to each individual”.

Page 86 of 228 5.4.10. Willingness to involve a foreigner in the business

“When Vietnamese businessmen see a profitable business opportunity, they prefer to solve the funding within their own circles, and are reluctant to involve a foreigner.”

A high proportion, 49%, of answerers stayed neutral when expressing opinion on this statement. Only 9% of respondents disagreed.

Those 41% who agreed argued that Vietnamese are “reluctant to involve foreigners, they want to gain all profit”, they “don’t like to share the profit”, “they prefer to stand on their own feet” or “want to keep the highest profit possible internally”, they are “afraid of risks when cooperating with foreign partners” and they “prefer to use their own capital”. Vietnamese businesspersons usually “try to solve from their own circles: if it doesn’t work, then they involve foreigners”. “Vietnamese businessmen only involve a foreigner if it is compulsory”; moreover, they “want to play a decisive role in business; therefore, if there is any profitable business chance, they will use their own funds”.

Respondents added that “there are exceptions” and “if the project is beyond their capacity, they ask for the help of local or foreign companies (as stated in the Investment Law)”; moreover, “they are willing to involve a foreigner to capital-intensive projects”. Another interviewee claims “Vietnamese businessmen usually do not want to rely on a foreign source of capital; however, for huge projects they still need investment from foreigners”.

One respondent points out that the question is if the business partners have trust in each other or not: “if the partners are reliable and they trust each other, then Vietnamese businessmen are willing to cooperate”.

Among obstacles of involving a foreign partner interviewees mentioned “low management and foreign language skills and lack of confidence”, “Vietnamese businessmen are not very fluent in foreign languages: When negotiating, they often need interpreters so they don’t understand the content thoroughly”. Moreover, “most Vietnamese businessmen don’t know how to mobilize foreign capital sources”. They added that in some cases “foreign partners are not reliable enough to cooperate” and often “there is not enough contact with foreign investors”.

Page 87 of 228 The proverb “money and a section of bowel are associated” has been evoked by respondents.

Several respondents claimed it depends on each person: “according to each enterprise, each individual”, “it depends on each person, each case and each enterprise” and “if they want to own, they will use their own funds, if not, they will ask for foreigner’s support”. Answerers added: “if the co-operation brings lots of profits, they are willing to use foreign sources”.

The phenomenon is seen as changing in time: “recently this situation does not occur any longer, as Vietnamese businessmen are trying to attract foreign investment”, “many Vietnamese businesses are seeking for foreign investment”.

5.5. ASSOCIATIONS

In the form of free associations respondents were requested to share anything that comes to their mind when they hear the word or expression: (1) Hungary, (2) Vietnam, (3) a Hungarian person, (4) a Vietnamese person. This set of questions is somewhat similar and partly overlapping with Questionnaire no. 2. on stereotypes; however, we felt it necessary to firstly let the interviewees express their feelings and thoughts in a more independent and free – in a less-directed – way than in the course of the second set of questions. Besides, by mentioning the names of the two countries, Hungary and Vietnam, we hoped to evoke memories and receive answers and additional comments which lead us to the identification of further lacunas.

5.5.1. Hungary

We have cumulated a total number of 182 associations about Hungary. By far the highest proportion of respondents identified Hungary as his/her second homeland. Associations in connection with the beauty of the physical environment were expressed by such terms as: beautiful country, beautiful sceneries, beautiful and poetic view, nice landscapes, beautiful rivers, Budapest as “Paris of Europe”. Emotional ties to the country could be identified from descriptions of Hungary as a peaceful and a beloved country as well as proud to have been

Page 88 of 228 there. Attachment to friends and teachers were also stressed, in some cases the name of the university they attended or memories from that period were mentioned.

Excellent Hungarian cuisine or delicious dishes were enlisted in general; moreover, some specific beverages and dishes were named including: wine, Tokaji, halászlé (fish soup) and “spenótleves” (spinach soup58). Some of the utterances lost from their relevance as they referred to Hungary as a socialist country or an advanced country with colour television.

Characteristics Frequency 1. Second home\ My second homeland 35 2. A beautiful country 20 3. Peace\ Peaceful country 18 4. Friendly 10 5. Budapest capital 8 Memorable 6. Beautiful sceneries 7 Friends Memories 7. Beloved 6 Delicious dishes Small 8. Beautiful and poetic view\Nice landscapes 5 Halaszle\ fish soup My teachers 9. Intellectual 4 I studied there Table 7: Associations about Hungary: top nine characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) *For full results see Appendix no. 13.

In the top nine associations as well as outside of those (see Appendix no. 13.), we can find several that we will further analyse below as (potential) lacunae including: (1) intellectual, (2) antique (3) and close (as characteristics of Hungary); (4) freedom; (5) private room; (6) coffee; (7) Hungarian architecture; (8) A nation that suffered a lot from wars; (9) advantages of traffic; (10) agriculture and service-based economy; (11) airy and spacious; (12) ancient, clear country; (13) aren’t hard-working; (14) beautiful women; (15) civilized and clean

58 The name of the dish was presumably used in an incorrect way due to the fact that Hungarian cuisine consists of a special type of dish called “főzelék”, which is unknown in many other national cuisines including Vietnamese. The correct term is “spenót”, which is a type of “főzelék” – an example of lexical lacuna. For more details see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C5%91zel%C3%A9k

Page 89 of 228 country; (16) clean streets and environment; (17) close-knit; (18) contented; (19) country of jurisdiction and democracy; (20) deep sentiment for Vietnamese, “Vietnam, we are always beside you”; (21) museums; (22) obtain high achievements in sport; (23) orderliness; (24) outstanding scientists; (25) developed tourism; (26) geographical names such as Budaörs, Lillafüred, Dunakanyar, Miskolc, Esztergom, etc.; (27) high culture, Hungarian poetry dramas, songs; (28) Hungarian football team; (29) private enterprises; (30) indebted; (31) tidy and slow life; (32) vast sunflower fields; (33) Western country; (34) Hungarian language is difficult; (35) Hungary’s map; (36) in the past: a heroic nation, powerful empire; (37) limited natural resources; (38) developed economy and society; (39) large and rich country; (40) small country in Eastern Europe; (41) tourist attractions; (42) Tet holiday; (43) medium wealth; (44) sparse population; (45) take photos; (46) tempered climate.

5.5.2. Vietnam

In the case of free associations about Vietnam (115 different descriptions in total), interviewees expressed their affection and love towards the country. In first place they described Vietnam as their motherland/homeland/dear birthplace or native country. All expressions are filled with a positive emotion and a strongly positive meaning or connotation. Adjectives and adverbs as well as nouns such as beloved, dear, proud, affined, friendly, love and pride also signal their love towards the country.

A considerable number of respondents referred to challenges, struggles and ordeals when they mentioned war, a heroic country/nation, heroes/heroic leaders, brave nation, overcoming difficulties as well as by the fact that they wished peace for Vietnam. The appearance of the term national spirit implied that communitarian values strongly underlie Vietnamese society. Moreover, the above-seen stereotype of Vietnamese as hard-working, diligent people also appeared in the answers.

Page 90 of 228 Characteristics Frequency 1. Motherland\Homeland\Dear birthplace\Native country 19 2. War (consecutive, long, bloody, dire, dolorous) 17 3. Heroic country\nation 12 4. Beloved\Dear 9 Developing country Family\Parents\Relatives 5. Beautiful natural views, landscapes 8 6. Delicious dishes\cuisine 7 Diligent\hard-working people My country Proud 7. Friends 5 Heroes\Heroic leaders 8. Overcame difficulties 4 Poor country 9. Close-knit community 3 Have progress Intelligent/Intellectual Two regions: North and South Table 8: Associations about Vietnam: top nine characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) *For full results see Appendix no. 14.

The utterances which can be further discussed as potential lacunae or base for potential lacunae according to answers collected in this point are: (1) war; (2) heroic nation; (3) developing country; (4) family, parents, relatives; (5) heroes, heroic leaders; (6) overcoming difficulties; (7) poor country; (8) close-knit community; (9) intelligent/intellectual; (10) two regions: South and North; (11) abundant natural resources; (12) administrative; (13) animated; (14) attractive destinations like Ha Long Bay; (15) beautiful beaches/coastal country; (16) chaotic urban traffic; (17) compression of neighbours; (18) culture deeply imbued with national identity; (19) developing fast in the last 20 years; (20) difficult and outdated; (21) disunited; (22) ebullient; (23) fearless; (24) feel a little bit inferior; (25) feudal opinions still exist; (26) long history; (27) folk songs and lullaby; (28) government subsidies; (29) immense fields; (30) in love: less romantic than Europeans; (31) influenced by European culture; (32) intelligent people but they should learn from Japanese to strengthen cooperation; (33) many people drop litter, smoke, cough up phlegm in an uncontrolled way; (34) with people having high standing spirit; (35) limited natural resources; (36) noise; (37) loyal; (38) lenient; (39) many chances; (40) old-fashioned; (41) patriotism; (42) positive: belief in victory and hope to the future; (43) positive opening and international integration; (44) progress: buses and phones; (45) small country; (46) tempests; (47) unclean

Page 91 of 228 environment; (48) urban population is too crowded; (49) unsafe; (50) very fond of foreign things; (51) waterways.

5.5.3. A Hungarian person Answers to this question (108 dissimilar descriptions) resulted in a similar list of adjectives than that gained from Questionnaire no. 2 (see point 5.2.2.). Consequently, below we accentuate only those results which differ from already expounded ones.

Characteristics Frequency 1. Friendly 38 2. Enthusiastic (to help Vietnamese) 31 3. Intelligent 23 4. Hospitable 19 5. Good-hearted 16 Kindly 6. Sympathetic (to people in difficulty\to Vietnamese people) 14 7. Open-minded 13 8. Straight\Straightforward\Downright 12 9. Honest 9 Ready for help people who are in difficulties\Helpful\Willing to help 10. Heartfelt 8 Table 9: Associations about a Hungarian person: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) *For full results see Appendix no. 15. Three responses out of the top 10 results differed from those gained in point 5.2.2. Interviewees described Hungarians as sympathetic with an interpretation of “sympathetic to people in difficulty or sympathetic to Vietnamese people”. Similarly, Hungarians are seen as helpful or willing to help as well as ready for help people who are in difficulties. They are considered to have a straight/straightforward/downright character.

5.5.4. A Vietnamese person

Top five out of the most frequently mentioned adjectives characterizing Vietnamese people have already been listed out in Table 6, point 5.2.5 including diligent, hard-working, intelligent, friendly and hospitable.

Characteristics Frequency 1. Diligent 28 2. Hard-working 34 3. Intelligent 29 4. Friendly 22

Page 92 of 228 5. Hospitable 16 6. Kindly 15 7. Open-minded 13 8. Enthusiastic 11 9. Dynamic 8 Eager to learn Heroic\Heroic nation 10. Agile 7 Careful Painstaking Sincere Table 10: Associations about a Vietnamese person: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) *For full results see Appendix no. 16.

Out of the 165 associations collected, open-minded and pain-taking have been attributed to Vietnamese as well; meanwhile, new adjectives appeared in this free-association part ,such as: kindly, enthusiastic, dynamic, eager to learn, heroic (a heroic nation), agile, careful and sincere (see: Table 11 below).

5.6. PROVERBS

5.6.1. Vietnamese proverbs on money

Out of the 71 proverbs collected under this point a high proportion highlighted the importance, omnipotence or necessity of money, including the top-placed one (Có tiền mua tiên cũng được, “With money a fairy can be bought”), mentioned by 42 respondents. We can detect an association of the words tiền (money) and tiên (fairy) based on their similar forms and can state that some of the proverbs rely on similarity in form or sounding (see also fourth-placed proverb Tiền là Tiên, là Phật, “Money is a Fairy, a Buddha”).

Proverb in Vietnamese Number of Literal meaning Abstract meaning occurrences 1 Có tiền mua tiên cũng được 42 With money a fairy can Money is a passport to be bought everything 2 Luật trước cho người giàu, 24 First law for the rich, a One law for the rich, luật sau cho người khó later law for the poor another for the poor 3 Đồng tiền đi trước là đồng 21 Money given in advance He gives twice who tiền khôn is a wise money gives quickly 4 Tiền là Tiên, là Phật 15 Money is a Fairy, a With money you can Buddha buy anything 5 Phòng bệnh hơn chữa bệnh 14 Prevention is better A stitch in time saves than cure the disease nine

Page 93 of 228 Đồng tiền đi liền khúc ruột Money and bowels are Money and a section of attached together bowel are associated 6 Nén bạc đâm toạc tờ giấy 10 A silver ingot tears the Money can even paper corrupt the virtuous 7 Mua danh ba vạn bán danh 9 Bought reputation for A good name can be ba đồng thirty thousand, sold for lost faster than won three dong 8 Đầu tiên là tiền đâu 8 Firstly: Where is the No money, no talk / money? Money first 9 Phú quý sinh lễ nghĩa 7 Wealth gives birth to Plenty breeds pride manners 10 Tiền vào nhà khó như gió 5 Money goes to the poor For the poor money is vào nhà trống such as wind goes into spent fast an empty house 11 Tiền nào cũng là tiền 4 Any money is money Any money is money Cờ bạc là bác thằng bần Gambling is the uncle of Gambling leads to poverty misery Table 11: Vietnamese proverbs about money, at least four occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.) *For full results see Appendix no. 20.

The importance of money can be detected in several proverbs including: Đồng tiền đi liền khúc ruột (“Money and bowels are attached together”); Đầu tiên là tiền đâu (“Firstly: where is the money”) and Tiền nào cũng là tiền (“Any money is money”). Differences between rich and poor are stressed in Luật trước cho người giàu, luật sau cho người khó (“First law for the rich, a later law for the poor”), which reached 24 mentions and placed number 2, as well as Phú quý sinh lễ nghĩa (“Wealth gives birth to manners”) and Tiền vào nhà khó như gió vào nhà trống (“Money goes to the poor such as wind goes into an empty house”).

5.6.2. Hungarian proverbs on money

A total of 47 Hungarian proverbs related to money were accumulated by respondents out of which 24 were mentioned at least by two answerers. The original Hungarian versions together with literal translations to English can be seen in Table 13 below. The most frequently remembered proverb was Az idő pénz (Time is money), quoted 12 times, followed by Pénz beszél, kutya ugat (“Money talks, dog barks”) and Semmiből nem lesz semmi (“Nothing comes out of nothing”), each mentioned 10 times. Kétszer ad, ki gyorsan ad (“The one who gives fast gives twice”) was evoked by eight respondents.

Page 94 of 228 Proverb in Hungarian Number of Literal meaning in English occurrences 1 Az idő pénz 12 Time is money 2 Pénz beszél, kutya ugat 10 Money talks, dog barks Semmiből nem lesz semmi Nothing comes out of nothing 3 Kétszer ad, ki gyorsan ad 8 The one who gives fast gives twice 4 A fillér is pénz 7 Filler is also money 5 Sok kicsi sokra megy 6 Many little things form something great/valuable Ki korán kel, aranyat lel Who gets up early, finds gold 6 A pénznek nincs szaga 5 Money has no smell Olcsó húsnak híg a leve Cheap meat yields dilute soup 7 A legszebb szó a pénz 4 The most beautiful word is money 8 A pénz nem boldogít 3 Money will not make you happy Jobb adni mint kapni It is better to give than to receive Nem mind arany, ami fénylik It’s not all gold that glitters Rossz pénz nem vész el Bad money is never lost 9 Aki dolgozik, nem ér rá pénzt 2 Who works doesn’t have time to earn keresni money Aki keres, talál He who seeks finds Aki nem dolgozik, ne is egyék Who does not work, neither should eat Alkalom szüli a tolvajt Opportunity makes the thief Ismerik, mint a rossz pénzt He/she is known, like bad money Jobb a sűrű fillér, mint a ritka Thick fillers are better than rare forint forints Jobb ma egy fillér, mint holnap Better a filler today than a forint egy forint tomorrow Ki a kicsit nem becsüli, a nagyot Who does not appreciate the little, nem érdemli will not deserve the big Pénz olvasva, asszony verve jó Money is good when read, woman is good when beaten Se pénz, se posztó No money, no cloth Table 12: Hungarian proverbs about money, at least two occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.) *For full results see Appendix no. 21.

A considerable number (five out of 24 from Table 13 above) of evoked Hungarian proverbs referred to thriftiness, using money and resources in an economical way such as: A fillér is pénz (Filler is also money), Sok kicsi sokra megy (Many little things form something great/valuable), Jobb a sűrű fillér, mint a ritka forint (Thick fillers are better than rare forints), Jobb ma egy fillér, mint holnap egy forint (Better a filler today than a forint tomorrow), Ki a kicsit nem becsüli, a nagyot nem érdemli (Who does not appreciate the little, will not deserve the big).

Diligence and value of work are emphasized in connection with money in such proverbs as: Semmiből nem lesz semi (Nothing comes out of nothing), Ki korán kel, aranyat lel (Who gets

Page 95 of 228 up early, finds gold), Aki dolgozik, nem ér rá pénzt keresni (Who works doesn’t have time to earn money), Aki nem dolgozik, ne is egyék (Who does not work, neither should eat). Importance of money in life is referred to from different perspectives in: Az idő pénz (Time is money), Pénz beszél, kutya ugat (Money talks, dog barks), A pénznek nincs szaga (Money has no smell) and A pénz nem boldogít (Money will not make you happy). Four interviewees mistakenly remembered A legszebb szó a pénz (The most beautiful word is money) as a Hungarian proverb.

5.6.3. Vietnamese proverbs

Respect of teachers – a basic value of Confucian societies – can be detected in a big number of proverbs mentioned by interviewees such as: Không thầy đố mày làm nên (“No teacher, no results”); Một chữ là thầy, nửa chữ cũng là thầy (“Who teaches a word is a teacher, who teaches half a word is also a teacher”) or Thương cho roi cho vọt/Ghét cho ngọt, cho bùi (“Give rods for love, give sweets for hatred”).

Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences 1 Lá lành đùm lá rách 10 The good leaves protect the Support those who have more worn-out leaves difficulties (Rich helps the poor ) 2 Không thầy đố mày 8 No teacher, no results No one can succeed without the làm nên help of one’s teacher Uống nước nhớ nguồn When drinking water, think of its source 3 Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng 7 When eating fruit, think of the One should have gratitude for cây one who planted the tree good things he receives 4 Đi một ngày đàng học 6 With one day of travel one Traveling broadens one’s mind một sàng khôn basket of knowledge is gained 5 Bầu ơi thương lấy bí 5 Dear winter melon, love the People of the same cùng/Tuy rằng khác calabash/In spite of community/nation should love giống nhưng chung different species, you share and help each other. một giàn the same trellis 6 Có chí thì nên 4 Who has will, has success59 Success comes to those who are determined Tốt gỗ hơn tốt nước Better good wood than Better be good in mind than in sơn good paint appearance Tay làm hàm nhai, tay If hands work jaws chew, if One has to work in order to

59 Equivalents: A wilful man must have his way; where there is a will, there is a way

Page 96 of 228 Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences quai miệng trễ hands rest mouth is idle60 make his living Một chữ là thầy, nửa Who teaches a word is a One has to show his respect to chữ cũng là thầy teacher, who teaches half a anyone who teaches him word is also a teacher Table 13: Vietnamese proverbs, at least four occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.) *For full results see Appendix no. 22.

Among the total of 121 proverbs compiled, respect to older generations and to the parents is expressed in several proverbs including Uống nước nhớ nguồn61 (When drinking water, think of its source), Con không nghe lời cha mẹ trăm đường con hư62 (Children who don’t obey their parents’ advice will become spoilt), Cha mẹ đặt đâu con ngồi đấy63 (Children will sit where their parents put them). Veneration of elders is a fundamental virtue of Confucianism (see more in detail about filial piety in chapter 5.8.2.).

An interesting example of lacunae can be observed in the fifth-placed result: Bầu ơi thương lấy bí cùng/Tuy rằng khác giống nhưng chung một giàn (“Dear winter melon, love the calabash/In spite of different species, you share the same trellis”). These lines form part of a folk poem that is sometimes also used as lullaby. Bầu and bí can be identified here as lacunas of object. The two species of plant belong to the same plant family (Cucurbitaceae – gourd family). They are often served with Vietnamese meals or consumed as vegetables in a form of a side dish, and often grown together on a trellis in the countryside (see picture on the left). The abstract meaning of the quote is that people from the same community or nation need to love and help each other.

60 Equivalent: No bees no honey, no work no money 61 Nguyen H.T. mentions the same proverb with reference to the importance of death anniversaries in Vietnam: “In Vietnam for some special occasion such as annual day from funerals or anniversary days, people tend to gather and hold small parties to remember the dead people and talk to the relatives who haven’t met each other for a long time” (Nguyen H.T. 2008, 58.p.). 62 One example for the importance and strength of the Vietnamese family from a sociologic perspective according to Thoa: “Most widows usually receive love and care from their paternal and maternal relatives, notwithstanding the sense of contentment they derive from remarrying or having children” (Thoa 2008, 94.p.). 63 According to the most significant ongoing research of its kind, the World Vales Survey, 99% of Vietnamese “feel that parents are to be respected regardless of their qualities and faults”; meanwhile, 97% of them claim that “one of my main goals in life has been to make my parents proud” (Dalton R.J., Ong N.T. 2001, 4.p.).

Page 97 of 228 5.6.4. Hungarian proverbs

We found a total number of 61 Hungarian proverbs, 15 of which were mentioned by two or more respondents; meanwhile, 46 by one interviewee. The Hungarian proverbs and their literal translations to English can be seen in Table 15 below.

Proverb in Hungarian Number of Literal meaning in English occurrences 1 Mindenhol jó, de legjobb otthon 14 Everywhere is good, but the best is at home 2 Az alma nem esik messze a 8 The apple does not fall far from the fájától tree 3 Új seprű jól seper 6 New broom sweeps well 4 Minden kezdet nehéz 5 All beginnings are difficult 5 A szabadság drágább az aranynál 3 Freedom is worth more than gold Amilyen az anyja, olyan a leánya Like mother, like daughter 6 Amilyen az apa, olyan a fia 2 Like father, like son Azért eszünk, hogy éljünk, nem We eat to live, not live to eat azért élünk, hogy együnk Borravaló Money for wine (tip) Ember tervez, Isten végez Man proposes, God disposes Eső után köpönyeg Cry over spilled milk Hallgatni arany Silence is golden Jobb adni mint kapni Better to give than to receive Minden jó, ha a vége jó All's well that ends well Ruha teszi az embert Clothes make the man Table 14: Hungarian proverbs, at least two occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.) *For full results see Appendix no. 23.

We hereby note some of the deficiencies of the results, as follows:

 Some of the results were presumably mistakenly mentioned as Hungarian proverbs, as they are not used by Hungarian speakers (A boldogságnak nincs köze ranghoz vagy vagyonhoz: egyszerűen csak harmónia dolga; “Happiness has nothing to do with rank or property: it is just a matter of harmony”).

 Some utterances should have been grouped to the second question and labelled as proverbs on money (A pénz nem boldogít, “Money does not make you happy” and A pénz nem boldogít, de jó, ha van, “Money does not make you happy, but it is good to have some”).

Page 98 of 228  Some of the answers cannot be identified as proverbs, i.e. borravaló64 (tip, or literally: money for wine).

 Some answers contained mistakes evidently for the reason that respondents do not speak Hungarians as their mother tongue or because they misunderstood something (Leesett a kaktusz65 instead of Leesett a tantusz or Ruha teszi az embert instead of Nem a ruha teszi az embert66).

5.7. HABITS, LACUNAE

As mentioned above in the seventh part of the survey a more direct method was applied to gain data on intercultural lacunae. This was in the form of four questions in which we encouraged interviewees to share differences they experienced when living in Hungary as well as differences and similarities between Hungarians and Vietnamese. Moreover, they were requested to list out strange, unexpected events they remember from this period of their lives. Finally, we negotiated on how their habits have changed after returning to their motherland, Vietnam.

We identified a total number of 175 opinions on differences when living in Hungary, 120 differences between Hungarian and Vietnamese individuals, 55 strange or awkward experiences when staying in Hungary and 215 utterances about 141 different changed habits after returning to Vietnam. A total number of 491 opinions were identified , which served as base for examination whether those could be categorized as lacunas of not. We will analyse below the results gained and compare them to existing definitions and classifications of lacunae, followed by introducing some lexical lacunae gained from the interviews (see point 5.8.)

64 Borravaló is a lacuna of the Hungarian language with a literal meaning: “for wine” (money given for the purpose of buying wine), denoting the English term tip. Worth mentioning that in Hungarian the word bor (wine) also cannot properly be translated to Vietnamese, as there is no exact equivalent. Rượu is used for different types of alcoholic beverages in Vietnam including spirits and wine, rượu nho means “alcoholic drink made of grape”, while rượu vang is a structure composed of “alcoholic drink” plus a phonetic transcription of the French word vin (vang). 65 This is a mistakenly remembered expression, due to the similar sounding of kaktusz (cactus) and tantusz (telephone token). It has been corrected by the author. 66 The proverb Nem a ruha teszi az embert (“It is not the clothes that makes the man”) was quoted without the negation word: Ruha teszi az embert (“It is the clothes that make the man”).

Page 99 of 228 5.7.1. Differences when living in Hungary

We divided the 175 differences identified into 18 groups (see Table 15. below). The biggest group, consisting of 55 items, is connected to personal characteristics (see full results in Appendix no. 27.) followed by dissimilarities in life and society (31 cases). Way of communication of Hungarians and Vietnamese was contrasted in 13 occasions.

Differences when living in Hungary No Groups of characteristics Number of utterances 1. Personal characteristics 55 2. Life, society 31 3. Communication 13 4. Physical environment 12 5. Behavior 8 6. Business, economy 7. Environmental protection 8. Attitude to law, rules 7 9. Work, study 10. Food, cuisine 6 11. Habits 5 12. Mindset, emotions 4 13. Traffic 14. Housing 2 15. Methods 16. Gender 1 17. History 18. Relation to elderly Table 15: Differences when living in Hungary, groups of characteristics (Questionnaire no. 6.) *For full results see Appendix no. 24.

Some of the differences found were mentioned by several respondents. For this reason we grouped the same results gained in this point in another manner, by frequency of mentions of each difference (see Table 16 below). Hungarians are seen as being more punctual and conscious on time than Vietnamese as well as living in a more scientific, disciplined and planned way. The Vietnamese original of the adjective scientific is khoa học. This term refers to a specific lifestyle connected to health and a theoretically correct way of living based on scientific facts.

Environmental protection is one of the key differences identified to such an extent that eight utterances referred to this aspect (Table 15) and cleanliness was mentioned by interviewees four times (Table 16). Hungarians are also seen as much more typically following rules and abiding by the law when compared with Vietnamese.

Page 100 of 228 Differences when living in Hungary No Characteristics Frequency 1. Punctuality/Consciousness of time: good 8 (i.e.: bus schedules are extremely exact) 2. Scientific life/work (khoa học) 7 3. High discipline/Disciplined 6 4. Planned 5 5. Civilized way of life (no missing products, buying without bargaining) 4 Clean/Clean streets 6. Careful 3 Enthusiastic Honest Hungarians queue up (do not barge) Table 16: Differences when living in Hungary, at least three occurrences (Questionnaire no. 6.)

Some further lacunas we highlight here including: more punctual public transportation and the habit of queuing up without barging in an orderly way in Hungary, as well as no missing products in Hungarian stores and the habit of bargaining in Vietnam. Hungarians spend money in a more planned way, they celebrate Christmas more economically. Furthermore, In Vietnam several generations live under the same roof in contrast with the Hungarian nuclear family model. Hungary, as a European nation, is seen to live along principles meanwhile, Vietnamese live by emotions.

The below differences were identified additionally (for a full list see Appendix no. 24.) and will be discussed in later chapters (these statements describe Hungary or Hungarians even in cases where it is not highlighted): Hungarian children are highly self-reliant; Effective in education; Human freedom is not under compulsion; I had lived in Hungary for peaceful years; Less inequality between urban and rural living standards; Population density is lower in Hungary; Addressing forms are more equal; Vietnamese laugh loudly; Hungary has pure air; They rarely spit; Embezzlement rarely occurs; Personal ownership is very clear in Hungary, unlike Vietnam; They like to offer food, wine and pálinka67 to friends; When going to the beer bar, they drink and eat little; Hungarians, when they are sick they don’t want

67 Offering wine is considered to be a strange phenomenon for Vietnamese. Families usually invite guests to drink high alcohol-content drinks when visiting (instead of wine generally offered by Hungarians). Most frequently they provide a strong liqueur produced out of rice.

Page 101 of 228 anyone to visit them: in Vietnam is it on the contrary68; Their awareness of protecting public property is good; They go by bus or tram.

5.7.2. Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians

Hungarians and Vietnamese individuals and businesspersons have been compared in detail in the previous chapters, especially in 5.2. (Stereotypes), 5.4. (Statements) and 5.5. (Associations). Results gained in this chapter partly coincide with the content of the above points – most evidently in terms of personal characteristics –, however, we identified valuable new lacunas in between the 120 items enlisted below.

Before introducing the answers, we note that a considerable number (15 interviewees) mentioned that Vietnamese and Hungarians are not different. They are similar if we take into account that both people are hospitable, straight, honest, good-hearted, sociable and easy-to-talk. Both care about the agreement and make efforts to find the best solution. Some added that the only difference is that Hungarians are Europeans and Vietnamese people are Asian.

The 120 differences we divided into main groups according to the content, such as those related to: (1) Doing business, (2) Communication, (3) Lifestyle, society, (4) Personal characteristics, (5) Cuisine and (6) Language. Among the utterances of respondents we found two main types of statements: firstly those oppositions which contrast Hungarians and Vietnamese directly (i.e.: Hungarians don’t ask about the age; meanwhile, Vietnamese do so); and secondly those which express a unilateral opinion on either Hungarians or Vietnamese (i.e.: Vietnamese businessmen only want to sell). Taking the above into account we marked the first type of oppositions by double arrows (↔) in Tables 17-22 below.

68 In Vietnam when someone gets sick or becomes a victim of a traffic accident, the whole family supports him/her both in a material way by raising money for the victim, and some family members spend the whole period of recovery with him/her, even by staying and sleeping in the hospital for weeks.

Page 102 of 228 Differences Hungarians Vietnamese Doing 1. Hungarians are less close (less friendly ↔ Vietnamese people are closer (more business less sociable) friendly, more sociable) 2. Rarely negotiate at a meal or party ↔ Often negotiate at a meal or party 3. Speak straight on the topic ↔ They beat around the bush 4. Straighter ↔ Less straight

5. Patient; 6. Want to widen the relations; 8. Sometimes they are not honest; 9. 7. Work according to a planned schedule Vietnamese businessmen only want to sell Table 17: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Doing Business (from Questionnaire no. 6.) *For full results see Appendix no. 25.

Differences were pinpointed in terms of doing business (see Table 17 above) including: Vietnamese often negotiate at a meal or party while Hungarians rarely do so; Hungarians work according to a planned schedule and Vietnamese businessmen only want to sell. No clear borderline can be drawn between differences in doing business and in communication: Under this point we collected those responses which have direct relevance in business life though.

Vietnamese people are perceived as closer69 (gần gũi) when compared to Hungarians. The meaning of the term gần gũi does not fully coincide with its English translation close but rather means a type of mutual helpfulness and compassion between the parties involved. Hungarians are seen as polite and straighter, speaking forthright on the topic in business while Vietnamese tend to beat around the bush. Vietnamese are also labelled as sometimes not being honest.

When mapping communicational differences (Table 18) respondents highlighted that Hungarians are Westerners70/Europeans who are straight, cautious and humble. They speak more directly and definitively, by contrast Vietnamese are Asians who are warmer and sometimes considered to be more curious. They behave flexibly, cleverly, esteem sentiment and relationship. Hastiness and carelessness are also attributed to Vietnamese with reference to their Asian origin. Hungarians are seen as calmer, more self-confident, more open-minded and speaking calmer. Vietnamese are noisier in communication, less polite and

69 The word gần gũi is an example of reduplication a frequent syntactic phenomenon in Vietnamese language. The first part of the reduplicative syntagm (từ láy) gần has a definite denotation: close, near; meanwhile, the second lexeme does not have a specific meaning. 70 Foreigners, especially Europeans and Americans, are often referred to as Tây (Westerner) in Vietnamese.

Page 103 of 228 calm and sometimes seem to be too curious. They don’t refrain from asking about the age71 of their conversational counterparts; at the same time they are seen as more timid and less self-confident in communication than Hungarians.

Differences

Hungarians Vietnamese Communi- 10. As Western people: speak directly, ↔ Like Asians: warmer, sometimes considered to cation definitively be more curious 11. Calm in communication, behavior ↔ Noisier in communication, behavior 12. Careful /Considerate ↔ Brisk and hasty /Sensitive/Cautious/Vigilant 13. Confident/speak confidently /confident in ↔ Sometimes, are more timid communication 14. Don’t ask about the age ↔ Usually ask about the age 15. Like everything clear, detailed and concrete ↔ Prefer general and unspecific 16. Like Westerners: straight, cautious and ↔ Like Asians: sometimes hasty and careless humble 17. More equal ↔ Less equal 18. More intimate ↔ Less intimate 19. More open-minded ↔ Less open-minded 20. More polite and kind ↔ Less polite and kind 21. More self-confident, honest ↔ More timid, less honest 22. Speak more gently ↔ Speak loudly 23. Straight ↔ Mealy-mouthed 24. Straight ↔ Often beat around the bush 25. Straighter ↔ Less straight

26. Punctual 27. Sensitive; 28. Speak directly; 32. Defensive; 33. Like Asians: behave flexibly, 29. They have the art of communication; 30. cleverly, esteem sentiment and relationship; Willing to help unconditionally; 31. Willing to 34. Open-minded; 35. Wise say “sorry” Table 18: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Communication (from Questionnaire no. 6.) *For full results see Appendix no. 25.

Another communicational difference evoked when describing Hungarians is that they tend to say sorry (as well as say thank you, see in 5.7.4.)72. Hungarians prefer everything clear, detailed and concrete, while Vietnamese rather like general and unspecific when communicating as interviewees observed.

On the level of personal characteristics we found a high amount of inputs (see Table 29 below), namely 65 occurrences of differences. Of these 15 out were oppositions between representatives of the two nations, complemented by 34 unilateral descriptions of Hungarians and 16 characteristics of Vietnamese individuals. Results partly overlap with

71 In Vietnamese language in order to be able to address the other interlocutor, kinship terms are used with similar function as personal pronouns in Hungarian (and other European languages). For this reason before entering into a conversation, participants need to reveal their age so that they will be able to choose the appropriate kinship terms. 72 Saying sorry and thanking someone are not frequently used in Vietnamese. Some Vietnamese interlocutors find it strange or even disturbing when Westerners say thank you or apologize too often.

Page 104 of 228 those discussed in the previous chapters; therefore, we highlight only some newly revealed ones below.

Vietnamese are seen as hard-working people; moreover, in comparison with Hungarians they are considered to be more diligent (besides weekdays they work on Saturdays and Sundays). Hungarians are perceived as more professional, more serious and self-aware; furthermore, they are seen as having high intellectual standards, a good education and good teachers. They can easily learn something new. They live at a high level of independence. Vietnamese tend to research about the partner before deciding to cooperate. They are described as cheerful and open-minded people, at the same time they are not serious, some of them are labelled as narrow-minded.

Differences Hungarians Vietnamese Personal 36. Consider more carefully and cautiously ↔ More hasty characte- 37. Don’t speak loudly ↔ Speak loudly ristics 38. In behavior they are fairer ↔ In behavior less fair 39. Less diligent ↔ More diligent (work on Saturday and Sunday) 40. More careful ↔ Less careful 41. More comfortable ↔ Less comfortable 42. More confident ↔ Less confident 43. More daring ↔ Less daring 44. More heartfelt ↔ Less heartfelt 45. More polite ↔ Less polite 46. More professional ↔ Less professional 47. More self-aware ↔ Less self-aware 48. More serious ↔ Less serious 49. Split the money when eating pizza ↔ One person pays all 50. Straighter ↔ Less straight

51. “Asian-like”, different from Germans’ accuracy; 52. 85. Aren’t serious; 86. Cheerful; 87. Careful; 53. Cherish memories with friends, relatives; 54. Clear; 88. Closed; 89. Difficult to Civilized; 55. Communicate confidently and little bit too cooperate with; 90. Diligent; 91. Friendly; seriously; 56. Easily learn something new; 57. 92. Hard-working; 93. Hospitable; 94. Enthusiastic; 58. Friendly; 59. Gentle; 60. Good education; Long-suffering; 95. Open-minded; 96. 61. Good teachers; 62. Good-natured; 63. Gullible; 64. Research about the partner before Have high intellectual standards; 64. Have long-term deciding to cooperate; 97. Short-term goals; 65. Have the culture to always greet each other goals; 98. Some Vietnamese have narrow when they meet; 66. Have the habit of saying thanks and vision; 99. Sometimes consider carefully; apologizing; 67. Hospitable; 68. Impatient; 69. Inflexible; 100. Still haven’t incorporated behavior 70. Kindly; 71. Like everything clear, coherent; 72. Like of market economy people in countries of market economy, they abide by regulations; 73. Live in high independence; 74. Open- minded; 75. Polite; 76. Reciprocal in relations; 77. Respect law; 78. Responsible; 79. Self-conscious; 80. Self- disciplined; 81. Show another aspect of European people: they are emotional, gentle and compassionate; 82. They say “Bon appetite!”; 83. They speak their opinion/comments out; 84. Truthful Table 19: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Personal Characteristics (from Questionnaire no. 6.) *For full results see Appendix no. 25.

Page 105 of 228 It is usually difficult to cooperate with Vietnamese. Hungarians abide by regulations, because they are from a country of a market economy; meanwhile, Vietnamese still haven’t incorporated the behavior of a market economy. Hungarians are also seen as impatient, inflexible and gullible.

Social acceptance of drunkenness differs in the two countries: In Hungary it is banned while in Vietnam it is more accepted 73 . Besides this statement, another 16 referred to intercultural differences connected to lifestyle or society (Table no. 20 below).

Differences Hungarians Vietnamese Lifestyle 101. Alcoholic drinks are not banned, ↔ Drunkenness is not banned (alcoholic drinks /Society drunkenness is banned are not banned) 102. European culture ↔ Asian culture 103. Execute/Implement the law well ↔ Do not execute/implement the law well 104. High traffic awareness/discipline ↔ Low traffic awareness/discipline 105. Higher living standards, tourism ↔ Lower living standards, tourism is not so strong 106. Hungarians’ awareness of protecting ↔ Vietnamese’s awareness of protecting environment is higher than Vietnamese’s environment is lower than Hungarians’ 107. Live more scientifically and independently ↔ Live less scientifically and independently

108. Not bound to old things, not old-fashioned ↔ Bound to old things, old-fashioned 109. People respect law/policies ↔ People don’t always respect law/policies 110. Spend time on family and protecting one’s ↔ Work a lot, do not care about protecting one’s health, don’t work so much health too much

111. Lifestyle is scientific; 112. People read 113. Live dependently in relationships; 114. everything carefully before starting to Lucky money gifts for New Year’s anniversary work becomes a way of bribery; 115. Rush out to the streets during holidays; 116. Take part in ceremonies; 117. Teach bad to the children Table 20: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Lifestyle and Society (from Questionnaire no. 6.) *For full results see Appendix no. 25.

Differences in traffic and public transportation have already been mentioned in various chapters: On this point respondents opposed high to low traffic awareness or traffic discipline of Hungarian and Vietnamese people, respectively74. In addition they claimed that Vietnamese are bound to old things and they are old-fashioned. They do not care about protecting their health too much. Hungarians work less; consequently, they have more time

73 Although the respondent did not explain his statement (in Hungary alcoholic drinks are not banned, drunkenness is banned), we can presume that he referred to the fact that in Vietnam drinking alcohol in working time or when driving is much less regulated and fewer sanctions are imposed on such individuals. 74 This probably refers to the level of compliance with traffic regulations and to the extent of an orderly way of traveling and driving.

Page 106 of 228 for their families as well as to care about their health. They usually read everything carefully before starting to work.

Vietnamese are seen as living dependently in relationships. Celebrations and ceremonies form an important part of Vietnamese life. During holidays they often rush out to the streets. On the occasion of New Year’s celebrations75 they use lucky money as a way of bribery.

A total number of three differences have been identified in the field of cuisine and language (see Table 21 below). Hungarian food is considered to be nicer than Vietnamese. Hungarians make Lipton tea76 while Vietnamese prefer the traditional way with tea leaves.

Differences Hungarians Vietnamese Cuisine 118. Hungarian food is nicer ↔ Vietnamese food is less nice 119.They make Lipton tea ↔ They make tea the traditional way with tea leaves Language 120. Hungarians have fewer levels in ↔ Vietnamese have more levels in language language Table 21: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Cuisine and Language (from Questionnaire no. 6.) *For full results see Appendix no. 25.

We mentioned above the fact that in the Vietnamese language a complex system of kinship terms is applied to address one another. Age, social status, gender, compound family relations as well as level of intimacy are reflected in these terms, or as respondents worded it: Vietnamese have more levels in the language.

75 New Year is celebrated in Vietnam on the first day of the Lunar New Year (Tết) according to the Lunar calendar. As part of the festivities families usually give envelopes to the younger members of the family with cash inside. The same habit applies in workplaces and business life. 76 In Vietnam teabags are not often used; local consumption of mainly green tea typically means using the traditional way of making tea by putting whole tea leaves into hot water. The brand name Lipton is associated with the way of making tea using tea bags.

Page 107 of 228 Differences Oppositions Unilateral statements Total: (frequency) (frequency) 1. Doing business 4 5 9 2. Communication 16 10 26 3. Personal characteristics 15 50 65 4. Lifestyle/Society 10 7 17 5. Cuisine 2 0 2 6. Language 1 0 1 Total: 48 72 120 Table 22: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (Questionnaire no. 6), Full results, Summary with categories *For full results see Appendix no. 25.

In Table 22 above we summarized the results gained in the second question of Questionnaire no. 6. The table illustrates the two types of differences identified in the case of all six groups of differences set up by the author. In terms of personal characteristics respondents provided an overwhelmingly higher proportion of unilateral statements (in these they described either Hungarians or Vietnamese without comparing them to each other). In the remaining five groups of differences (doing business, communication, lifestyle/society, cuisine and language) results were fairly balanced.

5.7.3. Strange, awkward experiences in Hungary

We recorded a total number of 55 cases of strange or awkward experiences respondents gave account of. A compound inventory of such cases is listed in Appendix no. 26. in a simple and brief form. In Table 23 below we grouped all results into 19 categories of lacunae; moreover, we labelled strange experiences or misunderstandings with a preliminary system of groups (see in Appendix no. 27.).

Summary and categorization of strange/awkward experiences in Hungary Category of differences/lacunae Number of examples identified 1. Language 13 2. Discrimination, stereotyping, generalizations 6 3. General characteristics 4. Cheating/misleading 4 5. Complex situations 6. Relation to parents, old teachers 3 7. Society, life 8. Arguments (language and behavior) 2

Page 108 of 228 9. Behavior at public places 10. Housing 11. Others 12. Climate 1 13. Clothing 14. Cooking 15. Gender roles 16. Invitation 17. Payment 18. Traffic and driving 19. Way of walking Table 23: Summary and Categorization of Strange/Awkward Experiences in Hungary (Questionnaire no. 6.)

Before further discussion of the results obtained at this point we highlight some new approaches, aspects and intercultural differences based on strange situations or misunderstandings: Mixing up two similar words (meghívás/felhívás); double-entendre situations (when describing a string of pants); lack of proper knowledge of the language (pulling out the wrong tooth because of misunderstanding); phonetic difficulties (no separate "s" and "sz" phonemes in Vietnamese); lack of knowledge of politeness in speech (obligatory compliments to the host after a meal); different communication style when arguing (Hungarians speak in a lower volume and a more gentle way); discrimination in Hungary based on race or ethnicity (Gypsies, Chinese); inability of Hungarians to differentiate between two races (Chinese/Vietnamese); problems due to different climatic conditions (losing hair due to cold weather); culturally different behavior with women (embracing, kissing is not suitable with Vietnamese habits); different style of dressing up for events; cases of cheating/misleading; cultural differences related to behavior in public places (speech, transportation); different habits of payment in restaurants; relation to parents, old teachers; driving (without license); forms of employment (seasonal job in Hungary); cooking habits (in Vietnam more widespread to cook).

5.7.4. Changed habits

Participants of the survey identified 141 habits they changed upon return to their mother country, Vietnam. In total 215 utterances were revealed, six of those mentioned at least by three respondents (see Table 24 below).

Page 109 of 228 Changed habits Characteristics Frequency 1. More punctual, arrive on time 21 2. Conscious of protection of the 14 environment 3. Habit of saying thank you and sorry 8 4. Abide by the law 5 5. More careful 4 More disciplined 6. Honesty 3 Orderliness Respect public regulations Table 24: Changed habits, at least three Occurrences (Questionnaire no. 6.) *For full results see Appendix no. 27.

We presume that by examining changed habits, we will be able to unveil and better understand intercultural lacunae. An outstandingly high number of answerers stated that after returning to Vietnam they became more punctual owing to what they got used to in Hungary. Consciousness on environmental protection and the habit of saying thank you and sorry were also among top three results.

Two similar statements confirmed that Hungarians usually comply with laws and regulations better than Vietnamese. Interviewees admitted that they abide by the law and respect public regulations better since their return to Vietnam. In addition, an increased level of carefulness, disciplined behavior, honesty and orderliness were mentioned.

For a full list of changed habits, see Appendix 28. Below we cannot list out all results, just highlight some of those which contain new content in comparison to what we have identified in the previous points, such as: More creative, Outspoken opinion, “Ladies first” behavior (Help women); Act according to your wish, Always use a handkerchief, Appreciate to build relationships, Avoid unreasonable arguments, Behave in public places, Conceding elderly, women and children: When I am on the bus, I usually stand up and offer my seat to them (More tolerant on the bus); Don’t dance anymore because it is not popular, Don’t go anywhere during summer vacation because the summer break in Vietnam is so short, Don’t take a nap after lunch, Eat soup before main dishes (Changed eating and drinking habits); Economical: finish all food and when at a buffet lunch just take as much as one is able to eat; Go fast on the streets; Healthy diet; Humorous; I am willing to help anyone: This may cause misunderstanding in Vietnam; Keep the greeting culture; Less curious in others’ issues; Life in

Page 110 of 228 Hungary was more wealthy and luxurious; No smoking in public places; Not feel offended when Western people smoke without invitation; Not feel strange when Western people are impolitely nibbling apple on the street; Rarely go for picnic in forest because tropical forests are dangerous; Sober living; Wear helmet and stop when the traffic light is red. Those results will be further analysed below.

5.8. EXAMPLES OF VIETNAMESE-HUNGARIAN LACUNAE

5.8.1. Some characteristics of lacunae in Vietnamese

We highlight below some features of the Vietnamese language, mainly from syntax and phonetics, which can be considered as intercultural lacunae when compared to Hungarian.

5.8.1.1. Classifiers

In Vietnamese classifiers form a special part of speech and can be considered as examples of lacunae. According to Dụng (Dụng, 2010), classifiers in Vietnamese can be grouped into five categories77 as follows: (1) classifiers for people (i.e. physician: thầy thuốc = [classifier for teachers] medicine), (2) classifiers for things (i.e. table: cái bàn = [classifier for objects in general] table), (3) classifiers for emotions (i.e. joy: niềm vui = [classifier for emotions] joy), (4) classifiers for various groups (i.e. association: hội ái hữu = [classifier for groups] love, friendship), and (5) classifiers for social activities (i.e. main dish: món chính = [classifier for dishes] main).

We introduce the classifier trái as an example of a lacuna when contrasting Hungarian and Vietnamese languages. Trái is a classifier mainly used in the South of Vietnam and refers to fruits or round shaped objects in general. Một trái cam means one piece of orange (word- by-word translation: one [classifier for round-shaped objects] orange), but in other contexts it is also used for eggs (một trái trứng means one [classifier for round-shaped objects] egg)78. In the North of Vietnam quả is more commonly used instead of trái. It is interesting to

77 Dụng (2010) mentions five groups of classifiers and several subgroups for each. For instance, the category classifiers for things involve classifiers for items, for three-dimensional things, denoting surfaces, two- dimensional items, for insignificant items, etc. 78 Dũng & Thủy (1994), 156.p.

Page 111 of 228 mention that classifiers can also be used independently, i.e.: Năm quả thôi! (five [classifier for round-shaped fruits] [final particule for stressing the content].

5.8.1.2. Final particles

Vietnamese final particles such as thôi form another group of words which does not exist in Hungarian. Thôi as well as nhé, nhỉ, nha, ạ, à, etc. do not have a denotative meaning but can express emotions or add a subjective approach to the content, moreover can express politeness. According to Dụng (Dụng, 2010, 45-46.p.) final particles can be divided into three categories as follows: 1.) interrogative particles (i.e. không) that transform a declarative sentence into an interrogative one (Cô khỏe không? = “How are you?”); 2.) interrogative- expressive particles (i.e. à) which just add a nuance of surprise to the question (Cô mệt à? = “Are you tired?”) and 3.) expressive particles (i.e. chứ, quá), words that adds stress, exclamation, surprise, anger or other emotions (Tôi biết chứ! = “Surely I know it!”).

5.8.1.3. Kinship terms

When we try to identify the equivalents of Hungarian personal pronouns in Vietnamese, we realize that in the latter language several different lexical items can take the same function as personal pronouns in Hungarian. Those can be grouped into four main categories79 such as 1.) personal pronouns by lexical meaning (i.e tôi,”I”; mình, “I’; tao, “I”; mày, “you”; nó, “he/she”; hắn, “he/she”; họ, “they”; chúng, “they/we”); 2.) kinship terms (bố, ”father”; mẹ, “mother”; anh, “elder brother”; chị “elder sister”, em “younger brother” or “younger sister”80); 3.) nouns denoting occupations (giáo sư “professor”; bác sĩ, “doctor”) and 4.) personal names (Hùng, Mai, Thắng, Thuỷ). We also consider the use of such terms introduced in points 1., 2. and 3. in the role of personal pronouns, reflecting relative age, kinship relations, level of intimacy and/or social status, as intercultural lacunae when Vietnamese and Hungarian languages are contrasted.

79 Classification and examples are from Ngô Như Bình, Bình (2010), 19.p. 80 Interesting to note here is that in Hungarian relative age of interlocutors is also expressed in the terms báty and öcs (elder brother and younger brother). Similarly to the Vietnamese terms anh and em.

Page 112 of 228 5.8.1.4. Phonemes

At the level of phonetics some respondents mentioned difficulties connected to this area when learning Hungarian.81 They most commonly took note of the sound “c” which does not exist in Vietnamese; therefore interviewees, gave account of the fact that they needed to practice the pronunciation of this sound by repeating Hungarian words such as cica (“kitten”). On the other hand, they also claimed that they faced problems when trying to differentiate between the sounds “s” and “sz” in Hungarian. This sometimes led to humorous misunderstandings when mixing up for instance sör (“beer”) and szőr (“hair on human body”)82.

5.8.1.5. Tonal lacunae

One of the most striking differences of the Vietnamese language for foreigners is its tonal system. Vietnamese consists of six tones marked by diacritics83. Lexemes are monosyllabic, so tones may bring about a change of meaning.84 Besides the obvious difference between Hungarian and Vietnamese languages in terms of the fact that Vietnamese is a tonal language and Hungarian is not, we mention here a lacuna identified when analysing Vietnamese proverbs.

In several cases we observed that idioms and proverbs contain a pun, a game with words based on two similar lexemes with identical vowel85 and consonants, with one single difference: tones. In the top 13 results of Vietnamese proverbs (see Table 11) we identified four cases where a game with the tones can be revealed. The most frequently evoked

81 We take note here about the fact that Vietnamese is a tonal language; each word can be pronounced with any of the six tones (mid-level, low-falling, mid-rising, mid-falling–short, mid-falling–harsh, mid-rising). For Hungarians learning the Vietnamese language, usually the biggest challenge is differentiating between the tones (see: Vietnamese phonology, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_phonology). 82 This might also refer to another difficulty on the phonetic level: In Vietnamese short and long vowels cannot be opposed, they do not form separate phonemes; therefore ,pronouncing the sounds “ö” and “ő” are also challenging for Vietnamese people. 83 See more in detail: Lénárt 2012 84 For demonstrating such feature of Vietnamese we take the example of ba. The meaning of the same form composed by the consonant “b” and vowel “a” may bear six different meanings depending on the tone of the word. The first meaning of the six different lexemes is as follows: (1) ba (mid level, three), (2) bà (low-falling tone, lady), (3) bá (mid-rising tone, government), (4) bạ (mid-falling tone, randomly) (5) bả (mid falling, poison) and (6) bã (mid-rising, residue). See: Vietnamese phonology, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_phonology 85 As Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language, one word may contain only one vowel (or diphthong/triphtong).

Page 113 of 228 Vietnamese proverb was Có tiền mua tiên cũng được (With money a fairy can be bought) while the fourth-placed one proved to be Tiền là Tiên, là Phật (Money is a fairy, a Buddha). Even after a literal translation or an interpretation of the abstract meaning of both proverbs, we cannot perceive the pun that lies in the similar form of tiền (money) and tiên (fairy). The first noun is pronounced with a low-falling tone, the second one with a mid-level tone).

In the case of the 11th-placed result of the question on Vietnamese proverbs, we can find Cờ bạc là bác thằng bần that can be translated to Gambling is the uncle of poverty or in a free translation: Gambling leads to misery. The pun lies in the similarity of the words bạc86 (silver or money) and bác (uncle). Finally: The proverb Đầu tiên là tiền đâu (Firstly: where is the money?) is also a pun where the two expressions đầu tiên (first) and the collocation of tiền (money) and đâu (where) stand together. It is interesting to see that the order of the two words is changed; however, the order of the tones stays the same: a low-falling tone followed by a mid-level tone.

5.8.2. Further lacunae identified in the interviews

We selected a couple of items from the results of the interviews to demonstrate some strong lacunae present in the responses of the participants’ answers. This can further tincture the results introduced above (see Table 26 below and Appendix no. 29.).

Based on the answers of respondents we collected examples of lacunae from different classes of words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives. Where it was possible we added related proverbs from the survey as well as photographs where applicable.

Both sàng and mâm denote objects. Sàng is used both in agricultural production and daily life for sifting or winnowing grains or powdery substances. It is used in Vietnam for separating bigger from smaller particles of rice, mainly broken rice from paddy and husk. A well-known Vietnamese proverb takes mention of sàng in a following manner: Đi một ngày

đàng học một sàng khôn (“Traveling for one day is gaining one basket of knowledge”). Here sàng was translated to basket; meanwhile, the denoted object is a tray-like item (see photograph in Table 26, row 1 below), flatter that what is usually understood by English-

86 The expression cờ bạc means gambling when applied in such a form together, while bạc means silver.

Page 114 of 228 speakers as a basket or by Hungarian-speakers as a kosár (“basket”), and with a special function of sifting.

No. Word Word Meaning in English Related proverbs Remarks class 1 Sàng87 n A round and flat basket woven Đi một ngày đàng học một of bamboo with small holes, sàng khôn used for separating broken rice Translation: Traveling for one from paddy and husk day is gaining one basket of knowledge88

2 Nhậu v To carouse: spend time drinking (đi inform. alcohol, laughing, enjoying nhậu) yourself in a noisy way with other people 89 3 Nhiệt a enthusiastic: feeling or showing tình a lot of excitement and interest about something90 4 Hiếu n Filial piety: in Confucian (lòng philosophy, filial piety (Chinese: hiếu 孝, xiào) is a virtue of respect thảo) for one's father, elders, and ancestors91 5 Mâm n (1) A round platter, made of Lời chào cao hơn mâm cỗ wood, cooper or aluminium, Literal translation: Greetings used to serve food for a meal are higher than feasts (2) People (6-8) served together Meaning: Courtesy is more in a table in a meal important than material wealth An ancient cooper mâm Table 25: Examples of Vietnamese-Hungarian Lacunae

Similarly, mâm is an object present in most of the Vietnamese families (see photograph in Table 26, row 5 above) functioning as a tray for serving food for a group of 6-8 people (interestingly, the word mâm can also refer directly to this group of people eating together). A related proverb mentioned by respondents is Lời chào cao hơn mâm cỗ (“Greetings are higher than feasts”) which has the abstract meaning: “Courtesy is more important than material wealth”. Kiêm defines mâm (Kiêm 2015a, 747.p.) as “kör alakú tálca, tálka (ételhez)” (“circle-shaped tray, small tray (for meal)). Kiêm also mentions the expression mâm cao cỗ đầy which has been collected in our survey with a meaning “a rich feast with plentiful of food” (the tray is packed high with different dishes).

87 Sàng is also a verb with the meaning to sift or winnow. See: Kiêm, 2015, 1036.p. 88 Equivalent: Travelling widens one's horizon 89 Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ 90 Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ 91 Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety, data accessed on 1 September 2015

Page 115 of 228 The importance of eating together in Vietnam92, sharing food or even refraining from consuming too much for the sake of our guests (Nhịn miệng đãi khách, “Accept hunger to treat your guests”, see: Appendix 22) is clearly shown by responses of interviewees. The different protocols and habits of eating in Vietnam are marked not only by different objects used at the dining table (such as mâm, chopsticks, bowls, smaller bowls for sauces etc.) but also by such concepts as nhậu or đi nhậu.

Nhậu as a noun is frequently translated into English as booze93. When used as a verb (especially đi nhậu, which literally means to “go booze”), then it is interpreted as to booze or to carouse in English and iszik-eszik (“drinking-eating”), iszogat (“wets his whistle”), mulatozik (“is on the razzle”), etc. Đi nhậu, however, is a term with reference to a social activity deeply embedded in Vietnamese culture and means that friends, colleagues, acquaintances go out together to drink (in most of the cases strong spirits or beer), eat, usually smoke, sometimes sing and have a good time together. This occasion is also considered to be a networking opportunity for building up business relations or maintaining current ones.

Another connecting example from the same semantic field – also mentioned by respondents – is the word nhắm94. Nhắm is a verb often used when talking about drinking with friends or business partners and has the meaning of consuming food while drinking to deaden the effects of alcohol. Some explanations of the meaning include: “eat over sips of alcohol”95, “taste”, “nibble”, “enjoy the taste of”96. Interesting to note is that the expression as a compound form nhắm rượu97 also exists: The meaning can be extrapolated from the meaning of the two constituents rượu (alcoholic drink usually with high alcohol content) and nhắm (as detailed above).

92 We must note here that eating habits in Vietnam are rather different from those in Europe: Vietnamese people usually eat in a group and instead of serving food for each individual share all food on the same table. Several further habits are connected to eating such as female members of the group usually serve men with food and drink; they often place food directly into the others’ bowls. 93 Khang &Thành, 1996, 771-772.p. 94 Interesting to note is a lacuna borkorcsolya in the Hungarian language: This noun refers to food consumed together with wine with the same purpose, to deaden the effects of alcohol. 95 Given as the second meaning of the verb In: Khang &Thanh 1996, 758.p. 96 See the third meaning of the verb In: Kiêm, 2015, 864.p. The original Hungarian definition as provided my Kiêm is “kóstolgat, csipeget, megízlel, ízét élvezi” (English translation above from IL) 97 Kiêm, 2015, 865.p

Page 116 of 228 The institute of going out to carouse together (đi nhậu) is another intercultural lacuna. As shown in 5.7.2. respondents identified a difference between Hungarians and Vietnamese in the field of doing business when they stated that Vietnamese often negotiate at a meal or party while Hungarians rarely do so. An interesting additional linguistic data is the expression quán nhậu, which is usually translated to English as pub; however, it is good to know that it consists of a classifier for places (quán) and nhậu with the above introduced meaning.

Hungarians were described by respondents by different adjectives, the top five results included (see Table 2, chapter 5.2.3.): friendly, kindly, enthusiastic, hospitable and intelligent/clever. While the meaning of these adjectives in most of the cases is quite transparent and presumably highly similar in different languages (especially in Vietnamese, Hungarian and English), the meaning of the third most frequently used one is less evident. The Vietnamese original of the word “enthusiastic” is nhiệt tình, which worthwhile taking a closer look at.

According to Kiêm (Kiêm 2015a, 876.p.) nhiệt tình means lelkes (enthusiastic), forró (hot), heves (passionate), buzgó (eager), odaadó (devoted), tüzes (fiery). The adjective includes such motives as friendly, helpful as well (see also the adjective nhiệt thành also mentioned by respondents with similar meaning). Consequently, when respondents highlighted that Hungarians are enthusiastic (nhiệt tình or nhiệt thành), they are likely to understand this as a friendly, compassionate attitude towards others.

Last but not least we set the noun hiếu98 as an example of an intercultural lacuna. We stress that the translated meaning “filial piety” refers to a Confucian virtue strongly present in

98 The Dictionary of Vietnamese Traditional Culture gives a detailed explanation of the term which we quote here, as it contains much relevant information on a typical lacunae in Hungarian-Vietnamese relation. “Considered the most important virtue in the Confucian tradition. *…+ According to the tradition children should not undertake long journeys while their parents are alive, which would deprive them of their care. A person’s body, including hair and skin, is considered a gift from one’s parents and should not be damaged or destroyed *…+. Children learned these and other lessons from a classical book titled Twenty Four Examples of Filial Piety *…+, which recounts virtuous deeds of ancient Chinese emperors. Among the examples are stories of fighting a tiger to save one’s father; warming the bed of one’s parents in winter; lying down on the solid, winter ice of a river to melt it in order to catch fish for one’s father and stepmother; and crying in the forest in winter so that bamboo sprouts grow to make medicine for one’s parents.”

Page 117 of 228 Vietnam99. A concise definition is provided by Ngọc: “Children must venerate their parents, obey them in all circumstances, and care for them in their old age.” (Ngọc 2012, 106-107.p.), while Jamieson further elaborates the notion: “Children were made to feel keenly that they owed parents a moral debt so immense as to be unpayable. A child was supposed to try to please his or her parents all the time and in every way, to increase their comfort, to accede to all their wishes, to fulfil their aspirations, to lighten their burden of work and of worry, and to comply with their wishes in all matters, great and small” (Jamieson 1993, 17.p.).

This expression is another example of a lacuna which is present in everyday life of Vietnam and determines the behavior and communication of members of this culture.100

Interestingly, Ngọc mentions (Ngọc 2012, 107.p.) “filial piety association” (hội hiếu) in a separate article: “In a village, this association is for people over 50 whose parents (sometimes also parents-in-law) are still alive. Members provide mutual aid when their respective parents fall ill or die.” This institute, although mainly present only in the countryside in Vietnam, confirms again the deep-rooted virtue of filial piety among Vietnamese.

99 We note here that Vietnam belongs to the Confucian country cluster according to one of the most powerful contemporary cross-cultural value studies, the World Values Survey (meanwhile, Hungary is in the Catholic Europe cluster). The sixth stage of the survey was finished in 2014 and a most updated World Value Map was published in 2015 (see Appendix 21). The survey started in 1981, incorporates 97 countries representing more than 90% of the population of the world. Until the fifth wave approximately 257 000 respondents participated in the research, led by Ronald Inglehart (see Inglehart 2005, 2013). 100 Among Vietnamese values Jamieson lists some connected notions such as nghĩa (the righteous path), đễ (relationship between brothers) and ơn (a moral debt of children towards their parents) (Jamieson 1995, 17- 19.p) – all of those interwined with Confucianism.

Page 118 of 228 PART 6. RESEARCH FINDINGS, NEW RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1. RESEARCH FINDINGS

6.1.1. Social hierarchy reflected in language (hypothesis no. 1)101

In the first hypothesis of our dissertation we presumed that social hierarchy, respect based on status, rank and age, is more strongly present in Vietnamese culture than in Hungarian. Moreover, we assumed that linguistic proofs can be identified in this regard utilizing Lacuna Theory.

In first place we found evidence that in the role of personal pronouns in Hungarian, Vietnamese addressing forms, kinship terms in particular play a key role in communication. Kinship terms – examples of Hungarian-Vietnamese lacunas themselves – serve as indispensable units of communication when defining the mutual relation of interlocutors, reflecting their relative age, social status and gender as well (Vietnamese have more levels in language – as worded by a respondent).

We found that the most commonly emphasized virtues in Vietnamese proverbs are respect of the elderly and of teachers. Our case study on kinship terms showed that “The reason of misunderstanding is lack of knowledge of Vietnamese addressing forms between younger and older”102.

Through collating 192 Vietnamese proverbs (121 with general content and 71 specifically related to money), we found that the most commonly emphasized virtues are respect of the elderly and of teachers i.e.: Cha mẹ đặt đâu con ngồi đấy (Children will sit where their parents put them) or Một chữ là thầy, nửa chữ cũng là thầy (Who teaches a word is a teacher, who teaches half a word is also a teacher).

101 The questions discussed in both 5.1. and 5.2. have a considerable literature for instance in interactional sociolinguistics and in the analysis of discourse strategies. In our dissertation the questions were approached through the application of the Lacuna framework that offers a more complete, more detailed approach. The closest theory when compared to lacuna research is the study of realia and the theory of ethno-culturemes. However, none of those proved to be able to muster an apparatus as well elaborated as that of Lacuna Theory. In Klaudy and Tellinger, for instance, the idea of a wider interpretation of realia and ethno-culturemes appears; however, the authors rather limit the field of the research to translation studies; intercultural aspects are secondary, subordinate to those of translation studies. 102 Quote from a respondent

Page 119 of 228 One of our case studies set focus on an intercultural misunderstanding based on the lack of proper knowledge of Vietnamese kinship terms from the Hungarian businessman’s side. Interpretations of the situation clearly revealed the roots of the miscommunication. As a respondent concisely stated: “The reason of misunderstanding is lack of knowledge of Vietnamese addressing forms between younger and older: ‘chị của tôi ’ expresses respect, friendliness and creates trust”.

6.1.2. Linguistic imprints of different concepts of family (hypothesis no. 2)

According to our second hypothesis unlike concepts on the notion of family in Hungary and Vietnam influence bilateral communication and result in dissimilar linguistic imprints that can be disclosed by utilizing Lacuna Theory as research method.103

The importance of family as the essential unit of society in Vietnam was highlighted among the stereotypes on Vietnamese businesspersons where 11 respondents identified a good businessperson with someone who has a happy family, scoring number 5 in this question of the survey. Another description of a good businessperson provided by interviewees was: an individual who combines work and family life well. Further utterances on this point related to family included: has advantageous social conditions, family; enriches himself and family and serves community including individual, family and relatives.

In chapter 5.3. we introduced a case study that revealed a lacuna when analysing the expression chị của tôi (my elder sister). The term has a different meaning in Vietnam compared to Hungary, as in the former country/culture those persons who feel emotionally close enough to each other or have spent an considerable period of time together in friendship, call each other brothers or sisters (or similarly aunt, uncle, grandmother, etc.).

103 Huyên states that “The family is the base of Vietnamese society. Its strength lies on filial piety.103” (Huyên 2013, 68.p). The Vietnamese equivalent of the word family is gia or nhà103; meanwhile, another expression worth mentioning is tôc̣ (Sino-Vietnamese word) or ho ̣ (its Vietnamese equivalent). Nhà refers to the family with its members living under the same roof (usually three or even four generations); meanwhile, tôc̣ or ho ̣ denotes the bigger family that originates from the same ancestor (blood relationship).

Page 120 of 228 All kinship terms in Vietnamese might denote family members as well as close friends or acquaintances in the above sense.

Social communicative interactions are interconnected with kinship terms in general. Within the highly hierarchical and strictly regulated Vietnamese family, addressing another family member must be done by proper kinship terms. When researching for lacunas by identifying differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians, we found the utterance that “Vietnamese have more levels in language”, meaning Vietnamese language applies a richly layered system of kinship terms, suitable for expressing respect towards age, gender, social status. (In Hungarian addressing the interlocutor may basically be done in a twofold way using either formal or informal forms.104)

Under point 5.4. (evaluation of the results of statements) of the dissertation we found evidence that the close, family-like behavior of Vietnamese is present in everyday communication. Usual ways of entering into verbal interaction with each other – with a function of greeting each other – include the phrases: “Have you eaten yet?”, “Where are you going?” and “What are you doing?” These forms usually show care and respect towards the partner and in no circumstances express any form of impoliteness or overcuriosity. “Vietnamese people often ask close persons some questions related to private life” as worded by a respondent. This behavior and some connected topics might be considered as strange or unexpected for Hungarians when communicating with Vietnamese and can even lead to misunderstandings or conflict.

Vietnamese, moreover, tend to “build their sibling-like close relationships” outside of the family as put forth by a respondent. This includes communication in school, media, the workplace, other fields of social life and basically in all spheres of interpersonal communication.

104 The formal-informal speech is, however, somewhat more sophisticated in Hungarian, as formal language can be subdivided into three different groups. Besides using the single third person ,Hungarians apply special methods of formal speech through such expressions as maga and Ön (usually spelled with capital initial).

Page 121 of 228 From the entrepreneurial perspective Vietnamese seem to lay emphasis on family connections, even tend to prioritize those in business contexts. In line with the utterance collected in the preliminary research (When Vietnamese businessmen see a profitable business opportunity, they prefer to solve the funding within their own circles, and are reluctant to involve a foreigner), we collected comments in connection with this statement. We found that 41% of the respondents agreed that Vietnamese are “reluctant to involve foreigners, they want to gain all profit”, they “don’t like to share profits”, “they prefer to stand on their own feet” or “want to keep the highest profit possible internally”.

6.1.3. Time horizon (hypothesis no. 3)

In our third hypothesis we claimed that the “time horizon of Vietnamese entrepreneurs can be described as “short-term”, which can be traced via linguistic phenomena”. We summarize the results of the mixed methodology below.

Southeast Asian countries are often considered as generally long-term oriented in line with Confucian values that lay the foundation of some of them for instance in the case of Vietnam. According to the cultural dimensions of Hofstede (Hofstede 2005, 2010, 2015), Vietnam scores almost the same with Hungary (57 points of 100 for Vietnam, 58 points on the same scale for Hungary).

However, our preliminary research indicated that businesspersons generally see Vietnam as a short-term oriented country, where one of the key drives of activity is to gain profit on a very short-time horizon. Our mixed methodology proved without a doubt this latter statement as summarized below.

A./ Vietnamese auto-stereotypes clearly indicate and confirm the view of short- sightedness (see 5.2.3. and 5.2.5.). Respondents emphasized that Vietnamese work for “short-term goals”, they are “short-term thinking” and some of them nowadays “put their benefit above everything, which makes many traditional customs fall into oblivion”.

Page 122 of 228 B./ Respondents expressed strong belief that Vietnamese businesspersons are short- term oriented in several utterances including: They have no long-term view and strategy; they run after short-term profits; they are short-sighted; they live by makeshift and they live from hand to mouth.

C./ Taking the results of the preliminary research into consideration, we included a separate closed question on the time horizon of Vietnamese entrepreneurs (see 5.4.3.). Respondents generally agreed that Vietnamese businessmen are interested in a short-term financial return: 37,5% of them confirmed consent with the statement while almost no disagreement was expressed. Most typically participants of the survey either explicitly agreed or indirectly gave reasons for such behavior (claiming that Vietnamese entrepreneurs do not have enough capital or they are reluctant to take risks).

D./ Some remarks further coloured and sophisticated the results, such as: “Vietnamese are shortsighted, the term ‘instant noodle’105 is applied in all social and business activities”.

E./ Replies given to the statement comparing the Northern and Southern part of the country indicated a difference between the two regions when claiming: “Southern businessmen prefer long-term projects, Northerners go for short-term goals”; “Northerners are more cautious and careful while Southerners are more open- minded in business” or “Northern people make efforts to earn money for building a big house and to purchase something (they are economical) while Southern people don’t care much about externalities (house, clothes)”. Differences in mentality and values between the South and the North are due to various reasons including different history (American presence in the South with more contacts to a market- oriented approach; Chinese proximity in the North, implying several wars and other conflicts; colder weather in the North, etc.).

105 Noodle is one of the most commonly consumed meals in Vietnam and its instant form is highly popular throughout the country.

Page 123 of 228 F./ Responses for the free-association test about a Vietnamese person also indicated the same characteristics of Vietnamese, namely their short-sightedness.

G./ One of the differences identified when inquiring about differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (5.7.2.) on the personal characteristics level is the assumption that Vietnamese usually have “short-term goals”.

We can confidently state that Vietnamese are characterized as short-term oriented both in business life and in general. The assumption was confirmed in 5.2. (Stereotypes), 5.4. (Statements), 5.5. (Associations) and 5.7. (Habits, lacunae).

6.1.4. Classification of lacunas (hypothesis no. 4) 106

We analysed several typologies from various authors including Markovina, Ertelt-Vieth, Panasuik, Anokhina and found that though the most complex and widely accepted classification by Ertelt-Vieth sets a highly useful framework for differentiating between diverse lacunas (namely introducing mental, activity and object lacunas within the Y-shaped Model), it still cannot cope with laying down a fully consistent system for classifying lacunas.

In our personal view the introduction of the second, axiological dimension of lacunas107 as a basic classification concept is contradictory. As Ertelt-Vieth explains108: Axiological lacunas “denote culture specific connotations and evaluations of differing phenomena. They are often the heart of misunderstandings and conflicts.” In our opinion all lacunas are per se axiological and per definitionem bear cultural connotations. We humbly propose elaborating

106 Based on our second hypothesis: “Current typologies cannot fully categorize existing lacunas. New types, groups or schemes of classification can be identified based on a mixed methodology elaborated under this dissertation”. 107 According to the classification system of lacunas of Ertelt-Vieth, the second dimension is the so-called axiological dimension. As the author claims, axiological lacunas “denote culture specific connotations and evaluations of differing phenomena” (Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 54.p.). 108 Ertelt-Vieth, 2003, 54.p.

Page 124 of 228 a classification system that is able to account for all possible lacunas in a consistent framework.109

Following the empirical study presented in this dissertation, we classified 491 of the identified lacunas on an intuitive basis with the following results.

1. Based on the differences when comparing life in Hungary and Vietnam (see seventh questionnaire, first question) we identified 175 lacunas and grouped those into the following 18 categories110: personal characteristics; life/society; communication; physical environment; behavior; business/economy; environmental protection; attitude towards law/rules; work/study; food/cuisine; habits; mindset/emotions; traffic; housing; methods; gender; history; relation to elderly.

In our view the two principal aspects that need to be added to the previous studies are as follows: 1./ Values connected to religion, traditions and gender; 2./ Ad hoc topics of the scope of the specific study (i.e.: economic, artistic, connected to certain scientific fields, etc.).

Taking into account the classifications presented in this dissertation, the bigger part of those or similar groups of lacunae have been revealed already (see 2.2.3., i.e.: character lacunas, behavior-specific lacunas, etc.). Some, however, seemed to contain new aspects that have not been precisely elaborated until now, such as business/economy; environmental protection; attitude towards law/rules; housing; gender and relation to elderly.

2. When researching on the differences between Hungarians and Vietnamese in the field of communication, behavior as well as doing business (seventh questionnaire, second question) we revealed 120 discrepancies. We discovered that the most

109 The Y-Shaped Model in our opinion can be an adequate way to classify lacunas provided that we eliminate the second dimension (that of the axiological one) and accept the Extension of the Lacuna Model as detailed in 6.1.6. 110 Those categories mentioned were developed by the author, taking into account the results of the research. Most of the categories – along different organizing principles – have already appeared in previous literature. This above grouping was set up on an empirical basis, based on the concrete findings of the research.

Page 125 of 228 significant difference lies in higher consciousness of time/better punctuality of Hungarians, a more planned and “scientific”111 way of life. Environmental questions were highlighted; Hungary is considered to be a cleaner place with inhabitants of higher awareness of environmental protection.

Lacunas in this same point (seventh questionnaire, second question) were grouped into six different topics such as: doing business; communication; personal characteristics; lifestyle/society; cuisine and language. We stated that language can also be considered as a subgroup of communication; this taxonomy did not yield further groups of lacunae (apart from the dichotomy mentioned in the next paragraph).

Below we selected some examples of lacunas related to a highlighted topic of the dissertation, that of business life: Hungarians are less close (less friendly and sociable), they rarely negotiate at a meal or party, they speak straight on the topic, they are straighter, patient, they want to widen the relations and they work according to a planned schedule. Meanwhile, Vietnamese people are closer (more friendly, more sociable), they often negotiate at a meal or party, they beat around the bush, they are less straight, sometimes not honest, and Vietnamese businessmen only want to sell.

Lacunas discovered were divided into two basic categories according to the form of utterance of the answerer: (1) oppositions of representatives of the two nations and (2) unilateral statements about either Hungarians or Vietnamese.

The 55 cases of strange or unexpected situations evoked by respondents (see: seventh questionnaire, third question) we grouped into 19 main categories as follows: language; discrimination/stereotyping/ generalizations; general characteristics; cheating/misleading; complex situations; relation to parents and old teachers; society/life; arguments (language and behavior); behavior at public places; housing; climate; clothing; cooking; gender roles; invitation; payment; traffic and driving; way of walking; others. Besides groups already

111 “Scientific” (”khoa học”) lifestyle that is a lacuna itself was mentioned by numerous respondents. They understand it as a better planned and organized way of life.

Page 126 of 228 mentioned or overlapping with previously enlisted ones, we hereby draw the attention to some groups such as:

1./ discrimination/stereotyping/generalizations; 2./ cheating/misleading; 3./ housing; 4./ complex situations have been identified.

We discussed the changed habits of respondents (seventh questionnaire, fourth question) after returning to Vietnam from Hungary. Among the 141 changed habits revealed we found some atypical results below:

1./ habit of saying sorry and thank you; 2./ using a handkerchief; 3./ nibbling on the street; 4./ being less curious in others’ issues.

Taking the above into consideration we can state that due to the different categorizations in each of the four questions discussed (seventh questionnaire, 1-4 questions), we could not set up a fully consistent new typology of lacunas. However, we sophisticated current categorization with several suggestions such as: the elimination of the axiological dimension; the addition of lacunas connected to religion, traditions and gender; the differentiation between single and multiple/complex lacunas (see in detail: 6.3.). We drew attention to some atypical lacunas such as discrimination/stereotyping/generalizations or lacunas connected to cheating/misleading.

6.2. NEW RESULTS

6.2.1. Lexical lacuna as focal point of research

A substantial implication of the results of our research is the presumption that the further study as well as the more precise classification of lacunas from the Intercultural Linguistic point of view must be done based on lexical lacunae. These are the most tangible artifacts of linguistic studies.

As Gibson states (Gibson 2010, 25.p.) Intercultural Communication needs to be grasped along nodes, connecting points of different sciences such as anthropology, sociology,

Page 127 of 228 psychology, linguistics, etc. Finke adds (Finke 2002, 39.p. In: Földes 2007) that linguistics should be considered as a network rather than an autonomous, separate field as well.

In all circumstances, if Intercultural Linguistics would like to use Lacuna Theory as a consistent method of describing intercultural communication from the linguistic aspect, then in as a first step a clear and concise definition as well as a coherent classification of lexical lacunas is needed.

It is a widely accepted approach that in different languages/cultures language segments reality by lexical items in a different way (see Markovina’s example on oil and its Russian translation in 2.2.3.1.). However, for the sake of elaborating a proper methodology for analysing and understanding the cultural roots of such phenomenon, we must cope with the challenge implied by Földes, who envisaged that Lacuna Theory can be one of the four main methods or fields of research in Intercultural Communication (Földes, 2007a, 24-29.p.).

6.2.2. Extension vs. narrowing of the Lacuna Model

The Lacuna Model underwent a theoretical shift after 1977 (in this year Sorokin published his first relevant article), when out of a tool of unlocking translation gaps it became a key method of analysing intercultural communication (see Anokhina, 2013). In light of the literature and research introduced in the dissertation, it worth to consider as a realistic option to further extend the content of the theory, as well as consider widening its scope of research a second time. In case we compare two languages thus two cultures at the same time, we find that when examining their lexemes the phenomenon of lacunarity is always present. As a consequence, we can consider ad absurdum all lexemes to be lacunas in the intercultural context.

In Markovina’s example the author compares the meaning of the English/American word friend and the Russian word друг (Markovina 2011a). Markovina states that the Russian language users associate the word друг with the following terms: faithful, old, true, devoted, bosom-beloved, cordial/warm-hearted, childhood, faithfulness, protection, help, warmth, happiness, while members of the American speech community connect friend to

Page 128 of 228 acquaintance, companion, colleague, buddy, neighbour, ally, foe, girl, good, enemy112. Consequently, the meaning of the two words is considerably different in intercultural context113, therefore, Markovina advises that in an intercultural communication event or when translating such items these discrepancies must be taken into account (Markovina 2004, 60.p.).

Thus, in addition to the relatively easily recognizable variant of lacunas (in the Vietnamese-

Hungarian relations for instance, the word hiếu, which is discussed in the dissertation, means filial piety and cannot be matched with a lexical equivalent in Hungarian), we can observe that (similarly to the Russian-English/American pair of lexemes друг-friend) in the case of numerous further pairs of lexemes culturally dependent semantic differences can be identified.

There is no doubt, however, that making the definition of lacunas boundless (that is to say that we consider each pair of lexemes a lacuna) would make it difficult, or in some cases even impossible to conduct further research. It is indisputable that in the case of a pair of languages (a pair of cultures) certain lacunas are stronger than others. In the case of a stronger lacuna whereas in the place of a lexeme we can find a complete hiatus/vacuum114 in the other language (see for instance the Vietnamese verb nhậu that means: to eat, drink and go out with friends and business partners and try to find business opportunities); meanwhile, we can also discover pairs of lexemes with a lower degree of lacunarity (see, for example, the comparison of the lexemes друг-friend in the Russian-English/American relation above).

In our view, on the one hand, it is appropriate to broaden the Lacuna Model and examine all pairs of lexemes of intercultural background (where one side or that pair may be a zero- element as well) from the aspect whether they can be regarded to a higher or lower extent

112 I find it very interesting to note that according to Markovina (source: personal, verbal communication), the Russian equivalent of the American word friend really is not друг, but rather знакомый or приятель (приятельница). 113 The common semantic core of the word can be described according to Panasiuk (Panasiuk 1999, In: Grodzki 2003, 52.p.) as a denotative meaning while cultural connotations are layered onto the denotative meaning (Markovina uses the term ethnic verbal consciousness, In: Markovina 2011a). 114As Lendvai states, lacunas can be considered as ”semantic vacuums” (Lendvai 2012).

Page 129 of 228 as pair of lacunas115. At the same time we find it necessary to continue research along a narrower interpretation of the lacuna-concept, with the aim of contributing to the linguistic work in the following areas: compilation of cultural dictionaries (see section 6.8.), editing lacuna-based business manuals (see section 6.9.) and description of cultures with the help of lacunas excerpted from artistic texts (see 06.10.).

6.2.3. Multiple/complex lacunas

As pointed out in various parts of the dissertation, in real-life situations lacunae typically do not appear in an isolated manner, but usually several lacunas are simultaneously present. We set forth such an example among the case studies about a Hungarian female participant of a scientific conference who experienced a shocking scene when another participant of the event sang a song during the panel discussions.116

In this situation it seems to be unavoidable to embed the analysis of the situation in a complex setting. The general background of the mentioned case is a scientific conference with its specific rules and protocol, the Hungarian participant is female (gender dimension), the social role of singing and music differs in the two countries. Consequently, we need to take a minimum number of three lacunae into consideration when analyzing the situation. These types of lacunas we name complex or multiple lacunas.

6.2.4. Mixed methodology117

A key methodological concept of the current study included applying various research methods. These included open and closed as well as scaled and non-scaled questions, case

115 It is worth to note that from the approach of translation studies, in the field of the research of realia, both Klaudy and the Bulgarian authors Vlahov and Florin draws similar conclusions: “According to Klaudy even though the wider interpretation might be riskier, it is a more interesting and diverse area, as we can examine what kind of extra-linguistic information the translator needs in his/her translating activity. Vlahov and Florin, the Bulgarian researchers mentioned by her also prefer the broader interpretation *...+” (Horváth 2007, 97.p.). 116 According to Script Theory applied in social psychology, in Western cultures singing is not a part of the script of a conference, meanwhile it can be a part of a script of a friendly gathering for instance (see more in detail about the Script Theory in: Tomkins 1987). 117 We understand mixed methodology in a way that in the framework of an essentially questionnaire-based research we applied six different survey research methods to detect the lacunas. In a methodological interpretation, each of the six cases mean a questionnaire; however, in all of the six cases the mechanism of detecting lacunae was different.

Page 130 of 228 studies giving the interviewees the opportunity to freely express thoughts, associations (based on the methodology of Markovina and the Russian ethno-psycholinguistic school), proverbs (as valuable imprints of culture in language), statements from utterances of respondents for the preliminary studies and last but not least a special set of questions to reveal intercultural lacunas.

As Intercultural Linguistics is a young science without a well-established methodological background, we find it essential to raise ideas and concepts in this field. The majority of the topics raised confirmed the usefulness of this approach (i.e. analyzing the time horizon of entrepreneurs or mapping interpersonal communication).

6.2.5. The Lacuna Paradox

Following Labov we call it the Observer’s Paradox when the observation itself distorts the results of the research: “The aim of linguistic research in the community must be to find out how people talk when they are not being systematically observed; yet we can only obtain this data by systematic observation” (Labov, W. 1972 209.p.). The personality and mindset of the person conducting the research can significantly influence the results of the research. Hofstede, for instance, was criticized that even in his cross-cultural research the formation of the questionnaires and the research objectives were deeply connected to his “culturally programmed” mindset.

In our study we identified a similar deficiency – we named it the Lacuna Paradox – which is present in all cases of intercultural comparisons when we use at least two languages in our research. Results of the survey will necessarily be distorted due to the lacunas within the survey itself (i.e. in the questionnaires, in the utterances of respondents, etc.). Our study was even more affected by this phenomenon as we used a third language, English as an intermediary language between Hungarian and Vietnamese. We mentioned a handful of examples in the dissertation, including the adjective nhiệt tình (enthusiastic: in a meaning of helpful and wholehearted), the adjective khoa học (scientific: in the meaning of a specific lifestyle connected to health and a theoretically correct way of living) or the adjective gần gũi (meaning: close in the meaning of friendly, relying on each other, helpful). All of the

Page 131 of 228 above examples illustrate that the lexical items cannot accurately be translated into another language, because they too can be regarded as lacunae.

6.2.6. Marked versus unmarked lacunas

Lacunas can be explicit or implicit (Schröder 1995, Grodzki 2003; In: Jolowicz, 2006, 64.p.) depending on whether their presence is noticed or remains hidden during or after the communication event. We cite hereby some of the research findings: an explicit lacuna is for example when a Vietnamese person asks directly about the age of his/her conversational partner, which may sound odd or indecent to Hungarians, while an example for an implicit lacuna can be (if the Hungarian partner has no knowledge of this practice) that Vietnamese people often use the occasions of meals for doing business.

We think that similarly, another bipolar classification of lacunas needs to be introduced; thus, we hereby oppose marked versus unmarked lacunas. Representatives of the first type are such lacunas that have a linguistically perceivable form; meanwhile, the latter category is not marked in language.

An example of a linguistically unmarked lacuna is as follows. A group of tourist is on the way from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay by bus. On the way the bus stops by for a lunch break. All passengers sit down, whereas at one table a group of six is preparing to eat together, including three Vietnamese, two Hungarians and one Italian person. After 10 minutes of waiting a big bowl of soup is served. All Europeans are hungry and start to eat, while the Vietnamese wait patiently. Both parties feel a bit embarrassed as the others do not behave according to their culturally accepted and expected manner.118

The Europeans do not understand why the Vietnamese refuse eating soup (as for them it is usual to eat soup as first dish), while Vietnamese feel offended that their tablemates cannot wait for the further dishes (in Vietnam a company of people share all different types of food and eat them in parallel. Furthermore, soup is usually consumed at the end of the meal, before fruits). This pure situation – although interpersonal communication is present, it does not take direct linguistic form; thus, we consider it an example of unmarked lacunas.

118 The situation is explained by Script Theory (mentioned in chapter 6.3.) as a consequence of the culturally different scripts (Tomkins 1987).

Page 132 of 228 6.3. RECOMMENDATIONS

6.3.1. Further application of Lacuna Theory in Intercultural Linguistic research

In full consent with Földes (Földes 2007a) we find the Lacuna Model to be a promising tool for unlocking cultural differences and for avoiding intercultural misunderstandings. Briefly, it can be one of the potential theoretical and methodological tools of Intercultural Linguistics in general. As Földes claims the Lacuna Model is one of the four most potential frameworks of future research on intercultural communication besides the constructivist approach (Drescher, 2004); the structuralist semiotic approach (Greimas, 1995) and the research of cultural scripts (Goddard, Wierzbicka, 2004). We hereby add that to further research functional cognitive linguistics can serve as an important background, examining the differences in the construction of situations, based on the alteration of points of view.

6.3.2. Compilation of cultural dictionaries

Lexical lacunae can be used as the most direct and tangible indicators for cross-cultural differences. A way of further research in intercultural linguistics (also helping to shape this science and its methodology) lays in the field of lexocology by the cumulation of cultural dictionaries. From the linguistic perspective lacunology could benefit from specific lacuna- dictionaries, where each item can be respected as a pool of information regarding characteristics of the given culture.

Compiling dictionaries of lacunae in specific relations where the entries are explained to a wider audience is a potential path of the future application of Lacuna Theory in Intercultural Linguistics. The Dictionary of Traditional Vietnamese Culture (Hữu 2012) is a good initiative to cumulate such lexemes, moreover several cultural dictionaries published in Hungary including the French-Hungarian cultural dictionary of Peter Adam (Adam 2004), the American-Hungarian and English-Hungarian cultural dictionaries of Istvan Bart (Bart 2000, 1998), the German-Hungarian cultural dictionary of Miklos Gyorffy (Gyorffy 2003), the Japanese cultural lexicon of Laszlo Gy. Horvath (Gy. Horvath 1999), the Russian-Hungarian

Page 133 of 228 cultural dictionary of Andras Soproni (Soproni 2008) and 100+1 Yiddish Words of Tamas Raj (Raj 2010).119

6.3.3. Business Manual based on lacunas

Besides dictionaries, assembling a practical manual for businesspersons in the Hungary- Vietnam (or in another) relation based on intercultural lacunas would raise effectiveness of bilateral economic interactions. Instead of the widespread Do’s and Don’ts approach that frequently strengthen stereotypical approach of the new, unknown culture, a Business Manual listing out lacunas with examples and case studies could contribute to the success of publications and trainings in the field of intercultural management.

6.3.4. Description of a culture by lacunae from artistic texts

Additional research on artistic texts (novels, poems, tales, legends, etc.) seems to be an excellent field for examination. In the Vietnamese context the classical example, one of the best-known pieces of Vietnamese literature both inside the country and on the international level, The Tale of Kieu from Nguyễn Du (1820) is a rich oeuvre containing a wide range of cultural specificities of Vietnamese culture.

If we observe the brief summary of the epic poem The Tale of Kieu (Du, Nguyễn, Wikipedia 2015), we can sort out cultural peculiarities including: “visiting her ancestors' graves, she meets and connects with the grave of a dead performer”; “Kim has to go back home to mourn a relative for half a year”; “Kiều decides to sell herself to Scholar Mã to free her family, therefore showing her deeply rooted filial piety”; “Kiều's beauty attracts many men, including Thúc Sinh, who uses his wealth to buy Kiều out of the brothel and marry her, although he already has a wife named Hoạn Thư”; “tells her henchmen to kidnap and force Kiều to become a slave in her house”; “never dares to reach out to her in front of his first wife”; “She goes to a Buddhist temple”; “ending her cycle of bad karma”; “The tension between Kieu's impulsive tendencies and filial piety is evident; due to a karma from the evils

119 Although the authors do not explicitly mention the Lacuna Theory, they explain numerous lacunae in independent word articles.

Page 134 of 228 of previous life”; “There is a constant struggle between Confucian and Buddhist beliefs throughout the poem”.

The above key phrases of the plot of The Tale of Kieu were presented here to demonstrate the richness of classical texts of a certain culture in lacunas, consequently arguing for the systematic study of these texts applying Lacuna Theory for unlocking lacunas.

6.3.5. Research on networks of lacunae

In the course of our research interferences between lexemes have been identified, such as the Vietnamese noun xúc xích, which is a transcription of the French work saucisse (English: sausage), with similar but slightly different meaning when contrasted with French or English.

In Appendix 34 and 35 we compared different meat products in Hungarian and in the Vietnamese language. Besides envisaging the fact that different languages use different terms as well as dissimilar classification systems for meat products, and the realities are also not identical (in terms of the products themselves, their physical appearance, ingredients and manufacturing methods), we realized that the same categories (i.e. meat products) can be contrasted in certain geographical areas. Both terms and classification methods can be analysed and contrasted; consequently, homogenous territories as well as networks of similar expressions can be identified that can be a fruitful field of research in lacunology.

6.3.6. Additional researches on intracultural lacunas in Vietnam

In our view the further study of intracultural lacuna120 in Vietnam could yield valuable additional results. As seen above (see 4.3.) Northern and Southern Vietnam seem to differ both culturally and linguistically, thus could be a rich area for future research.121

120 Similarly to Kehrwoche (a habit to clean the inside and outside of a house on a weekly basis, practiced by Schwabians in Germany, see: Wikipedia, Kehrwoche), an example took from Ertelt-Vieth (Ertelt-Vieth 2003, 8.p) intracultural lacunas in the relation of Northern and Southern Vietnam should be further studied.

Page 135 of 228 On several occasions during the history of Vietnam the northern and southern parts of the country worked partially or completely independently (i.e.: They formed two separate countries between 1954-1975), and although interlocutors of the northern and the southern dialects mutually understand each other, linguistic imprints of different cultural influences can well be traced. While the north has always been strongly influenced by China, the southern part of the country has been more Westernized, more open and more liberal and culturally stands closer to the European and North American countries.

6.3.7. Lacuna studies through slang and swearwords

A study of slang and swearwords could also serve as an efficient tool of lacunology. We demonstrate the above with two examples: cu ̣ and bão. The first example demonstrates the usefulness of swearwords and expressions in Vietnamese. The word cu ̣ in itself is a lacuna, as it refers to the great grandfather or great grandmother (in European languages including Hungarian there is no separate lexeme for great grandparents). A slang expression “Địt cụ122 123 mày124!” literally means “Make love125 to your great grandfather!”. We presume that through the further study of slang as well as swearwords and expressions we will gain insight into another valuable layer of lacunae from a specific register of language which may not be reflected in similar researches as we have done hereby.

121 Several contrastive studies have been executed in this field, let us just mention the work of Lý Tùng Hiếu, Language – Culture in Saigon and Southern Vietnam, containing cultural and linguistic comparisons between the two parts of the country. 122 One of the unique characteristics of the Vietnamese language is its richness in lexemes denoting different generations. Up to nine generations can be named by separate lexemes such as: ky ̣ or cô ́ (great great grandfather) cu ̣ (great grandfather) ông (grandfather) cha (father) con (child) cháu (grandchild), chắt (great grandchild) and chút (great great grandchild) (Thêm 2008, 239.p). In most of the languages throughout the world one or two generations in both directions can be named by different lexemes. The phenomenon obviously refers to the extremely high importance of the family in Vietnam as well as to the habits of commemorating the death of two generations above till the grandparents’ level. (We also add one point to the work of Thêm – which is in our view one of the most precious and invaluable compilations of Vietnamese culture – that even a 10th generation is differentiated in Vietnamese language, which is chít (great great great grandchild). 123 In today’s Vietnam it is considered to be desirable and lucky to have four generations living under the same roof. Although recently families are getting smaller, especially in urban areas, this approach is incorporated by a high proportion of Vietnamese. 124 The addressing form mày is another example of a lacuna applied in slang: This is a rude way used as an equivalent of the personal pronoun you. 125 We used above an euphemistic translation (make love) of the verb địt which should be more precisely translated as fuck.

Page 136 of 228 Our second and final example is bão (cơn bão126), which has the core denotation storm meanwhile in Vietnamese slang it refers to a specific event when people flood the streets with their motorbikes to celebrate a big event such as a victory of the Vietnamese national football team. On these occasions, people, especially younger generations, gather and cruise across downtown of bigger cities, usually waving national flags and drawing attention of passersby by h. This notion cannot be understood without sufficient knowledge of Vietnamese culture (such as most Vietnamese use motorbikes in their daily routine and they often cruise around town for fun or as a free-time.

126 The classifier word for bão is cơn, usually applied for nouns denoting weather phenomena as well as for some types of emotions (especially strong and negative feelings).

Page 137 of 228 Table of figures

Figure 1: Allied sciences of Intercultural Communication ...... 17 Figure 2: Classification of lacunas ...... 28 Figure 3: Classification of lacunas by Ertelt-Vieth ...... 30 Figure 4: Transitions of lacunas ...... 31 Figure 5: The cognitive mapping of the linguistic lacunicon ...... 36 Figure 6: Age of respondents...... 48 Figure 7: Year of graduation ...... 48 Figure 8: Time spent in Hungary ...... 49 Figure 9: Number of completed questionnaires ...... 49 Figure 10: Number of questionnaires completed per person ...... 50 Figure 11: Hungarian language skills ...... 50 Figure 12: Gender of respondents ...... 186 Figure 13: Highest degree of respondents ...... 186 Figure 14: Nationality of respondents ...... 187 Figure 15: Cultural dimensions (Hungary and Vietnam) ...... 187 Figure 16: Cultural map of the World, based on the World Values Survey 2010-2014 ...... 188 Figure 17: Country clusters of the GLOBE study ...... 188 Figure 18: Word meaning - correlation between denotative and connotative meaning by Pansiuk ...... 189

Page 138 of 228 Table of tables Table 1: A good businessperson: top 10 stereotypes (Questionnaire no. 1.) ...... 55 Table 2: Stereotypes about Hungarians: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.) ...... 56 Table 3: Stereotypes about Vietnamese: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.)...... 58 Table 4: Stereotypes about Hungarian businesspersons: top 5 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.) ...... 59 Table 5: Stereotypes about Vietnamese businesspersons: top 5 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 1.) ...... 60 Table 6: Distribution of scores from responses given to Questions no. 4.1.-4.10. (Questionnaire no. 3.) ...... 71 Table 7: Associations about Hungary: top nine characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) ...... 89 Table 8: Associations about Vietnam: top nine characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) ...... 91 Table 9: Associations about a Hungarian person: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) ...... 92 Table 10: Associations about a Vietnamese person: top 10 characteristics (Questionnaire no. 4.) .... 93 Table 11: Vietnamese proverbs about money, at least four occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.) ...... 94 Table 12: Hungarian proverbs about money, at least two occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.)...... 95 Table 13: Vietnamese proverbs, at least four occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.) ...... 97 Table 14: Hungarian proverbs, at least two occurrences (Questionnaire no. 5.) ...... 98 Table 15: Differences when living in Hungary, groups of characteristics ...... 100 Table 16: Differences when living in Hungary, at least three occurrences (Questionnaire no. 6.).... 101 Table 17: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Doing Business (from Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 103 Table 18: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Communication (from Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 104 Table 19: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Personal Characteristics (from Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 105 Table 20: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Lifestyle and Society (from Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 106 Table 21: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians in Cuisine and Language (from Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 107 Table 22: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (Questionnaire no. 6), ...... 108 Table 23: Summary and Categorization of Strange/Awkward Experiences in Hungary (Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 109 Table 24: Changed habits, at least three Occurrences (Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 110 Table 25: Examples of Vietnamese-Hungarian Lacunae...... 115 Table 26: Vietnamese proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 193 Table 27: Hungarian proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 195 Table 28: Vietnamese proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 202 Table 29: Hungarian proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results ...... 204 Table 30: Differences when living in Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results, categorized209 Table 31: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results ...... 211 Table 32: Strange, awkward experiences (from Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 215 Table 33: Strange, awkward experiences (from Questionnaire no. 6.) ...... 218

Page 139 of 228 Table of appendices Appendix no. 1. Questionnaire, Part 0. (Personal data), English version 151 Appendix no. 2. Questionnaire, Part 1. (Stereotypes), English version 152 Appendix no. 3. Questionnaire, Part 2. (Cases studies), English version 154 Appendix no. 4. Questionnaire, Part 3. (Statements), English version 158 Appendix no. 5. Questionnaire, Part 4. (Associations), English version 162 Appendix no. 6. Questionnaire, Part 5. (Proverbs), English version 163 Appendix no. 7. Questionnaire, Part 6. (Habits), English version 164 Appendix no. 8. A good businessperson (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results 166 Appendix no. 9. Stereotypes about Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results 169 Appendix no. 10. Stereotypes about Vietnamese (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results 171 Appendix no. 11 Stereotypes about Hungarian businesspersons (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results 173 Appendix no. 12. Stereotypes about Vietnamese businesspersons (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results 175 Appendix no. 13. Associations about Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results 177 Appendix no. 14. Associations about Vietnam (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results 179 Appendix no. 15. Associations about a Hungarian person (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results 181 Appendix no. 16. Associations about a Vietnamese person (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results 183 Appendix no. 17. Gender of respondents 185 Appendix no. 18. Highest degree of respondents 185 Appendix no. 19. Nationality of respondents 186 Appendix no. 20. Cultural dimensions: Hungary and Vietnam 186 Appendix no. 21. Cultural map of the World (World Values Survey) 187 Appendix no. 22. Country clusters of the GLOBE study 187 Appendix no. 23. Word meaning (Panasiuk) 188 Appendix no. 24. Vietnamese proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results 189 Appendix no. 25. Hungarian proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results 193 Appendix no. 26. Vietnamese proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results 195 Appendix no. 27. Hungarian proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results 202 Appendix no. 28. Differences when living in Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results, categorized 204 Appendix no. 29. Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results 209 Appendix no. 30. Strange, awkward experiences 1. (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results 211 Appendix no. 31. Strange, awkward experiences 2. (Grouped, from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results 215 Appendix no. 32. Changed habits (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results 218 Appendix no. 33. Examples of Vietnamese-Hungarian lacunae 222 Appendix no. 34. Vietnamese cold cuts 224 Appendix no. 35. Hungarian cold cuts 226

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Page 151 of 228 Appendices

Appendix no. 1.: Questionnaire, Part 0, English version Questionnaire on Vietnamese-Hungarian Business Communication A survey for a PhD dissertation 1. Personal data

Sex:  Male Female

Age: ...... Nationality (Nationalities): ......

Occupation: ......

Education: Name of school: ......

Specification: ......

Year of graduation: ......

Highest degree: High school Bachelor Master Doctor Other:......

Time spent in Hungary . . . years Time spent in Vietnam . . . years

Level of Hungarian language skills (self-evaluation):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Beginner Average As mother tongue

Page 152 of 228 Appendix no. 2.: Questionnaire, Part 1, English version 2.

2.1. What is a good businessman/ businesswoman like? ......

2.2. Continue the following sentences. Give as detailed answers as possible!

2.2.1. What do you think about Hungarians? Hungarians are… ......

2.2.2. What do you think about Vietnamese? Vietnamese people are......

2.2.3. What do you think about Hungarian businessmen/businesswomen?

Hungarian businessmen/businesswomen are......

Page 153 of 228 2.2.4. What do you think about Vietnamese businessmen/businesswomen? Vietnamese businessmen/businesswomen are......

Page 154 of 228 Appendix no. 3.: Questionnaire, Part 2, English version 3.

Please listen to the following stories. Comment the cases from the Hungarian and the Vietnamese perspective!

3.1. A Vietnamese businesswoman, Ms. Hien meets a Hungarian businessman, Mr. Béla in Hanoi. During their talks it turns out that Mr. Béla wants to invest in real-estate in Vietnam. Ms. Hien is not an expert in this field so she recommends Ms . Trang who works for a big real -estate company . Ms. Hien says Ms. Trang is her sister (“chi ̣ của tôi”). Later on Mr. Béla reveals that Ms. Hien and Ms. Trang are not relatives. He feels cheated and cuts all connection with both ladies. What is your opinion on the situation? Was the behaviour of the Hungarian businessman well-reasoned? Why?

......

\

3.2.

Ms Huong writes an email to her Hungarian boss, Mr. László which says:

”Dear Mr. László,

Page 155 of 228 Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan from Hanoi Corp. company, called and sent me an email regarding the appointment for signing the contract. He would like to meet you tomorrow at 3 PM to sign it. If you cannot not make it tomorrow, then he suggests to sign in 2 months later as next month is not appropriate for him.

Please kindly notify me about your preferences.

Best regards,

Ms. Huong”

When reading the letter Mr. László gets upset: tomorrow he is busy all day, so he has to wait 2 months to sign the contract. He decides not to take the partner seriously and start negotiating with another one.

What is your opinion: did the Hungarian boss, Mr. László behave in a proper way? Why?

......

3.3.

Phuong, a 29-year-old woman says her elder brother was in a difficult situation last year. He had no job and the only way he could earn money was taking a job as a driver. But he needed to buy a small 16-seater bus to be able to do that.

Page 156 of 228 Their mother decided to give her son the necessary amount, 11.000 USD which she took from her daughter’s, Phuong’s savings. At first Phuong was angry that her family took her money without even asking her. Then she accepted the situation, and 2 years later when she needed support for her studies abroad her mother reimbursed her the money.

What is your opinion on the story you have just heard? Is it typical for Vietnam? Why? Can a similar case occur in Hungary?

......

3.4.

At an international conference organized in Vietnam, one of the Hungarian participants reported about her shocking experience. She took part in a panel discussion where she was one of those 5 persons to present her research. Before her presentation a Vietnamese participant asked the leaders of the panel to allow him to sing a song. Although the program of the conference has been precisely set up, and there was no such program element as singing, the leaders agreed. He stood up and sang a Vietnamese song to the surprise of the Hungarian guest. All participants enjoyed the scene and rewarded him with a big applause. After the incident, the conference continued where it had been interrupted. But because of the song, the lady did not have enough time for her entire presentation and participants could not carefully discuss her really important recommendation.

Page 157 of 228 Why do you think the Hungarian lady was shocked? How could you explain the situation?

......

Page 158 of 228 Appendix no. 4.: Questionnaire, Part 3, English version 4.

Tell your opinion about the following statements. 4.1. In Vietnam ethical business behaviour is not an obligatory norm. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ...... 4.2. When communicating, Hungarian businessmen are too sensitive and unable to bear silence from their partner’s side. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ...... 4.3. Vietnamese businessmen are only willing to make any efforts if the project offers a very short-term financial return. They don’t like to fight for vague and long-term goals. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ......

Page 159 of 228 ...... 4.4. Vietnamese partners are amongst the most unreliable ones in Asia. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ...... 4.5. Northern and Southern Vietnam are two completely different regions in terms of business environment. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ...... 4.6. Hungarian businessmen speak forthright on the topic (they do not "beat around the bush"). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ......

Page 160 of 228 ...... 4.7. Hungarians usually feel that Vietnamese intrude into their private space.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ...... 4.8. Hungarians speak gently, patiently and politely.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ...... 4.9. Hungarians often speak over-confidently, they want to show more than reality (show off).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice: ......

Page 161 of 228 4.10. When Vietnamese businessmen see a profitable business opportunity, they prefer to solve the funding within their own circles, and are reluctant to involve a foreigner.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Completely agree Neutral, no opinion Completely disagree

Please explain your choice:......

Page 162 of 228 Appendix no. 5.: Questionnaire, Part 4, English version 5. 5.1. Tell what first crosses your mind when hearing: „Hungary”! 1...... 2...... 3...... 4...... 5...... 6...... 7...... 8...... 9...... 10......

5.2. Tell what first crosses your mind when hearing: „Vietnam”! 1...... 2...... 3...... 4...... 5...... 6...... 7...... 8...... 9...... 10......

5.3. Tell what first crosses your mind when hearing: „a Hungarian person”! 1...... 2...... 3...... 4...... 5...... 6...... 7...... 8...... 9...... 10......

5.4. Tell what first crosses your mind when hearing: „a Vietnamese person”! 1...... 2...... 3...... 4...... 5...... 6...... 7...... 8...... 9...... 10......

Page 163 of 228 Appendix No. 6.: Questionnaire, Part 5, English version 6. 6.1. List out Vietnamese sayings, phrases (or proverbs) on money. 1. ______2. ______3. ______4. ______5. ______6. ______7. ______8. ______9. ______10. ______

6.2. List out Hungarian sayings, phrases (or proverbs) on money. 1. ______2. ______3. ______4. ______5. ______6. ______7. ______8. ______9. ______10. ______

6.3. List out Vietnamese sayings, phrases (or proverbs) that you remember. 1. ______2. ______3. ______4. ______5. ______6. ______7. ______8. ______9. ______10. ______

6.4. List out Hungarian sayings, phrases (or proverbs) that you remember. 1. ______2. ______3. ______4. ______5. ______6. ______7. ______8. ______9. ______10. ______

Page 164 of 228 Appendix no. 7.: Questionnaire, Part 6, English version 7.

7.1. When you were living in Hungary, what did you find different compared to your experiences in Vietnam? ......

7.2. Did you notice any difference between Hungarians and Vietnamese in term of communication, behavior or doing business? Give specific examples! ......

Page 165 of 228

7.3. Did you experience anything strange, unexpected, even awkward in Hungary? What was that? ......

7.4. Did you notice (when you returned to Vietnam) that you changed some of your habits? Give specific examples! ......

Page 166 of 228 Appendix no. 8.: A good businessperson (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results

A good businessperson No Characteristics Frequency 1. Contributes to society 20 2. Generates profit 18 3. Creates values for society 16 4. Doing business respecting the law 12 5. Has a happy family 11 6. Gains a lot of profits 8 Has business ethics 7. Contributes to the country 7 Creates many jobs for people 8. Generates profit for company 6 9. Creates lots of economic values 5 Creates comfortable and youthful working environment Gets respect from people, community and society Good at doing business 10. Able to catch opportunities quickly 4 Contributes to the country’s development Creates values for company Earns a large amount of money Supports the community The company has its prestige in society 11. Completes national duties 3 Creates values for individuals Does business well Eager to learn, to improve knowledge Has great knowledge of business Has knowledge about his business sector Has social relationships and prestige Has the right business strategy Keeps good relationship with staff and customers Lucky 12. Able to manage and make business/ Able to seek business chances/ Can manage 2 the company/ Can work effectively/ Cognizant/ Completes the defined plans/ Contributes to human beings, countries, societies, families and people around/ Contributes to the nation’s development/ Creates position and reputation in the market/ Does business in a scientific way/ Does business legally/ Does not dodge the tax, doesn’t defraud/ Fair/ Gains business achievements/ Generates profit for society/ Gets rich/ Gives employment opportunity to workers/ Has a wide circle of acquaintances/ Has advantageous social conditions, family/ Has great responsibility for himself/herself and for society/ Has prestige and firm standing in business field/ Is aware of his/her own values/ Leads the company to a stable development/ Long-sighted/ Manufactures useful products for society/ Prestigious/ Raises fund for charity (from the heart, not for reputation)/ Respected by staff, customers and society/ Respects business ethics/ Shares success with community/ Socially acknowledged 13. Able to apply what he/she has learned in school in practice/ Able to stand 1

Page 167 of 228 business pressure / Accumulates property for business needs/ Achieved most of his/her manufacturing/marketing goals without breaking the law/ Brave/ Builds one or more companies that have good business activities, sustainable development/ Builds professional working style for employees/ Builds the brand/ Business-minded/ Can make profit for himself/herself/ Can make the most of his/her advantage/strong points to develop his or her career/ Can meet his target which is small or great, depending on each enterprise/ Can play an important role in the enterprise/ Can work effectively/ Cares about people around/ Cares about social activities/ Carries out his/her (company’s) product manufacturing and trading plans in the market/ Combines work and family life well/ Competes fairly/ Compliant/ Conscious/ Creates his/her prestige/ Creates multiple social benefits/ Creates trust from colleagues, subordinates/ Creative to overcome difficulties and challenges/ Decisive/ Decorum/ Develops in a stable way in all circumstances/ Disciplined/ Does anything well/ Earns economic benefit for himself and his enterprise/ Enjoys business prosperity/ Enriches himself and family/ Ensures the quality of goods/ Ensures the development of environment-economic-business/ Ensures business goals/ Ensures employee’s goals (salary, bonus)/ Entrepreneur/ Expands business relationships domestically and in foreign countries/ Finding business chances and developing them/ Flexible/ Focuses on strengths, never anxious about the possibility of failure/ Forms basis for long term and industrialized development/ Friendly/ Friendly with society, partners/ Gains achievements that are useful for community, society and country/ Gains many achievement for individual/ Generates profit for individual/ Gets the highest profits for not only individual but also enterprise he runs/ Gets economic achievements/ Goes to many places/ Good at linking people together/ Good at operating in the market/ Grasps his company thoroughly/ Grasps international development, especially in term of economics/ Great energy/ Hard-working/ Has a wide circle of acquaintances/ Has a private company/ Has a wide and deep view/ Has business ethics/ Has experience in business/ Has expertise (management capabilities, good skills)/ Has good behavior in business/ Has good public relations/ Has a good relationship with people around/ Has great knowledge/ Has great knowledge/ Has high income/ Has interest in what he/she is doing/ Has a large source of capital for business, doesn’t need to lend/ Has lots of business partners/ Has no disreputableness/ Has passion/ Has passion and patience “Human pride is human weakness”/ Has a personal perspective/ Has a positive influence on society/ Has prestige/ Has a proper orientation to develop products/ Has right directions and sustainable growth potential/ Has targets/ Has the ability to link market/ Helps community/ Honest/ Honourable/ Is always heading to new thoughts and technologies/ Is always heading to new thoughts and technologies/ Is doing his duty well/ Keeps calm in communication, behaves/ Knows the way to enrich himself and family/ Knows how to inspire people/ Knows to select the right partners/ Knows how to build business strategies and implement business goals successfully/ Knows how to organize market relationship to promote efficient development of production and business activities/ Knows what the costumer likes/ Leads the company to grow day-by-day/ Leads the company to high social position (unique and prominent)/ Loves his/her work and the workers love their company and their job/ Maintains sustainable development/ Maintains sustainable development/ Makes appropriate planning/ Makes his prestige and belief in business world/ Manages time reasonably for friends, sports and travel/ Master of his/her field of

Page 168 of 228 interest/ Methodical/ Must be successful in both fields: finance and politics/ Non-stop learning/ Not afraid of failure/ Not only talented but also virtuous, and has a happy family/ Open/ Owning one or more enterprises/ Owns his/her enterprise/ Patient and optimistic/ Professional/ Puts collective benefits above/ Puts collective benefits above/ Reaches the proposed purposes/ Ready for everything/ Runs at least one company which develops in a stable manner/ Sales increases continuously/ Sense of purpose/ Serves community (including individual, family and relatives)/ Shares success with workers/ Steadfast/ Supports by giving employment opportunity to workers/ Takes full advantages of business opportunities/ Talented/ The company operating more than 5 years and useful for community and country’s development/ Thinks in success/ Tries his/her best/ Watchful/ Well manages the staff which is compact but effective

Page 169 of 228 Appendix no. 9.: Stereotypes about Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results

Hungarians are... No. Characteristics Frequency 1. Friendly 35 2. Kindly 24 3. Enthusiastic (nhiệt tình) 21 4. Hospitable 20 5. Intelligent\Clever127 (15 Hungarians won the Nobel Prize) 17 6. Enthusiastically help foreigners 16 Helpful (willing to help others) 7. Honest\Sincere 13 8. Emotional 12 9. Heartfelt 11 Open-minded 10. Good-hearted 9 11. Good-natured 7 Hard-working\diligent 12. Cheerful 6 Love Vietnamese 13. Care about everyone 4 Willing 14. Abide by the law/Creative/Funny/Have sympathy with 3 Vietnam/Plain/Polite/Smart/Straight/Sympathy for the weak nation 15. Careful/Close/Comfortable/Dynamic/Estimable/Ethical/Generous/Gentle/Have 2 ethnic pride/Knowledgeable/Level-headed/Liberal/Love peace/Not hard- working/Proud of the nation/Serious/Sometimes quite self- opinionated/Square/Sympathetic/They are Europeans but have some Asian features 16. Apprehensive/Approachable/Avoid conflict/Cherish friends with all 1 heart/Close/Confident/Cultural/Dare to argue (fight)/Disciplinary society/Eager to learn/Easy to make friends with/Enjoy life from smallest things/Esteem knowledge/For strangers, they are not too friendly and cheerful as Asian people/Free/Generous/Good/Good in business/Have European characteristics but are extremely enthusiastic and hospitable/Have good feelings for Vietnam/Have a heroic tradition/Have a sense of mercy/Have a sense of community/Have some Asian characteristics/Hungarians (like Vietnamese people) have suffered many difficulties from wars/Hungarians always support and have special sentiments to Vietnamese/Hungarians have many European characteristics/Impartiality/Independent/Knowledgeable/Lack of competitive spirit/Level-headed people/Like changing/Like the innovation/Live economically and spend in a planned way/Live in a heartfelt and emotional way/Live in love and interconnected/Live with heart/Love justice/Mild/Not self-interested/Often help Vietnamese/Originating from Asia/Practical/Progressive/Proud of themselves, their country, and language/Quite distant (if unknown)/Level of reliability depends on each individual/Respect intellectuals/Respective/Rich in patriotism and human love/Romantic/Sensitive/Sharp-witted/Still haven’t forgotten the golden age of

127 We use the mark “\” when we identified several synonymous expressions as answers. Instead of considering those as different responses we merged the number of responses.

Page 170 of 228 country (handful)/Support Vietnam/Sympathetic to Vietnamese/The number of successful Hungarian businessmen is more and more/They have been reliable brothers and friends of Vietnamese/Thorough/Trusted friends/Truthful/Unimpaired/Uplifting/Want to understand Vietnamese/Warm and heartfelt people/Watchful/Willing to do everything for you (if acquainted)/Willing to help and share their culture and civilization

Page 171 of 228 Appendix no. 10.: Stereotypes about Vietnamese (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results

Vietnamese are... Characteristics Frequency 1. Industrious\Diligent; 37 2. Hard-working 34 3. Clever\Intelligent 19 4. Hospitable 14 5. Friendly 12 6. Open-minded 10 7. Smart 8 8. Emotional 7 Ready to make effort to overcome difficulties\Knows how to overcome difficulties\Willing to face challenges 9. Long-suffering 6 Pain-taking 10. Creative 5 11. Diplomatic 4 Eager to learn Good\Good natured\Good hearted Hasty Heroic history Ready to make efforts to grow 12. Agile 3 Cunning Optimistic Poor 13. Brave 2 Cheerful Discreet\discreet to show their opinion Dynamic Easier to adapt and learn something new Kind Low-disciplined\Have low work-discipline, Patient Typical for Asian people 14. Asian/Always focus on their future/Always want to help someone who helped them/Are not very favoured by nature/Bombastic with high face/Brave to fight to overcome their fate/Bring Eastern Asian characteristics/Can easily be fooled/Can stand great hardship in difficulty/Disunited/Do the right thing for individual, their family/Do not abide by the law/Don’t dare to face with the difference, prefer imitating to creating/Don’t have good conditions to develop and show their strong points/Eager for success (High but short competition)/Enthusiastic/Extremely unite/Fair/Family: grandiose, everyone loves each other/Forgive for the past/Fun loving/Generous/Greedy/Have definitive goals/Have energy/Have national superiority complex/Have thought of small, retail business/Have to struggle for life/Heroic, don’t resign to the destiny/Illogical/Immediate profits and bypass long term ones/Impolite and uncivilized on the streets/Independent/Inclined to the good/In success they usually conflict in term of private benefits/Incessantly eager to learn and discover/Intend to think a bad compromise is better than a good

Page 172 of 228 lawsuit/Kind/Lack of composure/Lack of vision/Like everything clear/Live by makeshift/Loved by international friends/Low intellectual/Low pubic responsibility/Low work-efficiency/Make efforts to improve themselves/Men always want to protect their family/Men are steadfast/My most beloved people/Narrow-minded/Need to learn about culture, society, etc./Not have permanent views and plans/Not have promotional possibilities/Physical strength is not high/Polite/Professional/Quickly learn/Quite crafty/Quite deceitful/Quite tricky/Really agile/Respect foreigners/Rich of emotion/Same as Hungarians, Vietnamese suffered serious losses in the resistance wars but they had heroic spirit and were willing to lay down their lives for their nation’s freedom/Secretly emotional/Seldom show their self-esteem/Self-awareness is not high/Selfless/Self-seeking /Sharp-witted/Short-term thinking/Simple/Small/Sociable/Sometimes they are willing to sacrifice too much to reach their goals/Sometimes, they are put under constraint of society and country’s status/Straight/Talent/The number of successful businessmen is still small, they have cooperation with foreign enterprises/Their cultural behaviours are limited, particularly regard to strictly abiding by laws/Their lives have many difficulties/They always try their best to get better in life/Under difficulties, they will make any effort to overcome/Up-and-coming/Venturesome in business/Willing/Women are hard-working

Page 173 of 228 Appendix no. 11.: Stereotypes about Hungarian businesspersons (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results

Hungarian businesspersons are... Characteristics Frequency 1. Straight\Downright 13 2. Intelligent 5 3. Not good at catching opportunities 4 4. Able to do business very well 3 Knowledgeable Professional Successful 5. Adapt quite easily and quickly 2 Agile Calculate carefully Careful Decisive Disciplined Dynamic Eager to enrich Eager to learn Eager to seeking Have the experienced business Kind Not very flexible in Asian economic market Planned working style Respect the law Sensitive (in doing business) Serious Smart 6. Adroit/Always bargain/Always smile/Are building brand and 1 relationships/ Aren’t hard-working/Aren’t professional/Cautious/Confident/Creative /Diligent/Do big businesses/Do comprehensive coordination/Do small and medium sized business/Don’t have intention to invest permanently in domestic or foreign markets because of lack of capital, thus, they only want to sell and gain profit soon/Don’t have many chances to develop (many inventions of Hungary were sold for abroad)/Don’t have permanent views/Due to the socialist times Hungarian businessmen have just recently developed/Enterprising/Enthusiastic/Fair/Fearless/Few people dare to venture and are ready to face risks/Fierce/Forcible/ Fragmented/Friendly/ Good at business/Good-will to cooperate/Great knowledge/Hasty/Have prestige/Have sense of reality/Heartfelt, sometimes too heartfelt/High discipline and consciousness in business/Honest/Hospitable/Impatient in negotiating/Inconclusive/Indecisive/Interested in technology and innovation/Kind/Know to catch the business chances/Knowing how to meet the demand of consumers/Lack of breakthrough/Legal compliance/Like enriching/Like something new/Like to create/Low capital/Make efforts to improve/Many similarities with Vietnamese/Most businesses were established in the period of change of the regime/Need

Page 174 of 228 to spend time on understanding and adapting to Vietnamese culture/Not methodically trained/Not sensitive and flexible enough in negotiation/Not too clever/Open-minded (so they can get tricked)/Particular/Polite/ Practical/Practical/Produce quality goods/Punctual/Reliable partners in business/Resourceful/Respect prestige and partners/Responsible /Righteous/Sharp-witted/Show maturity in doing business/Small/Source of capital is limited/Strong/Strong character/Talent/Their capital sources are limited/They know how to adapt to the market/They still don’t have much success in Vietnam/Truthful/Unseasoned/Varied/Want and do everything according to plans/Want to outreach/Well educated/Well trained/Wide knowledge/Willing to share information/Working effect is according to each enterprise/Would rather seek profits from irregularities in social operation systems than from market economy’s fundamental criteria

Page 175 of 228 Appendix no. 12.: Stereotypes about Vietnamese businesspersons (from Questionnaire no. 1.), Full results

Vietnamese businesspersons are... Characteristics Frequency 1. Dynamic 16 2. Hard-working\Diligent 10 3. No long-term view and strategy\Run after short-term profits\Short- 9 sighted 4. Don’t abide by the law\Dodge the law\Evade taxes 7 5. Creative 6 6. Intelligent\Clever 5 7. Eager to learn 4 Good in catching business opportunities Limited knowledge Weak Willing 8. Agile 3 Live by makeshift Usually dodge the law 9. Always try to succeed 2 Eager to learn Enthusiastic Excellent Hasty Know how to catch chance Limited capital Limited visibility Nimble Practical Reckless Resilient Sensitive Their skills are not good Trying to reach the world level Willing to cooperate 10. Adapt to the business environment/Always search for benefits/Aspire to 1 be rich and are willing to venture/Attach more importance to individual than collective result/Big enterprises (including state owned, private or limited liability companies) develop more and more powerfully in term of quality and quantity/Clear-headed/Come from a variety of social strata: scientist, manufacturer, entrepreneurs that come back their homeland to invest/Constantly make efforts for development/Create relations ingeniously/Decisive Diligence is the mother of success/Disunited/Do business in a methodical and systematic way/Do not do business very well/Do small and medium sized businesses/Don’t build international trademarks/Don’t care about sustainable development/Don’t have solidarity in business/Exchange ideas flexibly with partners/Fast but careless/Few businessmen have strategic views (like Chairman of FPT, President of Vingroup, etc.)/Flexible/Follow market trends/Friendly/Go-ahead/Good at

Page 176 of 228 calculations/Gradually make creative progress/Have chances to develop/Have corruption/Have potential/Have strong financial ability to develop fast/Have the experience in foreign business/Know to overcome the difficulties/Limited/Limited financial ability/Limited vision/Live from hand to mouth/Low discipline/Make constant efforts to succeed/Makes efforts to get rich/Many of them studied abroad/More and more expand to connect with foreign enterprises/More and more successful/Need to find the opportunities/New generations are methodically trained and hopefully have positive contribution for the country and society/No breakthrough/No chance to develop/No experiences/No incentives, fairness/Not methodically trained/Not provident/Not well trained, except for some who study in foreign countries, especially more developing ones/Pain-taking/Patient/Pleasure in working/Poor English/Quick on the uptake/Resourceful/Sharp/Sharp-witted/Small/Small and medium size/Small and retailed enterprises want to grow strongly but without great knowledge, they do anything they find it profitable à bankrupt/Smart/Some are trained and have knowledge of business/Some of them are only interested in profits/Some of them are very good and has warm-hearted/Some only have money to trade with/Sometimes, they are quite subjective/Southern: more reckless, more people succeed, more people fail. Northern backwards/State policies are constraining the development of enterprises/Stigmatized if personal business/Strong/Subjective/Success ratio is not high/Successful, creative/Suspected if business involve with the state capital/Their responsibility consciousness is limited/There are many people who are trained professionally and experienced/They always make an attempt and try their best/They are more and more professional/They don’t have right method and do business in a scientific way/They don’t pay attention to the research and development of products, but only want to gain profits as soon as possible/They have senses of purpose that they will develop and be of help to society, community/They must have a wide circle of social relationships/Try to make any effort to gain the highest profits/Uncreative/Unprofessional/Unscientific/Up-and- coming/Versatile/Vietnamese businessmen always make any efforts to overcome difficulties and get better/Vietnamese enterprises are diversified and complicated, range from the best to the worst ones/Will develop fast when find the chance/Willing to fight for profitable projects

Page 177 of 228 Appendix no. 13.: Associations about Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results

Characteristics Frequency 1. Second home\ My second homeland 35 2. A beautiful country 20 3. Peace\ Peaceful country 18 4. Friendly 10 5. Budapest capital 8 Memorable 6. Beautiful sceneries 7 Friends Memories 7. Beloved 6 Delicious dishes Small 8. Beautiful and poetic view\Nice landscapes 5 Halaszle\ fish soup My teachers 9. Intellectual 4 I studied there 10. Antique 3 Close Freedom Socialist country 11. Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaság-tudományi Egyetem 3 Friendly people Hungarian cuisine Hungarians 12. A developed European country 2 Budapest – “Paris of Europe” Enthusiastic Far Hospitable Hungarian architecture Miss Proud of studying in Hungary Sincere University Want to go back to Hungary Warm Wine 13. 1956 event (when I was at high school)/A country with Asian origin/A 1 European country that is still strange to many Vietnamese people/A nation that suffered a lot from wars/Advanced (colour television)/Advantages of traffic/Agriculture and service based economy/Airy and spacious/Ancient, clear country/Aren’t hard-working/Bank of the Danube/Beautiful/Beautiful and poetic sceneries/Beautiful country (Budapest is considered as “small Paris”)/Beautiful dream of heaven/Beautiful rivers/Beautiful women/Bravery/Budapest/Budapest is beautiful /Calm/Cheerful/Cherish Vietnamese/Civilized/Clean country/Clean environment/Clean street/Clear country/Close-knit/Contented/Country of jurisdiction and

Page 178 of 228 democracy/Culture/Daily life: I have my private room with coffee/Deep sentiment for Vietnamese/Developed tourism/Difficult to get there/Difficult visa procedures/Disadvantages/Disciplined/Diverse culture/Dorm/Dream/Eager to learn/Eastern Europe/Emotional and friendly people/Emotional country/Enthusiastic/Enthusiastic people/Érsekcsanád village/European country in EU/Fair/Family houses of Budaörs/Far from Vietnam/Fascinating development history/Feel intimate/Feeling of youth/Food/Free and beautiful country/Full of loving feeling when thinking about Hungary/Full of volition/Funny/Good dishes/Grateful/Hanoi Park in Budapest/Has not put much impact on Vietnam yet/Have much potential/Heartfelt people/Helped Vietnam a lot “Vietnam, we are always beside you”/High culture/Honest/Hungarian football team/Hungarian goods aren’t rare and inappropriate for Vietnamese/Hungarian language is difficult/Hungarian poetry/Hungarians cherish Vietnamese people/Hungary’s map/I love Hungary and Hungarians/In the past: heroic nation, powerful empire/Indebted/Kind/Large and rich country/Learning: Hungarian professors actually cared about me much/Likeable/Lillafüred, Dunakanyar/Limited natural resources/Literature/Long-standing, developed economy and society/Loyal/Luck/Medium wealth/Miss Tokaji wine/Modest/Museums in Budapest, Miskolc, Esztergom/Music/Nice views/Obtain high achievements in sport/Orderliness/Outstanding scientists/Pains/People are estimable, respectable/People are friendly, kind/People are very close/Pioneer/Place- names/Places/Poetic/Pride/Private enterprises/Proud to have lived in Hungary/Quarters/Quite developing country/Rich of the cultural heritage/Sentiment/Simple/Small country in Eastern Europe/Some famous Hungarian medicines are sold in Vietnam/Sparse population/Spenótleves/Standards in economics/Streets/Strong/Take photos/Tempered climate/Tet holiday: The teachers brought food to postgraduates. We ate together./The famous culture of dramas, poetics, songs/The youth/Tidy and clear streets/Tidy and slow life/Touched/Tourist attractions/Traditional/Trained by the Hungarian Army/Travel/Unique culture/Vast sunflower fields/Very close/Want to return/Western country/Willing to come back and cooperate with Hungarians/Willing to make friends with Hungarians and Hungarian-speakers/Wine cellars in Hatvan, Siófok, Eger/Wish Hungary would be more and more powerful and prosperous/Wonderful/Working: they always supported me.

Page 179 of 228 Appendix no. 14.: Associations about Vietnam (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results

Characteristics Frequency 1. Motherland\Homeland\Dear birthplace\Native country 19 2. War (consecutive, long, bloody, dire, dolorous) 17 3. Heroic country\nation 12 4. Beloved\Dear 9 Developing country Family\Parents\Relatives 5. Beautiful natural views, landscapes 8 6. Delicious dishes\cuisine 7 Diligent\hard-working people My country Proud 7. Friends 5 Heroes\Heroic leaders 8. Overcame difficulties 4 Poor country 9. Close-knit community 3 Have progress Intelligent/Intellectual Two regions: North and South 10. Affined 2 Agricultural country ASEAN-country Ancient culture and history Beautiful country Close relatives Friendly Love and pride Memories National Spirit Resilient S-shaped country Small Wish peace for Vietnam 11. Abundant natural 1 resources/Administrative/Affectionate/Animated/Attractive destinations like Ha Long Bay/Beautiful beaches/Brave nation/Change much/Chaotic urban traffic/Childhood/Close/Coastal country/Common food/Competition/Complex/Compression of neighbours/Concern about the development of human/Country food/Country with many difficulties/Culture deeply imbued with national identity/Developing fast in the last 20 years/Difficult and outdated/Diligent/Disunited/Dynamic/Eager to learn/Ebullient/Fearless/Feel a little bit inferior as potential and real development still don’t correspond/Feudal opinions still exist Folk songs and lullaby/Government subsidies/Grateful/Heart- rending/Hope/Hospitable/I always want to popularize my country to international friends/I love my compatriots/Immense fields/In love: less romantic than Europeans, influenced by European culture/Intelligent people but they should learn from Japanese to strengthen

Page 180 of 228 cooperation/Lack of industrial style/Lenient/Limited natural resources/Long fighting history to establish and defend the country/Long history/Long-standing historical tradition/Long-suffering/Loyal/Many chances/Many people drop litter, smoke, cough up phlegm in an uncontrolled way/Many races/Natural disasters/Noise/Not too proud/Old- fashioned/Patriotism/Places/Poor country with people having high standing spirit/Positive (belief in victory and hope to the future)/Positive opening and international integration/Poverty/Progress (buses and phones)/Proud and concerned, I sacrificed my youth to fight for liberating Southern Vietnam and for national unity/Rich and beautiful/Rich of tradition/Services of tourism aren’t good/Sincere/Small country/Special culture/Strict nature/Talent/Tempests/Thankfulness/Thrilling/Unclean environment/Unlucky/Unsafe/Urban population is too crowded/Very fond of foreign things/Vietnamese people better themselves/Waterways

Page 181 of 228 Appendix no. 15.: Associations about a Hungarian person (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results

Characteristics Frequency 1. Friendly 38 2. Enthusiastic (to help Vietnamese) 31 3. Intelligent 23 4. Hospitable 19 5. Good-hearted 16 Kind 6. Sympathetic (to people in difficulty\to Vietnamese people) 14 7. Open-minded 13 8. Straight\Straightforward\Downright 12 9. Honest 9 Ready for help people who are in difficulties\Helpful\Willing to help 10. Heartfelt 8 11. Careful 7 12. Cheerful 5 Close (such as family) Peace-loving Sentimental 13. Polite 4 14. Abide by the law 3 Apprehensive Beautiful Hungarian women Cherish Vietnamese Clear Creative Easy to make friends Estimable Freedom Gentle Like family members\Like brothers 15. Beautiful (black-brown hair) 2 Beloved Cherish Vietnamese Civilized Comfortable Funny Good-natured Helped Vietnamese (in the war) I love Hungarians Love Vietnamese Methodical Modest (but not resigned) Respect Vietnamese Sensible Warm Wonderful memories 16. Affectionate/After the first stage of cautious behaviours, they are extremely 1 enthusiastic./Agile/Aren’t hard-working/Aren’t serious/Behave well/Brave/Broad-minded/Calm/Cautious/Civil people (cultured and

Page 182 of 228 wealthy)/Classmates/Comfortable/Communication style: gentle, delicate and polite/Condescending/Different from other Western people/Diligent/Disciplined/Dynamic/Eager to learn/Easy to make friends with/Economic/Elegant/Esteem intellectuals/European people/Exalted/Fond of Hungarian people/Friendly teachers/Friends/Gentle and righteous/Good/Hard-working/Have courtesy/Hero/I cherish, want to see and make friends with them/Indifferent/Like change/Like person who knows Hungarian/Live responsibly/Meticulous/My compatriots/Not self- interested/Open and attentive to others/Originate from Asia/Practical/Professional/Proud of their country/Pursue their goals/Rational/Reliable friends/Romantic/Satisfied with their destiny/Sensitive/Serious/Similar to Vietnamese feelings/Teachers/Thoughtful/Truthful/Western people/Western people with white skin, multi-coloured eye and hair/Women are loveable/Work methodically/Worth learning

Page 183 of 228 Appendix no. 16.: Associations about a Vietnamese person (from Questionnaire no. 4.), Full results

Characteristics Frequency 1. Diligent 28 2. Hard-working 34 3. Intelligent 29 4. Friendly 22 5. Hospitable 16 6. Kind 15 7. Open-minded 13 8. Enthusiastic 11 9. Dynamic 8 Eager to learn Heroic\Heroic nation128 10. Agile 7 Careful Painstaking Sincere 11. Brave 6 Sentimental 12. Funny 4 Cheerful\Joyful Polite Ready for help people who are in difficulties Smart Willing\High-willing 13. Apprehensive 3 Clear Clever Easy to make friends Estimable Freedom Gentle Hero\Heroic Poor\Poverty Ready to overcome difficulties Straightforward 14. Asian people/Civilized/Close such as a 2 family/Creative/Dexterous/Disunited/ East Asian people/Good- natured/Loveable/Long-suffering/Love peace/Love Vietnamese/Low- disciplined/Nimble/Open-hearted/Optimistic/Philanthropic/Proud of the country/Respect Vietnamese/Rushed/Self-sacrificing/Sensible/Short- sighted/Strive in domains/Suffered a lot from misery of wars/Sympathetic/Try to be better/Unyielding to enemy/Want to helping people who helped them 15. Adapt easily/Affectionate/Altruistic/Attempt for better 1 life/Beautiful/Behave well/Beloved/Brave to fight for independence and

128 In each case highly similar associations (i.e.: willing and high-willing) were considered as same utterance, marked by “\” (i.e.: Willing\High-willing).

Page 184 of 228 protection of the country/Calm/Changing/Classmates/Close to China and have to bear many difficulties and troubles from this greedy giant/Colleagues/Comfortable/Comfortable behaviours and relationships/Compassionate with Vietnamese people/Condescending/ Conscious/Courteous/Cultural behavior is limited/Cunning/Curious personality/Developed economy/Difficult to make friends with/Downright/Easily let things run its course/Easy to acquire new knowledge/Eat fast - walk slowly/Enterprising (in war and difficulty)/Esteem foreigners/Exalted/Family: grandiose, everyone loves each other/Friends/Good/Good-hearted/Good-natured/Hand- working/Hasty/Have definitive goals/I am one of them/I am proud to be a Vietnamese/I love Vietnamese people/Indifferent/Instinctive working/Interested in action/Know how to strive/Know to overcome difficulties/Lack of discipline/Lack of industrial style/Laconic/Learn quickly/Less creative/Less intelligent/Like person who knows Hungarian/Love their native country/Low combination/Low individual consciousness/Low literacy/Loyal/Methodical/Meticulous/ Mischievous/My close, fresh-by-blood relatives/Need to improve collective consciousness/No one dares to fight America but Vietnam/Not hard- working/Not industrial style/Not serious/Not very creative/Not well- regulated/Patient/Patriotism/Practical/Prefer to get rich/Professional/Progress-seeking/Rational/Ready for helping poor person/Regardless/Relative/Resilient/Rich of emotion/Romantic/Satisfy easily/Self-conscious/Selfless/Serious/Sharing/Some of them are kind but some evil-minded/Southern: comfortable/Steadfast/Talented/Thoughtful/ Tolerant (including American and French enemy)/Truthful/Undisciplined social management/Unite when in difficulties/United/Unmethodically trained/Vietnamese people are friendly/Wilful men and capable women/Willing to fight against enemy

Page 185 of 228 Appendix no. 17.: Gender of respondents

Gender of respondents 104 120 (81,9%) 100 80

60 (person) 40 20 (15,7%) 20 3 0 (2,4%) Male Female Not given

Figure 12: Gender of respondents

Appendix no. 18.: Highest degree of respondents

Highest Degree

6%

Bachelor 22% 40%

Master

32% Doctor

Not Given

Figure 13: Highest degree of respondents

Page 186 of 228 Appendix no. 19.: Nationality of respondents

Nationality of respondents 1% 3%

Vietnamese 96% Hungarian Not given

Figure 14: Nationality of respondents

Appendix no. 20.: Cultural dimensions: Hungary and Vietnam

Figure 15: Cultural dimensions (Hungary and Vietnam) Source: The Hosftede Center, In: http://geert-hofstede.com/cultural-dimensions.html, data accessed on 20 Sept., 2015

Page 187 of 228 Appendix no. 21.: Cultural map of the World (World Values Survey)

Figure 16: Cultural map of the World, based on the World Values Survey 2010-2014 Source: World Values Survey, http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSContents.jsp, data retrieved on 20 September 2015

Appendix no. 22.: Country clusters of the GLOBE study

Figure 17: Country clusters of the GLOBE study Source: Hoppe (2007), 2.p., Remark: Vietnam is not represented in the research, amendment of the figure is form IL, placing Vietnam in the Confucian cluster (Hungary can be seen in the “Eastern European” group.)

Page 188 of 228 Appendix no. 23.: Word meaning (Pansiuk)

Figure 18: Word meaning – correlation between denotative and connotative meaning by Pansiuk Source: Panasiuk 2006, 187.p.

Page 189 of 228 Appendix no. 24.: Vietnamese proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

Proverb in Vietnamese Number of Literal meaning Abstract meaning occurrences 1 Có tiền mua tiên cũng được 42 With money a fairy can Money is a passport to be bought everything (Money is the God of all beings) 2 Luật trước cho người giàu, 24 First law for the rich, a One law for the rich, luật sau cho người khó later law for the poor another for the poor 3 Đồng tiền đi trước là đồng 21 Money given in advance He gives twice who tiền khôn is a wise money gives quickly 4 Tiền là Tiên, là Phật 15 Money is a Fairy, a With money you can Buddha buy anything 5 Phòng bệnh hơn chữa bệnh 14 Prevention is better A stitch in time saves than cure the disease nine Đồng tiền đi liền khúc ruột Money and bowels are Money and a section of attached together bowel are associated 6 Nén bạc đâm toạc tờ giấy 10 A silver ingot tears the Money can even corrupt paper the virtuous 7 Mua danh ba vạn bán danh 9 Bought reputation for A good name can be lost ba đồng thirty thousand, sold for faster than won three dong 8 Đầu tiên là tiền đâu 8 Firstly: where is the No money, no talk / money Money first 9 Phú quý sinh lễ nghĩa 7 Wealth gives birth to Plenty breeds pride manners 10 Tiền vào nhà khó như gió 5 Money goes to the poor For the poor money is vào nhà trống such as wind goes into spent fast an empty house 11 Tiền nào cũng là tiền 4 Any money is money Any money is money Cờ bạc là bác thằng bần Gambling is the uncle of Gambling leads to poverty misery 12 Mọi thứ đều có cái giá của nó 3 Everything has its price Everything has its price Muốn ăn cá phải lội nước, If you want to eat fish If you dance you must muốn ăn hét phải đào giun you need to go into the pay the fiddler water, if you want to eat hét you need to dig for earthworm 13 1 xu tiết kiệm cũng như 1 2 A penny saved is a A penny saved is a xu làm ra penny gained penny gained Muộn còn hơn không Better late than never Better late than never Người đẹp vì lụa A good-looking person Money/clothes makes a due to silk man Được ăn cả, ngã về không The winner eats/takes The winner takes it all, everything, the losers the loser has to fall goes home with nothing Có những thứ không mua Things cannot be bought Everything can be được bằng tiền thì sẽ mua with money, can be bought with money được bằng rất nhiều tiền bought with a lot of Mạnh vì gạo, bạo vì tiền money If you have rice, you will Strong by rice, daring by

Page 190 of 228 money be strong, if you have money you will be self- confident Thu không bù chi The turnover is less than A business that the investment generates loss Thời gian là vàng Time is golden Time is golden, time is money Thời gian là vàng, là bạc Time is golden, silver Time is golden, time is money Tiền nào của đấy Money in line with the You get what you pay value of the product for Làm cho khốc hại chẳng To push someone to a To be unrighteous qua vì tiền bad situation for because of greed nothing but money Có chí thì nên If there is will, there will Where there is a will, be success there is a way 14 Tiền đội nón ra đi 1 Money is gone with a Money can go easily conical hat Im lặng là vàng Silence is golden Sometimes it is better not to speak Tiền là tất cả Money is everything Money is the most important thing in life Nghèo như chuột ở trong As poor as a church Very poor nhà thờ129 mouse Miếng trầu là đầu câu Betel is the beginning of Before entering into a chuyện a conversation conversation they usually eat betel Bán anh em xa mua láng Selling your far-off A neighbour nearby is giềng gần brothers, buying your more useful than a neighbours nearby brother far away Nhiều bạn hơn là nhiều tiền Better have many Better have many friends than a lot of friends than a lot of money money Người bạn giúp mình trong A friend who helps in A friend in need is a lúc khó khăn mới là người difficulties is a precious friend indeed đáng quý one Tiền dùng đúng tiền hiền Cash used properly is Money used properly is như Phật, bạc dùng sai bạc meek as Buddha, silver meek as Buddha, used ác như ma used wrongly is evil as a wrongly is evil as ghost ghost Clothes make a man Chết vì tiền Die because of money Do anything for money Tất cả vì tiền Everything for money Do anything for money Một miếng khi đói bằng One bite in hunger Every little helps when một gói khi no equals to one package you are in need of food when full Mọi nơi đều tốt nhưng tốt Everywhere is good but Everywhere is good but nhất vẫn là ở nhà the best is at home the best is at home Nhất hậu duệ, nhì quan hệ, Firstly: be a descendant For being successful you

129 A Hungarian proverb provided as Vietnamese

Page 191 of 228 ba tiền tệ, bốn trí tuệ of an influential family, firstly need to be a second is money, third descendant of an is relationship and influential family, fourth is intelligence second to have money, thirdly to have relationships, fourth is intelligence Sức khỏe là vàng Health is gold The most important thing in life is health Không thầy đố mày làm I dare you achieve I doubt you achieve nên success without teacher success without teacher Tiền trao cháo múc Money spent, soup When you pay you get served the result/product Kiếm củi ba năm thiêu một It takes 3 years to Result of hard work can giờ collect firewood but be gone fast only 1 hour to burn Có ba trăm lạng việc này It takes 300 “lang”133 of Sometimes you can mới xong130 silver to solve an issue solve a problem quickly out of court with money Tiền đem lại sự hạnh phúc Money brings happiness Money brings happiness Tiền bạc có thể mua mọi Money can buy Money can buy thứ everything everything Tiền bạc không mua được Money can’t buy health Money can’t buy health sức khỏe Tiền không đem lại sự hạnh Money cannot bring Money cannot bring phúc happiness happiness Tiền bạc không mua được Money cannot buy Money cannot buy mọi thứ everything everything Tiền không chân xa gần đi Money doesn’t have Money doesn’t have khắp legs but goes around legs but goes around Tiền trong nhà tiền chửa, Money hidden at home In order to gain profit tiền ra ngoài là tiền đẻ is pregnant money, for your money you money which goes out need to invest will give birth Tiền vô như nước sông Đà, Money intake is as Much income, low tiền ra nhỏ giọt như cà phê strong as Đà river, amount of expenditures phin expenditure is as little as dripping coffee Tiền chỉ là tờ giấy nếu sử Money is only a piece of Money spent in the dụng sai paper if used in a wrong wrong way is useless way Tiền là tất cả Money is everything It is all about money Tiền không phải là tất cả Money is not everything It is not all about money Tiền là thước đo lòng người Money is the meter of a A person can be known man’s heart by the way (s)he approaches money

Tiền rất khó kiếm Money is very difficult Money is very difficult

130 A poetic line from “Tale of Kieu” (not a proverb) 133 1 lạng of silver equals to 37.5 ~ 37.8 grams

Page 192 of 228 to earn to earn Tiền: thứ tuyệt vời nhất Money: the most Money: the most wonderful thing wonderful thing Hết tiền tài, nhân nghĩa tận Out of money, out of Out of money, out of benevolence benevolence Bất tác, bất thực No work no food Who doesn’t work won’t earn his living Rán sành ra mỡ To fry terra-cotta into Someone very stingy fat Sự giàu sang trong tâm trí The wealth of mind is The wealth of mind is là sự giàu sang thật duy the only true wealth the only true wealth nhất. Thả con săn sắt, bắt con cá To release a san sat fish You should let a small rô in order to catch a ro benefit go in order to fish 134 earn a bigger one Thời gian quý giá hơn vàng Time is more precious Time is money bạc than gold or silver Lời nói chẳng mất tiền Words cost nothing/ To speak kindly does not mua/Lựa lời mà nói cho Choose them carefully hurt the tongue vừa lòng nhau131 to please others Đỏ tình, đen bạc Unlucky at gambling, Unlucky at gambling, lucky in love lucky in love Đâm lao thì phải theo lao Once the javelin is Once you started thrown out, one has to something, there is no follow it way to turn back Dễ đến, dễ đi132 Easy come, easy go Easy come, easy go Khi đồng tiền lên tiếng thì When money raises its The rich can do anything sự thật im lặng voice, the truth is silent Không có tiền, không làm Without money you Without money you được gì cả cannot do anything cannot do anything Table 26: Vietnamese proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

131 This is a traditional form of Vietnamese folk poems, one line of six words (six syllables) followed by one line of eight words (eight syllables) 132 Not a Vietnamese proverb 134 The meaning is similar to the proverb: Throw a minnow to catch a whale

Page 193 of 228 Appendix no. 25.: Hungarian proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

Proverb in Hungarian Number of Literal meaning in English occurrences 1 Az idő pénz 12 Time is money 2 Pénz beszél, kutya ugat 10 Money talks, dogs bark Semmiből nem lesz semmi Nothing comes out of nothing 3 Kétszer ad, ki gyorsan ad 8 The one who gives fast gives twice 4 A fillér is pénz 7 Filler is also money 5 Sok kicsi sokra megy 6 Many little things form something great/valuable Ki korán kel, aranyat lel Who gets up early, finds gold 6 A pénznek nincs szaga 5 Money has no smell Olcsó húsnak híg a leve Cheap meat yields dilute soup 7 A legszebb szó a pénz 4 The most beautiful word is money 8 A pénz nem boldogít 3 Money will not make you happy Jobb adni mint kapni It is better to give than to receive Nem mind arany, ami fénylik It’s not all gold that glitters Rossz pénz nem vész el Bad money is never lost 9 Aki dolgozik, nem ér rá pénzt 2 Who works doesn’t have time to earn keresni money Aki keres, talál He who seeks finds Aki nem dolgozik, ne is egyék Who do not work, neither should eat Alkalom szüli a tolvajt Opportunity makes the thief Ismerik, mint a rossz pénzt He/she is known, like bad money Jobb a sűrű fillér, mint a ritka Thick fillers are better than rare forint forints Jobb ma egy fillér, mint holnap Better a filler today than a forint egy forint tomorrow Ki a kicsit nem becsüli, a nagyot Who does not appreciate the little, nem érdemli will not deserve the big Pénz olvasva, asszony verve jó Money is good when read, women are good when beaten Se pénz, se posztó No money, no cloth 10 A gazdag pénzzel, a szegény ésszel 1 The rich goes ahead with cash, the megy előre poor with intellect A könyv olvasva, pénz számolva jó Book is good when read, money is good when counted A pénz beszél: azt mondja, viszlát Money talks: says goodbye A pénz könnyebben megy, mint Money is easier goes than it comes ahogy jön A pénz nem boldogít, csak segít Money does not make you happy, just elviselni a boldogtalanságot helps to suffer unhappiness A pénz nem boldogít, de nélküle Money does not make you happy, but nem boldogulsz without it you cannot succeed A pénznek szerelme gonoszság The love of money is the root of evil gyökere Aki gazdag, becstelen Who is rich, is dishonest Az becsüli a pénzt, akinek a körme (Only) those value money whose who kopik utána wears the nails/hoof after it

Page 194 of 228 Egyszer hopp, máskor kopp Once you are up, other times down Egyszer volt Budán kutyavásár There was a dog fair in Buda only once Ember pénz nélkül, vak bot nélkül Someone without money like blind without a stick Ezüst kanállal született Was born with a silver spoon Hallgatni arany Silence is golden Kis pénz, kis foci Little money, little football Könnyen jött, könnyen megy Easy come, easy go Minden jó, ha a vége jó All's well that ends well Mindennek van ára Everything has a price Nehéz a pénzt megkeresni, de It's hard to earn money, but it's easy könnyű elkölteni to spend Nem szégyen a szegénység There is no shame in poverty Pénz emberség, ruha tisztesség Money is humanity, dress is decency Semmi pénzért sem For no money Table 27: Hungarian proverbs on money (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

Page 195 of 228 Appendix no. 26.: Vietnamese proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences 1 Lá lành đùm lá rách 10 The good leaves protect the Support those who have more worn-out leaves difficulties (Rich helps the poor ) 2 Không thầy đố mày 8 No teacher, no results No one can succeed without the làm nên help of one’s teacher Uống nước nhớ nguồn When drinking water, think of its source 3 Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng 7 When eating fruit, think of the One should have gratitude for cây one who planted the tree good things he receives 4 Đi một ngày đàng học 6 With one day of travel one Traveling broadens one’s mind một sàng khôn basket of knowledge is gained 5 Bầu ơi thương lấy bí 5 Dear winter melon, love the People of the same cùng/Tuy rằng khác calabash/In spite of community/nation should love giống nhưng chung different species, you share and help each other. một giàn the same trellis135 6 Có chí thì nên 4 Who has will, has success136 Success comes to those who are determined Tốt gỗ hơn tốt nước Better good wood than Better be good in mind than in sơn good paint appearance Tay làm hàm nhai, tay If hands work jaws chew, if One has to work in order to quai miệng trễ hands rest mouth is idle137 make his living Một chữ là thầy, nửa Who teaches a word is a One has to show his respect to chữ cũng là thầy teacher, who teaches half a anyone who teaches him word is also a teacher 7 Cha chung không ai 3 No crying for the common People don’t give efforts to khóc father139 things which are not directly connected to their own benefits Một nghề cho chín còn Better master one skill than One should master his own hơn chín nghề138 have 9 (different) skills work, better than try many different jobs without really knowing any of them Bán anh em xa mua Better a neighbour near Support between neighbours is láng giềng gần than a brother afar important Học thầy không tày Better learn from your Schoolmates may have more học bạn friend than your teacher knowledge than teachers Thùng rỗng kêu to Empty vessels make a big Those who boast a lot are sound usually less valuable Thất bại là mẹ thành Failure is the mother of You need to face failure if you công success want to be successful

135 This is a part of a folk poem that is sometimes also used as lullaby. Bầu and bí belong to the same plant family (Cucurbitaceae – gourd family). They are often served with Vietnamese meals, or consumed as vegetables, and often grown together on a trellis in the countryside. 136 Equivalents: A wilful man must have his way; Where there is a will, there is a way 137 Equivalent: No bees no honey, no work no money 138 Interesting fact: to be master or skilled (chín) at a job and number 9 (chín) are homonymes in Vietnamese 139 Equivalent: A public hall is never swept; Everybody’s business is nobody’s business

Page 196 of 228 Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences Không gì là không thể Nothing is impossible Nothing is impossible Có công mài sắt, có Who tries to sharpen iron, Persistence leads to success ngày nên kim will get a needle one day Thả con săn sắt, bắt To release a san sat fish in You should let a small benefit con cá rô order to catch a ro fish140 go in order to earn a bigger one Đập sắt khi còn nóng Strike while the iron is hot141 You must take your chances fast, without hesitation Học, học nữa, học mãi Study, study more, study One has to study for his entire forever142 life 8 Đói cho sạch rách cho 2 Accept to be hungry to be To preserve one’s conscience, thơm clean, torn (clothing) to be dignity even when it leads to fragrant difficulties Lời chào cao hơn mâm A greeting is higher than a Courtesy is more important cỗ tray of banquet food than material treats Một cây làm chẳng A single tree cannot form a The strength of union nên non/Ba cây chụm mount/Three will make a big lại nên hòn núi cao mountain (folk poem) Vạn sự khởi đầu nan In the beginning ten thousand The beginning is always difficult 144 things are difficult Cha nào con nấy Like father like son Similarity of father and son Vung tay143 quá trán Throw one’s hand higher To spend too much without 145 than his forehead thorough consideration Bạn cũ bạn tốt, rượu Old friends are good friends, Friendship and wine both cũ rượu ngon old wine is good wine become better by time Ở hiền gặp lành Those who live gently get What you give is what you 146 nice things receive Trèo cao ngã đau Climbs high, falls painfully Pride goes before a fall Lời nói gió bay Words spoken (are like) Some people just speak but do blowing wind not act accordingly Mưu sự tại nhân, hành Planned by man, Man proposes, God disposes sự tại thiên implemented by god Đường ai nấy đi Each one goes his own way The separation of a group/couple Cố sống cố chết Try living try dying To irrationally (desperately) insist on doing something Chín bỏ làm mười To consider 9 as 10147 To tolerate the mistakes

9 Dĩ hòa vi quý 1 Better maintain harmony150 To favour harmony in general Cả giận mất khôn To lose one’s wisdom When you are angry you lose

140 Equivalent: Throw a sprat to catch a mackerel 141 A proverb without Vietnamese origin: it is likely that the respondents learned it in Hungary 142 Probably a modified interpretation of the saying of Lenin (not a Vietnamese proverb): Study, study, study 143 In Vietnamese the term “throw hand” (vung tay) means to spend money 144 Equivalent: It’s the first step that counts 145 Equivalent: Live beyond one’s means 146 Equivalent: One good turn deserves another 147 Equivalent: Every fault needs pardon (as number 10 is considered more round and perfect than number 9)

Page 197 of 228 Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences because of rage your wisdom Dù ai nói ngả nói Despite others’ gossips/Stay To maintain one’s opinion nghiêng/Lòng ta vẫn steady like tripods151 despite others’ disapproval vững như kiềng ba chân148 An cư lạc nghiệp Stable life, brilliant career A stable life is the foundation of a good career Vợ tốt là một món quà A good wife is a good Support of the wife is important tuyệt vời present for the husband Của biếu là của lo, của Things got as a gift are to be Benefits are always offered with cho là của nợ concerned about, things you expectations of something in are given you will owe return Nói có sách mách có Talks with facts, accuses One must be logical and aware chứng with evidences of what he states Ít còn hơn không A little is better than none A little is better than none Đàn ông rộng miệng A man with a large mouth is Old stereotypes of appearance: thì sang/Đàn bà rộng considered as noble. A a big mouth of a man is a sign of miệng tan hoang cửa woman with a large mouth nobility, of a woman is a sign of nhà is considered to make the bad spending habits home devastated Sai một li đi một dặm A tiny fault blows away for 1 A small mistake can cause mile serious damage Đằng sau sự thành Behind the success of a man Behind every great man, there công của một người there is the shadow of a is a great woman đàn ông luôn có bóng woman hình củ một người phụ nữ Việc gì đến sẽ phải đến Things that will come will What will be will be come Nhàn cư vi bất thiện One who stays idle has If you don’t work, you might dishonest behaviours become dishonest Thà mất yên ngựa còn Better lose the saddle than You need to take realities into hơn mất ngựa the horse account Người bạn tốt là người Good friends are those who You can know your real friends giúp ta trong lúc khó help in difficulties152 when you are in need khăn Sự thật mất lòng Who tells the truth, loses a Truth is difficult to accept heart Một giọt máu đào hơn Blood is thicker than water Family is always better than ao nước lã social connections Con nhà lính tính nhà Child of a private of the Born into a poor family but has quan army, personalities of a expensive taste mandarin

150 Equivalent: A bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit 148 A part of a folk song 151 Equivalent: A clear conscience laughs at false accusations 152 Equivalent: A friend in need is a friend indeed

Page 198 of 228 Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences Dễ như ăn kẹo As easy as eating candies Something too easy compared to one’s capabilities Nhai kĩ no lâu Chewing carefully makes You need to face difficult times one feel full longer Con không nghe lời Children who don’t obey Children must obey their cha mẹ trăm đường their parents’ advices will parents166 con hư become spoilt Cha mẹ đặt đâu con Children will sit where their Children must obey their ngồi đấy parents put them parents Ác giả ác báo/Gieo gió Cruelty given, cruelty Those who do bad things will gặt bão received/Sows wind, reaps get back unhappiness167 storm153 Phép vua thua lệ làng The king’s laws are after Strong effect of local custom on village’s regulations general system of laws Râu ông nọ cắm cằm A man’s beard on a The disorder in operation or bà kia woman’s chin organization Phụ thuộc vào số phận Depends on destiny Depends on destiny Vỏ quýt dày có móng Sharp finger nails for thick There is always someone who tay nhọn mandarin peel can handle a difficult situation Trứng khôn hơn vịt Wiser egg than duck154 A youngster who thinks that he is wiser than his seniors Nói dễ hơn làm Easier said than done Easier said than done Sông có khúc người có River has its sections, a man Everyone experiences difficult lúc has his periods periods in his/her life Không ai giàu ba họ No one stays rich or poor Life changes, the rich or poor không ai khó ba đời over three generations statement of a person/family is not permanent Đã mang lấy nghiệp vào Once one chooses his One has to take responsibility of thân, cũng đừng trách karma, do not blame the his own behavior móc trời gần trời xa fate155 Trăm hay không bằng Better have skilled hands Practical knowledge is tay quen than know hundreds of important in life things156 Được voi đòi tiên Gets an elephant, demands Being unreasonably demanding a fairy157 Tham thì thâm Bad luck for the greed158 Those who are greedy will face its bad consequences

Lúc khó khăn mới biết Hard times show whether a A friend in need is a friend ai là bạn friend is a friend indeed Có của ăn của để Have enough to eat and to Being in a secure state of

153 Equivalents: What you give is what you get; Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind 154 Equivalent: Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs 155 Equivalent: Every man must carry his own cross 156 Similar proverb in Vietnamese: Similar to “Một nghề cho chín, còn hơn chín nghề” (see above) 157 Equivalent: Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile 158 Equivalent: Grasp all, lose all

Page 199 of 228 Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences spare finance (a family/a person) Nuôi con mới biết lòng Who raises children knows Only those who raise children cha mẹ parents’ hearts can understand their parents168 Gần mực thì đen, gần Near ink be black, near lamp You need to adapt to your đèn thì sáng (rạng) be bright159 environment Việc chạy bay khi gặp Work flies when it is in Work flies in the hands of a tay thợ khéo skilled hands skilled workman169 Sức khỏe là vàng bạc Health is gold, silver Health is precious Học ăn, học nói, học Learn to eat, learn to speak, Learn to live politely, know how gói, học mở learn to wrap, learn to open to behave with people and be proficient in even small things Thật thà là cha quỷ Honesty is the father of With honesty you can deceive quái deception someone Xấu chàng hổ ai Husband loses face, wife is A man’s bad behaviors impacts ashamed his wife Lọt sàng xuống nia What goes through sàng If our property falls into the (upper basket) falls into nia hands of relatives, do not regret (lower basket)160 because they are not outsiders Đã trót thì phải trét Start unintentionally, needs Once start doing something, do to be finished it till the end Ích kỉ hại nhân One hurts other for his own One hurts other for his own selfishness selfishness Học từ thứ nhỏ nhặt Learn from the smallest Learn from the smallest things nhất things Người sống đống vàng A man alive, a heap of gold Life is as precious as gold Tích tiểu thành đại Collect small to make big161 You need to value small things Gậy ông đạp lưng ông One hits his back with his One damages himself because own cane of his behavior Kiến tha lâu cũng đầy An ant that keeps collecting To encourage persistence tổ will fill its nest Quê hương là chùm Motherland is as a sweet One is always strongly khế ngọt149 bunch of starfruits connected to his motherland Nhịn miệng đãi khách Accept hunger to treat your Vietnamese concept of guests hospitality Phi thương bất phú No business, no richness One cannot get rich without doing business Múa rìu qua mắt thợ Brandish your axe in front of One shows his skills to a much the eye of a master162 more skilled person

166 Connected to the notion of filial piety, a commonly accepted concept in Vietnam 167 Connected to the notion of karma 149 A quote from a poem of Đỗ Trung Quân 159 Equivalents: He who sleeps with a dog gets up with fleas/Who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl 160 Sàng and nia are types of basket: they are like siblings as they are very similar and used for the same purpose (agricultural post production). A beneficial situation is naturally transferred to the second family member (sibling) (xuống nia) when the first one doesn’t receive it (lọt sàng) 161 Equivalent: Many a little makes a mickle

Page 200 of 228 Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences Có bột mới gột nên hồ You can make glue only if For every business you need you have rice powder163 some ingredients Ăn cây nào rào cây One makes fences to the One has to protect his own đấy tree one eats from it source of benefits Con sâu làm rầu nồi A worm ruins the whole A bad individual can harm the canh soup pot164 whole community Đánh kẻ chạy đi, Hit those who run away, hit Tolerate those who show không ai đánh kẻ chạy not those who run towards repentance and desire to lại you redeem their faults Tình bạn là mãi mãi Friendship is long-lasting Friendship is long-lasting Xa mặt cách lòng Out of sight, out of mind Out of sight, out of mind Người ăn ốc, kẻ đổ vỏ One eats the snails, other A situation when one had to cleans the shells take responsibilities of bad things he did not do170 Bứt dây động rừng Pull a tendril and shake the A careless action that may jungle affect the whole situation Nước chảy về nguồn Water flows to its source One always returns to his roots Giá đắt cắt cổ So expensive that can cut People can kill for money one’s throat Thương cho roi cho Give rods for love, give Strict education is the sign of vọt/Ghét cho ngọt, sweets for hatred true caring cho bùi Ngậm đắng nuốt cay Hold bitterness in the Suffering is part of life mouth, swallow spiciness Cầu được ước thấy One gets anything he wishes Someone’s wishes come true for Mèo mù vớ cá rán Blind cat catches fried fish Unusual fortune Chó chê mèo lắm lông Dogs criticize cats for too Criticize others without self- much fur criticism Trẻ học già The young learns from the The younger must learn from old the older Nơi tốt nhất là ở nhà Home is the best place Home is the best place Uốn lưỡi 7 lần trước Twist your tongue 7 times Be mindful, consider carefully khi nói/Ăn có nhai, nói before speaking/chew when before speaking anything có nghĩ you eat, think when you speak Nỗ lực hết mình Try your best Try your best Hai cái đầu vẫn hơn là Two heads are better than Better solve problems together một one Đoàn kết là sức mạnh Unity is strength Unity is strength

162 Equivalent: Offer to teach fish to swim 168 Equivalent: He that has no children knows not what love is 169 Equivalent: He works best who knows his trade 163 Equivalent : One cannot make bricks without straw 164 Equivalent: One rotten apple spoils the barrel 170 This proverb is frequently used for males who made a woman pregnant, and for other males who bore the consequence (took care of the kids).

Page 201 of 228 Proverbs in No. of Literal meaning Abstract meaning Vietnamese occurr- ences Há miệng chờ sung Open the mouth wait for Being lazy, expect to have the fig success without any efforts Học trường đời Learn in school of life One learns from practical life Một con ngựa đau, cả When a horse is sick, the The compassion, sharing in tàu bỏ cỏ whole stable refuses grass difficulties among individuals of a community Khi đi hỏi già, khi về When leaving, ask the old, The elderly can help when you hỏi trẻ when coming back, ask the leave for a trip, the children are young honest so they tell what happened when one was away Thuận vợ, thuận When husband and wife The strength of harmony and chồng tát biển Đông agree with each other, they unity in marriage cũng cạn can dry up the ocean with buckets Nhiều tiền thì thắm, ít Gorgeous when money is When you have money, your tiền thì phai much, faded when money is environment is friendly, when little165 you are poor they are not Nói một đằng làm một Who says one way and acts Who says one way and acts nẻo another another Thắng làm vua, thua Winner is king, loser is The winner takes it all làm giặc enemy Chưa học bò đã lo học One wants to run when yet Someone is too ambitious, not chạy not know to crawl aware of his lack of abilities to execute something Table 28: Vietnamese proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

165 Equivalent: When poverty comes in through the door, friendship flies out the window

Page 202 of 228 Appendix no. 27.: Hungarian proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

Proverb in Hungarian Number of Literal meaning in English occurrences 1 Mindenhol jó, de legjobb otthon 14 Everywhere is good, but the best at home 2 Az alma nem esik messze a fájától 8 The apple does not fall far from the tree 3 Új seprű jól seper 6 New broom sweeps well 4 Minden kezdet nehéz 5 All beginnings are difficult 5 A szabadság drágább az aranynál 3 Freedom is worth more than gold Amilyen az anyja, olyan a leánya Like mother, like daughter 6 Amilyen az apa, olyan a fia 2 Like father, like son Azért eszünk, hogy éljünk, nem We eat to live, not live to eat azért élünk, hogy együnk Borravaló Money for wine (tip) Ember tervez, Isten végez Man plans, God disposes Eső után köpönyeg Raincoat after rain Hallgatni arany Silence is golden Jobb adni mint kapni Better to give than to receive Minden jó, ha a vége jó All's well that ends well Ruha teszi az embert Clothes make the man 7 A boldogságnak nincs köze 1 Happiness has nothing to do with rank ranghoz vagy vagyonhoz: or property: it is just a matter of egyszerűen csak harmónia dolga harmony A cél szentesíti az eszközt The goal justifies the means A falnak is füle van The walls have ears A harag rossz tanácsadó Anger is a bad counsellor A lónak négy lába van, mégis The horse has four legs but still megbotlik stumbles A pénz nem boldogít Money does not make you happy A pénz nem boldogít, de jó, ha van Money does not make you happy, but it is good to have some Ahol a szükség, ott a segítség Where there is need, there is support Aki keres, talál He who seeks finds Alkalom szüli a tolvajt Opportunity makes the thief Aludt mint joghurt (?) ~Lazy like curd Ami elmúlt, elmúlt What’s gone is gone Az egyetlen baj a semmittevéssel, The only problem with doing nothing hogy sohasem tudod, mikor is you never know when you're done végeztél Bátraké a szerencse Fortune favours the brave Bor be, ész ki Wine in, brain out Borban van az igazság Truth is in wine Csak egy életed van: azt csináld jól! You have only one life: do it well! Egy fecske nem csinál nyarat One swallow does not make a summer Éhes disznó makkal álmodik Hungry pig dreams of acorns Gyakorlat teszi a mestert Practice makes the master Ha adnak, fogadd el, ha ütnek, When given, accept , when beaten, szaladj el run away Ha kidobják az ajtón, bemászik az The one thrown out the door, climbs

Page 203 of 228 ablakon in through the window Jó az öreg háznál It is good to have the old man at the house Jó bornak nem kell cégér Good wine needs no name plate Jó kezdet fél siker A good start is half success Jobb későn, mint soha Better late than never Jobb ma egy veréb, mint holnap Better a sparrow today than a bustard egy túzok tomorrow Két dudás nem fér meg egy Two pipers cannot fit in one tavern csárdában Kétszer ad, ki gyorsan ad The one who gives fast gives twice Ki korán kel, aranyat lel Who gets up early, finds gold Ki mint veti ágyát, úgy alussza As one makes his bed, so he sleeps his álmát dream Kinek a papné, kinek a lánya For some the wife of the priest, for some his daughter Könnyen jött, könnyen megy Easy come, easy go Lassú víz partot mos Slow water washes away the bank Leesett a tantusz ~The penny dropped Libabőrös lesz Will have goose bumps Mindegy, milyen nehéz volt No matter how hard it was yesterday, tegnap, ma mindent újrakezdhetsz you can start all over today Minden csoda három napig tart. All miracles last for three days Minden nagynak kicsi a kezdete Anything big is small at the beginning Minél jobb, annál rosszabb The better, the worse Mint két tojás Like two eggs Nem amint akarnánk, hanem Not as we want, but as it is possible amint lehet Rövid az élet, hosszú a sír Life is short life, grave is long Semmibol nem lesz semmi Nothing comes out of nothing Szemtelen mint a piaci légy Shameless than the market fly Többet ésszel, mint erővel Better do it with brain than with muscle Table 29: Hungarian proverbs (from Questionnaire no. 5.), Full results

Page 204 of 228 Appendix no. 28.: Differences when living in Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results, categorized

Differences when living in Hungary No Characteristics Number of utterances 1. Personal characteristics 55 1. Calm 2. Care about people around 3. Careful 4. Cautious 5. Civilized 6. Dispassionate 7. Don’t show-off 8. Eager to learn 9. Enthusiastic 10. Ethical 11. Europeans 12. Extremely hospitable 13. Friendly 14. Gentle 15. Hard-working 16. Have a long term vision 17. Heartfelt 18. High discipline/Disciplined 19. High intellectual standard of people 20. High self-consciousness 21. Honest 22. Hospitable 23. Hungarian children are highly self-reliant 24. Hungarians are willing to help each other 25. Hungarians have a special way of thinking 26. Hungarians often help Vietnamese people 27. Independent 28. Kindly 29. Knowledgeable 30. Logical 31. Methodical 32. Modern 33. More pragmatic 34. More reasonable than Vietnamese people 35. Open-minded 36. Orderly 37. Patient 38. Planned 39. Polite 40. Practical 41. Professional 42. Punctual/Conscious of time: good (i.e.: bus schedules are extremely exact) 43. Ready to help strangers 44. Regarding time, Hungarians are serious

Page 205 of 228 45. Respect the individual 46. Responsible 47. Righteous 48. Self-conscious and law-abiding 49. Self-controlled 50. Similarly to Vietnamese, Hungarians are hospitable 51. Sincere 52. Sometimes they are not self-confident 53. Truthful 54. Very straight 55. Vietnamese are Asians 2. Life, society 31 56. Civil and orderly society 57. Civilized way of life (no missing items, buy without bargaining) 58. Cultural, peaceful and simple life 59. Developed society 60. Effective in education 61. Everything is different but loving 62. Human freedom is not under compulsion 63. Hungarian social life’s aspects are better than Vietnamese ones 64. Hungarians live in industrial style (in major cities) 65. Hungarians live more consciously and responsibly for themselves and society 66. Hungarians live simply and practically 67. Hungarians seems to not care much about politics and interest in developing economy and society 68. I had lived in Hungary for peaceful years 69. I learnt from them that we have to live respectfully and responsibly 70. Industrial lifestyle 71. Less inequality between urban and rural living standards 72. Life in Hungary is secure and safe 73. Life in Hungary is very peaceful 74. Life is more scientific and cultural 75. Lifestyle: gentle and peaceful 76. Live more freely 77. More peaceful 78. Orderly society 79. People there are more civil and more responsible for an orderly and tidy life 80. Population density is lower in Hungary 81. Progressive industrial lifestyle 82. Stable and comfortable society 83. The country is peaceful 84. Their nation is homogeneous with equivalent development levels 85. They are more progressive than Vietnamese (in the 1970s, 1980s of the last century, they listened rock, watched capital films, loved freely) 86. They have good conditions to develop 3. Communication 13 87. Addressing forms are more equal 88. Communication is open-minded 89. Different communication: Hungarians are straightforward, speak directly

Page 206 of 228 on the topic 90. Different in terms of communication 91. Don’t talk loudly in public places (train, bus) 92. Gentle behavior: always say thank you and sorry 93. Hungarians speak gently (in public places) 94. In terms of communication: gentle, peaceful 95. Often say “thank you” and “sorry” 96. Rarely call the other loudly 97. Vietnamese laugh loudly 98. Vietnamese are like Asians: like to “beat around the bush” 99. Vietnamese often speak long and “beat around the bush” 4. Physical environment 12 100. Clean (clean streets) 101. Convenient climatic conditions 102. Different from Vietnam, Hungary is cleaner and more hygienic 103. Everything is clear, convenient 104. Fresh environment 105. Good conditions 106. Good facilities 107. Hungary has pure air 108. Hungary is a peaceful country with clear streets 109. Hungary is beautiful, poetic 110. Hungary is very clean 111. Living in Hungary is easier because of temperate climate 5. Behavior 8 112. Hungarians go fast 113. Hungarians queue up (do not barge) 114. They don’t elbow each other in a crowd 115. They don’t like to scramble and want to fairly compete 116. They don’t scramble 117. They rarely spit 118. Vietnamese go slow 119. Walking fast on the streets, do not dawdle 6. Business, economy 8 120. Developed agriculture 121. Developed country 122. Embezzlement rarely occurs 123. Ethical business 124. Hungarians are really economic, everything involved in economy is considered carefully 125. In Vietnam besides high technology, employees need to learn how to integrate themselves with their bosses: in Hungary similar situation hardly occurs 126. Personal ownership is very clear in Hungary unlike Vietnam 127. They spend in a planned way 7. Environmental protection 8 128. Consciousness of environmental protection: higher than Vietnamese 129. Culinary culture: no waste 130. Education of environment and public hygiene: not throw garbage; Environmental protection 131. High consciousness of public order

Page 207 of 228 132. High environmental protection consciousness 133. Hungarians have many good habits: dispose of garbage at the allowed sites 134. Their consciousness of environmental protection is high: rubbish bins everywhere 135. They are aware of protecting public properties and environment 8. Attitude to law, rules 7 136. Abide by the law 137. Hungarians are similar to Europeans: they live along rules 138. Hungarians respect the law and public regulations 139. Hungarians understand the law 140. Respect public regulations 141. They always respect the law 142. They execute law well 9. Work, study 7 143. Hungarians live and work under the law 144. Hungarians work seriously and responsibly 145. Scientific life/work 146. Serious when working 147. They study in a serious but comfortable way 148. They work punctually, scientifically and orderly 149. Work with heart 10. Food, cuisine 6 150. Cuisine: delicate taste 151. Different from Vietnamese: eating bread, butter, cheese as Westerns 152. Similarly to Vietnamese, Hungarians like to use spices which makes their food delicious 153. They like to offer food, wine and pálinka to friends 154. Vietnamese like to carouse, eat much while drinking 155. When going to the beer bar they drink and eat little 11. Habits 5 156. Celebrate Christmas in a simple way 157. Hungarians when they are sick they don’t want anyone to visit them: in Vietnam is it on the contrary 158. Real-life experiences, good customs 159. Short holidays 160. Their customs are quite different from Vietnamese’s 12. Mindset, emotions 4 161. High collective consciousness 162. In Hungary and in Europe people live along principles, meanwhile Vietnamese live by emotions 163. Similarly to Vietnamese, Hungarians live with respect and attachment, especially in villages, this makes them different from other Europeans such as Germans 164. Their awareness of protecting public property is good 13. Traffic 4 165. Convenient traffic 166. Hungarians seriously abide by traffic regulations 167. They go by bus or tram 168. Traffic is orderly 14. Housing 2

Page 208 of 228 169. Hungarian generations don’t live under the same roof as Vietnamese do. When children become mature, they move apart from their parents. They live independently, even in thinking. In Vietnam, many generations still live under the same roof. Vietnamese people think we can depend on each other. 170. In Vietnam several generations live under the same roof 15. Methods 2 171. Difference is: style, method, way to express thoughts, deal with a problem 172. Everything is dealt quickly 16. Gender 1 173. Equality between men and women 17. History 1 174. Hungary has a longstanding history of development 18. Relation to elderly 1 175. They are always ready to help children and elderly Table 30: Differences when living in Hungary (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results, categorized

Page 209 of 228 Appendix no. 29.: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results

Differences Hungarians Vietnamese Doing 1. Hungarians are less close (less friendly ↔ Vietnamese people are closer (more business less sociable) friendly, more sociable) 2. Rarely negotiate at a meal or party ↔ Often negotiate at a meal or party 3. Speak straight on the topic ↔ They beat around the bush 4. Straighter ↔ Less straight

5. Patient; 6. Want to widen the relations; 8. Sometimes they are not honest; 9. 7. Work according to a planned schedule Vietnamese businessmen only want to sell Communi- 10. As Western people: speak directly, ↔ Like Asians: warmer, sometimes cation definitively considered to be more curious 11. Calm in communication, behavior ↔ Noisier in communication, behavior 12. Careful /Considerate ↔ Brisk and hasty /Sensitive/Cautious/Vigilant 13. Confident/speak confidently /confident ↔ Sometimes, are more timid in communication 14. Don’t ask about the age ↔ Usually ask about the age 15. Like everything clear, detailed and ↔ Prefer general and unspecific concrete 16. Like Westerners: straight, cautious and ↔ Like Asians: sometimes hasty and careless humble 17. More equal ↔ Less equal 18. More intimate ↔ Less intimate 19. More open-minded ↔ Less open-minded 20. More polite and kind ↔ Less polite and kind 21. More self-confident, honest ↔ More timid, less honest 22. Speak more gently ↔ Speak loudly 23. Straight ↔ Mealy-mouthed 24. Straight ↔ Often beat around the bush 25. Straighter ↔ Less straight

26. Punctual 27. Sensitive; 28. Speak 32. Are defensive; 33. Like Asians: behave directly; 29. They have the art of flexibly, cleverly, esteem sentiment and communication; 30. Willing to help relationship; 34. Open-minded; 35. Wise unconditionally; 31. Willing to say “sorry” Personal 36. Consider more carefully and cautiously ↔ More hasty characte- 37. Don’t speak loudly ↔ Speak loudly ristics 38. In behavior they are fairer ↔ In behavior less fair 39. Less diligent ↔ More diligent (work on Saturday and Sunday) 40. More careful ↔ Less careful 41. More comfortable ↔ Less comfortable 42. More confident ↔ Less confident 43. More daring ↔ Less daring 44. More heartfelt ↔ Less heartfelt 45. More polite ↔ Less polite 46. More professional ↔ Less professional 47. More self-aware ↔ Less self-aware 48. More serious ↔ Less serious 49. Split the money when eating pizza ↔ One person pays all

Page 210 of 228 50. Straighter ↔ Less straight

51. “Asian-like”, different from Germans’ 85. Aren’t serious; 86. Cheerful; 87. Clear; accuracy; 52. Careful; 53. Cherish memories 88. Closed; 89. Difficult to cooperate with friends, relatives; 54. Civilized; 55. with; 90. Diligent; 91. Friendly; 92. Hard- Communicate confidently and little bit too working; 93. Hospitable; 94. Long- seriously; 56. Easily learn something new; 57. suffering; 95. Open-minded; 96. Research Enthusiastic; 58. Friendly; 59. Gentle; 60. Good education; 61. Good teachers; 62. Good- about the partner before deciding to natured; 63. Gullible; 64. Have high intellectual cooperate; 97. Short-term goals; 98. standards; 64. Have long-term goals; 65. Have Some Vietnamese have narrow vision; the culture to always greet each other when 99. Sometimes consider carefully; 100. they meet; 66. Have the habit of saying thanks Still haven’t incorporated behavior in and apologizing 67. Hospitable; 68. Impatient; market economy 69. Inflexible; 70. Kindly; 71. Like everything clear, coherent; 72. Like people in countries of market economy, they abide by regulations; 73. Live in high independence; 74. Open-minded; 75. Polite; 76. Reciprocal in relations; 77. Respect law; 78. Responsible; 79. Self- conscious; 80. Self-disciplined; 81. Show another aspect of European people: they are emotional, gentle and compassionate; 82. They say “Bon appetite!”; 83. They speak their opinion/comments out; 84. Truthful Lifestyle 101. Alcoholic drinks are not banned, ↔ Drunkenness is not banned (alcoholic /Society drunkenness is banned drinks are not banned) 102. European culture ↔ Asian culture 103. Execute/Implement the law well ↔ Do Not execute/implement the law well 104. High traffic awareness/discipline ↔ Low traffic awareness/discipline 105. Higher living standards, tourism ↔ Lower living standards, tourism is not so strong 106. Hungarians’ awareness of protecting ↔ Vietnamese’s awareness of protecting environment is higher than Vietnamese’s environment is lower than Hungarians’ 107. Live more scientifically and ↔ Live less scientifically and independently independently 108. Not bound to old things, not old- ↔ Bound to old things, old-fashioned fashioned 109. People respect law/policies ↔ People don’t always respect law/policies 110. Spend time on family and protecting ↔ Work a lot, do not care protecting one’s one’s health, don’t work so much health too much

111. Lifestyle is scientific; 112. People read 113. Live dependently in relationships; everything carefully before starting to 114. Lucky money gifts for New Year’s work anniversary becomes a way of bribery; 115. Rush out in the streets during holidays; 116. Take part in ceremonies; 117. Teach bad to the children Cuisine 118. Hungarian food is nicer ↔ Vietnamese food is less nice 119.They make Lipton tea ↔ They make tea the traditional way with tea leaves Language 120. Hungarians have less levels in ↔ Vietnamese have more levels in language language Table 31: Differences between Vietnamese and Hungarians (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results

Page 211 of 228 Appendix no. 30.: Strange, awkward experiences 1. (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results

Strange, awkward experiences in Hungary

I asked someone to show the way but because of my wrong pronunciation, 1 I was lost. After losing the room key in the dormitory I posted an announcement “MEGHÍVÁS” instead of ”FELHÍVÁS”. After that he became shy. (The two words “invitation” and “announcement” are very similar, the 2 interviewee accidentally mixed them up.) I intended to buy a rubber string to my underpants but couldn’t name it in Hungarian. In the shop I told the seller I wanted to have the thing which is in the pants and sometimes it is short, sometimes long. The seller couldn’t say 3 anything. Later on I found out what I have said and became shy for a while. I was invited for dinner to a Hungarian friend’s house. After the meal the host asked how the food was. I should have told him “delicious” but instead, I said I didn’t like it. After that my friend explained to the family that in Vietnam we 4 are used to different food and different way of eating. Cooperated with a Hungarian from advertising industry. His company seemed proper. We had some negotiations then I invited him, but later the Hungarian evaded me. I was surprised to find out that he hasn’t lived in Hungary for many years. (The Hungarian probably wanted to cheat the interviewee by providing false 5 information.) I was once refused flatly when trying to fill out a psychological test for 6 students (a practical exercise). Once I was cheated by a butcher (she charged me higher) and said in a condemnatory manner: “The bunch of foreign students doesn’t know 7 anything”. She thought I didn’t understand. I worked part-time in a sewing factory: Once I damaged a tray of products due 8 to not understanding the instructions. 9 At first there were misunderstandings because of differences in language. At the first time, as we didn’t have experience in living in a cold country before, we often left our hair wet when we went out in the winter. As a result we lost our hair. Afterwards, Mrs. Landlord gave us an advice that we should dry our hair or wear a hat when going out. If we had known it earlier, we 10 wouldn’t be bald. In the beginning I often felt alone in a strange land and felt unable to assimilate with Hungarians. At that time I faced some difficulties but after 11 that I got acquainted with them. In 2005 with five friends we came to visit our old teachers in Hungary and seeing their difficulties, we helped them. Our teacher said: ”I have taught for more than 30 years but this is the first time when a foreign student sympathized and helped me. Thank you.” 12 (Financial help to the former teacher.) 13 Once I bought a bicycle in Corvin Department Store. Due to being in a hurry, I

Page 212 of 228 left the store by the new bike. While the cars were queuing up at the red light, I was pedalling down the slope, next to them. Suddenly a young Hungarian man opened the door and got out of the car. As I was rushing downhill, my bicycle clashed into the open door of the taxi. The result is that the bike was severely damaged, and I was thrown off by the roadside and scratched. He, a recently graduated student and newlywed, had sympathized with me, a poor Vietnamese student; thus, he gave me 1500 forints to buy another bike (this happened in 1974). This experience had occurred more than 40 years ago, but I still remember. Thanks to Hungary, this country has created a society in which people live in a very merciful, compassionate way and they abide the laws, and have a sense of mercy. In the first year in Hungary my Hungarian was not very good. My teacher said that we would have an exam in the afternoon but I understood we would 14 have a half day off school. During the first period due to language difficulties I couldn’t adapt to 15 Hungarian habits and culture. Language difficulties: with sounds “s” and “sz”, often mixed up „sör” and 16 szőr”.171 Communicating with women by embracing, kissing, shaking hands was not 17 suitable to Vietnamese habits in the period 1984-1990. When going out to eat they go Dutch, which is different from Vietnamese 18 habits where only the one who invited pays. When I went to the dentist and wanted a tooth to be pulled out, because of 19 the language barrier they pulled out another tooth. One day a Hungarian friend asked me about my major. I replied “painter”. Then he invited me to his home then asked me to paint his house. I was very 20 surprised. I was a translator to a Vietnamese mission to Hungary. I was reprimanded to 21 warn them that they need to dress suitably for events. In public places they respect each other by not speaking loudly and not 22 doing anything which annoys others. A Hungarian man wanted to make acquaintance with me. He invited me to 23 his house and I found out that he was gay. Then I had not met him anymore. Life in Europe appreciates freedom and independence. Therefore, sometimes 24 I felt empty and short of affection. 25 I was acquainted with Hungarian people before going to Hungary. Children, once moved for independent life, seldom go back to visit their 26 parents. 27 In Hungary, generations hardly live under one roof as in Vietnam. 28 Hungarians discriminate against Gypsies. During my holiday at Lake Balaton I met a lovely girl and invited her to dance with me. A boy came and told me not to dance with the girl. I didn’t agree and he told me to go out and solve the problem by fighting. My friends 29 called the police.

171 Vietnamese speakers usually cannot distinguish between these sounds.

Page 213 of 228 30 Hungarians are quite straightforward. Hungarians equate the Vietnamese people with the Chinese. When 31 introducing ourselves as Vietnamese, we didn’t feel comfortable. I once saw two Hungarian persons exchanging angry words in the market but they spoke very gently. The way they spoke is unlike an argument. Only when 32 everyone gathered around them, did I know they were made an argument. 33 I walked slower than friends. Sometimes I met a card-sharp in public places or someone who posed as 34 policemen to rob from foreigners. Some Hungarians mistook me for a Chinese person, they spoke ill of me and did not know that I understood all they said. From that, I knew Hungarians 35 really dislike Chinese people. Hungarians don’t have similar customs and habits to Vietnamese people. For 36 example, they don’t often visit their old teacher. Once I met my Hungarian friend who I have not met for many years. When I left, they gave me some old clothes and I have not understood the reason why he did like that. (Probably the Hungarian person supposed the 37 Vietnamese was poor and needed clothes.) Once I went to the market in Hungary. I saw a Hungarian lady having an argument with a Vietnamese one. However, while the Vietnamese lady was trying to speak and abuse as loud as possible, the Hungarian one spoke 38 some words more gently, then was silent. One time, I went out in the evening and my vehicle broke down. I could not find any place to repair it. Fortunately, I met a Hungarian family who enthusiastically helped me to repair. After that, I gave them some money 39 but they did not accept. I really felt grateful and this was a memorable event. I went to supermarket, I was followed a Hungarian girl and she made me pay 40 the bill. When driving bike, I met a Hungarian who had a weapon. He looked at me with hateful eyes and said: “You went to here to steal my job and my son’s studying chance”. But many Hungarians stood up, countered him and 41 protected me. Vietnamese students’ life was not very clear and orderly, so we felt ashamed 42 to Hungarian and other students. 43 Was arrested by police for having no license. 44 Started in the first term, I met a babysitter and then she wrote me letters. At first when I had just arrived Hungary, my lifestyle was not very proper 45 because their society was more civil. 46 Check out the behaviour on the bus. I was really impressed by Hungarians. I ate a nice dish and a friend asked her 47 mother to give me its recipe. 48 Employed in summer: At first, it was strange. . 49 Everybody cares about the other. It’s easy to live in Hungary. 50 The biggest barrier is language. 51 Difference in living space. 52 Life is peaceful and wonderful.

Page 214 of 228 53 Hungarians don’t like to cook. Case: 2013 in Harta, wandering on the streets when a car stops and the driver asks “Hello, friend, is there any problem?” – “Thank you! Nothing, I am just wandering around watching the nice scenery.” We both say “thank you, good- 54 bye”. Hungarians are good-hearted and polite. 55 I met and had meals with a Hungarian family. Table 32: Strange, awkward experiences (from Questionnaire no. 6.)

Page 215 of 228 Appendix no. 31.: Strange, awkward experiences 2. (Grouped, from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results

Summary and categorization of strange/awkward experiences in Hungary Category of differences/lacunae Type of difference/lacuna Concrete case Practical problems, difficulty due to Getting lost because of linguistic 1 lack of knowledge of the language. misunderstanding. Misunderstandings/problems due to Mixing up the two similar words misuse of language (compare with "meghívás" (invitation) and "felhívás" 2 role of Vietnamese tones!!) (announcement) Funny/unpleasant situation due to language barrier (double-meaning Explaining the string of underpants in a 3 explanation). double-entendre way. Damaging a tray of products in a sewing Causing financial damage due to factory due to not understanding the 4 linguistic misunderstanding. instructions. Misunderstanding because of Linguistic misunderstanding, not 5 differences in language. specified. Linguistic misunderstanding due to Missing an exam in school due to limited knowledge of Hungarian, understanding day-off instead of 6 Language causing practical problems. examination. Difficulties caused by language 7 barrier. Difficulties with language, not specified. Vietnamese do not have a separate "s" 8 Phonetic difficulties. and "sz" sound (sör-szőr). 9 Language barrier. Language barrier, not specified. 10 Writing letters. Babysitter wrote letters to interviewee. After the meal the host asked how the food was. The interviewee should have told “delicious” but instead he said he 11 Politeness in speech. didn’t like it. Severely negative practical Pulling out the wrong tooth because of 12 implications of misunderstanding. misunderstanding. Difference in 13 behavior/communication. Hungarians are more straightforward. Different communication style when Hungarians use a lower volume of speech 14 Arguments arguing. and a more gentle way of speaking. (language and Vietnamese are louder and more behavior) aggressive, Hungarians are more gentle 15 Different way of arguing. and silent. Different, impolite tone/discrimination of foreign Being refused flatly when trying to fill out 16 student? a psychological test. Discrimination based on race or 17 ethnicity. Hungarians discriminate against Gypsies. Discrimination, Discrimination based on race or stereotyping, ethnicity/not being able to generalizations differentiate between two races When introduced as Vietnamese, felt 18 (Chinese/Vietnamese). uncomfortable. Discrimination based on race or ethnicity/not being able to Mistaken for a Chinese person, they 19 differentiate between two races spoke ill of respondent.

Page 216 of 228 (Chinese/Vietnamese).

Interviewee was offered second-hand 20 Generalization. clothes after a visit at a family. Discrimination based on race or Threatening with weapon for taking 21 ethnicity. Hungarians' job and place in school. Problems due to different climatic Climate 22 conditions. Losing hair due to cold weather.

Gender roles Culturally different behavior with Embracing, kissing, shaking hands, not 23 women. suitable to Vietnamese habits. Different aspects of intercultural After a bike accident the Hungarian differences: way to settle a traffic person gave 1500 forints to the accident/abiding the law/sense of respondents for the damage caused to 24 mercy. his bicycle. The respondent said he was becoming a Joking/lack of proper use of painter: then he was invited to paint a 25 Hungarian language/other reason. house. Different habits and ways of Complex situations invitation to someone’s house/different communication and A gay person invited the interviewee to 26 behavior of gays. his house. Interviewee invited a girl to dance. Then Discrimination/different way of a boy came and told him not to dance courting to women/different way to with the girl. He didn’t agree, so the settle a problem or fight/simple Hungarian told him to go outside and 27 jealousy. solve the problem by fighting. Respondent was reprimanded to warn Clothing Different style of dressing up for the business delegation to dress up 28 events. suitably for an event.

A Hungarian person from advertising Trying to cheat/mislead in business industry stated he lived in Hungary; it 29 based on different nationality. turned out not to be true. Interviewee was cheated by a butcher who charged him higher and said: ”The Cheating/misleading Cheating based on discrimination of bunch of foreign students doesn’t know 30 members of different nation/culture. anything". Card-shapers and fake policemen tried to 31 Cheating foreigners. cheat Vietnamese students. Cheating of foreigners/other motive (i.e.: intention to get to know with A girl made the interviewee pay the bill in 32 the interviewee). a supermarket. Hungarians respect each other by not Cultural difference related to speaking loudly and not doing anything 33 Behavior at public behavior in public places. which annoys others. places Different behavior on public On the bus Hungarians are more polite 34 transportation. and caring with each other.

Payment Different habits of payment in Hungarians often want to pay separately, 35 restaurant. which is not typical in Vietnam. Vietnamese students returned to Relation to parents, Different approach to former Hungary 30 years later and helped their old teachers 36 teachers. old teacher financially.

Page 217 of 228 After starting independent life, children in Hungary do not visit and care about 37 Different approach to parents. their parents as children do in Vietnam. Different approach to former Hungarians do not usually visit their old 38 teachers. teachers. 39 Way of walking Difference in the way of walking. Hungarians walk faster.

Several generations living under one In Hungary, generations hardly live under 40 Housing roof. one roof as in Vietnam. 41 Living space. Difference in living space (not specified). Hungary as a European country represents higher level of freedom and 42 Level of freedom and independence. independence. Hungarians tend to be more helpful and 43 Helpfulness. do it enthusiastically, without interest. 44 General Orderliness. Hungarian students are more orderly. characteristics Hungarians do some small gestures such as giving the recipe of a food to the 45 Attentiveness. guest. 46 Interpersonal relations. Hungarians care more about each other. Unexpectedly polite and good-hearted 47 Politeness, good-heartedness. behavior from Hungarians.

Traffic and driving The answerer was arrested by the police 48 Driving without license. as he drove without license. 49 Civil feature of life. Life in Hungary more civil. 50 Difference in life in general. Hungary is more peaceful and wonderful. Society, life Seasonal job in Hungary: strange or unusual probably because it is not 51 Seasonal job. widespread in Vietnam. In Vietnam more widespread for people Cooking to cook, in Hungary many people do not 52 Habit to cook. cook. Inviting someone to visit or eat together Invitation in the host’s house is different in the two 53 Invitation to one's house/home. cultures. Interviewee missed his friends and 54 Lack of company family. Others Respondent met Hungarians before Meeting representatives of target traveling to Hungary so he was better 55 culture before traveling. prepared. Table 33: Strange, awkward experiences (from Questionnaire no. 6.)

Page 218 of 228 Appendix no. 32.: Changed habits (from Questionnaire no. 6.), Full results

Changed habits Characteristics Frequency 1. More punctual, arrive on time 21 2. Conscious of protection of the environment 14 3. Habit of saying thank you and sorry 8 4. Abide by the law 5 5. More careful 4 More disciplined 6. Honesty 3 Orderliness Respect public regulations 7. 1. Do everything in a planned, strategic way 2 2. Don’t speak loudly in public places 3. Don’t throw rubbish rashly 4. Friendliness 5. Habit of life: tidy and orderly with fast and precise thought 6. I have been influenced by the life in Hungary 7. Live more responsible 8. Manage life in a tidy and clear way 9. More creative 10. More open-minded 11. More polite in communication 12. Outspoken opinion 13. Overcome difficulties 14. Scientific life with serious schedule 15. Scientific thinking 16. Speak directly 17. Speak gently 18. Working style: scientific 8. 1. “Ladies first” behavior 1 2. Act according to your wish 3. After coming back to Vietnam found life snowed under by work and not orderly 4. After meal throw rubbish into wastebasket: If there is no wastebasket, I keep the trash until I find one 5. Always use a handkerchief 6. Anniversaries and holidays are held simply and economically 7. Appreciate to build relationships 8. Avoid unreasonable arguments 9. Behave in public places 10. Behavior depending on environment 11. Changed eating and drinking habits 12. Changed viewpoint and started dealing clearly with work 13. Changing is natural 14. Communicate directly 15. Communicative attitude is intimate, gentle and polite 16. Complete the work as scheduled 17. Conceding to elderly, women and children: When I am on the

Page 219 of 228 bus, I usually stand up and offer my seat to them 18. Confident 19. Consciousness of surrounding environment: good to people 20. Control action in order to adapt to Vietnamese lifestyle 21. Culture on public places 22. Decent living 23. Do everything in a planned way 24. Do serious scientific research, always quote sources 25. Follow traffic regulations 26. Don’t celebrate Noel in an imposing way as in Hungary 27. Don’t dance anymore because it is not popular, 28. Don’t go anywhere during summer vacation because the summer break in Vietnam is so short 29. Don’t speak loudly, make noises and annoy others in public places 30. Don’t take a nap after lunch 31. Don’t throw garbage 32. Don't judge a book by its cover 33. Do eat soup before main dishes 34. Economical: finish all food and when at a buffet lunch and just take as much as one is able to eat 35. Enjoy delicious dishes 36. Enthusiastic 37. Enthusiastically help others when asked 38. Esteem relationships 39. Everything needs to be clear and exact 40. Fight against the evil 41. For all problems I have my political view 42. Formed most of my habits and character in Hungary and kept them until now 43. Go fast on the streets 44. Habit of cleanness 45. Habit of tidy, orderly and responsible behavior 46. Hard-working 47. Healthy diet 48. Help women 49. Humorous 50. I am willing to help anyone: This may cause misunderstanding in Vietnam 51. I became more independent and determined to find the best solution myself 52. I changed some linguistic habits. In the first stage, I often spoke Hungarian and Vietnamese alternately. It took a long time to correct it 53. I communicate in a more polite way 54. I don’t speak loudly, try to live gently in public 55. I feel so sorry because I didn’t try to learn more to get economic experiences 56. I have become more confident 57. I learnt civilization from European people: not to be too curious about other people’s stories

Page 220 of 228 58. I mostly focus on learning 59. I speak fast and directly 60. In Hungary, social management is more disciplinary than in Vietnam 61. Keep an appointment 62. Keep promises 63. Keep the greeting culture 64. Lead a disciplined lifestyle 65. Learned not only science and technology but also way of life 66. Learned to be flexible 67. Learned Western civilization 68. Learnt Hungarian’s polite culture with courteous and civilized behavior 69. Learnt to live independently 70. Less curious about others’ issues 71. Life in Hungary was more wealthy and luxurious 72. Live in a disciplined way, self-awareness 73. Live in a simple way 74. Live in methodical way 75. Live in principle but not being rigid 76. Live more actively 77. Live more responsibly 78. Live scientifically, consider everything from many aspects, particularly in terms of investment 79. Living style: straightforward and open-minded 80. Method of working 81. Morality 82. More tolerant on the bus 83. No smoking in public places 84. Not feel offended when Western people smoke without invitation 85. Not feel strange when Western people are impolitely nibbling apple on the street 86. Not to be nosy in other’s matters 87. Polite 88. Professional 89. Protect and preserve public properties, don’t rashly throw rubbish 90. Queue up, don’t scramble 91. Rarely go for picnic in forest because tropical forests are dangerous 92. Respect friends and colleagues 93. Respect others and the environment 94. Respect women: offer my seat on the bus 95. Righteous 96. Say in a concise and easy to understand manner 97. Scientific and logical lifestyle 98. Scientific in term of time, work arrangement 99. Scientific work 100. Self-discipline in daily life 101. Sober living

Page 221 of 228 102. Speak directly, don’t “beat around the bush” 103. Spread the good practices 104. Straight and honest 105. Studying/working has to be effective and useful 106. Think independently 107. Think more carefully 108. Tidy and disciplinary lifestyle 109. Try my best in work and life 110. Try to live in gentle and simple way 111. Wear helmet and stop when the traffic light is red 112. When eating you have to eat all what you take, don’t waste food 113. Work punctually 114. Working clearly

Page 222 of 228 Appendix no. 33.: Examples of Vietnamese-Hungarian lacunae

No Word Word Meaning in English Related proverbs Remarks . class 1 Sàng n A round and flat Đi một ngày đàng học một basket woven of sàng khôn bamboo with small Translation: Traveling for holes, used for one day is gaining one separating broken rice basket of knowledge

from paddy and husk 2 Nhậu (đi v To carouse: spend nhậu) infor time drinking alcohol, m. laughing, enjoying yourself in a noisy way with other people 3 Nhiệt a Enthusiastic: feeling or tình showing a lot of excitement and interest about something 4 Hiếu n Filial piety: in (lòng Confucian philosophy, hiếu filial piety (Chinese: 孝 thảo) , xiào) is a virtue of respect for one's father, elders, and ancestors 5 Mâm n (1) A round platter, Lời chào cao hơn mâm cỗ made of wood, copper Literal translation: or aluminium, used to Greetings are higher than serve food for a meal feasts (2) People (6-8) served Meaning: Courtesy is more together in a table in a important than material An ancient copper mâm meal wealth

6 Giỗ n Death anniversary: a custom observed in several Asian cultures. Similar to a birthday, it is celebrated each year on the day on which a family member or other significant individual died. Source: Death Anniversary - Wikipedia 7 Nén n A silver ingot Nén bạc đâm toạc tờ bạc weighing 10 tael giấy 1 tael = 37.5 ÷ 37.8 Literal meaning: A silver gram (≈) ingot tears the paper Meaning: money can destroy truth, justice

8 Nia n (Agricultural Lọt sàng xuống nia production) Literal translation: What bamboo basket, goes through sàng falls tightly woven, into nia round, flat, used for Meaning: If our property drying, containing falls into the hands of grain, agricultural relatives, do not regret it

Page 223 of 228 products, diameter because they are not 0,8 - 1 m outsiders. 9 Vạn num Ten thousand Mua danh ba vạn, bán eral danh ba đồng Literal translation: bought reputation for thirty thousand, sold for three Meaning: Reputation is difficult to gain, but very easy to lose. 10 Nghiên n An inkstone is a stone mortar for the grinding and containment of ink Inkstone - Wikipedia

11 Mồi n Food to have when infor- drinking alcohol, mal goes with “nhậu”

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Appendix no. 34.: Vietnamese meat products

No. Name of Image product 1 Lạp xưởng It has been incorporated into a variety of dishes from simple omelettes to more complex main courses. Due to the salty taste of the sausages, they are used in moderation with other ingredients to balance the flavour. The sausages are made from pork (lạp xưởng heo) or chicken (lạp xưởng gà), the latter of which yields a leaner taste. 2 Giò lụa Vietnamese pork roll (chả lụa) This is the most common type of sausage in Vietnamese cuisine, made of pork and traditionally wrapped in banana leaves. The term giò lụa is part of the northern Vietnamese dialect, while chả lụa is from the central and southern Vietnamese dialects.

Variants: Giò bò (beef roll), Giò gà (chicken roll), Giò tai (pig ears roll)

3 Chả Special Vietnamese cold cut. Variants: chả bì - containing shredded pork skin along with typical chả lụa ingredients, then steamed; chả bò - beef sausage with herbs; chả chiên - where the entire sausage is deep-fried (instead of steamed, omitting the banana leaf wrap); chả Huế - contains whole black peppercorns and more garlic and then steamed; chả quế - sausage with seasoned with powdered cinnamon, then fried. 4 Dồi Vietnamese 'dồi tiết' (Northern) or 'dồi huyết' (Southern) is bloody sausage, boiled or fried, made with pork blood, pork fat and basil.

5 Nem chua Nem chua is a sweet, sour, salty and spicy fermented pork or beef sausage, usually served with a thin slice of garlic, bird's eye chili and Vietnamese coriander.

Page 225 of 228 6 Xúc xích Xúc xích is a food made from meat (usually pork) stuffed and put in an envelope) in combination with other materials such as salt, spices, seasonings, etc. Vietnamese sausage is made from pig intestines, stuffed then smoked and boiled on low fire and a combination of salt, additives and spices are added.

7 Ruốc A dry food made from lean pork, chicken skin and (Pork bones removed, fish boneless, skinless or shrimp to floss) peel, leaving the head. Depending on the type of materials they use as ingredients and the processing method ruốc thịt lợn (pork ruốck), ruốc thịt gà (chicken ruốc), ruốc cá (fish ruốc), ruốc tôm (shrimp ruốc ).

Source: Wikipedia (Lạp xưởng, Giò lụa, Dồi, Nem chua, Xúc xích, Ruốc), Internet (Chả), Photos: from Wikipedia, Internet

Page 226 of 228 Appendix no. 35.: Hungarian meat products

No. Name of Image product 1 Kolbász “Kolbász is the Hungarian word for sausage. Hungarian cuisine produces a vast number of types of sausages. The most common smoked Hungarian sausages are Gyulai Kolbász, Csabai Kolbász, Csemege Kolbász, Házi Kolbász, Cserkész Kolbász, lightly smoked, like Debreceni Kolbász (or Debrecener) and Lecsókolbász, a spicy sausage made specifically for serving as part of the dish Lecsó, a vegetable stew with peppers and tomatoes.” 2 Párizsi/ “Pariser (parizer): in various countries in Central and parizer Eastern Europe many sausages are made from very finely ground meat, usually poultry, pork or beef. *…+They are known by the common name Pariser/Parizer (intended meaning being Parisian sausage) or special salami.”

3 Hurka “Hurka is a well-known Hungarian water-cooked sausage made originally from organ meats such as pork liver, lungs, head meat, rice and onions. Blood is sometimes added.”

4 Szalámi “Salami is a type of cured sausage. Salami consists of fermented and air-dried meat, typically beef or pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern European peasants because it stores at room temperature for up to 30-40 days once cut, potentially supplementing a meager or inconsistent supply of fresh meat. Countries and regions across Europe make their own traditional varieties.”

5 Virsli “A Vienna sausage (German: Wiener Würstchen, Wiener, Viennese/Austrian German: Frankfurter Würstel or Würstl, Swiss German Wienerli, Swabian: Wienerle or Saitenwurst) is a kind of sausage. The word Wiener means Viennese in German; in Austria the term Wiener is uncommon for this food item, as it identifies a type of cold cut.” 6 Szafaládé Knackwurst may refer to a variety of sausage types, depending on the geographical region. In America, Knackwurst may refer to a short, plump sausage originating from the Holstein region in Germany. They contain ground veal, ground pork, and fresh garlic stuffed into hog casings.[1] The sausages are aged for two to five days, then smoked over oak wood. Knackwurst is often prepared highly seasoned.

Page 227 of 228 7 Debreceni “A debrecener (Hungarian: debreceni kolbász, German: debreziner Wurst) is a pork sausage of uniform fine texture and reddish- orange colour, named after the Hungarian city of Debrecen. The sausages are heavily spiced with paprika and other seasonings like garlic, pepper and marjoram. They are usually unsmoked or lightly smoked, and sold in pairs joined at one end. Traditional cooking technique calls for the Debreceni to be transversely slashed at intervals and baked, broiled, or fried.”

Source: Wikipedia (kielbasa, Pariser, salami, Vienna sausage, Knackwurst, Debrecener), Internet (Hurka): http://www.meatsandsausages.com), Photos: from Wikipedia, Internet

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