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For the Vietnamese, the smile is a proper response in most situations when verbal expression is not needed or not appropriate. With a smile, the Vietnamese can show happiness, contentment, agreement, acceptance, desire, and tolerance. The same smile, however, can show disagreement, discomfort, embarrassment, confusion, anger and even contempt.

Although the smile appears anywhere in the world, its meaning is really different from culture to culture. For the Vietnamese, the smile is a proper response in most situations when verbal expression is not needed or not appropriate. With a smile, the Vietnamese can show happiness, contentment, agreement, acceptance, desire, and tolerance. The same smile, however, can show disagreement, discomfort, embarrassment, confusion, anger and even contempt. The meaning of Vietnamese smile is easy to understand as usual, but it also causes misunderstanding in some cases. So the Vietnamese smile can be classified into two categories including "simple smile" and "implied smile".

 

The simple smile is a smile which has no implied meaning. People smile because they are happy about something. For example, someone won a contest, others may have successful in finding a job, and friends meet each other after a longtime, etc. The Vietnamese usually smiles because they believe in a bright future although they are not rich now. A smile expresses their hope in life and helps overcome difficulties. For instance, a farmer smiles when they look at their field, a business man smiles when he has many customers, etc. Occasionally, the Vietnamese also smiles when there is nothing to smile. They smile because people around them smile or they do not know what to do, or have no answer for something. Students, for example, usually smile when they do not know how to answer the teacher's question. There is no implied meaning of Vietnamese smile in these cases. Through their smiles, we can understand what the Vietnamese means. Simply, they smile to express their emotions.

 

The implied smile is a smile which has a specific meaning in each context. The Vietnamese rely more often on nonverbal communication than others countries, so it is possible a source of confusion. For the Vietnamese, responding with a smile is not always he or she is happy. It can be a smile of sadness. The Vietnamese sometimes smile when they feel sad or misery because they do not want to drop their tears and not want to hurt other persons. They want to keep it themselves and smiling makes them stronger. Similarly, nervousness is indicated by a smile. It was because they want to hide their nervousness. That helps them get more confident before doing something such as taking test, interview, etc. While the Westerner usually say "thank you" or "sorry" in communication, the Vietnamese just smiles instead of a thanks or an apology. They do not expect a "thank – you" for trivial things such as picking something for someone, giving up one's seat to women, children, elderly people, and so on. Similarly, a smile can reduce someone's annoy when you are unintentional to make mistake. In Vietnam, people usually use non – verbal communication, so smile a way of greeting. A smile can be used in stead of saying "hello, hi, good afternoon, good evening, etc." In some cases, a smile is used to ridicule someone. People use a scornful smile for contempt in stead of saying out. For example, a student who gets high mark in the test smiles scornfully at his friend. However, this smile was not appreciated in Vietnam because of moral standards. These are just some specific meaning of smile in Vietnam. To know what a Vietnamese smile means, it's very necessary to understand the Vietnamese culture and people.

 

The reason why that the Vietnamese smile frequently may be countless. There is nothing that adds more beauty at a face and touches the heart than a smile. Smile is the best medicine. When we smile, the body makes facial gestures and sounds which help us relax during smile. Moreover, Smile can reduce the amount of stress hormones and help us cope with our life better. Smiling is the great way to make us look younger, more beautiful and attractive.

 

The Vietnamese smile is actually a trademark of the country although it is not easy to understand about what a Vietnamese smile means. No matter what the meaning it is, smile always a symbol of happy, funny, and friendly society. We satisfy with our life by smiles and people around the world will satisfy with our country and people. People said that "A smile costs nothing but gives much.  It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.  It takes but a moment, but the memory of it lasts forever".

Lê Minh Sơn