Greeting in Vietnamese. Part 1: Meet and greet the elders. Hello everybody! Today, i decided to come back to the most basic: Greeting. I know this topic is sooo classic and common. But do want to have a note written in my way. As you know, Vietnamese does not only have "you" and "i" or the equality between everyone. Respect for the elders is a part of our culture, want it or not. Therefore, another messy system to show manners was given birth to. I divide it depending on situations, the objects and we have these. When you meet the elder : a. To say hello - Con chào bác ạ! / Dạ con chào bác! (Use for both male and female who are same age or older than your parents) - Con chào cô ạ!/ Dạ con chào cô! (for female are younger than your parents) - Con chào ông ạ!/ Dạ con chào ông! (for who is as old as your grandpa) - Con chào bà ạ! / Dạ con chào bà! (for who is as old as your grandma) b. To goodbye: - Con thưa bác/cô/chú/ông/bà con về ạ! - Dạ con thưa (bác/cô/chú/ông/bà) con về! Usually, the ending word "ạ" is from the north. You can use it wherever you are because standard Vietnamese is Northern Vietnamese (Hà Nội to more specific). The word "dạ" is most used in the South and it sounds more friendly, open and less formal. Amazingly, it is still able to keep your manners and polite. Great, huh? ^^ Instead of the word "chào", you can replace it by "thưa". They have the same meaning. I recommend to use "thưa" only when you say goodbye ('cause it sound more native). These are the most common way, not the only way. Vietnamese is all about diversity after all. Deal to the charaters limit, i have to move to the next note to keep things whole. ==" why do limits exist? Sometime i do wonder that. Let move to the next note! (còn tiếp/ to be continued)