Hi, everyone! I hope you like the new video! Join this channel to see videos early, and get ad-free videos: kzfaq.info/love/8HYERScBt-e0kV0fpe0asgjoin (Join on computer, Android, or web browser on iOS. After joining, you'll have membership features on the iOS app too) You may also be interested in my Langfocus video on the Vietnamese language: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rLd-qMdet8eWd6s.html

American here...been living in Vietnam (HCMC) for over 10 years. This a great primer video on VN. Great job Paul! One thing I did when I moved here was to look up what the street names mean in every city, since they tend to repeat. I think every city has a Trần Hưng Đạo and Hai Bà Trưng street and so those were the first I looked up. Once you read about these incredible individuals, including some wild ones like Phan Xích Long, you start to understand what the Vietnamese are all about: independence and self-autonomy for their culture by any means. And bánh mì is just the best sandwich a dollar can buy. I always get two!

I visited Vietnam (Nha Trang) with my family 2 years ago. It is a great country with hospitable people and marvellous nature and culture. The best travel experience I've got so far! Vietnam is too shy to advertise itself and got overshadowed by Thailand.

Vietnam seems like a country distinct from all others in the world. It has thousands of years of history but not much of it is known in the west. Thanks for making this video!

Surprised Ha Long Bay wasn't mentioned in the tourist sites part. It's one of the most beautiful places in the world.

I was having a bad day 'till I watch this video. It's amazing how Paul's work always makes me forget everything and enjoy it

Vietnam is a place I miss every day. Once they start reissuing tourist visas I would love to return for a month or 3.

As an American, I remember being 5 years old and watching the vids of the fall of Saigon, the helicopters. Later I fell in love with the food. When I retire, want to go there for at least two months. I hope the Vietnamese realize that the impact from that war still resonates in America. It was 'no good' for anyone.

Wow! Long applauses for this video, Paul. It’s a very thorough and comprehensive overview for a long history and geography of an S-shape country. You never let your subscribers down by your rich content and easy to follow presentation in each clip you made. However, as a native Vietnamese from Nha Trang, I suggest some minor but important details to be included as followed: - Ethnically, there are 54 ethnic groups living side by side and belong to multiple languages families such as Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, etc. They all based from a fairy tail since the beginning of time is a dragon and a fairy married and then gave birth to a hundred of eggs which is the based of Vietnamese people. - Linguistically, Vietnamese is a tonal language just like Mandarin and Cantonese and the dialect of Hanoi, the capital is deemed to be the national standard for Vietnamese, although numerous dialects are not mutually intellectual, you have to be exposed in a certain amount of time or subtitles to understand. Vietnam current adopts a variation of Latin alphabet with some special characters and signs for tones which become obsolete while typing in English, hence foreigner finds it hard to speak and read Vietnamese words. - Religion wise, the majority of the population is atheism, but actually they are in favour of Buddhism and Confusion. There is a religion of Cao Đài (pronounced like Cow Die) which main temple is located in Tay Ninh province near Ho Chi Minh city, and the followers worship all saints in different other religions such as the Great Buddha, Jesus Christ, Allah and even French novelist Victor Hugo. - geography wise, Vietnam is one of the most countries to be prone to tropical hurricanes (after the Philippines) but rare incidents of earthquakes, no active volcanoes. The highest peak of the Indochina peninsula region is also in Vietnam, and the South China Sea which is East Sea to Vietnamese are crucial and being subject to conflicts with China and a few countries. There is one mountain range (Bạch Mã - meaning White horse) right in the middle of the country near Da Nang city, devises Vietnam into 2 different climate zones, the northern with 4 distinct seasons (sub-tropical) and the southern with only 2 seasons (tropical) - Culturally, Vietnam is mainly influenced by Chinese culture although there are some differences, such as the Lunar new Year, in China there is year of rabbit but in the same time that will be the year of cat in Vietnam. Vietnam has some unique musical instruments such as the one string instruments and so on. - Cuisine wise, phở - famous Vietnamese beef noodle soup is believed to be developed from French influence, although Vietnam also has numerous types of noodle soup, sticky rice dishes, and sweets, rice and fish sauce are the must in Vietnamese food and the combination and balance of local herbs and spices are greater than similar Chinese, Korean or Japanese dishes. - People wise, as continuous wars along the history and fight for independence, Vietnam is the land of great warriors and generals including Tran Hung Dao (who defeat the Mongolian empire 3 times of their invasion) and Vo Nguyen Giap who defeat the French and US colonisers and so many more. Despite that, Vietnamese people are well-known of their friendliness, positivity and perseverance through hardship as well as their hard-working and smart innovators. Although there are also negative traits and conservatism, Vietnamese is quite open-minded and cherish harmony over disputes, hence they are always reliable friends. - Heritage wise, apart from Hanoi and Hochiminh with great architectures from French colonisation period, in Hue, the old citadel of the last dynasty is well-reserved and the most recognised UNESCO site, old houses in Hoi An as well, Ha Long Bay is among the most spectacular new 7 natural wonders of the world and numerous best beaches, resorts in the world. There are so many things to talk about Vietnam but I can say it is ‘compact’, rich culture in a small country and many aspects to discover. And the most important thing for Vietnamese people is Water - nước, as it represents not only abundance of lakes, rivers and water resources, but it also mean the country, history and prosperity in their beliefs.

Vietnam was my "culture shock" country: First time travelling outside Europe. Cycling from Hanoi to Saigon.

Would add Hồ Chi Minh city is still colloquially known as Sài Gòn. Also that as part of Cambodia it was called Prey Nokor, being originally renamed Gia Dinh when it was first incorporated into Việt Nam and became known as Sài Gòn under French rule. Also cool fact is that the Chinese exam system was actually maintained in Việt Nam under French rule. There are people alive today whose grandparents did a version of the Chinese imperial exam. One detail that could have been mentioned in the section on Chinese influence is that the reason it's called Việt Nam is because it had requested to change its name from Đại Việt to Nam Việt, the name of an ancient predecessor state that was founded by a Qin general and controlled much of modern southern China when Austro-Asiatic people were the dominant group. The Qing refused this so the name was flipped around.

Great video. When I visited a few years back, I read that rice cultivation in the Red River delta is Moreton 5000 years old. Amazing! Older than Egypt!

Great video, Paul. I'm from Sài Gòn (Saigon), but currently living in Portland, Oregon. What I found fascinating is that the Portuguese were the ones who introduced the Latin script to the Vietnamese alphabet, something I never knew about because of French colonialism in Vietnam. It's worth noting that the word "bánh mì" can be used in Vietnamese to refer to any kind of sandwich or loaf of bread, including the particular one mentioned in the video influenced by the baguette. Also, motorcycles, scooters, and mopeds are the most common mode of transportation in Vietnam, as well as most Southeast Asian countries due to their status as developing countries. The style of motorcycle most commonly found in Southeast Asia is known as an "underbone" (which includes the Honda Wave and Super Cub, the Yamaha Jupiter, etc.), erroneously called "mopeds" (true mopeds have bicycle pedals) or "scooters" (e.g. Vespa) due to size. Moreover, while "xe mô tô", "xe máy", and "xe gắn máy" all mean "motorcycle/motorbike" in Vietnamese, the name Honda is a generic trademark and colloquialism in said language for any motorcycle, regardless of brand. Nevertheless, you did a fantastic job on your video about my birth country. Xinh cẳm ơn/Thank you, Paul. 🇻🇳🇺🇸✌️

Great job, Paul! This is again an amazing video about my country! Still, there're some minor errors tho, like: 3:28 the map is a bit mismatched because the two provinces of Bình Thuận and Ninh Thuận belong to the South Central Coast, not the Southeastern region. 6:54 you misspelled it a bit, it's Bánh mì tho, not Báhn mì but the pronunciation was on point tbh! 7:36, not only the St. Joseph Cathedral is based on the Notre Dame the Paris but in Ho Chi Minh we also have a Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon. 9:47 Hang already means Cave actually so just Sơn Đòong Cave would already be enough. I really love how you mention our Sinosphere cultural background because a lot of people seem not to know this, including the locals. Also, your Vietnam history preview is actually very good, it just precise and shows all the necessary knowledge we need to know, although I actually would love to hear more about the Medieval period. I am currently in Thanh Hoa, which is the North Central Coast, but on the mountainous region and I have to admit the weather here is very cold for my Southern body, it just something makes the Northern weather become pretty interesting tbh because not many people think a country in Southeast Asia would even have snow or even winter and that happen to be just a few of some differences between the South and North. Also, I think it'd be a bit more interesting if people can know more about Vietnam's diversity because many people thought that only the Viets lived in the country but we have more than 54 different ethnic groups. Also, our intangible culture is also something not many people know, as we have diversity as well as a huge cultural inheritance with up to 14 intangible cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO and a lot of different kinds of arts. I know that this is just an 11 minutes video but I really love how you manage to say most of the important and special things about my country, this is totally a great honor for me! Thank you so much!

Great video! Lots of precise and concise information. Really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Magnifique vidéo Paul. Merci

Hey Paul, it is good to see you back. I am a Brazilian Geologist and I used to watch your videos five years ago, when I was doing part of my Ph.D. at Queen's University (in Kingston, ON). It is good to see you back! Keep doing the good work!

I was forced to watch Twilight last night. In the movie, there are many country flags hanging in the cafeteria. There was a yellow one with red stripes that I didn’t recognize and I said that’s not a country flag, they’re a bunch of phonies. Then I saw this video and learned that it was the flag of South Vietnam. I feel like I have a deeper respect for the fictionalized high school in Forks, WA now. So thank you.

I truly appreciate your meticulous work on the Vietnam profile. Your "fair and square" videos help people understand Vietnam better and would encourage tourists to explore pristine Vietnam before industrialization takes place. :-) If possible, it would be great if you can make a video about the nature of hybrid food in Vietnamese cuisine! Thank you so much, Paul.

Another great video Paul! I appreciate the research you do with these videos. Your work here and on Langfocus is highly appreciated 👍😊 Happy New Year from Australia 🇦🇺👍

Glad this channel is back! Great job - always love your work.

Buen video. Muy descriptivo y perfecto para el conocimiento del país.

Excellent video!

New audience of this channel and it is so informative. I decided to watch more video from this channel to explore more.

Paul did a marvelous comprehensive introduction of Vietnam as a country to the world in just 11 minutes. Many people in the US/Canada still up to now thought Vietnam was somewhat related to a war that their parents and grand parents once fought as portrayed in many Hollywood movies and nothing more. 👍

Fantastic presentation! I wish you a very Happy new year to you and your close ones!

Great job! I love this channel!! Very interesting Vietnam, I have learned a lot with this video.

Great video, Paul. Keep up the good work!

Nice video Paul! It's great that you rebooted this channel as I really missed it. I also love your videos on the Langfocus channel. And Happy New Year!

Teu trabalho é sensacional!!! Parabéns!

What an incredibly well done video. Absolutely loved the quick history and geographic overview of the country. My best friend is moving to Ho-Chi Minh city this summer so it's really great to learn more about the country - over and above the little I knew prior to watching this video.

Great video of VN summary.

Vietnam 🇻🇳 is one of my favorite countries for travel. This was an interesting country review

I did know anything about the Cham culture and people! Really liked this Geo Focus, it had a really interesting perspective

Love this channel.

Verry interesting video!

The selection of Unesco sites was a nice part of the video, now I really want to visit so I can see that bridge, the Hindu temples, and that incredible cave!

Very interesting!!!

I’m Vietnamese and I didn’t even know some of this. This helped me so much.

Vietnamese from Russia here) thanks for this nice video! i didn't know about the Egg Coffee, and Kingdom of Champa. now i know the place to visit, when i go to Vietnam)

today i learned that Paul also has another channel about geography

I love this channel!

a big reason vietnamese has so many chinese loan words is because at the time of vietnamese independence, the elites spoke a variety of chinese, while the common people around them didn’t speak chinese at all. very quickly after just a few generations they began speaking vietnamese, taking a substantial amount of chinese vocabulary with them. this is basically the same thing that happened with the french norman conquest of england bringing a lot of french words into english when the norman elite began to speak english instead

Vietnam's ancient close ties with China makes me unconfortable: When will China decide that they want "Vietnam to come back to China" as they did with Tibet and want to do with Taiwan?

Another entertainment and didactic video. Thank you so much! (Bánh mì 7:04)

great video

4:36 You forgot to mention that the Mekong river flowing through Thailand as well. As a person from Thailand, I noticed that you’ve never make any content on KZfaq about Thailand before. Is there any chance you would do it? Please and thank you in advance.

I have not known about 70 years French occupation, and Indo-Chines origin of Vietnamese. Thank you for great video.

I like your channel a lot even though sometimes you go too fast. Here, I had to pause few times just to look at the maps.

6:58 There is a typo, it is Bánh Mì

Please make a video about india BTW big fan :D

Marguerite Duras talks a lot about Vietnam, where she lived her childhood during French empire

That's "bánh mì" not "báhn mì", btw u did great job Paul!

All I knew about Vietnam was the wars, the caves and the coffee. Now I know a lot more, thank you, as it deserves much more attention.

I hope in next video from you about vietnam you can add a picture that have "Hoàng Sa" and "Trường Sa" in it please :>>

6:66 that was a misspelling of the word "Bánh Mì".

I'd never considered Vietnam as a travel destination. Some of those sites look very interesting.

I learned in this video that Vietnam has snow in some places!

I'm from Vietnam!!1

❤

Hey Paul were u in Herzberg am Harz, the Esperanto City, in December 2017?

Everything concerning Asia fascinates me. Vietnam is far from an exception!

Cham people is speaking champa language which is belong to the Austronesia group. Culturally closer to the Malay world. In the island of Java, there's a lot of story about 'putri campa'

Honolulu, capital of Ke Apuni O Hawaii, fits in one time zone. Alaska fits in two timezones. The (contiguous) USA 🇺🇸 and the EUM 🇲🇽 fit in four time zones.

Vietnamese coffee is probably the best coffee I've ever had, if you like strong coffee, I'd try it.

go Vietnam

I was curious to know why the name of the currency was spelled with a latin alphabet; now it makes sense 😃

The egg coffee is deelish! :)

Now I'm confused where do the Vijaya empire actually came from, at first I thought it came from Indonesia, but seeing the very region the champa people live, is honestly throwing me off. I from the Visayas region of the philippines by the way. I just recently learned that my people whose now majoritly christian, our descendants of traders and merchants who hail from a place somewhere in India or Indo-china, and some Indonesians even argue it's somewhere in Indonesia.

I am very happy to have here in Czechia big Vietnamiese expats. They are here like 1980s so now here there the primary the second or even 3rd generation of them.

you got my eyes

Vietnam 越南 , the name Viet including Shanghai to Canton in ancient times. There was a country call 南越國 nanyue ( 204 B.C.) It was including Hong Kong, Macau and today north part of Vietnam. Guangzhou is the capital of nan yue/nam viet. The name nam 南 means south. Guangzhou was the capital of 南越國nanyue.

Wtf, they really made Paul 2 😳😳😳

Wandefull

I want everyone on the world learn Vietnamese :))

Hi i i'm from vietnam

*(Vietnam flashbacks intensifies)*

🇵🇭❤️🇻🇳

This is my first time learning about Vietnam.

Chinese influence plus French influence with Cham people living in the country made Vietnam a unique country.

The word BÁNH MỲ or BÁNH MÌ was mispelled (you spelled it BÁHN)

The western world went from "Oh shit Vietnam's a communist state that we should avoid" to "oh shit they actually cool with us, lets invest in them then"

Is majority people in Vietnam buddhist or folk or athiest?

6:53 Bánh mỳ*

IT HAS SNOW?

tell me quando quando quando

I've known many people from there. Interesting country with good people. Would be too hot for me though

The “Hang” word in Hang Sơn Đồng (the word Đoong in the video is not right probably due to overtype) is vietnamese for cave. Other than that, It is a very spot on Video.

6:56 that's literally a bolillo/virote (Mexican French-influenced kind of bread).

i would also like to visit my son someday

i knew of cham peoples, but didn't know they are historically hindu

Báhn mì ?

"And every one there is a millionaire" I laugh so hard

love how vietnam crushed covid n really only had (relatively minor) issues only after the rest of the world turned itself into a petri dish refusing to follow vietnam's example due to xenophobia

So sad when think about past, french cut our Cambodia land and give to VN 😭

Hot take but, Vietnamese people are the most beautiful of east Asia.

It's no say snoth china sea , it's say east sea

I feel weird that Vietnamese regime decides all the money use has to start with 100, unlike most of the world where they start with 1 or 10. What is their obsession with it or just a ridiculous authoritarian rule to impress the world when still 20% of the population are struggling?

Communism :)

Yep, Vietnam stole part of the land from Cambodia.