Westerners and Vietnamese ask me all the time "How do you work with and manage Vietnamese here? Vietnamese are so different from Americans!" Then they look at me expectantly, thinking I'll spin some anecdote about how inscrutable and mysterious Vietnamese people are.
This question always reminds me of Shylock's impassioned speech in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice." [I've taken a few liberties to suit the context.]
"Hath not an American eyes? Hath not an American hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer as a Vietnamese is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?"
My point here is that I've found that Americans and Vietnamese are 95% the same in our humanity and only 5% different in our culture. We only think that we're oil and water because we focus on the small differences and ignore the overwhelming similarities.
In all the important ways we're 100% the same. We both like to feel like an important part of a team. We both like to feel appreciated. We're both satisfied by meaningful achievement after hard work and sacrifice. We both like to feel like we're constantly learning and moving forward in our careers. These are human qualities. They are not the sole province of any nationality. I can relate to people here because they are human just like I am. We both bleed when pricked.
Of course, there are some cultural differences and it's important to be sensitive and pay attention to them. An example is learning to interpret the indirect communication style of Vietnamese. But now I'm familiar with it and I can read the tea leaves just fine. [I've even learned a bit about the subtle art of how things left unsaid speak volumes.] But the cultural elements are peripheral to the central humanity that I share with my colleagues. It's easy to relate to them.
So my answer is always "No, I find that people here are exactly like they are in America."
