Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Ancient town offers price cuts to lure visitors
=====================================

Hoi An has tied up with tour companies to offer discounts to visitors to the ancient town, an official said.

Deputy chairman of the town People’s Committee, Truong Van Bay, said visitors staying at five- and four-star hotels for more than two days between Mar 26 to April 1 will get discounts of 10 to 30 percent on tours, souvenirs, and food at well-known restaurants and do not have to buy entrance tickets at tourist spots.

Visitors staying in three- and two-star hotels would get 10-20 percent discounts for beauty services and souvenirs as well as free breakfast, he said.

Mr. Bay promised that the details of the campaign and the names of businesses joining it would be publicized.

The city tourism authorities plan to run seven more promotions campaigns this year.

Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by Thuy Doan

[spidey82]

Originally Posted by jackbl

U may wan to try using the dict to translate:

Viet Dictionary:
http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de...ict/index.html

VDict.com - Vietnamese Dictionary and Translation - T? ?i?n và d?ch ti?ng Vi?t

The vietnamese like us singaporean, use a lot of short from when they type sms. so even if you look up in the directory also no use cos directory dun have short form. hehehe..

[jackbl]

A rough estimation will do. By the way, if write vietnamese word without using the tonal sign, there maybe many meanings, which we may misinterpret

Originally Posted by spidey82

The vietnamese like us singaporean, use a lot of short from when they type sms. so even if you look up in the directory also no use cos directory dun have short form. hehehe..

[Hurricane88]

Originally Posted by spidey82

The vietnamese like us singaporean, use a lot of short from when they type sms. so even if you look up in the directory also no use cos directory dun have short form. hehehe..

No choice, you just have to get used to the short form...ask them what is it and they should be able to tell you...after a while you should be familiar with them...

[Hurricane88]

Vn gals power siao...


FIFA sees potential in Vietnam’s female footballers


Winning three Southeast Asian gold medals shows that Vietnam’s female footballers could become a force to be reckoned with in the wider region, but only if they start receiving the treatment their male colleagues get.


That’s the view of Michele Cox from FIFA’s Women’s Football Development and Marketing Committee, who was in Hanoi for a conference earlier this week.

“As far as I can tell, women’s football in Vietnam is developing well,” said the former New Zealand international.

“Your national team has made great strides. And I was surprised to learn that most of your women footballers didn’t start playing until the age of 15, when they should have started at five or six, like me for instance,” she said.

What’s needed is more money and better marketing if Vietnamese women’s football is to become truly professional, she said.

In New Zealand, women’s football receives US$350,000 a year, she said.

According to Cox, FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes Vietnam made good use of its 15 percent of FIFA’s $250,000 support for women’s football.

As an example of what can be done, she said New Zealand had made a profit of $26 million from hosting last year’s Under-17 Women’s Football World Cup.

She suggested Vietnam do the same.

Reported by Lan Phuong

[VietnamLover]

Vietnam nears bottom of IT index: survey

Vietnam was ranked 61st out 66 in the world and 16th out of 17 in Asia in a competitiveness index on the information technology (IT) sector in 2008, according to a survey compiled by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The survey, released Tuesday, showed that IT training in Vietnam remains rather backward and still has many limitations, said Jeffrey Hardee, vice chairman and Asia-Pacific director of Business Software Alliance. It found only 10 percent of graduate students could meet IT firms’ recruitment demands.

The ranking of 66 countries and territories was based on the research and development environment, IT infrastructure, human resources, support for IT development, legal environment, and business environment in each country.

The survey was conducted by EIU, a section of The Economist Group, with sponsorship from the Business Software Alliance.

[VietnamLover]

Teens spend like there’s no tomorrow: survey

Some 25 percent of elite Ho Chi Minh City students spend around VND500,000 (US$28.59) a day, or VND15 million ($857.88) per month, while the country’s average annual income was just VND17 million ($972.26) last year, according to a Tuoi Tre survey.

Over half of the 100 respondents said spending VND1 million ($57.19) in a single outing was “normal.”

Those same teens said such purchases “required no consideration.”

Hanh, one of the 13-18 year-old students surveyed at elite HCMC schools, says she doesn’t hesitate to spend big on her favorite products.

Holding a tube of Givenchy lipstick at District 5’s Parkson Hung Vuong Plaza, one of HCMC’s premier department stores, the eleventh-grade student from Asian High School says she buys the make-up whenever a new style arrives.

She sometimes borrows money from her friends to buy the newest lipstick when she doesn’t have enough because she feels “uncomfortable without it.”

Only 10 percent of the students interviewed had part time jobs, while the rest were given money from their parents.

Forty-four percent of the students spent all of their allowances shopping, while 35 percent used some for food or entertainment. Only 21 percent used the money for school-related activities or materials.

A ninth-grade student from Asian High School said her friends only buy brand names and never wear the same piece of clothing twice.

“I spend over VND400,000 ($22.88) everyday on average,” she said.

“We never wear clothes a second time... It’s really embarrassing if you’re seen wearing an outfit twice!”

Other than clothes, jewelry, perfume, make-up, and cosmetics, mobile phones also topped the list of most-bought products by the teens surveyed.

The biggest spenders interviewed said they were in the habit of spending over VND10 million ($571.92) on a single shopping trip.

Every weekend, and increasingly on weekdays after school, droves of teenagers crowd the Diamond Plaza, NowZone, and Parkson shopping centers, flashing all their new purchases. Nguyen Trai and Nguyen Dinh Chieu streets are also popular shopping spots for teens.

Hong Anh, an assistant at a Converse shop at Diamond Plaza says: “Most of our customers are teenagers... some buy several pairs of shoes each time they visit.”

More than 40 percent of the surveyed students said they sometimes have to borrow money from friends after running out of money given to them by their parents.

“They buy brand name goods as status symbols,” says an eleventh-grade student at Le Quy Don High School, adding that at least eight of the 30 pupils in her class spend money “liberally.”

Some 74 percent of the teenagers surveyed said their parents had never complained about their spending.

[Hurricane88]

Originally Posted by VietnamLover

Teens spend like there’s no tomorrow: survey

Some 25 percent of elite Ho Chi Minh City students spend around VND500,000 (US$28.59) a day, or VND15 million ($857.88) per month, while the country’s average annual income was just VND17 million ($972.26) last year, according to a Tuoi Tre survey.

Contrary to what we think, these Vnese are not really poor...the gap between the Super Rich, Rich, Average, Poor, Super Poor is very wide in Vn...

[jackbl]

Concerns over talented students staying overseas
========================================

The numbers of Vietnamese students receiving visas to study overseas has continued to increase over the years. Yet, 70 percent do not return after graduation.

A deputy head of a high school for gifted pupils in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Thanh Hung, recalled one of his former students who had won a golden medal at an international competition for computers and went on to be a research student in US.

The gifted student promised to return to Vietnam after graduation yet married abroad and cannot keep his promise to his old teacher. His 10 classmates are also studying and living in US.

A former student of Le Hong Phong High School for gifted pupils, who was offered a scholarship to pursue a Masters in wireless technology in US, is determined to stay abroad, even though his family is in Vietnam, as his chosen field has not yet developed in Vietnam.

Talented students have decided to stay in many foreign countries, such as US, Canada or Australia.

Some 150 students of Le Hong Phong High School, 100 from Tran Dai Nghia High School and 40 from Ho Chi Minh High School for gifted pupils are annually provided visas to foreign countries. Likewise are Nguyen Thuong Hien and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high schools.

Studying in Singapore is placed in the top destination of places for quality training, affordable tuition fees and living costs. The Singaporean government also provides a loan to students to pay 80 percent of tuition fees and the university will offer support of 20 percent loans with low interest.

Maximum length of the loan is 20 years. Students receiving these loans must pledge to work for three years in Singapore.

There have been several enrolments over recent years, with scholarships for students from ninth grade to university level. Vietnamese educators are worried that with such special treatment Singapore will attract and keep all the excellent Vietnamese students.

It is not only Singapore but Canada and Australia which also have open policies to overseas students.

Tran Van Quang, director of Canadian Education Center in Vietnam, said that overseas students can apply for settlement in the country after three years after living there.

Educators have different reactions to the ‘flowing of good students to foreign countries.’

Nguyen Bac Dung, headmaster at Tran Dai Nghia High School for gifted pupils, is happy when his students have a chance to seek education in a foreign country while his cousin, Vo Anh Dung – headmaster at Le Hong Phong High School said that he is sad because Vietnam and his school spends much time and energy training a good student and then they work for another country.

Dung added that it is a waste of money to pay $20,000 a pupil in foreign countries while Vietnam needs a lot of currency and personnel for development.

The problem is that there are little appropriate jobs for those who return to Vietnam.

A spokesperson from Da Nang’s Department of Education and Training complained at meeting last year that there are not enough adequate jobs for those returning.

The question concerns the problem of 6,000 students who return and how the government can create reasonable jobs.

The government needs to develop a strategy to better use talented persons.

One way, according to an educator Vo Anh Dung, is to improve training quality and reduce dollars flowing into other countries. Relevant authorities should have information, such as their majors, which schools and in which countries, about Vietnamese students studying overseas. When Vietnam sets up a project and needs a counselor, authorities can send invitations to the right person.

Reviewing developed countries like Canada, Germany and Singapore, they have lost excellent students but they offer special treatment to returnees. Vietnam should implement strategies to attract the talented to work for the country.

By Hong Lien - Translated by Anh Quan

[jackbl]

Schools fret as best teachers migrate to private schools
==============================================

Principals of public schools are worried at a steady exodus of their best teachers to private and international schools which is worsening a teacher shortage in Ho Chi Minh City.

“We knew when we agreed to teachers’ requests for further training that we may face a brain drain, but we have to help them improve their professional knowledge,” said Nguyen Bac Dung, principal of Tran Dai Nghia High school.

The school recently lost 10 teachers, most of them highly qualified.

“I spoke to most of those who wanted to leave about the pros and cons of their decision. But if we are unable to persuade them, we have to let them go,” Mr. Dung said.

The High School for Gifted Students fears it will soon lose six teachers who got masters’ degrees and another who is now in the US for doctoral studies.

During the last school year the city saw 1,286 teachers resigning, mostly from primary schools. Tan Binh District was the biggest loser.

In the last few years many private and international schools have come up and lured away a large number of English teachers from State-run schools.

At the start of this school year last August Trung Vuong High School had vainly asked the city Department of Education and Training for three teachers. Meanwhile, two teachers quit the school and left for private schools. To cope with this, the school has had to recruit four teachers.

P., a teacher who resigned from a well-established high school after getting a master’s degree from the UK, said: “I turned to a new environment to test and develop my ability. Another reason is that the income at the new school is 10 times higher than my previous one.”

Dinh Thien Ly High School, a private school in District 7, offers teachers an average salary of US$500 per month.

Public schools cannot attract good teachers because of the low salaries, said Associate Professor Dr. Vo Thi Bach Mai, principal of the High School for Gifted Students.

Since its establishment 10 years ago, this school offered free education and stipends to talented students. But after last year’s soaring inflation, it began to demand a monthly tuition of VND45,000. However, this is just enough to pay teachers an extra VND2,000 for an hour.

Another concern is that not many high school students choose to enter teachers’ training schools now, threatening to worsen the teacher shortage.

The city only gets 1,000 new teachers every year, or just a fourth of its requirement.

By Hong Lien – Translated by Minh Tam

[jackbl]

Promotions for Woman’s Day
==========================

International Woman’s Day is just 4 days away with businesses in Ho Chi Minh City gearing up to sell their products.


Many kinds of cosmetics are on offer at supermarkets for Woman’s Day.(Photo SGGP)
Though economic difficulties have led to consumers being thrifty with their money, many companies are still preparing promotions to stimulate demand.

Similar to Valentine’s Day, the favored product is flowers. More than 10,000 roses, 300 lyly flowers and 500 orchids have been prepared by World Flower, 29 Tran Quang Dieu Street, district 3.

Nguyen Thuy Vu, manager of World Flower, said flower prices increased last year by 50-70 percent a week before the big day. Flower traders have predicted that prices will not see such big increases this year.

With the number of flowers prepared Vu said prices will be kept stable, prices will only increase by 20 percent.

At Ho Thi Ky flower market, District 10, many people have rushed to buy flowers.

Many unusual flowers have appeared and at low prices.

The ‘Happy’ flower is predicted to be popular, as are Velvet roses as they can be kept for up to two weeks.

The price of a bouquets sell, on average, for between VND30,000 – 50,000.

Supermarkets, fashion boutiques, jewelry stores and bakeries are also getting in on the act.

According to a spokesperson for Big C supermarkets, Big C has been carrying out a special promotion, ‘Beauty Fair,’ from February 19 to March 8. More than 50 famous cosmetics brands are on offer.

Customers will receive free gifts and 10 to 50 percent discounts on cosmetic products.

After 10 days of the promotion, Big C has attracted 30 percent more customers.

Saigon Co.op Mart supermarkets will give 280 pendants, made from 18 carat gold, to winners of a draw on March 8. They will also receive a lucky gold bell lucky and cookery gifts from Ajinomoto Co.

Phu Nhuan Jewelry Co. (PNJ) has prepared a collection, ‘Love Notes’, of 80 samples of gold and silver jewelry. The jewelry will satisfy a woman’s demands, a spokesperson said.

In the company’s jewelry collection, the main shape is flowers and hearts, which express love, deep gratitude and faithfulness.

Prices range from VND300,000 to VND1.5 million ($17 - $86)

Miss Ao dai Center, 21 Nguyen Trung Ngan Street, District 1, has offered 1,000 free gift vouchers for tailored Ao dai (traditional Vietnamese long dress) who buy dressmaking material in the shop.

The Center also introduced a number of unique materials samples, ranging from VND400,000 to VND500,000 per dress.

Nhut Luan Cloth Supermarket has a promotion, with 10 percent discounts and free gifts for purchases of over VND485,000 ($28).

OTC Fashion is offering 70 percent discounts on 5,000 office clothes and gala dresses in the first week of March.

Kinh Do Bakery will bring out 20 new themed cakes on March 7: ‘Thousand flowers for love,’ ‘Day for flowers,’ ‘Sweet 8-3 Day’ and ‘To my love.’

Cakes will cost from VND130,000 to VND250,000.

Businesses hope to attract more customers and improve sales for the second quarter of 2009.

By Le Mai Thi – Translated by Thanh Huong

[KangTuo]

Just some sms in viet to share.
can use vdict to find out the meanings of the words and than you can roughly know the content.

sgp guy: e dang lam j? a lam xong roi. gio di ruoc e di choi
vn gal: thoi e ko muon di dau het

sgp guy: e kg muon gap a ha?
vn gal: thoi a de danh thoi gian gap xxxx di. a yeu xxxx, ko yeu e. hoi toi a om xxxx dug kg? dug lam e dau kho.

sgp guy: neu hom nay e kg muon gap a. a ve nha.
vn gal: a muon di dau tuy a, di om gai cug ko sao

sgp guy: uh. hy vong e dc kiem tien nhieu ve vn lo cho be ma. hy vong e cung dc tim 1nguoi tot
vn gal: tu nay e ko dam yeu mot ai. e se ve vn mot ngay gan day

vn gal: e rat muon gap a. nhug tai sao a ko nhan ra dc e rat thuong a. toi hom qua e rat buon. a boi bac voi e qua

vn gal: e chuc a tim dc nguoi a thuong that su. e cam on a da danh cho e nhug ngay vui ben canh a

but than... anyone care to rephrase it in english?

[jackbl]

I think your level of understanding is enough for u to translate the whole posting to english liao

I believe this guy must be KANGTUO, no others, hihi

Originally Posted by KangTuo

Just some sms in viet to share.
can use vdict to find out the meanings of the words and than you can roughly know the content.

but than... anyone care to rephrase it in english?

[jackbl]

HCMC garment firms cannot find workers from hordes of unemployed
================================================
The current worker shortage is not unusual for the Ho Chi Minh City garment industry but the timing is – it comes this time in the midst of rising unemployment caused by the global economic meltdown.

City statistics show 21,000 workers unemployed as of February but clothing makers cannot find enough personnel to fill vacancies.

The HCMC Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA) said its 17 member enterprises are in urgent need of 11,000 workers, 8,000 of at apparel firms.

Huu Nghi Garment Company has spent VND30 million on advertisements this year for hiring 500 workers at an average salary of VND2.4 million a month, but has managed to recruit only a small number.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Quang, managing director of Long An Garment and Textile Company, said her company advertised hundreds of vacancies, but has employed only 10 workers.

Most applicants are unskilled and inexperienced while companies are looking for skilled workers because they do not want to waste time training them in this difficult period, Ms. Quang said.

Foreign-owned companies have plenty of orders but not enough workers to execute them and have to employ other companies for the purpose.

Some companies, however, have no orders but have to pay their workers about 30 percent of their monthly salaries just to keep them.

Workers, to avoid being jobless, prefer to accept the low salary and wait for orders rather than look for another job.

Many of the companies that face a worker shortage laid off people before Tet when they did not get any orders due to the global recession. Now, when orders are flowing in again, they cannot find workers.

Many workers did not return to the city after visiting their hometown during Tet, with some saying prices are too high in the city and many others preferring to work at industrial parks in their own neighborhood to stay close to their family.

But it is bizarre that many unemployed workers are unable to find jobs while at the same time many factories cannot find workers.

One reason could be that while many employment agencies post “workers wanted” ads online, many workers are unable to access the Internet or do not know how.

By My Hanh – Translated by Hoang Yen

[Hurricane88]

Originally Posted by jackbl

HCMC garment firms cannot find workers from hordes of unemployed
================================================
The current worker shortage is not unusual for the Ho Chi Minh City garment industry but the timing is – it comes this time in the midst of rising unemployment caused by the global economic meltdown.


By My Hanh – Translated by Hoang Yen

Some Vnese typically are lazy and unwilling to work esp. the men...

No offence to those hardworking Vnese men..