No English Vietnamese

.
1 jungle war

2 spectacular failure
3 spectacular scenery
4 motion pictures
5 TV drama series
6 to captivate audiences
7 Indochina
8 unique and rich civilisation
9 highly cultured and friendly people
10 a country at peace
11 to be isolated (from the world)
12 to open the country*s doors to foreign visitors
13 the Eastern Bloc
14 civil war:
15 sublime beauty
16 the Red River Delta
17 the Mekong River Delta
18 unspoiled beaches
19 stunning lagoons
20 coconut palms
21 casuarinas
22 endless expanses of sand dunes
23 coastal paddies
24 soaring mountains
25 to be cloaked with the richest of rainforests
26 littoral
27 refreshingly cool plateaus
28 ethno-linguistic groups (hill tribes):
29 ancient civilisation:
30 food stall
31 tropical fruit vendors
32 newly wed couples
33 a Buddhist monk
34 ancient Mahayana
35 rites
36 chanting
37 drums and gongs

38 pristine deserted beaches

39 independence and sovereignty
40 to be supportive of more contact with the outside
world
41 the country *s renewed interaction
42 a four-letter word
43 an atmosphere of hustle and bustle
44 resurgent dynamism
45 to revive the moribund Vietnamese economy
46 astonishing pace of economic development
47 industrial estates
48 thatched huts
49 five-star hotels and modern office towers

Vietnam a brief introduction

Source Target Comment
In the decades following
World War II the name
“Vietnam” came to signify
to many Westerners either
a brutal jungle war or a
spectacular failure of
American power-or both.
In the 1960s, bumper
stickers in the USA
demanded that America
“Stop The War!” and
“Bring Our Boys Home”.
Once the war ended most
Americans wanted to forget
it, but there have been
countless reminders: half-
a-dozen major motion
pictures, several TV drama
series, countless university
courses and hundreds of
books about Vietnam have
captivated audience around
the globe. However,
virtually all of this
publicity and information
concerns the American war
in Indochina, not Vietnam
the country. The real
Vietnam, with its unique
and rich civilization,
spectacular scenery and
highly cultured and
friendly people, has been
largely ignored. While no
doubt the Vietnam War
continues to weigh heavily
on the consciousness of all
who can remember the
fighting, the Vietnam today
is a country at peace.
After the full of South
Vietnam to Communist
North Vietnamese force in
1975, Vietnam was
virtually isolated from the
world. But towards the end
of the 1980s, the Cold War
thawed and the Hanoi
government began trying to
reduce Vietnam’s
international isolation, in
part by opening the
country's doors the foreign
visitors. Not long thereafter
the dramatic collapse of the
Eastern Bloc and the
ending of the Cambodian
civil greatly reduce
tensions in Indochina.
Most visitors to Vietnam
are overwhelmed by the
sublime beauty of the
country's natural setting.
The Red River Delta in the
north, the Mekong River
Delta in the south and
almost the entire costal
strip are a patchwork of
brilliant green rice paddies
tended by peasant women
in the conical hats.
Vietnam’s 3451 km of
coastline include countless
kilometres of unspoiled
beaches and a number of
stunning lagoons; some
sections are shaded by
coconut palms and
casuarinas, others bounded
by seemingly endless
expanses of sand dunes or
rugged spurs of the Truong
Son Mountains
Between the two delta, the
coastal paddies lining the
South China Sea give way
to soaring mountains, some
of whose slopes are
cloaked with the richest of
rainforests. A bit further
from the littoral are the
refreshingly cool plateaus
of the Central Highlands,
which are dotted with
waterfalls. The area is the
home to dozens of distinct
ethno-linguistic groups
(hill tribes), more than
almost any other country in
Asia.
Visitors to Vietnam have
their senses thrilled by all
the sights, sounds, tastes
and smells of a society
born of over a century of
contact between an ancient
civilisation and the ways of
the West. There’s nothing
quite like grabbing a
delicious lunch of local
delicacies at a food stall
deep inside a market place,
surrounded by tropical fruit
vendors and legions of
curious youngsters. Or
sitting by a waterfall in the
Central Highlands, sipping
soda water with lemon
juice and watching newly
wed couples on their
honeymoon tiptoe up to the
streambank in their
“Sunday finest”. Or being
invited by a Buddhist monk
to attend prayers at his
pagoda conducted,
according to ancient
Mahayana rites, with
chanting, drums and gongs.
One traveller writes:
Of the 30 or so countries I
have been to, Vietnam is
easily the most beautiful. I
saw more shades of green
than I knew existed. Rice
fields manually tended
from dawn to dusk were
always in view as were
forest-covered mountains. I
also frequently caught
glimpses of pristine
deserted beaches from the
train window as we made
our way along the coast…
Fiercely protective of their
independence and
sovereignty for 2000 years,
the Vietnamese are also
graciously welcoming of
foreigners who come as
their guests rather than as
conquerors. No matter
what side they or their
parents were on during the
war, the Vietnamese are,
almost without exception,
extremely friendly to
Western visitors (including
Americans) and supportive
of more contact with th e
outside world. People who
visit Vietnam during the
first years of the country’s
renewed interaction within
the West will play an
important role in conveying
to the Vietnamese the
polentialities of such
contact. And now that
“capitalism” is no longer a
four-letter word, private
Vietnames businesses have
mushroomed, adding an
atmosphere of hustle and
bustle to Ho Chi Minh City
and other cities whose
resurgent dynamism is
reviving the moribund
Vietnamese economy.
The astonishing pace of
economic development in
East Asia has made many
of these countries
considerably more
expensive, polluted and
less enchanting than they
used to be. Rice paddies
have given way to
industrial estates belching
out black smoke, bycycles
have been replaced by tour
buses and thatched huts
have been bulldozed to
make way for five-star
hotels and modern office
towers
Vietnam has not yet
reached that level of
development, and a visit to
this country is almost like a
journey back through time.
Red tape kept foreign
tourists and investors out
for nearly two decades, but
visiting has become
considerably easier in the
past couple of years and the
tourist flood-gates have
opended wide. Already, the
short period of economics
liberalisation and openess
to outsiders have brought
dramatic changes. Vietnam
offers a rare opportunitiy to
see a country of traditional
charm and beaty taking the
first hesitant steps into the
modern world.
VIETNAM A BRIEF INTRODUCTION