After more than a decade (yes, almost 11 years now) living in France, I’m far from the “honeymoon phase” of the little kid who was excited about every little thing in the new country.

Nevertheless, culture differences seem to be an infinite topic. That’s the reason why I wrote down this list. It’s also to remind me of some little funny (and amazing) things in life 🙂

Here is a little list of how people say things differently in French and in Vietnamese :

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• Are you on the right fire ?

The French say, you slow down and stop when you see the “orange fire” (feu orange). Vietnamese people say, you look around, if there is any policeman in the corner, you accelerate when you see the “yellow light” (đèn vàng) 😀

Okie, just kidding, Parisian (bastard) drivers, like my husband for example, also accelerate when they see the “orange fire”. And me, responsible (and frightened) as I am, can’t help yelling “ralentis, c’est jaune !” (slow down, it’s yellow !) 😀

Anyway, I wonder whether the middle traffic light in France is truly more orange and the same light in Vietnam is more yellow ?

By the way, why do the French call the light “fire/flame” (feu) ? Because it’s too long to say “lumière” or “éclairage” ?

Always about color and traffic light, the green (light) in Vietnamese is literally called “(đèn) xanh”. And “xanh” is a generic term for every shades of blue and green. In Vietnamese, you will add “da trời” (sky) or “lá cây” (tree leaf) after “xanh” to distinguish blue from green for instance. This seems to me very logical because green = blue + yellow, so it’s understandable to put blue and green together in the same family.

And that’s the reason why, sometime, I come with “vas-y, c’est bleu !” (let’s go, it’s blue !).

Well, I just wanted to explain the reason behind and insiste that I understand completely the difference between “blue” and “green”, because my husband usually makes fun of me for my ‘blue light’ 😀

• How do you like the egg ?

In French, the yolk is called the “yellow” (part) of the egg (le jaune d’oeuf).

A friend of mine also says that she usually messes up with “le rouge d’oeuf” – the “red”(part) of the egg because for Vietnamese people, it’s red 😀 (“lòng đỏ trứng”).

I guess that the French prefer boiled eggs and the Vietnamese runny eggs ?

• Please tell me where the “blue” shade is !

I name our new cat Blue. The reason ? The French say that his fur is blue grey (“gris bleu” – grey with the blue shade). It’s even written in his identify paper :

But I’m been looking for since but haven’t found : please tell me where his blue color is !?

I definitely don’t understand the French color system !

• Is it winter or spring ?

In Vietnam, we say, the year starts with spring and finishes with winter : the first 3 months are spring then the next 3 months are summer then autumn and finally winter… (Xuân-Hạ-Thu-Đông).

So I’m born in March, I’m a spring girl, right ?

Humm, not that simple, Mr. Google says that until March 20th, it’s still winter. So for the Western, the year begins with… winter.

When I finally understood this cultural difference, it felt for me like people telling me “the weekend begins with Sunday”, it was confusing… (and mind-blowing though).

Oh, life is full of little awkward moments everyday !