Why I came in Vietnam?
“To learn to introduce myself”… I am half joking here!
Any mixed kid out there can confirm what I am about to say please?
It has always been complicated for me to introduce myself. Coming from a multicultural family, it’s hard to say “I’m French” only.
People look at you and always ask: “But where are you from?” Like… you are tanned and you don’t look French…
So let’s clarify here, in this article my Vietnamese origins and the reasons probably why I came to Vietnam in 2012 at 20 year old.
My upbringing in France
So, I am from France. I’m born in Lyon and spent my childhood in “Auvergne”; it is a rural area in the center of France.
My parents divorced when I was 8. So I spent most of my childhood with my mom: who is “white”.
My mom is French, my father is adopted from Vietnam to France when he was 4 or 5 year old.
So with my little sister, when we were walking in public with my divorced mom, adults would often ask if we were adopted.
Anyways, growing up in France, I was never really able to truly understand the meaning of “having vietnamese origins”.
That’s probably why I came to Vietnam so early and started my career in Saigon.
More on my career in Vietnam in this article.
My connection with Vietnam: Am I a “Việt Kiều Pháp”?
What is a Việt Kiều ?
The term “Việt Kiều” means Vietnamese Overseas. It’s a phrase to identify all the Vietnamese who are living abroad and eventually now includes also the Vietnamese that are mixed with other cultures.
During and after the war in Vietnam, so basically between 1965 until 1975-1980, many Vietnamese fled their country to emigrate. Because it represents a lot of people, the term “Việt Kiều” in today’s world concern a lot of families.
It is also used for the young generation who has the chance to study abroad, eventually work there a few years before coming back to Vietnam.
So I don’t think I am a “Việt Kiều”. I am more like a Pháp Kiều.. (Pháp means French ≈ French overseas!). But I can understand why it’s confusing…
Even now it’s still complicated
Today, I speak fluently Vietnamese and my father returned to Vietnam to retire…
So when people meet me for the first time, it’s very hard to tell them I’m French, I’ve learned Vietnamese from scratch and if I know their culture so well it is only thanks to my Vietnamese wife who showed me everything and because I’ve stayed in Vietnam for more than a decade.
But then they look at my father and it’s even more difficult to explain his history… adopted child from Vietnam, raised in France so he is not speaking Vietnamese and has a French education.
On YouTube
You can find on YouTube an interview of Move To Asia that invited me and Tuesi to talk about “Viet Kieu” who returned to Vietnam.
On Spotify or Apple Podcast
And you can also find Creators in Saigon podcast episode inviting me as a guest. The first part is about my upbriging and the second part is about my entrepreneur experience in Vietnam.
Conclusion
I’m French, half-Vietnamese. Living in Vietnam since 2012 and this multiculturality has been both a curse and a blessing. Over the years, I’ve learned to use it at my advantage, to accept my identity.
If you still have trouble introducing yourself, keep faith, keep trying. The more you work on yourself, the more you will gain confidence and accept your uniqueness.
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