Editor's note:
Vietnam is not only a favorite destination for many tourists but also a place chosen by many foreigners to live and work. Some foreigners speak Vietnamese very well and understand Vietnamese culture. VietNamNet introduces a series of articles about foreigners speaking Vietnamese , sharing with readers some stories of foreigners living in Vietnam, speaking Vietnamese well and having deep affection for the country and people of Vietnam.
In 2015, while visiting his brother living in Thailand from Belgium, Pim Gilles Felix Pluut “happened” to visit Vietnam. He chose Da Nang as his destination. Immediately, the 21-year-old boy “fell in love” and wanted to stay there. “Da Nang has mountains, sea, delicious food and friendly people” – Pim Nguyen (the name Pim now gives himself) shared. Almost immediately, Pim tried to learn Vietnamese from the people around him.

Pim came to Vietnam in 2015, initially just planning to travel.

He spent 6 months traveling and exploring Da Nang and some provinces in Vietnam before working as a teacher of English and French for Vietnamese people. Except for 2 years returning to Belgium to avoid the Covid-19 epidemic, Pim has lived in Vietnam for nearly 7 years. This is long enough for him to practice his Vietnamese proficiency, even becoming a famous TikToker with nearly 200,000 followers. Pim said: “Vietnamese is quite simple in grammar but difficult in pronunciation. When I first learned it, I had problems pronouncing punctuation marks, so when I spoke, people did not understand. In addition, Vietnamese vocabulary is very rich, many different words have the same meaning.” To achieve his current Vietnamese skills, according to Pim, the most important factor is that he has a daily Vietnamese communication environment. In Vietnam, Pim is often complimented on his Vietnamese ability. Even in the past, when he could only say a few sentences, he was complimented on speaking Vietnamese well. “Vietnamese people are very generous with compliments, which surprised me quite a bit. ” “Not impressed with pho” Having lived in Vietnam for 7 years, Pim has only been to Hanoi twice. When talking about cuisine , Pim said he likes many Vietnamese dishes but does not have pho like many other foreigners. “Maybe I did not choose the right restaurant, but I am not very impressed with pho. I like bun bo, bun rieu, bun cha, mi Quang, etc. more.” Like many foreigners, when he first came to Vietnam, Pim found the traffic a shock. “It is like a continuous flow and many people drive quite recklessly.” Not only that, he found some people participating in traffic with a rather “stubborn” attitude. “They drive recklessly but when they are wrong, they do not want to apologize.” However, other than that, most Vietnamese people are lovely, Pim commented.

Pim loves Vietnamese cuisine but is not impressed with pho.

Vietnamese people also like to communicate and connect with each other. “Belgians are also friendly but more shy when interacting with strangers. Winter in Belgium is very cold so most people just stay indoors, don't want to go out, don't want to talk to anyone”. While many young people are trying very hard to study and live in Europe, Pim is the opposite. He said he likes to explore nature. In Vietnam, there are many mountains, forests, rivers, and streams. He also likes the weather in Da Nang more than the winter in Belgium. For the past three years, he has chosen to be a vegetarian. “In Vietnam, there are a variety of vegetables and fruits, the prices are cheap, there are also many vegetarian restaurants, suitable for my eating preferences”. Those factors made him choose Vietnam as his place to live until now. In the videos on the TikTok channel, Pim shows that he is almost Vietnamese when he cooks bun cha, canh chua, com tam, etc. Pim's understanding of Vietnam has also reached a quite profound "level" in humorous videos. Accepting differences in marriage

Pim married a woman from Da Nang 2 years ago.

In 2022, Pim married his long-time Vietnamese girlfriend. Marriage made both of them go through many ups and downs due to differences in lifestyle and culture. “For example, when to get married. In Belgium, according to my observations of the people around me, many couples live together, have children, and then get married. We consider marriage a very important thing, not just love each other and get married. But in Vietnam, people get married early and almost every couple gets married.” Having loved the Vietnamese girl since she first came to Vietnam, maintaining that love for 7 years, Pim initially faced pressure from his girlfriend. “She said I was old because she was 5 years older than me.” But later, thanks to sharing and understanding each other better, Pim’s girlfriend no longer considered marriage a must. “It wasn’t until 2022, when she was 33, that we got married,” Pim said. Currently, his married life has become much "smoother" after a long time of both being together, sharing and accepting each other's differences. Photo and video: Provided by the character

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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/chang-re-nguoi-bi-yeu-viet-nam-tiet-lo-dieu-khong-ngo-ve-mon-pho-2323901.html