Kids film festivals

Ngoc Thao from HCMC, 32, said that one kilogram of bacon now costs between VND150,000-180,000 ($6.43-7.72), depending on whether it is purchased at a traditional wet market or a supermarket. Cheaper cuts of pork, such as cutlet and thigh, range from VND100,000-130,000 per kilogram, which is twice or thrice the price of chicken. "The prices of vegetables, spices and many other things have skyrocketed, but my salary remains unchanged, so I must cut back on my spending on expensive stuff," she said, sighing. "Now our family has meat only for one or two meals per week." A VnExpress survey of livestock farms at the end of June found that the price of live pigs had crossed VND60,000 per kg, a slight increase from previous days. The majority of farmers said the price has increased because the cost of animal feed has increased. Prices of new born pigs have also increased by 20 percent compared to two months ago. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and … [Read more...] about As prices rise, Vietnamese fork out less for pork

Any foreigner who can unscramble the rich tapestry of the Vietnamese language deserves the keys to the city, a Nobel Prize, a Golden Buzzer from Simon, and, while we’re at it, let’s toss in an honorary ambassadorship. The plethora of homonyms, at least to the Western ear, is an exciting feature, as there is nothing more catastrophic than calling someone a horse’s ass when you simply want to wish them a nice day. It’s not as if the language had a few ups and downs here and there as does every tongue, but conveying even the simplest sentiments can be precarious. How about the infamous ‘em yêu anh, anh yêu em, em thương anh’ and ‘anh thương em” jigsaw puzzle? It’s damn good that most people know ‘I love you’ in English, for sorting the ‘em’s’ from the ‘anh’s’ and the north from the south is quite a hurdle. Let’s look at personal pronouns in Vietnamese because addressing people is the first and most basic step in any relationship, thus a logical starting point. That innocent … [Read more...] about Vietnamese language torture