Young Overseas Vietnamese Return to Homeland

Come back

Huynh Nu Ngoc Thuan (Wendy Huynh) left Viet Nam when she was o­nly two years old. She worked in a finance company with a stable salary for three years since graduating from the Finance Faculty of Ohio University in 2002.

Recently her family and friends were so surprised when Wendy decided to come back Viet Nam to work. “I have learned about Viet Nam through stories that my parents told me”, Wendy said.

Then she met a group of Vietnamese businesspeople in the U.S who told her that Viet Nam has changed. Many modern industrial Zones are sprouting everywhere, including in Bien Hoa city, her homeland. Wendy came back Viet Nam to find a new direction for her life. The first destination was Ho Chi Minh City where her aunt’s family is living.

Coming back to Viet Nam for the first time to join the overseas Vietnamese Youth Camp in July 2005, Nguyen Kieu Chinh was impressive by Vietnamese young people’s enthusiasm.

“My Vietnamese language is not good. I have o­nly spoken Vietnamese with my grandparents. And Vietnamese young friends were so friendly and helped me mix with others. When I decided to come back Viet Nam to work, I received the support from my family”, Kieu Chinh said.

Barriers

“Language is a big problem”, Wendy said. After coming back to Viet Nam, Wendy worked for an import-export company for three months. She was charged with translating Vietnamese contracts to English, and her poor knowledge of Vietnamese terminologies were causing her lots of problems.

She decided to quit the job and spent the next six months studying Vietnamese. At present, Wendy is translator for an American household appliances manufacturing company, Bien Hoa branch. “If I have a chance, I will look for a job in finance”, she said.

Kieu Chinh came back Ho Chi Minh City to study Vietnamese. A student of Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities is teaching her.

“After studying, I will apply for a job in a Vietnamese social organization. I can teach English for children, because I love them so much”, Kieu Chinh said.

Abundant source of intellects

According to Department of External Relations of Ho Chi Minh City, there are about 300,000 overseas Vietnamese intellectuals in the total of 3,000,000 who are living abroad.

Most of them graduated from universities and have good knowledge about the culture, science and technology. Although living in developed countries, they are always deeply attached to the homeland. They hope that they will have opportunities to contribute to the nation’s development.

That is a rich source of intellects for Viet Nam. The tendency of coming back to the homeland for work is increasing. The number of overseas Vietnamese coming back was 480,000 in 2005, a year o­n year increase of 15 percent.