Writing and Vietnam Composition

In Vietnam, everyone studies literature, and their teachers give them many topics namely discuss folk literature, poem, and written literature. In high school, I wrote the essay about discussing the folk literature that the topic was: “Explain the folk-song of Vietnam: failure is the mother of success.” From this essay, I will analyze it and show the difference between Vietnam essay and America essay. Vietnamese have the many kinds of the literature, which have the different way to discuss. Now I will analyze the folk literature to show the difference between the Vietnam assignment and the United States assignment. Firstly, when my Vietnamese teachers gave the topic for me, they wanted me to know about the value of humanism, and contributing to the formation of a human sense. Follow Vietnamese people, the value of humanism is the good words with great ideas in the life, and it makes people beautiful about thought and perception. Based on the value of humanism, I can find how to be a good person?

How I can live well with the good behavior? Moreover, I can develop about a human sense, which is the feeling, the knowledge, and the will of people. The topic was involved in the lecture of ancestor, thanks to that this would develop my knowledge, and my will to make my life better. This is the reason why my Vietnamese teachers gave this topic. When I wrote this essay, my teacher said, “You just give the one site of failure, and you need to write more about what you learn from this sentence.” I just give the value of failure in the one aspect, I do not mention it in general, so I cannot analyze about the direct idea, and the deeply idea in the topic, likewise the story about the burning of Moth. (Dillard, 2010, Holy the Firm, pp.2-5) In the story Holy the Firm, I can see the two values of this story, which are the death of the moth and the inspiration for writing of authors.

When I wrote essay about the folk literature, my teacher said, “You need to explain what the folk sentence means in the first paragraph.” Thanks to that, the readers could understand, and follow my essay. In this essay, I just gave some stories, and I wanted the readers to find the value through these stories. My composition was different the Vietnam composition, so my teacher gave back my essay, and wanted me to fix it. I fixed my essay by explaining the each word in the sentence. After explaining the sentence, I give the example in the life, and I need to write the two faces of this sentence. In conclusion, I need to write the value and the useful of the sentence. I could use it in my life in the future. If I really understand this sentence, it will be good for you about consciousness. When I get the failure, I can realize the mistakes. In the next time, I do not make these mistakes, so I will be success and I do not worry about this failure. I can feel comfortable rather than upset, so I am not stress about this failure.

Follow my essay, I can see the difference between English composition and Vietnam composition. In Vietnam composition, I used rhetorical words to make the sentence better such as “too dark, gentle, and warm” (Trinh, 2011, p.1). On the other hand, when I write English composition, I need to write direct argument, not use the adjective. The English composition and Vietnam composition are in common, which is that I have to give the examples to support my ideas and these examples are my experiences, or based on the survey to find the evidences. In my essay, I write some question: “Have you ever wonder what success is? Is it the perfect results in the study? Or does the word successful mean having a rich life?” (Trinh, 2011, p.1) I have learned that using the question in introduction, which attract the Vietnamese readers, and make the readers think about the answer. In contrast, when I want to attract the English-speaking readers, I need to use a hook that is interested the readers.

When I study in the United States, I need to change the habit wring essay. Sometimes, in my essay, my professors wrote, “I can understand your sentences, but your structure needs work” (Mott- Smith, 2011, what makes a good student or teacher?). My structure does not connect together, and I just write the sentences and put it in the paragraph. My culture Vietnam influenced the way I write essays. Sometimes, I write many things, which do not connect together and these make the professor lost in my sentences. The similar to English composition, in Vietnam composition, I need to have the main point in my essay.

From the main point, I give the definition about main point. It can help the readers to understand what they are reading. Moreover, I give some examples to develop my idea. I need to follow one important rule: “do not bias” in English composition. In Vietnam composition, I will give the examples to make my idea is true, and sometimes it is not fair. For instance, when I wrote the argument essay, I just controlled about my idea, which was right or wrong. The topic is the argument essay, but I just give the example to support my ideas, and I do not give evidence to show the opposite idea. My Vietnamese teachers did not care about this issue. In conclusion, I know cultures have different characteristics for writing, and basing on each country, I have to using the different types of writing. I think they have the different ways to understand, so I need to use the types of writing, which are suit for them.