Attempts at Communication

People keep saying that Viet Nam is a place to have clothes made, so last week I figured I'd give it a try. This isn't a disaster at the tailor story, everything went well--in fact, I'm wearing my new dress today! This is more of an attempt at communication story. I tried to ask a question about how much fabric was used. I know words for "how much", "use", "when", and "make", but not the word for fabric. Being that fabric is the subject of the question, it made it a little more challenging. I figured I'd give it a try anyway. It was such a ridiculous process! The women at the tailor were very friendly and really patient, I could tell they wanted to understand as much as I wanted them to. But as soon as I started talking they both had this, "it's trying to speak" kind of look. I persevered and asked my question:

sidenote: if you are Hannah--or any else who speaks Vietnamese--please don't be appalled by my attempts, I realize this is probs not accurate at all, hence the confusion yesterday!

Em muốn hỏi, khi chị làm này sử dụng bao nhiêu (point to fabric)?

I want to ask, when you made this use how much....?

Blank stares. They looked at each other, realized neither understood, and looked back at me. So I tried again:

Cho váy này, bao nhiêu mét (again, point to fabric)?

for this dress, how many meters?

Still nothing, but earnest looks so I feel encouraged enough to try again. This time it is a group process. I say a word, they repeat it, think about it, realize they know it, and look excited. So then I move to the next one. I tried one more way of asking:

Khi em mua (point to fabric while they repeat slowly), mua bao nhiêu (point to fabric and try to indicate length and measurement)?

when I buy (fabric), buy how much (fabric)?

Meanwhile I'm looking all around for something else to help in the charades for the word fabric. Finally I realize I'm standing in front of a wall of fabric (duh!). So then I point to that. And that was it! It felt like the whole room cheered and let out a collective, ah ha! The woman measured and wrote down a number for me. Success!!

Turns out, the word for fabric is vải, which to the in-exact learner and untrained ear (aka, me!) is similar to váy, the word I was using for dress, which actually means skirt. Oh, the confusion of it all.

Today I need to go back because I need my measurements to send home to order bridesmaids dresses. Yeah...we'll see how that goes. It could be interesting!