# Researching culture and nationality?



## SerenataImmortale (Jun 30, 2013)

The characters from the story I'm working on come from various different national backgrounds (with two of the central characters being Vietnamese and Lithuanian, respectively.) 
Unfortunately, doing nationality/cultural research is something I'm never completely sure how to go about. 
I live in the U.S., have never been able to visit other countries, and my own area doesn't really have a large immigrant population. Also, while I've consulted plenty of secondary sources, the ones I've found don't really offer a "feel" for environment, culture, or background, and mostly give statistics and facts that, while useful, aren't really what I'm looking for, either (e.g. "Nation X has 60 miles of border along the ocean. The major export is wax, and the national religion worships cows..."). 
Any help, feedback, or suggestions are appreciated - thanks!


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## patskywriter (Jun 30, 2013)

Too bad you don't live in Chicago—both have Vietnamese and Lithuanian communities. You can go to Youtube and type "Chicago Lithuanian community" and "Chicago Vietnamese community" to watch a few videos that might give you some ideas.


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## SerenataImmortale (Jul 5, 2013)

patskywriter said:


> Too bad you don't live in Chicago—both have Vietnamese and Lithuanian communities. You can go to Youtube and type "Chicago Lithuanian community" and "Chicago Vietnamese community" to watch a few videos that might give you some ideas.



Yeah, unfortunately I'm not anywhere near it... I'll try what you said with Youtube, though. Thank you!


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## DPVP (Jul 5, 2013)

Maybe look at some of Geert Hofstede's work


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## OurJud (Jul 5, 2013)

This might not be particularly helpful, but let me just say that research has never been easier than it is now, thanks to the www.

All the help you'll ever need in terms of research is out there... somewhere.


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## Kehawin (Jul 5, 2013)

Depending on where you live, there may be an American-Viet culture near you.  Barring making friends with someone of that culture (the old fashioned way of research!) perhaps you can visit one of these areas and get a feel for how people relate to each other, what they take seriously and what they joke about, etc.  I worked at a nail salon/spa for a little while, the rest of the staff there was Viet Namese, and though they were cordial to me I noticed they were very closed to "outsiders" for quite a while.  I can't help with Lithuanian, but my advice is to look up "pop culture" and the nationality and see what you get.  It may take a while, but like OurJud said, the internet is a wondrous thing.


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