Vietnamese age

panda7 wrote:

The reason I ask is you could for eg meet someone who sais they are say 27 but really in Western age terms (and depending on what month they were born) could be closer to 25.

...and if they are female they probably look about 16!!

If I understand you correctly (and I'm not sure I do) this would mean everyone celebrates their birthday on TET.
My wife celebrates her birthday in October and my step-daughter celebrates hers in September, also many of my students have birthdays outside of the TET holiday so I'm quite sure this simply is not true.

no they don’t celebrate their birthday at tet but their age is referenced to it so everyone’s age changes at tet (ie +1). That is my understanding, could be wrong.

I was born on Dec 20 (Gregorian calendar), which was Nov 4 on lunar calendar that year).  At the arrival of the first Tết (Feb 14), I was almost 7 weeks old and that's the answer you would've received had you asked.  I wasn't 1 year old!  The idea that "when a Vietnamese person is born they are given the age of 1 at birth" was one of several age-old (pun intended) misunderstanding about Vietnamese culture that no one who knows has bothered to correct. 

However, after a successful infancy, it's true that "their age increases by +1 at every Tet after that".  A successful infancy is determined with the baby's first birthday.

Twelve months after a baby was born, the family celebrates the first birthday with a celebration called "thôi nôi"  (quitting the crib) to thank the 12 Midwives for shaping the baby, Buddha and ancestors for protection the baby, and to ask that the baby will continue to receive the same protection for the years ahead (but no longer from the 12 Midwives as their job was done that day.)  Now that the risk is gone, we can give the baby the Vietnamese age s/he should have at the next Tết.

In my case, when the second Tết came around (Feb 3), my "thôi nôi" was already celebrated, I was 15 months old but my mother said I was 3 because that Tết was the beginning of the 3rd year since my birth.  When it comes to age, Vietnamese count years, not days, but you're correct in saying it's only a reference, not a fact. 

Re: your example.  Today, if you meet a woman who says she's 27, it's safe to believe that she's 27 in 2019.  She may not be 27 today, but she will turn 27 soon.  It's rare to find a young person who says his/her age the old way.  Moreover, people do not give a foreigner their Vietnamese age because the foreigner only understands Western age, why gives him a different number that can cause confusion?

You can tell if a woman gives you her Vietnamese age if she uses the term "tuổi ta" (Vietnamese age, or lunar age) or if the word Tết is mentioned ("I'll be 28 at Tết" means I'm 26 in 2019, but 27 this Year of the Pig, and will begin my 28th year at the next Tết).

Not all young people it seems, I have a friend who was born in 1990 but she insists she is 30 already.

Malcolmleitrim wrote:

Not all young people it seems, I have a friend who was born in 1990 but she insists she is 30 already.

Ditto.  My wife is a millennial and always says she is 1 year older than her birth age.

Ciambella wrote:

I

In my case, when the second Tết came around (Feb 3), my "thôi nôi" was already celebrated, I was 15 months old but my mother said I was 3 because that Tết was the beginning of the 3rd year since my birth.  When it comes to age, Vietnamese count years, not days, but you're correct in saying it's only a reference, not a fact.

That's what I was trying to say...on your second tet your correct Vietnamese age is 3. Does this mean the youngest Vietnamese age a person can ever be assigned is 3 ?

vndreamer wrote:

My wife is a millennial and always says she is 1 year older than her birth age.

She will until she hits 50 at which point she will start subtracting.   

panda7 wrote:

That's what I was trying to say...on your second tet your correct Vietnamese age is 3. Does this mean the youngest Vietnamese age a person can ever be assigned is 3 ?

If a child is born soon after Tet, then soon after the 1st Ter,  the parents would feel safe to say he's 2.  The age inflation is worse for children who are born near year's end.