Taiwanese man wins fiancee’s heart by learning Vietnamese

At that moment, she was like an angel,” Tsai Zong Jie recalls.

He said he was mesmerized by the woman’s face as he boarded the airplane.

Tsai Zong Jie is 31 years old, and works as an IT engineer for a Taiwanese corporation in Vietnam. He first met Vui at Noi Bai airport, in May 2019.

Vui says that she first just had that strange feeling of someone staring at her from behind.

She turned around and smiled. A few minutes later, Tsai Zong Jie mustered the courage to come over and ask her to take a photo with him. Vui was surprised but agreed to exchange information because she thought it would be nice to have a new friend.

After a brief talk, Vui boarded a plane to Malaysia, while Tsai Zong Jie flew back to Taiwan to visit his family.

The first photo Tsai Zong Jie took with Vui when they first met at Noi Bai airport, May 2019. Photo courtesy of Tsai Zong Jie

After the chance meeting, Tsai Zong Jie began texting Vui in English every day. She texted back for a few days, but then got bored because of the language barrier and stopped. At that time, Vui was building a career in the beauty industry and was busy with work, so she was hesitant to spend too much time texting.

Three weeks later, she received a text from Tsai Zong Jie in broken Vietnamese: “I feel very sad on the days I don’t get any messages from you. The only way to let you know I miss you is to use lots of text messages.”

The woman from northern Phu Tho Province laughed at Vui’s texts written by a translation tool. But she texted back: “I would love it if you could speak Vietnamese.”

Not wanting to miss an opportunity, Stai Zong Jie devoted himself to learning Vietnamese. He installed Vietnamese apps on his phone and made use of his work breaks to study the language. At night, instead of playing video games as usual, he spent time learning Vietnamese.

However, he soon learned the best way to study Vietnamese: “To text and talk to your Vietnamese girlfriend,” he said.

Whatever he learned, he recorded and sent it to Vui, asking her to correct it.

Every day at 7:25 a.m.., Tsai Zong Jie sent his bride-to-be a message to wish her a good day. During the Covid epidemic, he sent her this message: “Dear wife, please dress warmly, drink enough water, eat plenty of nourishing food, and exercise caution when you are outside. Before touching anything, carefully wash your hands. Keep warm, use masks, and try not to worry too much.”

Though his Vietnamese is still quite basic, Vui accepted his love thanks to his sincerity. “What moves me is that he always takes care of me, from the smallest details. In the pandemic, my business was affected a lot, he just wanted me to have even more free time to talk to him,” said Vui, 26.

The couple when they were dating before marriage, Da Nang, September 2019. Photo courtesy of Tsai Zong Jie

Tsai Zong Jie says he was anxious throughout his courtship of Vui. When he learned that her parents objected to the relationship, he could barely stand still.

Vui’s mother, Nguyen Thi Thang, 63, said she did not want her daughter to marry a foreigner because she was afraid of losing her daughter.

“I often told my daughter that there are so many guys out there, why bother loving a foreigner?” the mother said.

Vui’s family is also Catholic, so they wanted their daughter to get married to someone Catholic.

More than a year ago, Tsai Zong Jie took three days off work to visit Vui’s hometown and help at her older sister’s wedding. Together with Vui, he helped carried trays, clean tables, and wash dishes. On the wedding day, he woke up early and traveled nearly 200km with Vui’s family to her sister’s husband’s hometown.

Vui’s mother wasn’t unimpressed with Tsai Zong Jie. “He’s very nice, he smiles, does not drink wine or drink alcohol, and speaks Vietnamese very well,” she said.

For Tet 2022, Tsai Zong Jie visited Vui’s hometown once more. This time, he asked for her family’s permission to have an official relationship with Vui. During the visit, he said he’d wanted to bring his parents along, but could not due to the pandemic.

“I love Vui and look forward to marrying her. Please allow me to be part of our family from now on,” the young man said.

Vui’s parents expressed concerns about their daughter marrying a foreigner.

Tsai Zong Jie replied: “If you two let me marry her, I’ll buy a house here and live in Vietnam forever”.

With the young man’s promise, Vui’s parents had no reason to object.

The couple receives a marriage certificate on Jan. 16, 2023 in Phu Tho Province. Photo courtesy of Tsai Zong Jie

Tsai Zong Jie now owns a house in Hanoi. Two months ago, he found a new job so he could be closer to his wife, even though the salary is only half what he used to make. He also learned more about Catholicism to prepare for the official wedding ceremony.

The couple have completed the legal process of getting married in Vietnam, but Tsai Zong Jie is waiting to travel back to Taiwan in April to finish the paperwork and to introduce his fiancée to his family before the actual wedding.

Vui said that over the last four years, the couple has overcome many difficulties together, from cultural and linguistic barriers, to long-distances and family objections. “However, we always care for each other, enough to overcome such obstacles and look forward to having a family together,” she said.

Now looking at the messages he sent Vui while they were still dating, sometimes Tsai Zong Jie feels embarrassed about his language skills.

“If I were better at Vietnamese in those days, perhaps I would simply told her ‘without you, my life would be incomplete,’” he said.