How easy is it for a non-Vietnamese speaking person to get around in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)?

Hello and welcome you to Vietnam! Vietnamese people are friendly and you can ask them for help all the times. Some people can speak English (you should look for people who look like students), but some cannot so you can use hand signals lol, but it is interesting though when we travel to another country with different language. I am sure that you will learn a lot. One advice that if you want to buy something at the malls or markets, and when you DEAL with anyone, be sure to ask the price first and pay the CHEAPEST as you can because travelers are very easy to be cheated!

Also, if you want to learn more about its culture, don't just hang around those familiar place that tourists usually come, like shopping centers or museums and history places. You should go to 'unfamiliar' places where people actually live and their daily activities (usually not very uncomfortable but if you want to learn, then it is a valuable source that you cannot find in anywhere else).

So don't be afraid. Good luck!

HCMC is very easy to move around but it's quite big. When I was there I picked a few places out, got a taxi there, then walked around the neighborhood. I found it quite safe but, as you would in any other city, use your common sense. Shopping isn't very big there, it's a poor country so they don't have a lot of money to spend on luxuries. The food is great....make sure you try Pho (Beef noodle soup). Transport isn't great, but you can hire a Cyclo there for a couple of dollars (it's a bike with a seat in front for you to sit on, the driver cycles behind you). The people that deal with tourists speak English (not very well), otherwise they speak Vietnamese (Mandarin is spoken by Chinese people). I'd recommend you pick up a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Vietnam to get a good idea of where to go. My best tip: Bring LOTS of US$1 bills. They are really handy for paying taxis etc and are more welcome than the local currency. Enjoy your trip there, I loved it and I'll go back.

Pay attention to security, especially off the beaten track. It is World Cup time and Vietnamese are mad gamblers who like to bet more than they can afford. My wife had her hand bag ripped from her grasp in Saigon a few weeks ago. Women are easy targets. A woman not far from us was knocked off her motorbike yesterday. They took the gold chain she was wearing and the motorbike. There are reports of many other thefts in the district coming in. My wife has been banned from wearing all jewelry until a month after the World Cup finishes. It is a well known fact that if you're in the market for a second hand motorbike, now it the time to buy! World Cup and the weeks leading up to Tet are times when you must be vigilant.

You shouldn't have any problems in HCMC or any other Vietnamese large cities or tourist venues such as Danang, Nha Trang, Hue, Hoi An, Phan Thiet, Halong, Sapa, Dalat...Many shopkeepers vendors, cab drivers and just people on the streets speak some English.

Buy or borrow from your public library a Vietnam guidebook such as one by Lonely Planet so you'll have some ideas on where to go at what to see in HCMC.

You'll be fine. Most people in HCMC will speak little bit of English. I am a Canadian living in Vietnam, I find most of the Vietnamese will understand English. If you want some attractions and places, email me, I'll forward you some of the places to visit.

rcx_quan@yahoo.ca

in saigon there are a lot of english speakers. when i went to vietnam with my family( none of them speak vietnamese) we did fine all around the country.