History flashback "Bắt đầu từ nay" - long long ago, I used to watch TVB or HK movies and in movie HK ppl will refer to nguoi vn as "Bắt đầu từ nay". I wonder wat this phrase mean and y they use on them. When 1st start to know tieng viet this HK slang "Bắt đầu từ nay" was just loosely mean "From now on/ start from here"
Just found out the origin of "Bắt đầu từ nay" from wikipediia.....after the fall of saigon, Vn ppl try to run away from the communist rules by boat...they r the boat ppl...there's a large influx of vn boat ppl to HK as they assume the status of refugees and chance for opportunity to locate in the refugee camp in HK and wait for their turn to go to country like US/UK/AZ..etc..but....After the "cut-off day" on June 16, 1988, those who fled to Hong Kong would no longer automatically be considered as refugee..
The HK goverment thus broadcast the change of policy on Vietnamese radio PSA on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) in Hong Kong as frequent as once every hour in vietnamese
Bắt đầu từ nay, một chính sách mới về thuyền nhân Việt Nam đă được chấp hành tại Hồng Kông. Từ nay về sau, những thuyền nhân Việt Nam kiếm cách nhập cảnh Hồng Kông với thân phận những người di tản v́ vấn đề kinh tế sẽ bị coi là những người nhập cảnh phi pháp. Là những người nhập cảnh phi pháp, họ sẽ không có chút khả năng nào để được đi định cư tại nước thứ ba, và họ sẽ bị giam cầm để chờ ngày giải về Việt Nam.
Translation...
From now on, a new policy regarding Vietnamese boat people has been implemented in Hong Kong. From now on, those boat people from Vietnam seeking to immigrate into Hong Kong as immigrants due to economic reasons will be considered illegal immigrants. As illegal immigrants, they will not have the ability to settle in a third country, and they will be detained until repatriated to Vietnam...
You can hear the broadcast at
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The Vietnamese-language announcement, which has just been broadcast, elucidated the policy of 'Comprehensive Plan of Action' that the Hong Kong Government implements on the Vietnamese boat people who intend to enter Hong Kong.
Its so frequently heard in the radio that many Hong Kong people learned this Vietnamese phrase...and started to use this phrase "Bắt đầu từ nay" to represent Vietnamese people.This phrase is usually considered as derogatory, or even racist.