Hello.
To start this video, I want you to imagine you're a teacher teaching Vietnamese to Westerners.
If you were to teach your students the difference between "tranh thủ" and "lợi dụng"
how would you explain it?
Both of those words could be translated into English as "to take advantage of,"
But obviously your students would run into a lot of trouble
if they understood "tranh thủ" and "lợi dụng" as meaning the same thing.
You'd have to explain further that if they understood "tranh thủ" is usually used to talk about time,
and it has a positive connotation,
whereas "lợi dụng" is usually used to talk about people, and it has a negative connotation.
English also has a number of word pairs that are easily confused.
I find that this pair of words confuses Vietnamese people all the time.
You're all học-ing English . . . ("học" means "learn" or "study")
The word "study" refers to reading academic passages,
doing class exercises at school,
or memorizing information about this or that subject.
Whereas "learn" just means to gain new knowledge or new skills.
Learning can happen completely by accident.
For example, if you happened to read online that . . .
"Dan had three wives in America before he came to Vietnam,"
then you could tell your friends:
Or when a baby is learning to talk—
"Hi Uncle Dan!"
native speakers like me would say:
"Studying," on the other hand, never takes place without our own initiative.
It takes concentration and effort, and the ultimate goal of studying is . . .
to learn.
But you guys know there are lots of times we sit and study for hours,
do all the exercises, take the tests, and so on,
but we don't actually gain any new knowledge.
In that case, you can say:
In short, if you want to say, "Mình đi học ở trường cấp 3 Trần Nhân Tông," for example,
then don't say "I learn at," but rather "I study at Tran Nhan Tong High School."
Or, to be even more natural, just say, "I go to Tran Nhan Tong High School."
Because in English-speaking countries, everyone knows that students can go to school
and still not study or even learn anything.
Sheesh, I hear all kinds of mistakes with "soon."
For example:
I don't know who's teaching you guys that "soon" means "sớm."
Not so.
"Soon" means not long after some established point in time.
For example, you invite Son Tung to a party you're throwing.
At the party, Son Tung hasn't arrived yet, but he's messaged you saying,
"I'm on the way."
You could tell everyone:
Not long after that, Son Tung arrives, drinks a glass of beer, and then after just 15 minutes, he says,
Eh, I gotta go.
Then you could say:
And "early" means at the beginning of a period of time, or before the usual time.
For example:
Everyone likes talking about death, but sometimes you guys talk about it incorrectly,
because English refers to death in a more complicated way than Vietnamese.
"Die" refers to the action of dying,
and when we talk about the moment of someone or something's death, we use the past tense of that verb.
However, when we talk about the status of being dead, we don't say,
but instead use the adjective "dead."
Or, if you're about to take a big test, and you want to say,
then you shouldn't say,
but instead,
I want you guys to help me check if this sentence is right.
Hanoi has existed for over 2000 years.
No. "Over 2000 years" is wrong.
Okay, check another sentence. Is the next sentence right?
(shitload of spelling errors, which you surely recognize if you know Vietnamese)
Yikes. Not right at all.
So now we have two sentences that are both wrong, but they're wrong for different reasons.
The first sentence is wrong because of its content.
And the second sentence is wrong because of its spelling.
A lot of my students would call both of those sentences "false," but that's wrong.
"True" and "false" just refer to the content of a sentence,
and when talking about grammar, spelling, and so on, you need to use "right" and "wrong"
or "correct" and "incorrect."
For example, if someone said to me,
then I'd respond,
You know, sometimes I feel Vietnamese is more reasonable than English.
Take the word "cũng," for example. You can use it in every situation.
You know, I love this Dan guy.
Oh, me too!
Or . . .
You know, I don't like this Dan guy at all.
Yeah, me "too."
English isn't that simple.
A lot of people would use "too" in both of those situations,
but in the second one—
—you need to use "either."
"Too" can never go with a negative sentence.
Think about it like this:
"Too" is a plus sign,
and "either" is a minus sign.
In a negative sentence, we've already got one minus sign, because of the word "don't."
So if we add "either," we've got two minus signs, and that sentence is still negative.
But if we add "too," then we've got one minus sign, and one plus sign,
so that sentence isn't negative, and it's not affirmative, either.
It's not anything at all.
It's not only Vietnamese people who misuse the word "win."
A lot of kids where I'm from do it, too.
For example, when they beat someone in a game, they'll say,
No.
In English we can win a game or win a match, just like in Vietnamese,
but we can't win a person or win a team.
In that situation, the correct word is "beat."
One of the hardest things when studying a foreign language is building up your confidence, right?
Imagine that you stop two Westerners up at Hoan Kiem Lake to talk with you,
and then you say something really wrong or dumb.
How would you feel?
Shy?
No.
I don't know where you guys are being taught wrong, but "shy" does not mean "xấu hổ."
It means "nhút nhát."
For example, if you go up to the lake, and you're so shy that you don't even dare talk to a single soul,
you could say,
But in the previous situation, when you said something dumb, the correct word is "embarrassed."