If you asked foreigners what they knew about Vietnam,
you'd definitely encounter a lot of questions and misconceptions.
They eat rice for every meal, don't they?
No, you idiot, they eat phở for every meal.
Is it true that they get married when they're, like, 15 years old?
Ho Chi Minh is the president over there, right?
And the reverse is also true.
The past few years in Vietnam, I've encountered a lot of questions and misconceptions about Westerners,
and now I'm going to answer and correct both of them.
Let's do it.
I'm sure this has happened to every English-speaking person living here.
You go to a karaoke place with some Vietnamese friends,
and they want you to sing a song in English.
Oh, hey man, sing "Take Me to Your Heart."
"Take Me to Your Heart?"
You don't know "Take Me to Your Heart?"
No.
Well, what about "Seasons in the Sun?"
No.
Well, what about "Cheri Cheri Lady?"
No.
What about "You Can Win if You Want?"
No.
Well, do you know any Westlife songs?
What's Westlife?
Guys, you've got to understand,
there are lots of English-language songs that are popular at Vietnamese karaoke places,
but which aren't, and have never been, popular in English-speaking countries.
or at least not all of them.
"Take Me to Your Heart," for example.
I had never heard it, or even heard of it, before I came here.
So the next time you go out to karaoke with an English speaker,
don't assume they know a song just because it's in English.
And another thing you guys should understand is that the English-language music we like
often isn't the same as the English-language music you like.
In general, the American and British music that makes it all the way to Vietnam
is only that of the biggest, most insanely famous pop stars.
And a lot of us who come from those countries find that pop music, like Maroon 5 or Imagine Dragons, . . .
well, really boring.
A few of my favorite bands and musicians throughout the years?
Heard of any of them?
No?
Oh well.
Let's talk a little bit about English, and who exactly speaks it.
I heard one teacher say that his students here in Hanoi thought English was his second language, . . .
because he's Irish.
In my own classes, I play a game where my students guess my nationality during the first lesson.
The US and the UK are common guesses,
but there are also students who guess things like Russia and Italy,
before guessing something sensible like New Zealand.
Guys, there are six countries in the world where the majority of people speak English as their first language.
Those countries are:
Of course, the English-speaking world doesn't end there.
There are lots more countries where English is a major language, or even the primary language,
though not necessarily the majority of the population's first language.
Some examples are South Africa, and a lot of other countries in Africa,
Jamaica, and a lot of other countries in the Caribbean,
along with India, Singapore, and a bunch of other countries I'm not going to bother naming now.
So the English-speaking world is broad and diverse.
but you shouldn't assume that anyone who's the same color as me, or who has a European passport,
is great at speaking English.
It varies a lot.
Swedes, for example, speak fabulous English,
so good that on more than one occasion, I've mistaken Swedes for Americans or Britons.
The French, on the other hand, . . .
well, their English usually sounds pretty French.
There's nothing wrong with asking this question, of course.
"Teacher, why did you choose to come to Vietnam?"
But the misconception is that whenever my students ask it,
they seem to be expecting some kind of meaningful answer,
like I had always been fascinated by Vietnamese culture,
or I had always wanted to learn to speak Vietnamese.
The real answer isn't very meaningful.
I had recently quit a super boring office job,
I wanted to do something different,
and one of my friends, who had recently travelled to Vietnam, said:
And that was it.
You'd probably find that most other English teachers here in Vietnam have a similar story.
The reasons they chose Vietnam aren't that significant.
Of course, a lot of foreigners, like me, really enjoy being here,
and we find reasons to stay.
But if, back in 2012,
my friend had told me the same things about Myanmar, instead of Vietnam,
I would have gone there.
This hasn't happened to me recently,
but there were times when I would go out with students who that knew I had been here for, like, a year,
and when we got ready to start eating, they would ask me:
"Teacher, can you use chopsticks?"
After a year in Vietnam?
Guys, chopsticks are hard for Westerners to use,
but they're not that hard.
My own chopstick skills were actually pretty good before I got here.
I made a short trip to China and Korea in late 2011,
and by the end of that trip, I'd say my chopstick skills were about a seven out of ten.
When I came to Vietnam in early 2013,
my chopstick skills were up to about a nine out of ten after just a month or two.
I asked a bunch of foreigners on Facebook to rate their chopstick skills before they came to Vietnam,
and 73 people rated themselves "expert," "good," or "fair,"
and only 38 people rated themselves "poor" or "terrible."
So give us some credit, guys. We can use chopsticks.
You know that big holiday Westerners celebrate in late December?
The one with trees and Santa and cookies and stuff?
What's that one called?
No. At least not if you're speaking English.
The word "Noel" in English does mean "Christmas," but it's a very old word.
You still encounter it on some Christmas decorations and in some Christmas songs,
But in the year 2016, no English-speaker calls the holiday "Noel."
Call it "Christmas," please.
But now, let's move on to two bigger, more important matters.
First, a lot of Vietnamese people seem to think that on Christmas, Westerners "đi chơi,"
the way a lot of Vietnamese people do on Christmas.
No.
Maybe in some countries they do that,
But in general, you'd probably find that Christmas customs much more closely resemble Tet customs
here in Vietnam.
People visit friends and family,
they eat big, gluttonous meals,
they might get a little bit drunk,
and they exchange gifts.
And the second important matter:
What date does this holiday fall on?
Somehow, Vietnamese people are under the impression that Christmas comes on December 24th.
No.
December 24th is Christmas Eve.
"Eve" is another sort of old word which means "the day before."
Now, people still do stuff on Christmas Eve.
They might have a party with extended family,
they might go to a special church service,
or in some countries, as I understand,
they exchange all their Christmas gifts.
But in general, the big day—
the one around which the entire kid year revolves—
is Christmas, December 25th.
But don't just take it from me.
A Google search for Christmas will tell you exactly what date this glorious holiday falls on.
And as far as I'm concerned,
Google is the truth.
Hey! This episode of "Learn English with Dan" was sponsored by Capstone Vietnam,
one of Vietnam's leading overseas study consultancies.
Capstone provides full overseas study services, helping high school and university students
choose the university or college best suited to their goals and abilities.
This march, Capstone is organizing overseas study fairs in four major cities.
You can meet and chat with representatives from universities and colleges in the USA.
The fair takes place from 15:00 to 19:00
on 6/3 in Hanoi, 8/3 in Da Nang, 10/3 in Nha Trang, and 12/3 in HCMC.
Visit capstonevietnam.com/dan to learn more, and to register free for the fair.
There's also a link in the description.
Thanks for watching this video, and thanks to Capstone Vietnam for the support.