(Story from Vuong Vo – one of the most active admin of Volunteer House Vietnam Fanpage)
To begin with, I knew nothing of English. I am a lazy person. I never took any course in any English teaching center, never touched an English book after high school. In fact, I have never traveled abroad.
Ironically, people who know me often praise my proficiency in English. Foreigners ask me if I ever studied abroad. Friends worship me as a god amongst plebs. And I find myself answering never-ending questions about English-learning approach, English courses and instructors. I tell them I have no idea since I have never really learned English. Perhaps they consider me selfish since I refuse to share with them my “secret” in learning English.
Who am I to boast about English when I never really learned the language? Before anyone jumps to their judgment, let me share a little bit about myself. I had a keen interest in natural science in high school whilst living in the countryside. I now major in Business Administration in a public university (Saigon, Vietnam) where textbooks are written entirely in Vietnamese, and English is not required.
As a business major, I started reading the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. My English wasn’t good enough to fully understand what I read. Countless new words frustrated me deeply, yet I found a way to tackle this problem. First, I skimmed the whole article for a rough understanding. Then, I looked up the new words that appeared in the article. Finally, in rereading the article I could gain a comprehensive understanding of the whole piece.
These days, all major books and news are either written in or translated into English. My curiosity awakens when I read in English, a foreign language. I find it fascinating to research about various topics. And before I realize it, English is no longer tough as I make reading English a daily ritual. I also employ Facebook as a source of vocabulary. My vocabs improved a great deal without a single minute spent on boring textbooks.
Listening and speaking are some other things I had to work on. I started small by watching Youtube videos with various requirements in English comprehension. I picked videos I truly enjoyed watching, and my purpose was never to improve my English. Slowly but steadily, I was able to follow Ted-talk videos and native speakers’ quick conversations.
I adore Western culture and enjoy befriending foreigners. All of them are unique snowflakes and possess interesting points of view. I am friendly like a sunflower and would love to meet lots of people. I have friends from all over the world, and we chat all the time. I am now confident enough to communicate with native speakers regardless of their accents.
Vuong in an event with international volunteer
It’s better to work smart rather than hard when it comes to learning a new language. English is not a difficult language. You could learn it your way without wasting time on boring textbooks which yield little results.
Fluency in English will not only help you with communication, but also provides opportunities to work for multi-national companies. And to Forever Alone fellas: the world population is 7 billion, and 1 out of 7 is an English speaker. Perhaps being able to speak English would considerably increase the prospects of meeting your special someone, correct?
—Vương Võ—
