Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

English speaking clubs in Saigon

I am wondering if more free English speaking clubs would be helpful for students. My experience so far is that even if students pay up to 250.000 VND fee for English speaking clubs, they don't learn a lot. So I think foreigners have to step in and provide it for free. It's actually just an hour a week and both parties can learn from each other. I know that there are already some clubs, for example every Tuesday and Thursday 7pm to 8:15pm at Tomorrow Cafe locating at M1A That Son, Bac Hai area, Dist 10. Can anyone provide me more information?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Invasion of English language?

I just read a editors comment on VietnamNet Bridge about the threat of English overcoming Vietnamese language. I tried to send a comment via the website, but got an error back. So i post it here:

Dear Editor, what I don't understand in this country is the lack of ability to even think about if others may have the same problem and how they solved it.
First: English is not a threat, because nearly nobody really speaks English. Second: Vietnam is part of the planet earth, people traveling around this planet. It's a continuos cultural exchange. Like coffee came to Vietnam, Or cars. electricity. so do some English words. You will find english words in German, French words in English, Chinese words in Vietnamese. Instead of complaining about foreign influence Vietnam should take advantage of. India is developing so well because of the English skills there. Even people in Cambodia speak better English. The lack of English in Vietnam is an obstacle for some investors. But: I agree that schools must teach Vietnamese. It must also remain as the official and main language. But if you communicate with the world outside, some words may come back.


For any reason I see a lot of complains coming up about any foreign influence. Stricter Visa regulations, investments process changes, import restrictions. I concerned about it.
Once the german wall felt 1989, people in eastern Germany complained about the foreigners (a lot of them Vietnamese) allegedly taking their jobs. That was nonsense, Frankfurt City alone had more foreigners living there than whole eastern Germany. But, for some people it was easier to complain about the foreigners instead of solving the problem and just creating jobs. Yes, we can learn from history to make it better, not the same.