Florian Aubert, a 27-year-old Swedish biology student, is somewhere in between.
Aubert, who had previously visited Vietnam twice as a tourist, returned for a third time in August, captivated by the country’s culture, people and language. This time, his goal was clear: learn Vietnamese.
“I plan to spend a month learning basic Vietnamese before heading back to Sweden for my new term,” Aubert said.
Initially, he volunteered in the city, staying with local families while trying to study the language independently. However, he found mastering Vietnamese, with its complex tones and nuances, challenging. Despite his efforts, his skills weren’t progressing as he had hoped.
That changed when Aubert discovered the free Vietnamese class held at a café on No Trang Long Street in Binh Thanh District through social media.
When he arrived one night in late August, around 20 other students were already seated in the cozy 40 square-meter space. The class volunteers, divided into small groups of 3-5 people, each included at least one foreign student.
Each session is tailored to practical topics, covering greetings and household objects to numbers, animals, destinations, and food. Aubert takes notes of challenging concepts during self-study and brings them up for clarification in class.
Two tables away, 61-year-old Yoko and her 18-year-old son were learning how to ask for directions.
A Japanese teacher living in District 7, Yoko has been in Vietnam for three years but says her Vietnamese is still weak. A colleague recommended her the class in July, and now she comes every week, even though it takes an hour by bus.
The volunteers, all students, created maps and directional phrases in Vietnamese for her and coached her on pronunciation and phrasing.
The class is part of the “Coffee Talk English” club, which has been running free Vietnamese lessons for seven years, according to the program’s manager, 24-year-old Tra Thi Kim Ngan. Classes are held every Monday in District 3 and every Thursday in Binh Thanh. The goal is to help foreigners navigate Vietnamese language and culture, whether they’re here to travel, do business or study.
Volunteers, aged 18-35, are mostly students and office workers who use the opportunity to improve their own English and communication skills. Each week, the club designs a new curriculum to make learning accessible for participants. Class sizes range from 10 to 30 students, most of them expatriates living in Vietnam.
Mara, an 18-year-old German student taking a gap year to travel across Asia, joined the classes after arriving in HCMC on Aug. 26. She plans to travel northward through the country and sees learning Vietnamese as essential for her trip. She said she wants to be able to greet locals, shop and read maps.
“It’s rare to find free language classes in other countries,” she said.
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