CMV - "You should just learn Vietnamese" is not a solution
(Unpopular opinion, don't really care)
Or, perhaps instead of being someone who never studied an obscure and globally useless language during formative years but is expected to somehow learn it in their 40s within their adult life not built around foreign language study, the hundred million or so people who take mandatory English classes through the entirety of K-12 (and probably more if they go to university and afterschool English centers) could actually learn some English in the classes which auto-pass them under the state-approved determination that they have successfully learned anything at all from their compulsory language study.
“Just learn Vietnamese” is not a fucking solution. Ok sure, let me, who's only been here a short while and probably won't stay indefinitely, master your indecipherable series of intonated grunts and unphonetic scribble that sounds nothing like it's written on short order.
Illiterate tays, do not let them pressure you into wasting 5+ years of your life learning the utterances and 7 different ways of pronouncing "com" just so that you can read aloud what Google Translate ends up saying for you anyway in your daily exposure to the locals. Even if you do, they will pretend not to understand you or simply respond in English as some sort of nationalist gatekeeping. After all, the tay who knows too much is no good.
Your TEFL job does not require you to speak Vietnamese, nor does the girl you're trying to chat up at Phatty's (newsflash - she's smiling because she thinks you're a joke)
In before the whataboutisms I can see you all gagging to type from as far away as the moon:-
"You're so entitled" Yeah maybe. I guess expecting a few of the 100 million internet obsessed, smartphone dependent, TikTok scrolling, foreign media consuming population to know some knowledge of the global language of business, media, tourism and commerce which they've studied for over a decade does make me entitled. So what.
"What an essay" Don't read it then.
"What about foreigners in your country, how much Vietnamese do they speak?" - Not only does my country speak the aforementioned language of the world but it also offers government services in 24 other languages INCLUDING VIETNAMESE. Half of the Vietnamese in my country live in enclaves with other Vietnamese and can't speak English beyond "hello", "where's the pho restaurant" and "gel or polish?" They truly don't need to, we cater to them. Secondly, why the heck would we learn Vietnamese? Might as well ask why we can't speak Azerbaijani. Many of them do, however, have some knowledge of French, Spanish or Chinese and arguably more so than the average Viet does English.
"Your country is a melting pot, Vietnam isn't" Yeah and if Vietnamese wants the benefits (and wealth) of being part of the global community as much as they say they do, maybe they should try to play along. Nobody will adjust for them.
"Other countries can't speak English too" Well, A - I'm not talking about other countries and B - Chinese, Spanish, Arabic etc are both far more widely spoken in the world and also have far larger populations so of course they probably don't know English. Vietnam however, a relatively small and more obscure country on the global linguistic scale should probably have more inclination to learn a global language, especially if they claim to be a major hub of manufacturing, import and export and even more so if they sit mandatory classes in that language for over a decade. In 2026, there really is no excuse for young urban adults to have zero English knowledge. (And before anyone comes at me saying much of the foreign investment is Chinese and Korean, yeah how many Viets can speak those languages either?)
"Vietnam is not a developed country". Neither is the Philippines, nor Indonesia, nor even Malaysia if you look outside the shiny lights of Kualu Lumpur, nor is a whole bunch of countries in Africa or South Asia that all have far higher English levels than Vietnam. Next.
"You're a guest" or something to the tune. Yeah if someone legally resides, works, pays for visas, pays for public services, pays (jacked up) rent to a local landlord, marries a local, raises local kids and arguably contributes more to Vietnam than the average Phuc sitting in his hammock drinking 333, I like to think they're more than a "guest". The thousands of illegal migrants, including Vietnamese in my country however.
" You're an immigrant" Nope. Expats stay in a country for a set period of time. Immigrants settle in a country permanently and eventually become citizens, something that's practically impossible for most foreigners in Vietnam, hence why we're "expats".
"How many foreign languages do you speak?" Holy ad hominem, I speak 2 and know many more to a basic level, next.
"Why are you even in Vietnam?" A - nice strawman and B - because nunya. As in, nunyabusiness.