All beginnings are difficult, learning English can be discouraging at times.

Nguyen Canh Luan and Nguyen Thi Xuan Quynh are both teachers with many years of experience in teaching English - Photo: HO LAM

On the morning of April 5, at 23/9 Park, a talk show on the topic "English for tourism, the key to expanding global opportunities" took place with two book authors Nguyen Canh Luan and Nguyen Thi Xuan Quynh.

The event is held within the framework of Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2025. Speakers will share perspectives and practical experiences on using English in the journey to explore the world.

Fear of speaking English wrongly

Nguyen Canh Luan, author of IELTS Speaking Journey , is an English teacher with 8.0 IELTS and 990 TOEIC, and is also a popular content creator on social networks.

In 10 years of learning and teaching English, looking back on this journey, Mr. Luan believes that speaking is still the most difficult skill. The difficulty here is how to overcome the fear of making mistakes and shyness.

“Back then, when I met foreigners on the street, my father often told me to start a conversation with them. My mentality at that time was shyness. I thought I didn’t know what to say to them, what if I said something wrong and they judged me?” - Mr. Luan said.

And then the more he learned English, the more he realized that making mistakes was inevitable. Making mistakes, realizing where he was wrong and trying to correct them slowly, was the only way to improve and progress.

When practicing speaking, Mr. Luan often uses the Shadowing method. This is also the way he learned to speak English since he was little, and even learned Vietnamese.

"For example, when watching movies or videos in English, I imitate the tone and pronunciation of the characters in the clip, or when I see my parents or teachers talking, I speak the same way. That's called Shadowing (imitation). In my opinion, this is also the most effective way to learn to speak because it is in line with the natural language learning method.

"From the moment we first come into contact with our mother tongue, we also tend to imitate it to absorb and use that language," said Mr. Luan.

However, according to Mr. Luan, the thing to note when using this method is that learners need to be persistent and find their favorite English speaking resources that are suitable for them.

Speakers discussed practical experiences in learning and teaching English at the event - Photo: HO LAM

Progress comes slowly

For Xuan Quynh - author of the books English Learning Path for Beginners - The English Journey and English Question 101 , the thing she finds most frustrating in the process of interacting, learning and teaching English for 10 years is that sometimes she feels like she is studying forever but not making any progress.

IELTS Speaking Journey book (published by The Gioi Publishing House) - Photo: HO LAM

This is probably also true for many people who enter the "game" of conquering English with great determination, but after a short time become discouraged.

Such as having "gaps" in basic knowledge that affect the learning process, vocabulary learned first and forgotten later, confusing grammar, and listening skills that never improve.

And then many people give up because they think they don't have the talent, or English is too difficult to conquer.

"In the beginning, I thought everything was fine, but after studying for a while, I wondered why I was still stagnating and not making progress.

But fluency is not something that can be achieved overnight.

Learning English is a challenging journey that requires perseverance and the right approach. Progress will come slowly.

"When you are determined to sit at your desk to study every day, it means you are making progress" - Xuan Quynh said.

She advises English learners to find a like-minded friend to practice with, or if they don’t have a friend, they can practice by themselves by talking about things they are interested in and like, such as: describing a day at work; when you meet someone you like, what will you say to them…

Then, you can use the voice recorder to adjust your tone, pronunciation, etc.

At the event, many questions were raised about the opportunities and challenges when English can be seen as a golden ticket to integration in the context of technological development and people's increasing passion for traveling and exploring beyond the borders of Vietnam.

Many participants believe that not only English, opportunities will open up even more when we know more languages ​​such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French... in the current context.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/van-su-khoi-dau-nan-hoc-tieng-anh-doi-luc-cung-de-nan-2025040513195861.htm