I Found A Language School! So time to repay your kindness....

Thanks but we've actually had a really hot thread on VLS.  It resulted in a moderator closing it.

Essentially I calculated the fees and it came to be over $15,000 USD to finish a one-one course and made the argument you can hire a college student for one-one course for much much much lower than that.

I think a VLS employee, under the guise of "helping" us Expats out, came on and argued that my calculations were incorrect and I shouldn't be spreading lies/misinformation.  Whatever...I did my calculations from the fee schedule on VLS' website.

So if we want to compare "apples to apples", learning English and learning Vietnamese should be on a comparable fee schedule right?  Or is the price super jacked up just because the students are foreigners?

Let's put it another way.  What Vietnamese do you know is willing to spend 300 million VND ($15,000) on a language course?  You actually can buy a house for this amount.

You make an interesting point.

But essentially it's a buyers’ market, if you don't want, don't buy.

If people want to pay to learn in a School, not privately, they will do so for reassurance (perceived or not) of learning from an institution rather than a tutor. If they don't want to spend that much money, they'll get a private tutor.

Your point about the differing cost of English to Vietnamese is one worth exploring, but happens all across the city from the price of that fake A&F shirt you buy on the market, to your Xe Om home...If you're not Vietnamese, you'll pay more because you're thought to be earning more. 

So as a comparison point, it works to some extent, but it's largely irrelevant as the service is one that would never be used by a Vietnamese. Just as the English lessons available would never be used by someone who spoke English.

So they are costed at their respective markets. One is 'expensive' while the other is 'cheap'. But as the customers will never crossover, it doesn't matter.

If your problem is with capitalism and market economics. Then you're in the right country



Anyway, all I was saying is, there's a discount. So if you think it's expensive, then it's just become a little cheaper...

JohnNeilDanielson wrote:

vlstudies.com/vn/news--events/news/teachers-day-wishing/485/1for everyone's help with my learning Vietnamese quest.

I've made a decision, and decided to go with the VLS.

Then I noticed a promotion on their website about Teachers Day.....

It seems that they're offering a discount to any English (or other Foreigner) that is teaching in HCMC, if they want to start learning Vietnamese!

Check it out here vlstudies.com/vn/news--events/news/teachers-day-wishing/485/1

Just my way of saying thank you (albeit in a limited way, as I'm only thanking non Vietnamese people...)

Well, we certainly appreciate the spam.  I say spam because it reads very odd.  Are you getting any kick-backs or additional discounts if you recruit students for the school?

One - nobody ever comes back to "repay our kindness" by telling us there's a 20 - 50% off xyz product.  "Hey you guys, you were so awesome to me, come buy an iPhone that's 20% off."  They simply say thanks, I found a language school.  And you'd do it on your original thread, not start a new thread.

Two - Why are you thanking only "non Vietnamese people"?

JohnNeilDanielson wrote:

Just my way of saying thank you (albeit in a limited way, as I'm only thanking non Vietnamese people...)

When it's clearly that there was a good number of Vietnamese/locals that participated in your thread and gave you some good advice.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=316691

A regular bloke would have just wrote a "thanks guys, I'm going to VLS" at the end of that thread. 

So those two reasons I think you just intended to advertise VLS's Teacher Day discount program for Expat-Blog people, rather than thanking anyone for any "kindness".  Hence, thanks for the spam.

JohnNeilDanielson wrote:

... Just as the English lessons available would never be used by someone who spoke English....

WRONG! Actually it has English lessons used by someone who spoke English. Knowing that it has British English / American English / Australian English / blah / blah / blah, word also has "proof-read" for Hong Kong English / Singapore English... correct me if I am wrong but in any English speaking country, they have class of English literature? English speakers need to learn English then?!?

Wow Tran Hung Dao perhaps you should consider giving the guy a break he's a new expat-blog member so maybe not a professional poster yet... 

If you look back on threads related to language study you will see that I too have asked for feedback on where to study Vietnamese, sometimes posting things as a result of what I learned such as links to the Uni of Social Sciences and Humanities Vietnamese language course schedule and pages showing their textbooks and their prices (I think 250k dong for VSL 1 they also have a CD you can get that goes with it for like 60k dong but you have to tell them you want it when you go to buy them there at the uni) in response to questions.

As it happened I also chose to study Vietnamese at VLS for now (and am willing to bet I'll take a class at the uni at some point as well). I saw OP's other thread asking about schools and the three replies from satisfied students at the Uni of social sciences on 10-12 Dinh Tien Hoang and thought I should put in a good word for VLS as well but I guess I was feeling a little lazy (glad he found it anyways).

I think both VLS and the uni are great places to study. I have the Vietnamese as a Second Language 1 book from the uni and follow along and do the exercises while taking the VLS class (the materials for both schools are very good and roughly equal in price and content from my perspective).

I think somebody (other than OP) did ask for a comparison of different schools as far as cost etc.

Tran Hung Dao you like to do things in great detail so maybe you will post links and exact calculations but it basically boils down to this:

Cost and class size-

The Uni: classes come out to about $3 an hour (around 5 million dong for an 80 hour course or 2 and a half million for the 40 hour evening courses). According to the uni's website 5 students are necessary for a class to be held and the class size is capped at 12 students.

VLS: classes come out to about $6 an hour at full price and according to their website class sizes are 3-6 students (though in my case they held the class even though it is just me and one other student). VLS has some promotions they do here and there. I believe 15% discount for students who are able to study during the 1pm-5pm hours is a constant one but I was told there was a special promotion (sorry if this reads like an advertisement - and no I'm not getting anything for posting it) from now through December which is 40% off the 1pm-5pm hours (I don't remember the exact price in dong but in dollars it was a $149 charge on my bank card with books included for a 40 hour class with one other student).


Location- 

VLS: D7 Phu My Hung and D1
the Uni: D1

Class schedule-

VLS: Whatever times/days 3 or more students are available (the other person in my class and I study 2 hours a day, 5 days a week)

The uni: New classes starting every 2 weeks, see schedule. Generally if you want to go evenings you can only study Tues and Thursdays or Monday Wed and Fridays. If you want to study 5 days a week you generally need to do morning or maybe early afternoon (scheduling options change a bit every 2 weeks). 

That's pretty much all I know. I think the teacher I got at VLS is excellent (as I'm sure are those who teach at the uni). She is a lot of fun and makes the class very enjoyable. She even let's me and the other student diverge from the lesson plan to talk about various things, just as long as we make our best effort to do so in Vietnamese.


P.S. to THD: Wow after writing all that I do feel somebody should pay me something haha. Who pays you to post as thoroughly and on as many subjects as you do (I'm ribbing you of course as a result of your questions to op)?

Here's the really abridged comparison for everyone who - unlike THD - may not care to take the time to read my long post above.

Course cost-

The Uni: $3 an hour for small classes of 5-12 students
VLS: $6 an hour for small classes of 3-6 students (sometimes there is a promotion whch reduces this cost)

Schedule- A lttle more flexible at VLS

Location-

The Uni: D1
VLS: D7 and D1

Quality of instruction- Both very good according to the feedback I've encountered here and elsewhere from their respective students.

Nam_ wrote:

Here's the really abridged comparison for everyone who - unlike THD - may not care to take the time to read my long post above.

Course cost-

The Uni: $3 an hour for small classes of 5-12 students
VLS: $6 an hour for small classes of 3-6 students (sometimes there is a promotion whch reduces this cost)

Schedule- A lttle more flexible at VLS

Location-

The Uni: D1
VLS: D7 and D1

Quality of instruction- Both very good according to the feedback I've encountered here and elsewhere from their respective students.

You missed something:

The Uni: no spam
VLS: Constant SPAM - on here, to my inbox, you name it, they do it.

I will NEVER do business with a company that engages in VLS's kind of reprehensible marketing tactics.

EDIT: I would also like to point out that OP's only activity on expat-blog is to promote VLS. As we all know, this is not a typical expat profile.

I confusing?
Is the Uni worth the study fees or is VLS worth the study fees?

The reason I said, only thanking 'non Vietnamese people’ is because they would, presumably, have no interest in taking Vietnamese lessons. So the offer would have been about as much use to them as a chocolate teapot...

You're right, most of my help came from Vietnamese people, my thanks goes to them, but I doubt they'll need to go to learn Vietnamese anytime soon hence my comment...

And if you think I work for the VLS....I can barely say 'Xe Om' at the moment, again, I'd be about as useful as the Teapot mentioned above...

With regard to the ‘English lessons for English speakers’.... Point taken, a fair amount of people I know back in the UK could do with a few pointers on their grammar...