Paying Just to Learn Someone Else's Culture?

Paying just to “learn their culture”?

After I reiterated that teachers shouldn’t be chosen purely by passport, someone replied, “But foreign teachers bring cultural diversity. My kids need that exposure.”

Growing up in Việt Nam, I rarely had foreign teachers—there simply weren’t many around, and online lessons weren’t common.

But once my English was solid enough to chat comfortably, I made tons of international friends. I messaged people online, invited a few to visit Việt Nam, and played local tour guide. I took them to hủ tiếu stalls near Co.opmart Phan Xích Long and to the jazz bar owned by Trần Mạnh Tuấn in District 1. We talked, shared meals, and swapped stories. That’s how I learned their cultures—through real friendships.

Later, when I moved to the UK, I relied on the English I’d learned from my Vietnamese teacher (my mum!) to connect with locals. That was enough to socialise, integrate, and keep learning. You don’t need much more than the ability to understand, talk, text, and read emails to build relationships overseas.

So paying a foreign teacher just to “get their culture” is like paying someone from Hà Nội to have coffee with you so you can absorb Hà Nội culture. Sounds odd, right?

Language is a tool—a fishing rod, not the fish. Choose the teacher who helps you build a strong rod. Often, that’s someone who has already mastered the language from your perspective and can teach you how they did it.

What we truly need is the ability to acquire skills and absorb language—not the language itself handed to us. Learning is a lifelong journey; two years with an expensive “cultural” teacher won’t cover that.