Ryan Duy Hùng · American English Coach
You are not bad at English.
You were never allowed to be wrong.
I am American. I moved to Vietnam at eight years old. For over 15 years I have coached Vietnamese speakers using one rule that runs against everything school taught them: Speak now. Fix later.
- Native American speaker
- MBA, University of Hawaii
- Former school principal
- Lecturer, Vietnam–UK University
- Author of Find Your Voice®
- Executive coach
The real problem
You studied English for years. You still freeze.
Not because you lack ability — but because you were taught to be correct before you were allowed to speak. Your brain learned one lesson well: opening your mouth is dangerous.
Fear of mistakes
The sentence is already in your head, but you swallow it — afraid of mispronouncing a word, afraid of the pause that follows. This has a name: foreign language anxiety.
Knowledge you cannot use
You know the grammar. You know a thousand words. Then a real meeting starts, with real native speakers, and all of it disappears.
Burned by past courses
You have paid for classes before. Month one felt great, then it faded. You are sceptical of every new promise now — and you are right to be.
About me
An American who understands Vietnamese learners from the inside
There are many native-speaking teachers. There are many teachers who understand Vietnamese learners. Very few are both.
I was born American, but I moved to Vietnam at eight. I went to school there, made friends there, grew up there. I know what it feels like to sit in a classroom and not understand a word — just in the opposite direction from you.
So I understand why Vietnamese students go quiet when called on. Why adults fear losing face more than they fear being wrong. That is not something you learn from a book.
Beyond language, I hold an MBA from the University of Hawaii, served as a school principal and own several businesses. So what I teach is the English used in meeting rooms and negotiations — not textbook English.
Ryan Duy Hùng Founder of Lighthouse American English · Atlanta, Georgia
A different approach
Speak now. Fix later.
My four children spoke incorrectly for years. Nobody interrupted them to explain grammar. They kept talking, and accuracy followed. Adults learning a language are forced to do the reverse — and that is exactly why adults get stuck.
What I do first
Remove the fear. In your first session you speak — imperfectly, slowly, that is fine. The goal is not to sound good. The goal is to break the silence reflex that has frozen you for years.
What I do after
Then we correct. Once you are speaking, fixing pronunciation, intonation and phrasing moves many times faster — because you are adjusting something already in motion.
For Vietnamese Americans
Living in the US and still blocked by English?
Your needs are different from a learner in Vietnam. You do not need a test score — you need English that works in American life. I live in Atlanta, so I understand this context from the inside.
Citizenship interview
Preparing for the naturalisation interview with answers you can say confidently, not memorise mechanically.
The American workplace
Speaking up in meetings, talking to your manager, handling the small talk that decides who gets included.
Your children's school
Parent–teacher conferences, emails from school, advocating for your child without needing them to translate for you.
Start with a conversation
No placement test. No sales pitch. Just 30 minutes for me to understand where you are stuck and what would actually fix it — in Vietnamese if you prefer.
Book a free consultationJournalists, event organisers or companies looking to work with me? See the speaking and media page.