Deaf man with 4 college degrees

Born into a poor family in Thai Binh, and deaf in his left ear, Tran Viet Dung still achieved 4 university degrees.

Viet Dung completed four regular university degrees in 6.5 years, two of which were excellent in Economics and Law. The remaining two degrees are bachelor's degrees in English and Finance - Banking.

Currently, Dung is an English teacher in Ho Chi Minh City. The 31-year-old man scored 8.0 on the IELTS, with a 9 in Reading and 8.5 in Listening on August 10. As for the TOEIC certificate, Dung achieved the maximum score - 990.

Dung currently teaches English in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Character provided

Dung said he was deaf in one ear, a consequence of meningitis when he was less than a year old. It was not until he was 9 years old that his family discovered he could not hear, but by then it was too late to intervene. According to the results of an ENT examination at Hanoi National University Hospital in 2016, Dung was severely deaf in his left ear.

Despite this, Dung tried hard to study and was admitted to Thai Binh High School for the Gifted. Admiring his seniors who passed the Foreign Trade exam, in 2010, he also registered to take the exam to enter this school. Dung was then admitted to the Economics major, specializing in International Trade.

Upon entering school, he met many young, highly qualified teachers from the Finance and Banking department who taught general subjects. Inspired and shared with them about career opportunities, Dung was interested and decided to register for the second major, International Finance, at the end of the first semester of his first year.

But for the first two years, Dung was "stuck" among his friends who were good at studying and spoke English fluently.

"Like a duck hearing thunder, especially English subjects. I couldn't hear anything in one ear so studying was very difficult," Mr. Dung recalled, saying that after the first year he only achieved a grade point average (GPA) of 2.64/4.

Worried that he would not be able to keep up with the program, he decided to take an English course at a center with a tuition fee of 1.6 million VND for more than 20 sessions, almost equal to the monthly food allowance provided by his family. But taking one course could not immediately improve his level, while the family's economy depended on his mother's small coffee shop and his father's motorbike taxi rides. Mr. Dung took on a job as a Math, Physics, and Chemistry tutor for the landlord's children and gradually did not have to ask his mother for money every month.

Wishing to study English extensively and intensively but with low tuition fees, Dung then studied and passed the English Language major at the University of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, in June 2012.

In 2014, after completing his first major in Economics at Foreign Trade University, he chose to study Law. Mr. Dung explained that he studied many majors because he wanted to stand out from others, especially in the competitive environment of the school. In addition, at that time, he determined that Finance was his main profession, the other three degrees were auxiliary. To become a good financial officer, he not only needed to be fluent in English but also had to understand the law.

"I study a lot but with direction. I study because I love to study to develop my own abilities, not to show off that I have many degrees," Mr. Dung shared.

Dung in an English lecture. Photo: Character provided

Dung said that there was a period when he registered for 16 subjects, 44-48 credits/semester, in all three majors. Overlapping study and exam schedules happened frequently.

"The pressure of exams drove me crazy, and I wanted to quit the Foreign Language School. But remembering the days when my mother longed to learn Russian but didn't have the means, I was determined to learn for her," said Dung. Dung's schedule always started from 6am to 2am the next day for 7 years.

To listen to the lectures, he always had to come to class early, sit at the front desk, record them, and listen to them later at night. According to Mr. Dung, since he was young, he did not have to wear a hearing aid, so he could understand conversations in Vietnamese. However, with English, because his hearing was not good, he had difficulty pronouncing correctly.

To practice these two skills, he applied the Shadowing method and always listened three times. The first time he listened with headphones until he knew the script by heart, the second time he listened to the speaker, and the third time he played each sentence and repeated it until he pronounced it like the tape.

"This method is very time-consuming but effective. Being deaf is a disadvantage, but in my situation it turns out to give me perseverance in studying," said Mr. Dung.

In 2017, after completing four degrees, Dung went to Saigon to work for a financial company but still taught English at a center in the evening. After two years, he decided to devote himself to teaching because he wanted to inspire learning and help disadvantaged students who did not have money to attend extra classes.

Although not directly teaching Dung at the Foreign Trade University, Dr. Dang Thi Minh Ngoc, a lecturer and specialist in the Inspection and Legal Affairs Department, has more than ten years of contact and professional exchange on Law with this student. According to Dr. Ngoc, Dung always has the awareness to strive and improve his qualifications.

"Dung is very intelligent, polite and progressive. He wants to develop his own career to help many people. I admire Dung's determination," said Dr. Ngoc.

A TOEIC class of Dung. Photo: Character provided

Mrs. Bui Thi Thanh Thuy, Dung's mother, is proud of her son's achievements, saying that not only is Dung a good student, he is also obedient and loves his parents. Since childhood, he has determined that to change his fate, there is no other way than studying.

Dung is also happy when looking back on the past journey.

"The pressure of studying for four degrees has never happened before in my life. That proves that my efforts have given me great mental strength. That is what I am most proud of," said Mr. Dung, adding that he will continue studying to help his family and poor students.

Dawn

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