9-year-old girl gives free tour guide to foreign tourists

With fluent English, little Huong Mai in Ninh Binh often goes to Bai Dinh pagoda to work as a tour guide for foreign visitors.

Appearing in the program "Little Sun" broadcast on the evening of December 16, little Huong Mai, a 4th grade student in Ninh Binh, surprised the audience with her ability to be a tour guide in both Vietnamese and English. Wearing a charming ao dai, Huong Mai confidently introduced the attractions at Bai Dinh pagoda tourist area, a famous scenic spot of her hometown.

The 9-year-old girl is able to be a tour guide in both Vietnamese and English.

The 9-year-old girl revealed that she loves Math and English. She often talks with foreigners, so her foreign language skills are improved. In the summer, she goes to Bai Dinh Pagoda every day, but during the school year, she only arranges time occasionally.

"When there was nothing to introduce, I talked and communicated normally. They would ask me what my name was, how old I was, where I came from, and how many languages ​​I knew. When there was a place to visit, I would introduce it to them," Huong Mai said about her early experience as a tour guide.

However, the difference with a real tour guide is that she does this for free. Even when someone insisted on paying, Huong Mai refused and replied that she only went to the tourist spot to learn English.

In front of a large studio audience, Huong Mai reenacted a tour guide session at the Bai Dinh Pagoda spiritual tourist area - the largest pagoda complex in Southeast Asia.

"Ninh Binh is a land rich in cultural and tourism potential, because this was the capital of Vietnam in the 10th century," she began her speech in Vietnamese with carefully prepared content.

Each attraction appears before the viewer's eyes with engaging instructions, starting from Tam Quan gate.

Halfway through, the MC asked Huong Mai to use English to help foreign guests understand the La Han corridor. She calmly continued her work in another language with clear pronunciation, natural intonation, and fluency.

Not only talking about the size of the corridor, the number of rooms, the number of stone steps and 500 Buddha statues, Huong Mai also incorporated into the guide advice on landscape preservation.

"In front of you are the 500 statues I just mentioned, and these 500 statues also have 500 different faces, expressing 500 different emotions of people in the human world. If you come closer, you will see black spots on the statues. Because there are many people touching the statues. They think that when they touch the statues, luck will come to them. But they should not do that, because that makes the statues ugly and degraded," Huong Mai presented in English.

The girl continued to lead guests to the bell tower (great bell), Quan Am temple, Buddha statue with legends associated with these attractions, making the whole studio hold their breath to watch.

"When you come to Bai Dinh Pagoda, don't forget to contact me. I will come and guide everyone around the world for free. For Vietnamese people, I will guide in Vietnamese. For foreigners, I will guide in English," Huong Mai finished her presentation to continuous applause.

According to VNE