An was born in Russia, but when he turned six he left Russia for Vietnam, the father’s homeland, to settle down. An speaks Vietnamese like a native.

The good-looking young man has some ‘western’ features. He admitted that his face is an advantage which raises curiosity and helps attract people to his videos.

In the videos, he speaks Vietnamese fluently. Viewers are attracted by the content featuring the habits, hobbies and typical characteristics of Vietnamese.

An can speak Russian but, in videos, he mostly uses the Vietnamese language.  Even when talking with foreign friends and making videos, he also uses Vietnamese.

He often explains Vietnamese culture and lifestyle, and shows how to eat and behave in Vietnamese way to his foreign friends.

An said he began working as a content creator a long time ago, but has become well known only in the last year.

Before deciding to become a full-time content creator, he worked for a fashion company. Seeing his co-workers at the company livestreaming to introduce products for sale, An found it interesting.

He quit the job at the fashion company and shifted to selling goods online. The first products were clothes, because he was keen on fashion. Later, he decided to sell many other products and now he is a seller for many brands on social networks.

Spending time on livestreaming and selling goods online, An has never given up video production. He considers this a serious job and will keep it for a long time.

“Previously, I was still not sure about the path I needed to follow. But now, everything is clear,” he said.

However, he feels a bit sad when hearing comments from people. They are surprised that he works as a salesman.

According to An, there are other famous foreign names in Vietnam and they have chosen different paths for themselves. Some have joined showbiz, others create content, and many people teach English. An works as a salesman and content creator, and this is his choice.

An’s ‘western’ appearance seems to be an advantage for attracting audiences. However, he has felt uncomfortable with too much attention from the public. But he has got used to this recently.

“Oh, biet noi tieng Viet a? noi tieng Viet ro the!” (Oh, you can speak Vietnamese? You speak Vietnamese very well) is the saying he mostly hears from people when going out.

One day, he entered a street ice tea shop and said ‘U rot cho con ly tra da loang’ (Give me a glass of weak ice tea, mom), which surprised the shop owner.

‘U’ is a dialect word, used when calling mother, originally sourced from rural areas, and it has become more commonly used in the north. And only those, who can speak Vietnamese fluently know and use the word.

An’s ‘western’ appearance sometimes causes him inconveniences, especially when he goes to the market. Sellers tend to set higher prices to foreign customers. An said he always haggle about prices before buying.

“In many cases, I thought I succeeded in negotiating prices, but I later found that I was still overcharged,” he said with a smile.

An said he sometimes encounters funny situations in Vietnam. One day, he saw an African man driving a motorbike and said to the driver: “Ban oi, di dung lan duong nhe’ (hey, stay in the right lane). Surprisingly, the African man replied: ‘toi biet roi’ (I know). So, the African man could speak Vietnamese.

When the two of them stopped on the way and talked with each other, An realized that the African man spoke Vietnamese fluently. And the two men from two different countries became friends thanks to the Vietnamese language.

Nguyen Thao