I study Vietnamese because I live in Saigon and love the country.
In Beijing I was so used to being able to speak with everyone, not needing translators nor restrict myself to living in the "Expat Bubble because I could speak Mandarin.
That suddenly all changed when I got to Saigon. It was quite frustrating to suddenly be the “dumb foreigner” again. So, even though I had sworn myself to never study a tonal language again (mastering Chinese tones was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life), I started learning Vietnamese.
It’s really quite fun, though I can get a bit frustrated with locals in some parts of Saigon always wanting to speak English to any foreigner they see. It is understandable because so many foreigners here cannot speak Vietnamese, so I think we really need more foreigners living in Saigon to study Vietnamese.
I am probably A2 level now and it has made my life here a lot richer and more interesting.
I still hate the tones though…