For us many of us non-native Vietnamese speakers, learning the local, tonal language is a tall order. But while most of us are satisfied learning ‘get by’ vocabulary, there are those who take their study of Vietnamese a bit more seriously, like Lee Alexander Kirby.

Kirby, CEO of Ashbourne High School in London, lived in Vietnam in 2003 when he played as a footballer for the Ho Chi Minh City Post and Telecoms Soccer Teams. He began to learn the language on his first visit and has continued to study it even when living in the UK.

The 34 year old has been working on his Vietnamese language album, “Viet Nam oi” for over 3 years and came from a project called “Iced tea with Lee” which “aims to promote Vietnamese culture and images to the world.”

“With my album, I want to reiterate my life philosophy ‘You only live once!’, - to just grasp any opportunities that come to you. With my constant efforts, I’ve managed to do things that not all foreigners can do: speaking, singing in Vietnamese and travelling throughout Vietnam,” Kirby shared.

The album includes 3 pieces by the late Vietnamese composer and songwriter Trinh Cong Son - “Diem xua” (reminiscences), “Nhu canh vac bay” (like a flying heron) and “Dem thay ta la thac do.”

The album has been released in Vietnam and the UK and is available for purchase on iTunes and CDBaby.

Kirby is currently touring for his new album with stops in Hanoi, Hue, HCMC and Rach Gia from Nov 2013 to Jan 2014 (though we couldn't find any information about it online).

Here's a sample of Lee's tunes:

[Tuoi Tre]