Nam Den, The Host of Afro Viet TV is BACK!

It was amazing to realize we were already in season 10 and interviewing previous guests. My guest for this episode was Nam Den, who appeared on the show in 2021. Nam Den is a Nigerian content creator and YouTuber known for his channel Afro Viet TV. He has a strong presence in Vietnam and is fluent in Vietnamese, allowing him to connect with a diverse audience. Nam Den’s content often focuses on his experiences living in Vietnam, language learning, and cultural insights.

Catching Up After Pandemic

I caught up with Nam Den after the pandemic and realized how much had changed. Nam Den told me about what he had been doing since we last met. 

He had traveled to many countries, grown his beard longer, and noticed a bit of gray in it. He had come to my 7 Million Bikes birthday party a few years ago and seen me perform comedy at the Hard Rock Cafe, which I appreciated. I reminisced about our previous episode, recalling that we recorded it in Kim’s closet. 

I started with just one microphone in my front room, and Lewis Wright helped with editing. We eventually moved into his wife’s closet, which we called Kim’s Closet because all of the equipment Lewis had was in Kim’s closet. Now, we have our own studio.

Nam Den and I briefly touched on our mutual love for football, with him passionately supporting Arsenal and me rooting for Liverpool.

Nam Den’s introspection during the pandemic highlighted to me the importance of taking a step back from the hustle and bustle of daily life. He emphasized the fleeting nature of time and encouraged me to focus on meaningful experiences rather than relentless achievement. The pandemic forced him to confront the fragility of existence and reevaluate what truly mattered in life. By embracing a more relaxed approach to life and shedding unnecessary stressors, he found a renewed sense of vitality and youthfulness.

Challenges and Growth in Content Creation

He described his experience during the pandemic as a mix of highs and lows, with many plans taking unexpected turns. The pandemic had impacted his job, business, and travel plans, leading him to appreciate life more and reduce stress. He looked and felt younger, having learned to prioritize his well-being and eliminate stressors from his life.

Video Editing Challenges

On the business front, his ventures had been growing, and Afro Viet TV was also expanding, although not as much as he had hoped. He compared Afro Viet TV to an undernourished child because he hadn’t been able to post videos consistently. The pandemic had forced him to seek additional income sources, and he had taken on extra postgraduate courses, which he was still completing. Once finished, he planned to return to making regular YouTube videos.

Many Vietnamese YouTubers, including a friend Nam Den filmed with recently, manage to produce content daily. His friend, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, simply records himself eating and talking in Vietnamese, then uploads the videos straight away, sometimes even multiple times a day. Nam Den, however, couldn’t do that. His videos require significant editing, including transitions and color grading, which takes him about a day. The real challenge, though, is the subtitles, which can take up to a week to complete. Sometimes he even has to outsource the editing and subtitles to manage the workload.

He shared a story about a loyal fan who unsubscribed due to his inconsistent posting and messaged him on Instagram to express her disappointment. He appreciated her loyalty and explained his busy schedule, which included running a business, teaching, and participating in various TV shows and productions.

I related to the challenge of creating content by sharing my experience of making a holiday video, which took three hours to edit in just the first 30 seconds. People don’t realize how time-consuming video editing can be.

Transcript

Do you know that transcription software could misinterpret accents and words? Nam Den mentioned using captioning apps to help with subtitles, but when he mixed languages in a video, it became a tedious task to subtitle manually. He shared the struggle of making videos in both English and Vietnamese to cater to his diverse audience.

I also had the same experience with transcription programs struggling with my Scottish accent, making it difficult for accurate transcriptions. I joked about my business name, “Seven Million Bikes,” being transcribed as “Seven Million Bakes” every time.

YouTube Earnings in Different Countries

I brought up an interesting fact I had learned, possibly from Nam Den or someone else, about YouTube earnings. Videos viewed in Vietnam generate significantly less revenue compared to those viewed in the U.S. I estimated it was about one-seventh of the amount, but Nam Den corrected me, saying it was even less, around one-tenth. This makes it challenging to survive on YouTube payments unless you’re producing videos every single day.

Language Learning and Translation

I remember Nam Den explaining how he found making videos in English much easier. That’s why most of his recent videos were in English. The transcriptions for those were much more accurate, with only minor errors. However, making videos in both English and Vietnamese was incredibly challenging for him. This difficulty pushed him to practice and improve his Vietnamese pronunciation, even though it was already pretty good. He wanted to ensure that the Vietnamese transcription software could understand him better. Recently, he was pleasantly surprised that his Vietnamese had improved so much that even Google could transcribe it perfectly without any mistakes.

But for me, Vietnamese was so complex. One word, three letters, and it had six or seven different meanings depending on the accent. Nam Den confirmed this, saying that’s exactly how complex Vietnamese is.

I admitted that my accent already inflects up and down, making Vietnamese even more challenging for me. I hadn’t really tried to learn it, but I found it incredibly impressive that someone like Nam Den could speak it so well.

Conclusion

During our talk, Nam Den shared valuable reflections on life during the COVID-19 pandemic. From reevaluating priorities to embracing self-appreciation, Nam Den’s perspective offered a refreshing take on navigating challenges and finding growth in uncertain times. 

He encouraged me to film my podcasts, even if I didn’t publish them, just to keep them archived. His words meant a lot to me!

He encouraged listeners to find balance, take care of their mental health, and find happiness in both their personal and work lives.

Follow A Vietnam Podcast for more sharing and insights about Vietnam in the future!