Discovering the Power of Language

My memory is terrible but I believe one day long ago, my mom had lectured me on the importance of vocabulary. She told me that it was important to learn both English and Vietnamese. This is probably slightly different advice than what others would have gotten. People tend to laugh at you and look down upon both you and your family if you cannot speak Vietnamese. It's just a cultural thing over there. To them, kids who grow up and totally forgot their root language is just - I think embarrassing is the word I'm in search of. As for English, the better the vocabulary, the smarter you will sound. 

About the advice my mom gave, I think that it is great. As far as how much I hold true to that advice, that's another matter. I do try to learn new vocabulary often but as I am now, I feel that there is much room for improvement.