How I became a travel writer in Vietnam: An interview with SOAS alum Joshua Zukas

Joshua Zukas is a Vietnam-based travel writer and SOAS graduate. In this blog we discuss his journey from studying language and linguistics to becoming a published travel writer. 

How did you get into travel writing? 

After graduating, I moved to Vietnam, where I've been based for about eleven years. I always knew I wanted to work in travel, but I didn’t initially see myself as a travel writer—it was more of a dream, and I didn't know if I could achieve it. I began working in travel, writing marketing copy and blogging when it was still relatively new and influencing wasn’t a thing yet. 

Eventually, I realised blogging wasn’t for me, but I used my copywriting and blogging experience to transition into travel writing. I make a distinction between bloggers who self-publish and travel writers who work with editors and publications. I only publish through other publications because when I have other people's eyes on my work, I think that the end result is better. 

During my time at SOAS, I was introduced to different languages and parts of the world, which helped me decide what I really wanted to do. Throughout my degree, I realised that Vietnam was the place, and if I was going to get to know somewhere properly, I should focus on one place and one language, at least to start with. SOAS helped me specialise.

Do you have a piece of work you're most proud of?

I'm proud of a few, but one I'm particularly excited about is an upcoming Bradt Travel Guide, set to release next summer. Bradt has a unique history—they were the first to publish an English-language guide to Vietnam in the early '90s and are known for covering more obscure destinations, giving writers the freedom to dive deeper. That's why I pitched the idea of revisiting Vietnam for a more in-depth guide. 

Other pieces I’m proud of include a feature for Wallpaper*, where I explored Richmond City’s history, architecture, and design, and an article for The Economist on Vietnamese modernism. The latter was particularly interesting because Vietnamese modernism, which developed in the 1950s-70s, blends global modernism with traditional Vietnamese techniques. 

Unlike Western modernism, which isn’t suited to Vietnam’s tropical climate, the country's architects incorporated bio-climatic ideas, creating naturally cool and porous buildings. My time at SOAS definitely helped with both of those stories, but it helped with the Vietnamese modernism story in particular because it is indigenous.

When did you discover a passion for languages?

Before SOAS, I worked as a volunteer coordinator for a small charity in central Vietnam, and the experience made me consider a future in the region. Through my travels, I discovered a love for learning languages. I wasn’t particularly good at them in school, but when immersed in the countries, I found I was better than I thought—and I enjoyed it. 

After spending some time in Asia and realising how different languages are compared with those in Western Europe, I deepened my interest in language and linguistics, but from a non-European perspective. That’s what led me to study Linguistics and South East Asian Studies. When I was looking at different linguistics courses in the UK, the SOAS course stood out. Most UK linguistics programs are more Eurocentric.

The linguists at SOAS, both past and present, were able to challenge those ideas and contribute to more universal theories of language.

I studied three languages at SOAS: Vietnamese, Indonesian and Burmese. Vietnamese has obviously been hugely helpful. Without that, it would have been very difficult to do the job that I do now. Indonesian was really helpful as well, but more from a travel point of view. Burmese was only a beginner class, and I don't speak any Burmese, but it was fun to learn, understand, and get my head around. The alphabet was so different from English, Vietnamese or Indonesian. 

What did you learn from your time at SOAS? 

Through linguistics and language, SOAS opened my mind to understanding the world in a non-Eurocentric way. Teachers helped me broaden my outlook on how languages function, disproving accepted linguistic theories that were based mainly on European languages. For example, Chomsky is usually considered the father of modern linguistics, but he based all of his ideas on English, Russian and other European languages, which is only one language family of many. 

The linguists at SOAS, both past and present, were able to challenge those ideas and contribute to more universal theories of language, which essentially is what linguistics should be. It helped me not just academically within linguistics and Southeast Asian studies but also in my career today.

SOAS helped me get my head around key concepts like Orientalism and helped me decolonise my language so that I could write more sensitively and inclusively. That's been an important part of my career. My time at SOAS helped me become more sensitive in the language I use when describing things like a country’s colonial history or heritage. In travel writing, it’s very common and easy to romanticise the destination that you’re covering. 

Travel writers often romanticise colonial architecture through language with words such as 'grand', 'romantic', 'beautiful' and 'iconic' to describe a history that was exploitative. 

My time at SOAS helped me become more sensitive in the language I use when describing things like a country’s colonial history or heritage.

My time at SOAS helped me on the path to to see how this language was destructive and incorrect. I do travel writing, but I edit other writers as well and one of the big red flags for me is if they overly romanticising any aspect of the country's colonial history. If I see this, I am quick to point it out and explore other ways to explore and describe it.  

What is your career advice to students?

The world is full of opportunities, and regardless of what part of the world you're interested in, whether it be Southeast Asia, like me, or parts of Africa or other parts of Asia, there will be plenty of opportunities. As a fresh graduate, the best thing you can do is go out and find them.

SOAS is a small institution, so you can actually develop quite a close relationship with your teachers, which is something I think is rare at other universities. I became quite friendly with my teachers early on, and I'm still friends with them now and I'm able to utilise those connections throughout my career. At SOAS, you start building your network from your undergraduate days, which has been invaluable to me. 

Many of my friends who went to other universities didn’t start developing their networks until later in their careers. At SOAS, it begins early and stays with you.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Header image credit: Silver Ringvee via Unsplash