First impressions set the tone. As a tech lead, your words in the first week shape how a new hire feels about the team and whether they stay. Yet for many Vietnamese devs, onboarding conversations in English feel awkward — too formal, too brief, or missing the warmth that builds trust. This post gives you the language tools to change that.
🗣️ Key Phrases to Say Out Loud
Practice each phrase until it feels natural. Read them aloud — pronunciation matters as much as the words themselves.
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“Welcome to the team! We’re really glad to have you.” /ˈwɛlkəm tə ðə tiːm wiː ɑːr ˈrɪəli ɡlæd tə hæv juː/ Use this as your opening line on day one — simple, warm, genuine.
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“Let me walk you through how we work.” /lɛt miː wɔːk juː θruː haʊ wiː wɜːk/ A signal that you’re about to explain process — not just throw them in the deep end.
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“Feel free to ask questions — there are no silly questions here.” /fiːl friː tə ɑːsk ˈkwɛstʃənz/ Critical for psychological safety. Say it explicitly, not just once.
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“Our team has a few norms I’d like to share.” /ˈaʊər tiːm hæz ə fjuː nɔːmz/ Introduces team culture without being preachy. Keep it to 3 norms max.
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“Don’t hesitate to reach out if you get stuck.” /dəʊnt ˈhɛzɪteɪt tə riːtʃ aʊt/ Removes the fear of “bothering” the lead — essential for a new hire.
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“By the end of your first week, you should have a good sense of…” /baɪ ðə ɛnd əv jɔːr fɜːst wiːk/ Sets a realistic milestone without pressure. Finish the sentence with something achievable.
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“Let’s schedule a check-in for Thursday — how does that sound?” /lɛts ˈʃɛdjuːl ə ˈtʃɛk ɪn/ Always propose a specific day. “Let me know if you need anything” is too passive.
📚 Vocabulary
onboard /ˈɒnbɔːd/ — hướng dẫn người mới, tích hợp vào team. “We have a structured process to onboard new devs in 2 weeks.”
ramp up /ræmp ʌp/ — làm quen dần, tăng tốc từ từ. “Give yourself 2–3 weeks to ramp up on the codebase — that’s normal.”
buddy /ˈbʌdi/ — người đồng hành, mentor nhỏ trong team. “I’ll assign you a buddy for your first month — someone you can ask anything.”
norm /nɔːm/ — quy tắc ngầm định, chuẩn mực của team. “Our team norm is to leave comments in PRs within 24 hours.”
runbook /ˈrʌnbʊk/ — tài liệu quy trình vận hành. “The runbook covers our deploy process step by step — start there before your first release.”
check-in /ˈtʃɛk ɪn/ — buổi gặp ngắn để cập nhật tình hình. “Let’s have a quick check-in every Monday at 10am to see how you’re settling in.”
🎯 Practice Now
Script A — 90-Second Onboarding Welcome (read aloud 3 times)
“Hi [Name], welcome to the team! We’re really glad to have you. This week we’ll keep things relaxed — your main goal is to understand how we work, not to ship code yet. Let me walk you through the basics. We use GitHub for everything, daily standups at 9am, and PRs go through at least one review before merge. Feel free to ask me anything — seriously, no silly questions. And if you get stuck on anything, just ping me on Slack. How does that sound?”
Why this works: It sets a low-pressure first week, names the key tools, and ends with a question that invites dialogue. Notice it takes about 90 seconds at a natural pace — fast enough to stay engaging, slow enough to be understood.
Script B — Setting First-Week Expectations (practice in the mirror)
“By the end of your first week, you should have a good sense of the codebase structure, you’ll have met the team, and hopefully you’ll have made your first small commit. Don’t worry about understanding everything — that takes months. Let’s schedule a check-in for Friday — I’ll ask you what went well and what was confusing. That helps me improve the onboarding for the next person too.”
Why this works: The last sentence — “That helps me improve onboarding for the next person” — is subtle but powerful. It reframes their confusion as useful feedback, not a sign they’re failing. It also signals you’re thoughtful about team growth, not just individual performance.
Common Mistakes Vietnamese Tech Leads Make in Onboarding
Too formal, not enough warmth. “Please read the documentation and ask if you have questions” is complete, but cold. The new hire needs to feel welcomed, not processed.
Assuming they’ll figure it out. Strong engineers often don’t ask for help early because they don’t want to look weak. You need to explicitly invite questions and make it safe.
Skipping the “why” behind norms. “We always write unit tests” lands better as “We always write unit tests because we’ve been burned by regressions before — and it’s saved us a lot of pain.” Context creates buy-in.
No structured follow-up. A one-time welcome is not onboarding. Schedule check-ins on day 3, day 7, and end of week 2. Block them in the calendar before day one ends.
Weekend Tech Lead Tip
Write down your team’s 3 most important norms in English. Could you explain them clearly to a new hire in 2 minutes? Practice saying them out loud now — not in your head, out loud. Notice where you hesitate or use Vietnamese words. Those are the gaps to close before your next onboarding conversation.
Onboarding is one of the highest-leverage things you do as a tech lead. The 2 hours you invest in a new hire’s first week can be worth months of momentum — or months of confusion.