Me No Ingrish: Travel blogger’s offensive post generalizing Thais sparks conversation

[BernieOnTour]

On 2/2/2018 at 10:58 AM, jak2002003 said:

Because they are working for tourists and internationals, and the common languages used to communicate between them is usually English.  

 

Most other Europeans and Americans can communicate at least at a basic level in English.  They are far more likely to be able to understand a few words of English than Thai, Spanish or otherwise.

 

I don't know what nationality you are, but the above countries you mention, most of them can speak English.  Most of them can't speak Thai!!!  

What about Mandarin? Behasa Melayu? Russian? 

... UK and USA are ranking 9th / 10 th in the ranking list of Thai tourists.

 

[BernieOnTour]

On 2/2/2018 at 3:48 PM, Russell17au said:

My Thai wife was never taught English at school and her 14 year old daughter is not being taught English at school, it appears that there are only a few schools actually teaching English and from what I can gather they are only high schools which to me is stupid because they already have the Thai language instilled into their brains, they should be teaching it in primary schools where it will instill into the young brain easier

Really???

 

I remember visiting a public school in the deepest Isaan, on the countryside in Buriram province: 8-10 years old coming to me and trying to test their English skills - "where are you from", "how are you", "what are you doing here". A little bit shy and laughing, but at least, they were trying.

 

Our 5 year old Thai niece is already learning English in pre-school - I am asking myself, how many British kids are learning a foreign language in that age? ... 

 

However, maybe, after several years dealing with Chinese, Japanese, Singaporeans, Thais in business and not being an English native speaker myself, I am spoilt and easy going, using "Globlish" too much and just appreciate their efforts fighting with a non-tonal language with such a terrible, inconsistent script language 555

[sanemax]

10 hours ago, Jonah Tenner said:

Different valleys in Scotland.

A word of warning: Don't ever tell a Scot that he should be speaking better english..

Bit of a random thing to say .

Anyway, why should one never tell a Scot that he should be speaking better English ? (Not that I ever tell anyone they should be speaking any language better )

[MaeJoMTB]

On 2/2/2018 at 9:48 PM, Russell17au said:

My Thai wife was never taught English at school and her 14 year old daughter is not being taught English at school, it appears that there are only a few schools actually teaching English and from what I can gather they are only high schools which to me is stupid because they already have the Thai language instilled into their brains, they should be teaching it in primary schools where it will instill into the young brain easier

My 6 year old is being taught 'English' at the local Amphur kindergarten.

Although I'm not sure of the quality of the teaching, as they say he isn't very good at English despite being a fluent NES at home.

Edited February 4, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎2‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 4:13 PM, bkkcanuck8 said:

My rent (outskirts of Bangkok - skytrain extension pending opening) 12,000 baht / month for 3 floor new townhouse.  Food, inexpensive.  "Small town feel" of around 60,000.  Dual pricing none.  If you travel to any country and you chose to go to tourist trap areas -- you will inevitably be targeted by touts.  Worst rip off as a tourist that I have run into was in Paris (my spider sense was tingling but I did not speak up while with my mates).   Even when living in the CBD area of Bangkok, never had much of an issue with dual pricing -- or being ripped off -- but then I was never silly enough to listen to touts.  If you cannot adjust to a local menu / lifestyle -- it will be more expensive since you are importing everything.  Not a problem for me since I prefer Thai food, and when I do have western food like pasta -- it is homemade since that is something I can do better than any silly foreign oriented restaurant.  Summary, silly tourist goes to foreign country wants everyone to speak a foreign language and is upset when they can't (like a majority of the English world).  Travels to tourist traps full of tourists and is surprised to be targeted by local criminal type element.  Instead of taking responsibility for his poor choices -- he blames the country at large.   

Good post.

My first con was in Carnaby St in London in the 70s. I got suspicious after I'd handed over the cash, so nothing I could do about it, but could have been worse.

[Thian]

On 2/3/2018 at 12:12 AM, Airbagwill said:

lets face it ordering a Burger in English has to be the most banal language test in the world

Seriously i can't order a burger in the MAC or BK in Thailand...they have no idea what a burger is...but of course they are very well educated 555555.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Thian said:

Seriously i can't order a burger in the MAC or BK in Thailand...they have no idea what a burger is...but of course they are very well educated 555555.

?????????????????????

Maccers and KFC et al burgers are exactly the same as in any other country I've been in. Maybe different in the US.

[Will E Vormer]

I agree about the not speaking english part....taxidrivers, staff in the big malls around Siam, the police in that area, the security...nobody can speak english while there are loads of foreigners around from all continents.
 
The rest of BKK also can't speak english but those tourists rarely go there....
 
Last week we went to a restaurant which is very highly mentioned at tripadvisor..
 
My wife told the taxi the name, he dropped us at a pier but there was no restaurant..we could see it over the water though, 10 meters away. So my wife asked some Thai how to get there....we followed the directions and couldn't find it....she asked again, we ended up in scary alleys which were under construction, totally dark and looked like a scary place you never wanted to be, we even had to walk over elevated planks without railing....
 
We just kept on walking since we got lost totally and after some more directions from locals we finally got there.....
 
I had to laugh so much about it, it's a famous restaurant and nobody in that whole neighbourhood can give directions how to walk to it, even when we are very close cause we see it....
 
Yes, that's thailand...nothing more nothing less.

By any chance was this Steve cafe ?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[bkkcanuck8]

58 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

?????????????????????

Maccers and KFC et al burgers are exactly the same as in any other country I've been in. Maybe different in the US.

Being a little pedantic but KFC is not the same world wide.  Some countries safety regulations do not allow for deep frying under pressure.  

[Russell17au]

BernieOnTour and MaeJoMTB,

Kanlayanwat High School where my step-daughter goes in Khon Kaen has no English teacher.

Sap Somboon primary School has no English teacher

Sap Somboon high school has an English teacher but she is Thai and she had trouble trying to talk to me in English so I do not know what she is teaching the students and there are still many other schools that do not have qualified English teachers so until every school has a qualified English teacher it is going to take many years for the English language to be the second language of Thailand

[MrY]

2 hours ago, Russell17au said:

BernieOnTour and MaeJoMTB,

Kanlayanwat High School where my step-daughter goes in Khon Kaen has no English teacher.

Sap Somboon primary School has no English teacher

Sap Somboon high school has an English teacher but she is Thai and she had trouble trying to talk to me in English so I do not know what she is teaching the students and there are still many other schools that do not have qualified English teachers so until every school has a qualified English teacher it is going to take many years for the English language to be the second language of Thailand

 

Years ago (2005?) near Nakhon Sawan I met a young lady at my friend's Sunday BBQ wanting to practice her English with me. Her English was horrendous, but I gave it a couple of hours since I was just killing time anyway. She kept dodging questions about what she did for living, but eventually admitted to "walking on school". As an English teacher. Apparently she had graduated from teacher's college without any specialization, arrived to her first job, and was given the opening they had. Clearly we shouldn't expect any general improvement in their language skills any time soon...

[watcharacters]

On 2/2/2018 at 9:46 AM, Enoon said:

 

Yes:  "I consider us both to be seasoned travellers"

 

They're not, they've just done a lot of tourism.

 

"Tourists" are what they are and what they always will be.

 

There's a difference.

 

It doesn't matter how many, quote: "combi-tickets" you buy, or how many mini-bus tour trips you take to "off the beaten track" settlements, "attractions" and "sights".

 

 

 

 

•  

  On 2/2/2018 at 9:46 AM, Enoon said:

 

Yes:  "I consider us both to be seasoned travellers"

 

They're not, they've just done a lot of "tourism".

 

There's a difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HELLO??

 

 

 

What would you say "qualifies" a person to be a seasoned traveler?

[Will E Vormer]

The conversation is taking a slippery slope

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[MrY]

2 minutes ago, Will E Vormer said:

The conversation is taking a slippery slope

 

He said slope...

[MrY]

55 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Imagine making Thais from the 70's look like simpletons and stupid, or short with brown skin! Whatever next? Look, they've all got buffalos and ride in carts! 

 

Have you ever considered that is what they were really like? Or do you think Thai soaps represent a more accurate portrayal?  

 

Find the buffaloes and carts;

 

[Blackheart1916]

Poor little poppet.

[bkkcanuck8]

8 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Why do Britons need to learn another language when English is the lingua franca of the World? 

 

If Thais have any ambition of getting out of a job in the 7/11 they will learn another language immediately and as soon as possible.

 

The Thai language, aside from being based on a myth and deliberate lies, came from Khmer (people will lie and tell you Sanskrit but that preceded Khmer), is a nonsense. Tones, ridiculous amounts of characters, few words... it isn't worth anyone's time or effort outwith a few expatriates and Asian businessmen. I speak it, but I have lived here 30 years, otherwise I would not have bothered. 

 

One thing is for sure, the Thai language won't be around much in 2-300 years. It won't and can't evolve and will be eclipsed by its more spoken Chinese counterpart. Probably end up like Gaelic in Scotland or the Basque language in Spain. 

 

Communication will evolve and only the fittest survive.

In 200 to 300 years, English will likely be not English as we know it either.   You just have to look back in history to realize languages change, get replaced, die.  With the UK and the US turning inwards -- english will likely fade in the future - sort of like how French has faded as a world language.  English is only a defacto international language for several industries etc. because of the wide influence of imperialism from both the UK and the US... and that will be less as the future goes on. Mandarin on the other hand will likely continue gaining in importance internationally -- though they should likely reform their writing system to make it easier to learn going forward (it is not the easiest even for children of native speakers).

 

The intransigence of many foreigners to integrate -- is a good reason for Thailand to never accept them as permanent residents.  In fact much of the tourist industries importance is a direct result of negligence and the pursuing of the easy tourist buck or "retirement" buck.  People who move to a new location may splurge at the beginning, but tend to taper off on buying stuff as they get settled in.  Thailand would be better off investing in education and getting qualified teachers, rather than building high speed transit for a few elite or tourists.  They should over time increase the qualifications of getting an easy visa for retirement etc. since the lack of a pocket of foreigners who are two arrogant to integrate -- does nothing for Thailand in the long run.

 

Languages are tools, and like tools the more tools (specialized) the better.  The tool most widely used in Thailand is Thai, so people here are better served by learning Thai.   Learning a second language (some) will help with learning a 3rd etc.  The more you exercise the brain, the less likely you will become a drooling idiot in your later retirement years -- if it is not already too late for some 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2018 by bkkcanuck8

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

Being a little pedantic but KFC is not the same world wide.  Some countries safety regulations do not allow for deep frying under pressure.  

I did say "in any country I've been in".

Anyway, they are all bad for us, even if I do get them if they are on special.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

if it is not already too late for some 

Way too late for me 55555555555555555.

[Sonhia]

Let's face it, most if not all foreigners, (known as FALANG, which I consider impolite) have, at some point, been shopping and witnessed or received poor communication skills/customer care, and posdibly bluntness/impoliteness by staff, who tend to be eatimg or on the phone etc.

 

I've been fortunate enough to have moved around Thailand on many occasions, living in different provinces within the Kingdom in both large and small cities and towns, including very small out of the way rural villages, and sadly my exoeriences as a whole has been one whereby being a foreigner is seemingly frawned upon. 

 

The life style is far from peaches and cream as tends to be depicted.

 

The comments made, I have to agree with based on my own experiences.

 

Racism seems to be very prevelent as is/are other aspects of social life. Foreigners are tolerated for what finance they have, but in general are seemingly disliked.

 

[isaanbanhou]

10 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Imagine making Thais from the 70's look like simpletons and stupid, or short with brown skin! Whatever next? Look, they've all got buffalos and ride in carts! 

 

Have you ever considered that is what they were really like? Or do you think Thai soaps represent a more accurate potrayal?  

 

 

In the 1970's  "Archie Bunker" made American's look fat, stupid and racist

 

while ITV'S " Love thy Neighbour" portrayed the English as quivering , 

 

ineffective  repressed racists.  Isn't it funny  how so many grow up to reflect

 

the tv of their youth.  

Edited February 5, 2018 by isaanbanhou

[rosst]

I hope he doesn't come to the Philippines where I live, what a masturbater 

[Hooliganzone]

The knob should have gone to Butlins