555555... Now all my kids must sound like a farang??!!

[DavisH]

On 8/7/2018 at 4:10 PM, radiochaser said:

I met a young lady at Chulalongkorn University when I was attending Thai language classes.  

After speaking in English with her for a few minutes, I was unable to place her southern (United States) accent, so I asked her.  Where in the southern part of the U.S.  did you grow up in.  

She told me that she was Thai and had never been outside of Thailand.  But you have an accent from one of the southern states of the United States, I exclamed.  She responded, I got that from my English language teacher here at Chula.   He is from the south but I forget which state.  

Her American English was flawless and she sounded just like an American when she spoke.  

As a matter of fact, her English was better than some people that have never been outside of the United States.  

 

Some pick up accents quickly and keep them. Some pick it up and lose ith quickly (when returning from overseas). I would say only 1% or less of Thais who have studied only in Thailand will develop a natural native speaker accent of some description. Iven my wife studied for her PhD in Australia for a number of years and talks to me daily for the last 20 years still speaks with some accent. Thais need to get over it - accent isn't importance - clear speech and fluency are important. 

[Aussieroaming]

On 8/7/2018 at 2:10 PM, Pungdo said:

I am an Aussie and my daughter will be 7 this Christmas and speaks fluent English, with no Thai accent even though she also speaks excellent Thai and Isaan and it has nothing to do with any English teacher she has had at school to date and everything to do with the English I have taught her.

 

The really odd thing is her last English teacher at her Kindergarten, an English guy, told me a while back that before he met me, he thought her father was an American, I put that down entirely to the amount of American videos she had been watching on Youtube.

My wife speaks English with an American tone as well, so social media has a lot to answer for.

[radiochaser]

2 hours ago, DavisH said:

Some pick up accents quickly and keep them. Some pick it up and lose ith quickly (when returning from overseas). I would say only 1% or less of Thais who have studied only in Thailand will develop a natural native speaker accent of some description. Iven my wife studied for her PhD in Australia for a number of years and talks to me daily for the last 20 years still speaks with some accent. Thais need to get over it - accent isn't importance - clear speech and fluency are important. 

Clear and understandable speech.  That would be nice. 

My Thai niece went to Washington State, USA for a year of English as a second language.  She stayed with my American niece in her apartment.  I expected good things with her English language.  

How ever.  She hung out with her new friends, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and two or three other nationalities.  All, who were in my Thai nieces English as a second language class.  They all spoke some English and were attending the ESL class at a University. 

 

But, they all spoke English with each other, after class and all reinforced their bad English with each other, so my good expectations were not realized. 

[BB1958]

What does 55555555 mean? 

[radiochaser]

2 minutes ago, BB1958 said:

What does 55555555 mean? 

A string of the number "5", in the Thai language, would  be pronounced, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Both Thai's and foreigners use the number "5" to represent laughter, rather than typing ha, ha, ha ... or LOL. 

[BB1958]

Just now, radiochaser said:

A string of the number "5", in the Thai language, would be pronounced, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Both Thai's and foreigners use the number "5" to represent laughter, rather than typing ha, ha, ha ... or LOL.

Thank you for taking the time to educate me

[Neeranam]

On 8/7/2018 at 3:14 PM, ChrisKC said:

Among the plethora of mistakes most Thai people make is pronouncing "rice" as Lice". As an Englishman, I cant' think of anything more revolting than being invited to eat my lovely Thai curry with "lice"

And talking of rice, the Thai expression indicating I will eat: "gin kaow" should not be translated into English as I will "eat rice". It should be interpreted as, I "will eat".

Can I ask you if you are fluent in Thai, with no accent after 15 years working here? I think telling us how to translate "gin khao" is rather insulting.

In 24 years of teaching here, I've met many teachers who don't even know what date it is in Thai, yet criticize the Thai English teachers for their lack of English skills, or their students.

How can a student respect a teacher that can't learn the language of the country he is staying in, especially if they've a Thai wife.

 

[puukao]

4 hours ago, NetJunkie116 said:

 

Make your mind up.

Please consider this possibility:

 

Normal Thai class (to my understanding) is maybe 20 to 45 kids.

 

My class is maxed out at 15.  

 

 

[puukao]

4 hours ago, falangjim said:

First off, they are your students, not your kids, although I can appreciate your dedication.  Your title made it confusing; I thought this was a father bemoaning his own children not having a 100% foreign accent. 

 

As for experience in this matter, I have come across parents of students who want their children to develop a 100% foreign accent. (American, British, etc).  I find this mostly with the Chinese parents. It's a very unrealistic expectation.  Just my 2 cents.

It's sort of both:  The parents are told by the director their accent will change, and then the parents wonder why it doesn't.  For the money, I can see them telling the parents they will be able to read medical textbooks in 11 minutes of intensive teaching.

[Neeranam]

14 minutes ago, puukao said:

It's sort of both:  The parents are told by the director their accent will change, and then the parents wonder why it doesn't.  For the money, I can see them telling the parents they will be able to read medical textbooks in 11 minutes of intensive teaching.

I very much doubt if the parents can tell their kids' accent in English.

[Elkski]

I will admit American English accent is the best.  Neutral central region of course.  Intermountain West.   

This thread is about parents and admin wanting what's best for the children's future not if an English teacher knows Thai.   As many are aware of Thailand's proficiency in English is near the bottom in SE Asia.    I'm not a teacher but I've attended a 2 day English camp at a school. I know and have met many teachers and school directors.  The English ability of some teachers with English degrees is proof that the universities don't fail anyone.   From what I observed in this English camp it's just a money making game for the owners of these teaching groups.  I had all the  numbers because I talked to the director and some teachers.  The big winner was the guy who had this group that called themselves an English camp.  

It wasn't a bad camp from teaching standpoint but you can't take a group of non English speakers and expect much in a two day camp.  Thai government seems to want to improve the English skills but when all the supposedly English teachers and directors can't communicate with me their is little chance for change.   Also talking to the students the schools get about 70, 000 bought per English teacher from the government and the school gets to keep whatever difference between the pay and 70000.  so any teacher that's working for 18, 000 baht isn't the brightest person. 

[Scott]

Language doesn't develop in an even pattern.   I used to get so frustrated with how slow some students were.   Teaching them English was like pulling teeth, but yet many of them finished University in Thailand then went overseas for post-graduate work.   I am friends with some on Facebook and have met and socialized with them as adults.   There English is excellent.  Some still have a strong Thai accent, some have acquired a near native standard, but they will never be mistaken for a native speaker.   I think the accent has to do with some things that are more internal to some people rather than teaching.

 

The big trick is to get rid of the little tell-tale signs that are unique to non-native speakers, like putting the s on plurals, adding a/an/the where it is supposed to be and some emphasis on proper enunciation of certain sounds, like the 'th'.   Once those things are properly in place, it becomes a lot easier to understand any problems with accents.

 

[NetJunkie116]

10 hours ago, Elkski said:

Also talking to the students the schools get about 70, 000 bought per English teacher from the government and the school gets to keep whatever difference between the pay and 70000.  so any teacher that's working for 18, 000 baht isn't the brightest person. 

 

Because of course the students know how and how much the government funds education..................not.

[Elkski]

yes  i meant to correct this in my edit.   In  talking to  some English teachers  teaching this class I Was told this 70,000 number.  it may have applied to international or private or government schools.. i cant recall that exactly.  I also used a  "Their"  instead of a there. 

I also left out the drink driving and pot smoking.   IMHO Thailand needs to pay up for quality and quantity of English teachers.   Rather than reading about flunkies hoping to turn to English teaching as a way to bum in Thailand it should be a highly prestigious job that goes to only highly qualified  candidates whatever their race..

 

 

I know some may argue that the World needs to learn Thai... but the fact is that English is the standard for technical fields.  Its universal language for many topics including Air traffic in the skies!   Deal with it!!~!   I was also told by one Thai woman that English was best for her to study and  to learn about the best ways to please your man.  Her Thai husband told her he left her with the two kids due to poor sex and she vowed this would never happen again..  I can promise she fixed any deficiency.   

[NetJunkie116]

7 minutes ago, Elkski said:

yes  i meant to correct this in my edit.   In  talking to  some English teachers  teaching this class I Was told this 70,000 number.  it may have applied to international or private or government schools.. i cant recall that exactly. 

 

OK, the government is not going to pay for teachers at either international or private schools, let's get that out of the way first. Secondly, if government schools were funded at around 70K per month for foreign teachers, every single tin pot school would have foreign teachers, and that is not how it is, many many schools outside major cities have no foreign teachers.

[puukao]

some nice responses, thanks.

 

exactly why i started this thread....

 

most of us agree.....it's about the school getting paid, we all learn differently, an accent is ridiculous to ask for after one hour, and there is still hope that in a few years these kids will stay motivated to learn.

 

 

[ChrisKC]

On 8/9/2018 at 3:09 PM, Neeranam said:

Can I ask you if you are fluent in Thai, with no accent after 15 years working here? I think telling us how to translate "gin khao" is rather insulting.

In 24 years of teaching here, I've met many teachers who don't even know what date it is in Thai, yet criticize the Thai English teachers for their lack of English skills, or their students.

How can a student respect a teacher that can't learn the language of the country he is staying in, especially if they've a Thai wife.

 

 Translation is NOT the correct word to use. In the case of "gin kao" translating it into English as "eat rice" is not what English speakers actually say. They say "eat". Interpretation is the correct way of making sense of one language into another.

 

I am not fluent in Thai but that is irrelevant. I am fluent in English and I know in English we use the word "eat" not "eat rice" (which actually means eat anything), as the Thais do!

 

Maybe you should understand that translation takes no account of differences in culture - interpretation does.

[BuckleUp]

Well, reading this thread, I am extremely happy my 2 daughters go to primary school in Melbourne. Can't imagine sending them into the mess that is the education system here. At least their cousin spent a few weeks with them during our holiday here, she's 8 and she's learnt more English in these 3 weeks than in all her schooling.

[Neeranam]

On 8/12/2018 at 1:37 PM, ChrisKC said:

Maybe you should understand that translation takes no account of differences in culture - interpretation does

Not true, I'm the member of groups for translators and I'm sure we all agree that translation is an art, and takes differences of culture into account, always.