“Don’t complain about our English, If you can’t speak Thai” - sign at restaurant goes viral - again

[mauGR1]

2 minutes ago, Yinn said:

They can speak English. 

They write the sign in English!

Boring listen to people complain English not enough for SOME customer.

Happen already. Reason make the sign.

 

 

Yes, but that sign is not really endearing.

"we love you" really sounds not true.

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Actually I love it when the 711 or supermarket workers don't speak English or not enough. I can float either way, but if they try I do also help them and not embarrass them. In the stores around me English is not really spoken so the conversation is Thai.

Would point out 7-11 workers are required to have finished high school to age 15 (or more).

So they've been learning English for at least 10 years.

 

I never expect much from fuel pump attendants, mostly Burmese up in Chiang Mai.

And most of them appear to think M/cs can run of diesel fuel. 

Edited January 20, 2020 by BritManToo

[Berkshire]

14 minutes ago, smedly said:

Nothing wrong with that statement if you are serving Thai people "but" you are entertaining and serving foreign tourists who generally "do not speak Thai", if you want tourists to continue to come here then make and effort to be good hosts - if your business is not doing well then blame the tourists/customers - typical Thai attitude of not owning their own issues and blaming everyone and everything else.  

 

So your statement is one of blatant ignorance and stupidity 

 

Lets refrase your statement to what it actually means 

 

In our country of Thailand were tourism makes up almost 20% of our GDP do not come here on holiday unless you speak Thai - go somewhere else

 

New test for tourists at airports/borders - a Thai language test - if you don't pass you will be deported 

 

The sign doesn't say "NO ENGLISH SPOKEN HERE!" or "ONLY THAI SPOKEN HERE!"  It just suggests, probably tongue-in-cheek, not to complain about their English proficiency...which also suggest that they're trying to speak English best they can.  Why are certain people getting so upset?

[jany123]

45 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

No, but all airline pilots must speak English which is nowadays considered to be a basic requirement for doing business almost anywhere. If you want to be in an industry that caters to tourists ...

What’s needed is for air line pilots to stop flying, such that they can get a better paying job serving food to disrespectful tourists hanging the do do on the poorly educated.... sounds like a plan

[holy cow cm]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Would point out 7-11 workers are required to have finished high school to age 15 (or more).

So they've been learning English for at least 10 years.

Yeah, but in most cases they sat and did not learn anything because the reality is most don't see the relevance and reason to grasp and learn English as this is Thailand. They figure will never use it.. Same as in the US. In one ear and out the other for years and years, but basically only memorizing some parts by sight and filling in the answer blank.. You have to get the point and feel the reason of relevance of why you should learn. Like seeing patterns but not knowing what they mean.

[smedly]

I think what this restaurant is saying is "WE DON'T WANT FOREIGN TOURISTS" 

 

which is probably fine for most 

Edited January 20, 2020 by smedly

[Saint Nick]

54 minutes ago, ravip said:

Absolutely true!

One should be ashamed to bash the contents of this sign. Do all the staff in restaurants in your home country speak all the languages of their customers?

Arrogance & Racism will bring out more stuff similar to this. 

 

Okay...I'll bite!

English is the accepted "international" language!

If you want to cater to the international community, to speak at least a bit of English is in your own interest!

No one in Norway, Germany or Spain asks you to learn German, Norwegian or Spanish, if you are a tourist and walk into a restaurant!

Guess what will do?!

ENGLISH!

It is the second language to quiet a bunch of people and it won't hurt Thailand, to catch up!

[Yinn]

49 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Happy to be corrected but is not English taught in Thai schools, is English

Most thai people NO need to speak English. For what? 

My mum want to waste time learn it? The worker for the rubber tree, palm plantation, the factory worker, the supermarket, hardware shop, all get low wage. Never speak with English speaker. Learn for what?

Nobody in my village will speak English today. Everyone speak thai. No need English.

 

 

 

Quote

 

 

not the Government approved 2nd language of Thailand and that is why ALL the major highways are signposted in English

Some signs, not all. Most are thai. “Reduce the speed” “Dangerous bend” “keep right for uturn” etc etc.

 

Quote

 

 

, most buildings and Government buildings etc all have their name in English script not only Thai script .

Wrong. 

Have thai script. Some also have English. 

All the document in government place is Thai. 

TV show, news etc is Thai. 

Thai is the langauge of thailand. 

 

Quote

 

Just an observation ????

 

Thailand has more Chinese tourist now. Be better for business if can read Mandarin. (But so difficult) 

[Yinn]

Just now, Saint Nick said:

Okay...I'll bite!

English is the accepted "international" language!

If you want to cater to the international community, to speak at least a bit of English is in your own interest!

No one in Norway, Germany or Spain asks you to learn German, Norwegian or Spanish, if you are a tourist and walk into a restaurant!

Guess what will do?!

ENGLISH!

It is the second language to quiet a bunch of people and it won't hurt Thailand, to catch up!

Sign not say you learn thai.

They ask you not complain.

[Momofarang]

English is my third language, my luck is that early in my career I became aware that anyone with a wee bit of ambition had to learn The international language. Which I then did to the best of my limited linguistic ability.

When it comes to the poor English proficiency of Thai people, I just feel sorry for a people that refuses to see opportunities beyond it's borders, out of a mixture of arrogance, complacency and laziness.

[Mister Fixit]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Oddly enough, my son aged 8, has been learning English for 3 years in his Thai school, and they class his English ability as 'poor', even though he's a native English speaker and chats all day in English at home.

Makes you wonder!

That's almost certainly due to an inability to speak decent English themselves and hence they have no ability to judge other people's abilities.

That, and jealousy because the lad probably speaks way better English that anyone else at the school does.

Last year, I had to do a weeks course for the 'senior' (ha ha) Thai teachers who were the ones to be trained to teach English to the other Thai teachers - remember that?

Well, what a shambles it was too!  Lovely people all of them, but totally and utterly incapable of even stringing a simple sentence together.  

I would not have put any one of them at over A1 level.  And A1 is total beginner, but these were people in their late 40s and 50s who were supposedly the 'experts' who were going to teach the other, non-English speaking teachers!  What a joke, yet another brilliant idea which was never thought through.  

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by Mister Fixit

[Somtamnication]

Flogging a dead horse.

[Gecko123]

Suspect more signs await customers inside:

 

"Sorry if dog bother you, this is Thailand. Same same mosquito and fly.

"Please kindly do not hold glassware up to light to check if clean. Very bad manner in Thailand."

"If toilet not clean, mop in the corner. Please rinse after use. Customer always number two"

 

I'll tell you this, if I saw that sign out front, I'd keep walking.

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by Gecko123

[smedly]

1 hour ago, bkk6060 said:

I speak only a few Thai words but I agree with the sign.

Only because I have witnessed too many Falang get upset or even yell at staff at various places because they cannot understand English.  Calling them stupid and the such.

It can be frustrating but not really their fault. Blame the government for not making them learn English in school.

If you want good English interaction with mostly polite people, go to the Philippines 90% there speak.

simple solution - go somewhere else 

 

go somewhere that realises that they rely on tourism and actually make an effort

[Roy Baht]

Sounds like a place where they mishear your order and bring you the wrong food--then say don't complain. ????

[Yinn]

14 minutes ago, kingofthemountain said:

I don't see the french in your list.

 

So finaly you opened a restaurant?

The French not popular in SEA. You know why.

[DrTuner]

8 minutes ago, Saint Nick said:

No one in Norway, Germany or Spain asks you to learn German, Norwegian or Spanish, if you are a tourist and walk into a restaurant!

Guess what will do?!

ENGLISH!

I was actually a tourist back at my native Finland last month. In the tourist spots pretty much everybody spoke English to me, which is fine, I usually spoke English back for convenience, but it was funny when they got spooked if I replied in Finnish. I suppose it must've been the sun tan, other locals were white as polar bears.

 

That's how it's done properly.

Edited January 20, 2020 by DrTuner

[brewsterbudgen]

41 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

I wonder if you live in the real world.  I'll bet the people that wrote that sign just got fed-up...and I can't blame them.  I have seen myself how some farangs can be total pr**ks when they're harassing Thai servers who are trying their best to understand.  And as another said, Thais have to deal with all manner of foreigners.  Do they have to be fluent in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc.?  There are more Chinese speakers in the world than English.  Anyways, I can see how some businesses see loss revenue as a cost they'd prefer to pay over having to deal with jerks. 

I'm not sure if I live in the "real world" - I live in Thailand!  But you misunderstand my post if you think I'm sympathetic to farangs acting like pr**ks; I'm not, and if any one complained in an aggressive or unpleasant manner in my restaurant I would chuck them out or refuse to serve them.  However, I wouldn't write a provocative and unpleasant sign like this one.

[ThomasThBKK]

8 minutes ago, Saint Nick said:

Okay...I'll bite!

English is the accepted "international" language!

If you want to cater to the international community, to speak at least a bit of English is in your own interest!

No one in Norway, Germany or Spain asks you to learn German, Norwegian or Spanish, if you are a tourist and walk into a restaurant!

Guess what will do?!

ENGLISH!

It is the second language to quiet a bunch of people and it won't hurt Thailand, to catch up!

 

 

If you go to a random german or spanish restaurant in the sticks, like this one obviously is, and demand to be able to speak english, you will get punched in the face, that's all you will get.

 

I am from a german air spa village, tons of tourists, no one speaks english. Would be utterly useless anyway as most guests don't speak english anyway.

 

  

2 minutes ago, Yinn said:

The French not popular in SEA. You know why.

They aren't popular in europe either ????

Edited January 20, 2020 by ThomasThBKK

[DrTuner]

3 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

"If toilet not clean, mop in the corner. Please rinse after use. Customer always number two"

I have to ask, was the pun intended or just a happy coincidence?

[Mister Fixit]

37 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I guess the sign could be worse though.

 

Like the sign in San Francisco -- We cheat tourists and drunks.

 

In Thailand it might be -- White people pay double. Love you!

Very often more than double.  Ten times more for many national parks.

Like this sign in Kanchanaburi some years ago for the tourist train - 300 baht for foreigners and in Thai, 100 baht for Thais so only 3 times more.

[legend49]

1 hour ago, Denim said:

Sigh.....nothing much happening in the world today I guess.

 

In other riveting news , a man crossed a busy road to go to a 7/11 store and survived.

Did he get a plastic bag with his purchases.?LOL.

[CharlieH]

6 minutes ago, Yinn said:

Most thai people NO need to speak English. For what? 

My mum want to waste time learn it? The worker for the rubber tree, palm plantation, the factory worker, the supermarket, hardware shop, all get low wage. Never speak with English speaker. Learn for what?

Nobody in my village will speak English today. Everyone speak thai. No need English.

 

 

 

Some signs, not all. Most are thai. “Reduce the speed” “Dangerous bend” “keep right for uturn” etc etc.

 

Wrong. 

Have thai script. Some also have English. 

All the document in government place is Thai. 

TV show, news etc is Thai. 

Thai is the langauge of thailand. 

 

 

Thailand has more Chinese tourist now. Be better for business if can read Mandarin. (But so difficult) 

I didn't say they "needed" did I ? and yes most rural To hai may not need, that's not in question what they "need".

 

Good you agree that signs etc, most are in English, but I didn't say "only English", just that English names and text was used everywhere as the normal in Thai society including Government office names police stations and many many buildings, and even on Thai Maps all the places are in English script, again not all, but most.

Thais have to use English because for some things there is NO THAI word, "Computer" is an example.

[kingofthemountain]

7 minutes ago, Yinn said:

The French not popular in SEA. You know why.

You are breaking my heart

[Grusa]

1 hour ago, ParkerN said:

Yes. well. English is the default uniquitous language of the world. Thai isn't. It must surely be the responsibility of Thais to speak English, not for Europeans or Americans (both of whom come here mainly for cheap beaches, cheap food or cheap sex) to learn how to order Somtam in Thai or to engage a waiter whose IQ is likely less than 90 in conversation (quantum mechanics anyone?).

 

Seems reasonable for foreigners to boycott jingoistic little restaurants like this one. It probably isn't very clean anyway and it seems they need a few lessons in how not to <deleted> their customers off.

I thought Big Too was on record as stating that pasa Thai would be the future language of diplomacy.

[evadgib]

If English is a problem i'm curious as to who wrote that sign?

 

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by evadgib

[Sticky Wicket]

The main problem is with customers who want to add/take something off an existing item on the menu i.e. fussy eaters or with allergies etc.

Most people even if they can't speak Thai can point at the item they want, it's not rocket science!

I've seen most problems when a non Thai speaker is trying to alter a meal in English. You can literally see the server's head spinning

Start asking for sunny side up eggs or crispy bacon & well done toast in English and you are bound to <deleted> up the whole order

[ThomasThBKK]

Just now, evadgib said:

If English is a problem i'm curious as to who wrote that sign?

 

Did they say that??? NO.

 

They tell people to stop COMPLAINING about their english skills, not that they refuse to speak english.

 

And it's quite clear which group of people are those that complain about other peoples english skills - the one who speaks only 1 language.

[Mister Fixit]

33 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Happy to be corrected but is not English taught in Thai schools, is English not the Government approved 2nd language of Thailand and that is why ALL the major highways are signposted in English, most buildings and Government buildings etc all have their name in English script not Thai script .

 

Just an observation ????

Yes, English IS taught at all Thai schools, but unfortunately it is taught extremely badly by Thai teachers whose knowledge of English is minimal at best.  

[sucit]

6 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I'm not sure if I live in the "real world" - I live in Thailand!  But you misunderstand my post if you think I'm sympathetic to farangs acting like pr**ks; I'm not, and if any one complained in an aggressive or unpleasant manner in my restaurant I would chuck them out or refuse to serve them.  However, I wouldn't write a provocative and unpleasant sign like this one.

Yeah, it says enough for me about a business that thinks it is appropriate to complain on a sign meant for customers to see.

 

I do think they are right however. Many English speakers are entitled pricks.