Thai women talking in English vs Thai

[GinBoy2]

So as I'm sat here watching Ch 3 and the ludicrous 'English on Tour' segment I was struck by something I think I've seen all over my life in Asia.

 

When she talks in English it's a couple of octaves lower than when she speaks in English versus when she switches to Thai.

 

Looking back it was most obvious when I was living in Japan, but I've seen in in most asian countries I've lived in.

 

Anybody else noticed this linguistic thing?

[CharlieH]

Only thing I have noticed is the apparent increase in volume ! 

 

As if speaking louder somehow makes it any better ? ????

[Lacessit]

I tune out when women are talking together. My ears take enough of a beating when they are talking to me.

[SteveK]

I've noticed that my wife often speaks on the phone with her friends for 20-30 minutes at a time, and when I ask what they were talking about she has an uncanny ability to condense the entire, protracted conversation into a single word in English.

[johnray]

I haven't noticed it.  Actually quite the opposite.  The kids I teach scream in English in a high pitch American accent.  And than they speak in Thai very soft and gentle to their parents.

[rkidlad]

I haven't noticed it myself, but then I rarely watch any kind of cable TV. I did notice that with foreign movies dubbed in Thai the actors read with deep voices. It just sounds like someone with a normal voice putting on a deep voice. 

 

One other thing was presenting in English like a gameshow host. I was asked to critique my missus' nephew's English reading. I told them it was perfect but asked why he was presenting it like he was the host of a gameshow. The intonation was completely unnatural and weird. Missus said this is how the teacher told him to do it. Then I noticed this format was used a lot for other things here that are presented in English. None of them being actual gameshows. 

[samsensam]

7 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

I haven't noticed it myself, but then I rarely watch any kind of cable TV. I did notice that with foreign movies dubbed in Thai the actors read with deep voices. It just sounds like someone with a normal voice putting on a deep voice. 

 

One other thing was presenting in English like a gameshow host. I was asked to critique my missus' nephew's English reading. I told them it was perfect but asked why he was presenting it like he was the host of a gameshow. The intonation was completely unnatural and weird. Missus said this is how the teacher told him to do it. Then I noticed this format was used a lot for other things here that are presented in English. None of them being actual gameshows. 

 

years ago i dated a girl who did movie dubbing, she had a great voice, actually she had a great everything!

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, GinBoy2 said:

o as I'm sat here watching Ch 3 and the ludicrous 'English on Tour' segment I was struck by something I think I've seen all over my life in Asia.

When she talks in English it's a couple of octaves lower than when she speaks in English versus when she switches to Thai.

Looking back it was most obvious when I was living in Japan, but I've seen in in most asian countries I've lived in.

Anybody else noticed this linguistic thing?

Yeah, easy explanation, Thai is a tonal language, the Thai ladies reproduce the tone of the man they learnt English from.

Works in reverse too, most white guys speak Thai with a girly high voice, because they learnt Thai from a woman.

[Kwasaki]

55 minutes ago, SteveK said:

I've noticed that my wife often speaks on the phone with her friends for 20-30 minutes at a time, and when I ask what they were talking about she has an uncanny ability to condense the entire, protracted conversation into a single word in English.

My mrs same " Nothing". ????

[HashBrownHarry]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

I tune out when women are talking together. My ears take enough of a beating when they are talking to me.

I lug in to what they're saying and 99.9999999999% of the time they're talking utter gash, ignorance is bliss.

[Bramley]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Yeah, easy explanation, Thai is a tonal language, the Thai ladies reproduce the tone of the man they learnt English from.

Works in reverse too, most white guys speak Thai with a girly high voice, because they learnt Thai from a woman.

This is true. Native speakers of tonal languages learn to copy tones faithfully as babies. We don't hear tones because they are not a part of European languages.

[CraigInBangkok]

20 hours ago, rkidlad said:

I haven't noticed it myself, but then I rarely watch any kind of cable TV. I did notice that with foreign movies dubbed in Thai the actors read with deep voices. It just sounds like someone with a normal voice putting on a deep voice. 

 

One other thing was presenting in English like a gameshow host. I was asked to critique my missus' nephew's English reading. I told them it was perfect but asked why he was presenting it like he was the host of a gameshow. The intonation was completely unnatural and weird. Missus said this is how the teacher told him to do it. Then I noticed this format was used a lot for other things here that are presented in English. None of them being actual gameshows. 

The wife speaks English decently most of the time. However, if she learns a new word, or speaks to someone she does'nt know, for some reason she does these weird over pronounced vocal acrobatics. 

[rkidlad]

37 minutes ago, CraigInBangkok said:

The wife speaks English decently most of the time. However, if she learns a new word, or speaks to someone she does'nt know, for some reason she does these weird over pronounced vocal acrobatics. 

My missus speaks English with native-speakers and other foreigners with full confidence. Once she’s speaking English with other Thais abroad, etc, she seems to get nervous and alters her speech pattern. I feel there’s a sense of competition. 

[HashBrownHarry]

1 hour ago, rkidlad said:

My missus speaks English with native-speakers and other foreigners with full confidence. Once she’s speaking English with other Thais abroad, etc, she seems to get nervous and alters her speech pattern. I feel there’s a sense of competition. 

Yes, i agree about when there's a group there's a sense of competition, something like a badge of honour the better they speak it.

[mpyre]

5 minutes ago, HashBrownHarry said:

Yes, i agree about when there's a group there's a sense of competition, something like a badge of honour the better they speak it.

This is true in most cultures...have you ever been around a group of French speaking English, for example? They all seem to defer to the most fluent individual, especially if chatting with an English native-speaker.