Pidgin English

[h90]

My wife (Thai) told me that if I want someone understands me in the office I shouldn't use things like past and future.

wrong "Are you able to produce that today as the customer will need it tomorrow?"

right "you make today, OK? Customer want tomorrow"

hahahahaha

Meanwhile my mother pointed out that my english grammar was real good in the past, but after 4 years in Thailand it is terrible what I speak, even if I speak with british people. I can't built right sentences anymore in english, I start to forget german and I don't learn Thai.....

I'll end without any language....

[Furbie]

The last time I spoke Pidgin English was 10 years ago on a flight from Taipei to LAX. My friend and I did not have a seat together and I requested the lady in the seat next to me change seats with my friend.

Me: OK, you change seat my friend. We want sit together.

Her: Sure, I can switch with your friend, no problem.

She was an American too.

After that, it was always real English. I have to mention, I work with some fairly well educated Thais and I am continually embarrassed by some of our Western visitors who speak Pidgin English to them in meetings. It is very disrespectful in my opinion.

[Maigo6]

You also see the OPPOSITE of this at times.

Location: Khon Kaen Airport. Scene: A farang rushed into the Airport, noticed the Arrivals/Departure screens were not working/turned off, raced over to the Thai Airways Information Desk and said the following at 100MPH: "My girlfriend Miss XXXX is arriving on Thai Airways TG1040 which is due from Bangkok's Don Muang Airport this morning. Can you tell me what time the flight will be arriving?"

The girl behind the counter stared at him, unable to comprehend what he said.

I overheard the conversation and translated for him: (speaking slowly) "That time plane Bangkok get here?"

The girl behind the counter smiled and said: "Plane Bangkok 15 minutes."

Peter

Good one Peter........

[GuestHouse]

It's Brits in Thailand speaking pidgin English that gets me, some of them have less than a month in country before they start giving it the 'Same Same'/ 'Friend me not go party friend you' nonsense.

[Momo8]

What is annoying about people who use 'Pidgin English' is that the perpetrator usually believes the person he/she is speaking to has lower than the average IQ.It's insulting,patronising and just plain terrible.Using simple English spoken slower than average speed is the answer not degenerating into silly baby talk!And never assume people can't understand English (or any other language).

A funny story about a group of African-Americans walking in a university campus.A group of Thai students stared at them and said to each other in Thai "Look how ugly those people are and how black their skin is!" To which the African-Americans replied in fluent Thai "Look how stupid and ugly those Thais are they think we can't speak their language!"

Needless to say those Thai lost their face and made a quick exit.

[Luckydog]

The one that annoys me is falangs who speak to their GFs in baby talk, and they end up speaking the same, how are they supposed to learn english if spoken to like a baby??

God how I agree with this post. It drives me to distraction. Some of my friends seem to have learned Pidgin English here, instead of teaching the Natives to 'Talk Proper'.......STOP IT NOW YOU GITS!!!

[Losangels]

What is annoying about people who use 'Pidgin English' is that the perpetrator usually believes the person he/she is speaking to has lower than the average IQ.It's insulting,patronising and just plain terrible.Using simple English spoken slower than average speed is the answer not degenerating into silly baby talk!And never assume people can't understand English (or any other language).

A funny story about a group of African-Americans walking in a university campus.A group of Thai students stared at them and said to each other in Thai "Look how ugly those people are and how black their skin is!" To which the African-Americans replied in fluent Thai "Look how stupid and ugly those Thais are they think we can't speak their language!"

Needless to say those Thai lost their face and made a quick exit.

Agree never assume anyone you don't know to understand your language no matter what they look like

[coops]

Me: OK, you change seat my friend. We want sit together.

Sounds like Singlish to me...

The main thing to avoid is asking a negative conditional question... or however it's labelled - something on the lines of:-

"It isn't far, is it?"

The European answer would be "no" to mean it isn't far (ie it's near), whereas a typical asian answer would be "yes" - as in .... yes, it isn't far (ie it's near).

Ok, lah.

Coops

[Bellatrix]

Yeah, but my neighbours all assume I can't speak ANY Thai (I can't speak fluently or anything, but I'm not completely clueless) and speak about me right in front of me to eachother rather than asking me questions directly (eg "Is she a boxer?", "Does she live alone?", "Where's she from?" etc), or "teaching" me how to say things like "hello" and "thank you", even though I've been living at that apartment for 5 months, and in Thailand for a year, so it goes both ways. I've asked the security guard (in Thai) to turn the light off outside my room because I can't sleep, and he's understood, and yet the other day he took it upon himself to point at my bottle of water and "teach" me the Thai word for 'water', so it goes both ways.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

That's true, as a farang Thai people will presume you can't speak English

[rychrde]

Lots of stuff here! I agree with larvidchr - work in progress.

I had assumed that the pidgin english as spoken in Thailand was pretty much a literal translation from the Thai, hence word order different, small connective words missing etc. Things like double negatives and certain tenses seemed a real no no.

Everyone in this town is impressed by how much improved my wife's English is - in terms of expanded vocabulary it is true, in terms of grammar only a little.

From my side, I can just see the eyes glaze over if I speak normal English, even slowly. At that point is it worth a quick English lesson, or revert to a simple English the listener can understand? Unlike one poster here, I don't find that Thais in general will ask me to repeat something - they would rather pick up the maybe two words they recognize and likely misunderstand than ask for a clarification. I have so far found here about five Thais who speak good English - all from being abroad - and with them I will try to speak as naturally as possible. They have actually learnt the good habit of asking me to repeat if they don't understand.

For those who find their own English somehow deteriorating - keep a sense of humour, seems normal. I lived for a long time in Italy and speak fluent Italian. When back in UK my friends would laugh at me coz my sentence construtions became strangely back to front - italian style. Nowadays, when I return to Italy it takes about a week for all the vocab and structure to become fluid again. It's all somewhere in the brain, just a matter of accessing it!

rych

[pampal]

Sometimes it's necessary to speak pidgin, and sometimes you can get by using correct English.

It depends on the situation and to whom you are speaking.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

But, why would you want to speak pidgin with your partner?

Pidgin doesn't help anyone.

[h90]

It's Brits in Thailand speaking pidgin English that gets me, some of them have less than a month in country before they start giving it the 'Same Same'/ 'Friend me not go party friend you' nonsense.

"Friend me not go party friend you" what wrong with that?

Same same me speak

[Austhaied]

Ching ching, you think same same me, DSK. You good man mak mak. Now we go make shop for beer.

I miss you maak maak Jet ja.. When you come back..

[Crow Boy]

In my experience it makes it much harder for any adult to learn a language which is dumbed down for them eg using Pidgin English. I think part of the problem is that the people doing it don't understand what or why they use pidgin. They generally believe they are making it easier and would be surprised to discover they aren't. I have heard parents speak to their children in this manner when it is totally unneccessary and in fact counterproductive. I have got into the habit of automatically correcting my staff's English and they have slowly (they are much more polite) done the same thing with my Thai. This brings me to the next point. Thais frequently do the same thing with farung who are learning Thai. They are genuinely pleased to hear a farung say anything in Thai and want to help but speak in the same way as they would to a small child. This doesn't help and I know a couple of guys who don't realise that they are speaking like an infant when in fact they believe their Thai is quite good.

Learning any language is difficult and the student needs all the help they can get. Clear and correct speech in bite sized chunks is a much better choice than "baby babble".

CB

[steveromagnino]

I s-peak same Thai girl wid darling him farang.

My fren, she is say farang man him speak sweet mouth.

Not unders-tan, farang not sweet, pineappun or mango is sweet, but farang man him mai chai saparot jing jing. Him look is like banana 555 but taste not like banana sauce at all.

My fren, she hab a water heart, you know? In Thai we is say nam jai. And she want boyfren farang so him can teat her englit.

So far, her boyfren say she talk good perfect everything same same me, so instead of teat her engrit, him say him teat her some s-port. I tink her is learn geelah nai rom a lot every day. My fren me she can say some englit word very hard how she can know better me I tink her learn from internet.

Seriously, you think you are helping anyone talking like this? It sure is fun to write this sort of rubbish rather than doing work, but in reality, speak a bit slower, repeat and people will learn how to talk properly. Our entire office would speak english better than this including the maids; and yet we still have farang sales reps talking basically exactly like this to them during meetings! I particularly enjoy it when they are doing it to the two people who went to LSE and Harvard. Yeah, good luck with that sale.

[tolsti]

I've found more than a few falangs continue to pidgin even after we've been conversating in English for a few minutes.

Can you please explain which language this word conversating comes from?? Sounds like pidgin to me, but from where?

[Livinginexile]

Ching ching, you think same same me, DSK. You good man mak mak. Now we go make shop for beer.

5555555

[Momo8]

1. Conversating

engaging in the act of sex; to have sex

Latisha decided she HAS to conversate before her senior year in High School, otherwise the guys will think she is a sissy mary.

...from the Urban dictionary one definition I didn't know hahaha.Normal meaning is to engage in conversation/conversate/speak/talk/discuss.

[Binkie]

There I am sitting in my office when some atttooed chap with his Thai partner comes to me and in the best pidgin says to me "my wife me want buy .... like friend she and husband her have" I informed him that my capacity for understanding spoken was possibly as great as his (he was after all English). He seemed somewhat taken aback by this and repeated the spiel again. At which point I lost my rag and informed him that if he didn't speak English to me then he could take his business elsewhere. As you can tell it does get on my mammaries a little.

[meemiathai]

I was guilty of this too. But in Cantonese. And it was in the early years we'd been together. I even spoke cantonese with a thai accent. It made it easier for my wife to understand what I was talking about just to say the key words. Nowadays I speak much faster and in more proper cantonese since her cantonese has improved a lot.

I think it is arguable to use pidgin english or not. You see, when you are with a thai partner in the early stages, you want to understand each other as quickly as possible. You are competing with time. You don't want to waste time teaching him/her proper english intead of getting to know more about each other.

I know a thai girl here in HK whose husband is from england(I think). She only speaks thai and english but her english is not very good. When I talk to her, I try to avoid making the sentences too complicated worrying she might totally miss my point. Funny, I think I have even done it to a farang recently. I spoke to a french guy on a phone recently and he couldn't understand me, it was then I started to use pidgin english, then he understood.

I think it is a 2 way thing. Once a person is capable to speak to you in english fluently enough, you will automatically start speaking to him/her in the same way.

To the OP, I think there is no need to be angry. That guy properly was just trying to make it easier for the girl to understand. So that was good intent.

[OxfordWill]

Is it just me that is irritated by this?

No, I get it too and it is sheer ignorance. You immediately know where they spent most of their time during their "holiday". My normal reaction is to get out of there ASAP before they ask how much for short time.

There is a famous Thai female author who writes travel books. She advises Thai girls who go abroad to say they are Chinese, because of this kind of situation and the general opinion of Thai women in many countries.

[Heng]

I've found more than a few falangs continue to pidgin even after we've been conversating in English for a few minutes.

Can you please explain which language this word conversating comes from?? Sounds like pidgin to me, but from where?

Common US origin slang from the mid 80's to early 90's. It means "to talk to someone," in standard English or "talk me" in LOS farang-Thai pidgin, but I bet you guessed that.

[Heng]

I s-peak same Thai girl wid darling him farang.

My fren, she is say farang man him speak sweet mouth.

Not unders-tan, farang not sweet, pineappun or mango is sweet, but farang man him mai chai saparot jing jing. Him look is like banana 555 but taste not like banana sauce at all.

My fren, she hab a water heart, you know? In Thai we is say nam jai. And she want boyfren farang so him can teat her englit.

So far, her boyfren say she talk good perfect everything same same me, so instead of teat her engrit, him say him teat her some s-port. I tink her is learn geelah nai rom a lot every day. My fren me she can say some englit word very hard how she can know better me I tink her learn from internet.

Seriously, you think you are helping anyone talking like this? It sure is fun to write this sort of rubbish rather than doing work, but in reality, speak a bit slower, repeat and people will learn how to talk properly.

Owed you a from your earlier post, Steve. Perhaps it's not helping, but at least it's communication. A lot of couples wouldn't communicate otherwise. And let's not forget how fun it is. Try mixing in some NzOz, Texan, and/or Ebonix for some more grins.

[Ulysses G.]

There I am sitting in my office when some atttooed chap with his Thai partner comes to me and in the best pidgin says to me "my wife me want buy .... like friend she and husband her have" I informed him that my capacity for understanding spoken was possibly as great as his (he was after all English). He seemed somewhat taken aback by this and repeated the spiel again. At which point I lost my rag and informed him that if he didn't speak English to me then he could take his business elsewhere.

That's great!

[pampal]

But, why would you want to speak pidgin with your partner?

Pidgin doesn't help anyone.

I don't think it's a good idea to speak Pidgin to your partner, but it is good for talking to a taxi driver in BKK. It all has to do with the situation. Do you expect a manual laborer with a 6th grade education in Chinatown to understand perfectly spoken english. I don't, so I speak to them in a way that they can understand me. After a certain amount of time and patience, I speak English with them more correctly and teach them correct usage. The Pidgin English enables them to adapt to English more quickly and they adopt a basic vocabulary, whereas they had none before.

Pidgin English is like teaching a child to walk, slowly using baby steps. You don't expect a child to get up and start running without first learning to walk. It's the same with English.

For those who don't like the child analogy, think of it as teaching someone who has had knee surgery and has been in a cast to walk again. It doesn't matter how you think about it, if someone has a very rudimentary knowledge of English, or has been taught English by a person who can barely speak or teach English, it helps to speak English the way they learnt it.

Reason for Edit: Typo

Edited May 30, 2007 by pampal

[Austhaied]

There I am sitting in my office when some atttooed chap with his Thai partner comes to me and in the best pidgin says to me "my wife me want buy .... like friend she and husband her have" I informed him that my capacity for understanding spoken was possibly as great as his (he was after all English). He seemed somewhat taken aback by this and repeated the spiel again. At which point I lost my rag and informed him that if he didn't speak English to me then he could take his business elsewhere.

That's great!

No, it's <deleted> sad.

[dumspero]

Yeah agreed it's stupid to do with your partner and stupid generally.

But it's not just in naughty venues that it's useful. As only about one other poster noted, it's sometimes useful or even necessary if you have a crew of workers from a bunch of countries with limited ability in any one common language.

Here in my place there are three official languages and expat workers from all over East Asia who add another dozen plus languages to the mix. With Thais, we try in English first, then Thai second and if neither of those works then, sadly, the grammar and excess words get shoved over the side so we can make it into port. Not pretty, but mission first.

[Ping]

My pal pointed it out to me in a very embarrassing way and I never forgot that and it is true, "They do speak better English than me".

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. They do speak English better than I do. I hope you are not an English teacher.

You have to speak this way with some Thai people in order to be understood (where time is an issue - restaurants, shops, etc). Not many of them speak better English than me do.