Thailand’s English proficiency plummets: Survey

[Harveyboy]

22 hours ago, David T Pike said:

I suppose that Thai tourists in the USA expect you to speak Thai? No they don't! So we should not expect Thais to speak English either! Learn the language of the country that you are a guest of! 

the point you are missing here is English in an international language Thai is not .ive worked in tourism for 30 years all people working in a tourist based area should speak English...and im not lazy i do speak other languages fluently..

[David T Pike]

14 minutes ago, Harveyboy said:

the point you are missing here is English in an international language Thai is not .ive worked in tourism for 30 years all people working in a tourist based area should speak English...and im not lazy i do speak other languages fluently..

OK. I cry "Uncle!".  But I feel blessed to have been born and raised speaking English and am not reliant on tourism and having to learn the major languages like English, Spanish, German, French and soon Mandarin to assure my success. I struggle with languages but can order a beer and ask where's the toilet in the top 4. What else do you need? ???? 

[David T Pike]

17 hours ago, Thunglom said:

Eh? - Talking about the ease with which different language speakers learn languages.Not implying obligation.

OK. I cry "Uncle!".  But I feel blessed to have been born and raised speaking English and am not reliant on tourism and having to learn the major languages like English, Spanish, German, French and soon Mandarin to assure my success. I struggle with languages but can order a beer and ask where's the toilet in the top 4. What else do you need?  

[Artisi]

19 hours ago, David T Pike said:

Mai pen rai...kun pood paasaa anggrit dai mai?

Dai krap

[radiochaser]

On 11/27/2021 at 1:18 AM, anchadian said:

Then they would be confused.

What confused me one time, was speaking with a woman in Thailand, who spoke American English fluently, but with an Arkansas accent.   
I thought she was an American. 

Then I found out she was Thai, had never been outside of Thailand, and her English teacher was from Arkansas!

[radiochaser]

On 11/28/2021 at 5:38 PM, GinBoy2 said:

Well this is disappointing, but hardly a surprise.

 

Growing up bilingual I've never had a problem picking up languages, so today I speak my native English & Spanish, plus Mandarin, Thai and Lao.

 

But if you don't start early with kids the brain gets hard wired not to accept new languages.

 

All my kids are multilingual, but it's because they heard it all from their parents at an early age.

 

The more interesting parallel would be the Dutch and the Scandinavians.

 

I don't know how those guys do it. With my kids it was a deliberate decision that I spoke certain languages and my wife(s) another to the kids when they were small, so they ended up learning both.

 

I can't believe the same is true of the Dutch and Scandinavians, yet they all come out speaking English as well as I do

Tri lingual is my hope for my grand kids.  Thai from the mom and other Thai speaking relatives, Spanish from their dad, and American English from daycare, school, and me.  
 

[Happy Howard]

On 11/27/2021 at 2:37 PM, jacko45k said:

I see UK is not in the top 10.

UK is not included as English is its first language. Neither were Australia, New Zealand, USA, etc.

[jacko45k]

47 minutes ago, Happy Howard said:

UK is not included as English is its first language. Neither were Australia, New Zealand, USA, etc.

You don't say!

[David T Pike]

4 hours ago, Artisi said:

Dai krap

Di sahrạb khuṇ! ????

[GinBoy2]

10 hours ago, Thunglom said:

Bilingual ....my mother was Welsh but I'm not bilingual. 

I think you might substitute two languages or multiple languages. There are varying degrees of language acquisition

Did your Mom speak to you in Welsh as a kid?

 

As a kid my parents spoke a mix of English and Spanish at home. That coupled with TV, radio and everything around me just made my baby brain soak up both.

 

I'd define native languages as what goes on in your head.

 

I 'think' in English & Spanish, and my thoughts will flip flop between both.

I can speak Mandarin, Thai & Lao as second languages but I don't think in them.

 

May sound weird, but those inner voices in your head say what's going on

[Thunglom]

6 hours ago, David T Pike said:

OK. I cry "Uncle!".  But I feel blessed to have been born and raised speaking English and am not reliant on tourism and having to learn the major languages like English, Spanish, German, French and soon Mandarin to assure my success. I struggle with languages but can order a beer and ask where's the toilet in the top 4. What else do you need?  

Something relevant to the topic?

[Thunglom]

52 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

I'd define native languages as what goes on in your head.

there are perfectly well established criteria for language abu=ilities - they may vary a little but bilingual is the least controversial.

I think you are moving from the topic.

[Myran]

3 hours ago, Happy Howard said:

UK is not included as English is its first language. Neither were Australia, New Zealand, USA, etc.

Thanks, Sherlock.

[GinBoy2]

11 minutes ago, Thunglom said:

there are perfectly well established criteria for language abu=ilities - they may vary a little but bilingual is the least controversial.

I think you are moving from the topic.

I don't think bilingual is controversial at all.

 

You were the one that mentioned your Mother being Welsh didn't make you bilingual.

 

But again, did she speak Welsh to you when you were small? 

 

I could have had a Bulgarian parent, but if they never spoke Bulgarian I wouldn't be bilingual!

[Thunglom]

31 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

I don't think bilingual is controversial at all.

 

You were the one that mentioned your Mother being Welsh didn't make you bilingual.

 

But again, did she speak Welsh to you when you were small? 

 

I could have had a Bulgarian parent, but if they never spoke Bulgarian I wouldn't be bilingual!

Sorry I don't see what you are on about - how does this relate to the idea that English standards are "plummeting" in Thailand?

You seem to be just talking about yourself.

[Scott]

Troll post reported and removed.

 

[GinBoy2]

4 hours ago, Thunglom said:

Sorry I don't see what you are on about - how does this relate to the idea that English standards are "plummeting" in Thailand?

You seem to be just talking about yourself.

Well you were the one who decided to go down the rabbit hole of having a Welsh mother didn't make you bilingual.

 

Sounds all about you!

[GinBoy2]

So, back to the topic.

 

It's so sad, since most Thai's will speak at least two languages, Thai, and whatever they speak at home. there are only the central Thai's who only speak Thai.

 

So their brain is wired to accept languages from birth, but language education at school is so terrible it doesn't count as education.

 

My wife who spoke Thai and Lao from birth moved to live with her Uncle in Chicago as a teenager picked up English within months. 40 years later you couldn't choose  me and her as who was American.

 

So it's so sad that a population who already have the ability to soak up languages are taught so badly

[Scott]

15 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

So, back to the topic.

 

It's so sad, since most Thai's will speak at least two languages, Thai, and whatever they speak at home. there are only the central Thai's who only speak Thai.

 

So their brain is wired to accept languages from birth, but language education at school is so terrible it doesn't count as education.

 

My wife who spoke Thai and Lao from birth moved to live with her Uncle in Chicago as a teenager picked up English within months. 40 years later you couldn't choose  me and her as who was American.

 

So it's so sad that a population who already have the ability to soak up languages are taught so badly

One of the problems for many people learning a 2nd language is the linguistic distance from their native language.   When you get grammatical structures that are completely foreign, it's harder to learn.  When you have alphabets that are indecipherable, it's harder for visual learners.  Thai and English are quite distant when compared to languages like English and Spanish.  

 

 

[GinBoy2]

2 hours ago, Scott said:

One of the problems for many people learning a 2nd language is the linguistic distance from their native language.   When you get grammatical structures that are completely foreign, it's harder to learn.  When you have alphabets that are indecipherable, it's harder for visual learners.  Thai and English are quite distant when compared to languages like English and Spanish.  

 

 

That is true. With my native languages I've never even thought about it, they swirl in my head without any effort.

 

Now it's true when i first went to live in China and learned Mandarin, that transition to a tonal language was tough. The upside was that having done that Thai and Lao were easy.

 

My wife on the other hand did the reverse, tonal to non-tonal.

 

Now she did it as a teenager but as she recalls it was easy

[drgoon]

On 11/27/2021 at 10:26 PM, Airalee said:

*worse than

and..   I'm guessing a few posts are from non native English speakers.

Although, some of the native English speakers could do with a refresher course

 

Then, than... there, their, they're dumb de doo

[HAPPYNUFF]

A   Chinese/Thai family near us, very wealthy, naturally,  have a son  learning to be an airline pilot.   Nice kid really, but cant speak a word of English. Through my wife I tried to explain to him that  not only must he learn  to speak  that language, but be proficient in it, as  it is the International language in the airline industry.    His reply,  ",,not interested,   Thai is best language."...I read the other week there are some 600 qualified Thai pilots   unemployed   in this country..That was  before the  virus     put many more out of work. Oh well, I suppose he will join them, when hes finished his training.

[Artisi]

17 minutes ago, HAPPYNUFF said:

A   Chinese/Thai family near us, very wealthy, naturally,  have a son  learning to be an airline pilot.   Nice kid really, but cant speak a word of English. Through my wife I tried to explain to him that  not only must he learn  to speak  that language, but be proficient in it, as  it is the International language in the airline industry.    His reply,  ",,not interested,   Thai is best language."...I read the other week there are some 600 qualified Thai pilots   unemployed   in this country..That was  before the  virus     put many more out of work. Oh well, I suppose he will join them, when hes finished his training.

Don't fret about trying help, some people aren't capable of seeing past the nose, as for understanding - that can be an utter waste of effort. 

[Andrew65]

On 11/28/2021 at 5:17 AM, dallen52 said:

My partner has an 18 year old girl.

I have tried many times to get her speaking English a little bit.

Not in the least interested...

Would rather sit with her smart phone.

An old British friend has 2 half-Thai daughters. He said it has always been incredibly hard to get them to speak English, even though he knows that they can, quite well. It's almost like it's embarrassing for them to speak English.

[BangkokReady]

12 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

It's almost like it's embarrassing for them to speak English.

This is exactly it.  Many Thais are absolutely terrified of saying something wrong.  Especially because their pronunciation is poor due to little practice with native speakers.  It's very hard to get them to realise that mistakes are OK.

[EricTh]

Myanmar fares better than Thailand? That's a shocker.

 

One thing that I don't like is that Thai people always use corrupted English loanwords in Thai speech which confuses foreigners.

 

Maek..... is an English loanword. I thought what the heck is he trying to say.

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

Myanmar fares better than Thailand? That's a shocker.

 

One thing that I don't like is that Thai people always use corrupted English loanwords in Thai speech which confuses foreigners.

 

Maek..... is an English loanword. I thought what the heck is he trying to say.

Corrupted because they use Thai rules - ie. words ending in L have an N sound, footbon etc. 

[Percy P]

On 11/27/2021 at 12:53 PM, Thailand said:

Perhaps they should learn American? ????

Well 99% of Thais do speak American English. A basteurized version of the English language.

[Percy P]

On 11/30/2021 at 5:12 PM, Myran said:

Thanks, Sherlock.

England is England.UK is four counties as one.England ,Ireland, Scotland and Whales. People say they come from the Uk,but there no such country

[Myran]

3 minutes ago, Percy P said:

England is England.UK is four counties as one.England ,Ireland, Scotland and Whales. People say they come from the Uk,but there no such country

Why on Earth are you quoting me?