Thai's misuse of English words

[poppysdad]

Sometimes i get amused or frustrated at the Thai's misuse of English words, for example my Thai lady speaks very good English and we can chat away all day in it although there are occasions when I'm left a little confused. One word that crops up regularly is why do you want to "fight"with me, now to me a fight is some aggressive contact with another person but we only have to have a slight disagreement and she asks me why do you want to fight with me, and i regularly hear other Thai's using the same word in a similar way. Another regular is why are you "angry" again and all i did was make a comment on the latest narrow escape on the road or she'll say mind that dog, i reply yes honey i can see it to which the response is why are you angry with me. A few weeks ago she was telling me which way to gl to a particular place and said turn by the "big car", i said what big car, a mini is a small car so i assumed she meant something like a Fortuna but I could  not see any but she started to get angry when i kept repeating what big car. I eventually stopped behind a parked Lorry and asked her what she was talking about to which she replies were here. Then the penny dropped, a big car to her is a lorry or truck and on asking a few Thai people what they called them and i was surprised to find it was quite common to call them that.

I'm sure there are many other instances both amusing or frustrating.

[SidJames]

"He made me so angry that I had to kill him so it's his fault that he is dead"

[ozimoron]

Ask her what is a "mother car". And a "fire car".

[Dmaxdan]

My wife does say "open the fan" rather than "turn on the fan"

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kwasaki]

Well my wife's English is better than my Thai so I don't care what she says, I have got learn what she means. 

[chickenslegs]

My wife gets the words lemonade and mayonnaise mixed up.

 

It never bothers me, except when she makes sandwiches.

[CharlieH]

As long as I underdtand what shes getting at I dont care., I am just thankful we are able to "communicate"  without me feeling the need to correct her ????

 

Saw this in Big C recently made me smile.....

 

 

[BangkokReady]

Could it be that it is not the words that are being misused, but that she sees these things as actually being fights and anger because Thai people are so careful not to say anything that upsets people?

[1FinickyOne]

49 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said:

My wife does say "open the fan" rather than "turn on the fan"

 

 

 

 

 

 

many years ago, I was teaching my wife that we don't open and close things... we turn off the tv, turn off the fan etc... when we went out that night, she told me to turn off the door... 

[The Hammer2021]

52 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said:

My wife does say "open the fan" rather than "turn on the fan"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common throughout the world.

[The Hammer2021]

I forgot my bag in the car instead of

I left my bag in the car

[Paulaew]

Though my wife is an English teacher, when she encounters a new word she tends to substitute a more familiar one. Currently she is very worried about the "unicorn" virus.

 

Paul Laew

[The Hammer2021]

4 minutes ago, Paulaew said:

Though my wife is an English teacher, when she encounters a new word she tends to substitute a more familiar one. Currently she is very worried about the "unicorn" virus.

 

Paul Laew

Mine cleans the chicken

[PoodThaiMaiDai]

I always laugh when the TG's say "On" bed, instead of "in" bed.

 

However, I will tell you I have learned if you politely correct their English they are very appreciative.

 

Apparently most of us just let it slide and move on and they never learn correctly.

[bbko]

Many years back my wife would call the kitchen the "chicken room", they sounded similar to her and that's the room we cook chicken....555.

 

Another time my in-laws came for a visit and in the morning I like coffee and buttered toast, one morning I pulled the butter out of the fridge and buttered my toast as my MIL watched,  then my MIL asked my wife something in Thai and my wife started laughing, wife explained to me the MIL asked her why I was putting ice cream on the bread...????

[phetphet]

Not so much a misuse of a word.

TGF asked me to get a buffo while I was out.

I was stumped.

"Buffo?' 

"Yes. With chocolate."

"Buffo? What's a buffo?"

Buffo. You know! We bought for daughter last week!

 

After a more elaborate description, it turns out it was a Waffle. We both had a laugh over that one.

[OneMoreFarang]

Did you ask here where she learned English? 

Possibly with an angry man who liked fighting. 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, PoodThaiMaiDai said:

I always laugh when the TG's say "On" bed, instead of "in" bed.

She has a point there. I am pretty sure it would be uncomfortable somewhere inside the bed. 

You also don't do it in the kitchen cabinet but maybe on that thing. ???? 

[EricTh]

Whenever Thai people try to speak English with me, I ask them to just speak Thai because I can't understand their English at all.

 

My Thai is better than their English even if there are mistakes.

 

I don't know what all these native English teachers have been teaching them all these years.

Edited January 18, 2022 by EricTh

[steven100]

3 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

My wife does say "open the fan" rather than "turn on the fan"

 

 

 

 

 

 

all thai's say open the light & close the light  .... they don't say ' turn on the light '  

[JayClay]

3 hours ago, poppysdad said:

One word that crops up regularly is why do you want to "fight"with me, now to me a fight is some aggressive contact with another person but we only have to have a slight disagreement and she asks me why do you want to fight with me, and i regularly hear other Thai's using the same word in a similar way

Huh? Fight is a common synonym for the word "argue" in every day English.

 

I also find it amusing to see a grammar error in the title of a thread about Thais apparent poor use of English.

[Doctor Tom]

Many Thais learn their supposed 'English' from US movies, Netflix,  Thai soaps and American school teachers, and we all know that Americans do not speak English, but only speak some American  twisted version of the language. And don't get me started on Australians'. If you want to learn English, learn it from a Brit, preferably an English one . 

[jaiyenyen]

I think the problem starts at an early age. Many students in the first couple of years in Prathom, are taught English by Thai teachers. This is where the mistakes in choice of vocab and pronunciation are made. Once made, they are very difficult to change.

With regard to mixed up words. My wife confuses 'Tomato' with 'Potato'. Now, we just say 'colour brown' or 'colour red'.

[PoodThaiMaiDai]

19 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

Many Thais learn their supposed 'English' from US movies, Netflix,  Thai soaps and American school teachers, and we all know that Americans do not speak English, but only speak some American  twisted version of the language. And don't get me started on Australians'. If you want to learn English, learn it from a Brit, preferably an English one . 

As an American I am offended.  555

 

I don't even understand 20% of the English and Australians.

 

Maybe that is why we each have our own dictionary..

[ericthai]

My wife used to amuse me with the word "upset" - she would always pronounce it upsad... took a year to get that corrected. 

[ChrisP24]

25 minutes ago, PoodThaiMaiDai said:

As an American I am offended.  555

 

I don't even understand 20% of the English and Australians.

 

Maybe that is why we each have our own dictionary..

Three nations separated by a common language.

[Moonlover]

40 minutes ago, jaiyenyen said:

I think the problem starts at an early age. Many students in the first couple of years in Prathom, are taught English by Thai teachers. This is where the mistakes in choice of vocab and pronunciation are made. Once made, they are very difficult to change.

With regard to mixed up words. My wife confuses 'Tomato' with 'Potato'. Now, we just say 'colour brown' or 'colour red'.

That doesn't apply in our case because the only English my wife has ever learned is from me. So any errors are down to me.

 

Yes she also gets tomatoes and potatoes mixed up and I still haven't cured her of saying 'clear on the bed', which means 'make the bed up please'. Mine is to obey, not judge. ????

 

And for the O/Ps benefit, every vehicle my wife sees on the road is a 'car' of one form or another. I have long ago decided to simply go along with these idiosyncrasies. It makes life much, much simpler.

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Moonlover

[LoeiI]

3 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

My wife gets the words lemonade and mayonnaise mixed up.

 

It never bothers me, except when she makes sandwiches.

Mine gets Marinate and Laminate mixed up ???? and wont hear a bad word said about Thai TV she just glares and says TV ankit Sh!t

[Kinnock]

To be fair, in Thai all vehicles from motorbikes, through cars, SUV's, trucks, buses, semi-trailers and trains are all a 'rot' ..... so if she translates 'rot' to 'car', then it makes sense.

[Doctor Tom]

43 minutes ago, PoodThaiMaiDai said:

As an American I am offended.  555

 

I don't even understand 20% of the English and Australians.

 

Maybe that is why we each have our own dictionary..

Sorry,  it was not meant as an insult, rather, just a historical observation. Some of my best friends are Americans, I just don't understand half of what they say.  They are from Georgia, so that doesn't help.