poppysdad Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SidJames Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 "He made me so angry that I had to kill him so it's his fault that he is dead" 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozimoron Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 Ask her what is a "mother car". And a "fire car". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmaxdan Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 My wife does say "open the fan" rather than "turn on the fan" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kwasaki Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post chickenslegs Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 My wife gets the words lemonade and mayonnaise mixed up. It never bothers me, except when she makes sandwiches. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CharlieH Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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..... 4 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokReady Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1FinickyOne Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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... 1 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hammer2021 Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 52 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said: My wife does say "open the fan" rather than "turn on the fan" Common throughout the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hammer2021 Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 I forgot my bag in the car instead of I left my bag in the car 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Paulaew Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hammer2021 Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoodThaiMaiDai Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbko Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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...???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetphet Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreFarang Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 Did you ask here where she learned English? Possibly with an angry man who liked fighting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreFarang Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricTh Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 (edited) 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 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven100 Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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 ' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JayClay Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 2 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Doctor Tom Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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 . 2 2 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaiyenyen Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post PoodThaiMaiDai Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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.. 3 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericthai Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 My wife used to amuse me with the word "upset" - she would always pronounce it upsad... took a year to get that corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ChrisP24 Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlover Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 (edited) 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoeiI Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kinnock Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Doctor Tom Posted January 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2022 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. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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