British TikToker praises Thai gas man’s effort to master the English language

[Liverpool Lou]

44 minutes ago, malathione said:

For your edification, the point is that it is hardly a big thing if it is something that occurs all over the country countless times.

Who said that it was "a big thing"?  For your edification, no one did.

[metisdead]

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[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, transam said:

Yeh but, you're a posh farangy, you keep telling us how wonderful you are. ????

 

Why not praise a Thai lad for making an effort.....?   

Too right.....

My nearby Shell station, they totally ignore my efforts to speak Thai and it seems most of them manage a bit of English. Usually young kids... dare I suspect the schools are getting better?

[Scouse123]

FWIW,

 

I found him a pleasant, interesting, chatty little kid.

 

Hell, I'd have bought him an ice cream, little bugger looked warm. Good on him wanting to practice his English.

 

I love Thai kids with a bit of personality of their own and he had bags of it telling him about the expansion plans for his college etc

 

Cheer up on here some miserable buggers today.

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Don't talk silly, you think you are a toff here, but you continually show yourself up.

I actually think it's great if a Thai tries to talk English with me, I even give them encouragement, because I am not a tosser...........????

Your true personality if coming through strongly by resorting to insults. 

 

[malathione]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Who said that it was "a big thing"?  No one, perhaps?

Then why is it news, pray tell? Or is every little happenstance like my untied shoelaces newsworthy?

[Scouse123]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Too right.....

My nearby Shell station, they totally ignore my efforts to speak Thai and it seems most of them manage a bit of English. USUALLY young kids... dare I suspect the schools are getting better?

And there was you just ready to announce yourself on the forum as a ' fluent Thai speaker ' and the Shell station kids stole your thunder! ????????

 

[Liverpool Lou]

34 minutes ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

Many petrol station workers around Chiang Mai speak a bit of English.  Same in 7-11s.  Never occurred to me to rave about it on social media...

No one is raving about it.

[Liverpool Lou]

7 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

FWIW,

 

I found him a pleasant, interesting, chatty little kid.

 

Hell, I'd have bought him an ice cream, little bugger looked warm. Good on him wanting to practice his English.

 

I love Thai kids with a bit of personality of their own and he had bags of it telling him about the expansion plans for his college etc

 

Cheer up on here some miserable buggers today.

I'll second that.

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

And there was you just ready to announce yourself on the forum as a ' fluent Thai speaker ' and the Shell station kids stole your thunder! ????????

 

Oh I am rubbish except after a dozen beers after which I become fluent... or is that fluid?

[Liverpool Lou]

17 minutes ago, malathione said:

19 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Who said that it was "a big thing"?  No one, perhaps?

Then why is it news, pray tell?

Who said that it is "news"?  It's just an item on a forum, taken from <deleted> TikTok!

[malathione]

9 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Who said that it is "news"?  It's an item on a forum, taken from<deleted> Tik Tok"

And what forum is this? 

[Neeranam]

Last week, a beggar approached me outside 7/11 and wanted to practice her English. She said, 'you you money me'. As I was a teacher here for 25 years, I corrected her bad grammar.  Don't know why, but she wasn't very appreciative. 

 

[Jimjim1]

34 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I simply stated that service people trying to speak English to me, when I speak Thai is annoying. 

The simple fact that the Thai people who try to show you respect by overcoming their inherent shyness to speak English to you leaves you annoyed, Really?

I wonder how they feel when they struggle to understand your obviously perfectly fluent Thai.

 

There are some very sad individuals living in Thailand, Why do you live here when it appears that your main contribution is to insult the locals and those who post good events they experience.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 minute ago, malathione said:

3 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Who said that it is "news"?  It's an item on a forum, taken from fcking Tik Tok"

And what forum is this? 

Asean Now Home.

[Scouse123]

A lot talk about Thais and their poor English skills but a lot of Thais understand far more than they let on or in actual fact speak openly!!

 

They have a mental block and fear of making a grammatical error, that's all

 

It's better than many of the foreigners with their YouTube Thailand channels, be them out and about in Thailand or cooking on the high street food, with over exaggerating Thai syllables and their thick, heavy pronunciations..............They think they sound great,

 

I think they sound like ' they are a few sandwiches short of a picnic '   and so do the Thai kids!

[khunpin]

4 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Personally, I find this type of attendant extremely annoying. I speak Thai and they often can't figure that out. 

That should encourage you to work on your Thai skills. ????????‍♂️????????

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Last week, a beggar approached me outside 7/11 and wanted to practice her English. She said, 'you you money me'. As I was a teacher here for 25 years, I corrected her bad grammar.  Don't know why, but she wasn't very appreciative. 

 

It's making her endure a sermon or two before ,,, were you ever in the Salvation Army?

[malathione]

Just now, Liverpool Lou said:

Asean Now Home.

I suggest you take another look, kind sir. Nonetheless, enough of this ridiculous conversation.

[JemJem]

Gosh. So much negativity in this thread ????

 

Personally, in Bangkok, I talk mostly in Thai. I am not fluent, but my Thai is sort of intermediate/upper intermediate, and when most Thais hear me speak Thai, they answer back in Thai and so it goes . But, there are some Thais who answer back in English, and if their Thai is at least at an understandable level, I don't make a fuss and revert to English. Initially (many many years ago, I mean), I also got a bit upset if a Thai answered back to me in English, but, I don't mind now. It is nice to know that they are happy practicing their English.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Last week, a beggar approached me outside 7/11 and wanted to practice her English. She said, 'you you money me'. As I was a teacher here for 25 years, I corrected her bad grammar.  Don't know why, but she wasn't very appreciative. 

 

If that comment is anything from which to judge, it probably wasn't the bad joke, it's more likely that she realised that your grammar wasn't that hot , either!

"Last week, a beggar approached me..."

Last week a beggar approached me...

 

"...approached me outside 7/11..."

...approached me outside 7-11

 

"She said, 'you you money me'".

She said, 'You, you, money me'.

 

Well, you started the "grammar" bit!

[Liverpool Lou]

8 minutes ago, malathione said:

I suggest you take another look, kind sir. Nonetheless, enough of this ridiculous conversation.

...that you started!

[malathione]

Just now, Liverpool Lou said:

...that you started!

???? Have a great day!

[glegolo18]

1 hour ago, malathione said:

So he ran across one of perhaps millions who practice speaking English with foreigners everyday.

Or the absolute opposite...... He ran into NOT the 69,900.000 million others who cant even farth in english....

[Highlandman]

34 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Too right.....

My nearby Shell station, they totally ignore my efforts to speak Thai and it seems most of them manage a bit of English. Usually young kids... dare I suspect the schools are getting better?

Why would anyone have a conversation with a gas station attendant? All you're ever going to say is how much you need and the type of fuel.

 

Most gas station attendants in Thailand are foreigners from Myanmar and Cambodia, hence why their English may sometimes be slightly better than that of Thais, but their Thai is often not very good.

 

Thais often like to poke fun at how Burmese speak Thai.

[Highlandman]

25 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Last week, a beggar approached me outside 7/11 and wanted to practice her English. She said, 'you you money me'. As I was a teacher here for 25 years, I corrected her bad grammar.  Don't know why, but she wasn't very appreciative. 

 

I don't waste my time with beggars. I just ignore them like Thais do.

[malathione]

2 minutes ago, glegolo18 said:

Or the absolute opposite...... He ran into NOT the 69,900.000 million others who cant even farth in english....

I've not run into even one who can farth in English. Come to think of it, I've yet to run across even an Englishman who can farth in his native tongue.

[glegolo18]

2 minutes ago, Highlandman said:

Why would anyone have a conversation with a gas station attendant? All you're ever going to say is how much you need and the type of fuel.

 

Maybe you should leave your "bad attitude" at home, probably in England, and be nice and communicate with people around you, use your mouth and smile from time to time, and the world will be a better place for all of us, maybe???

[Highlandman]

16 minutes ago, JemJem said:

Gosh. So much negativity in this thread ????

 

Personally, in Bangkok, I talk mostly in Thai. I am not fluent, but my Thai is sort of intermediate/upper intermediate, and when most Thais hear me speak Thai, they answer back in Thai and so it goes . But, there are some Thais who answer back in English, and if their Thai is at least at an understandable level, I don't make a fuss and revert to English. Initially (many many years ago, I mean), I also got a bit upset if a Thai answered back to me in English, but, I don't mind now. It is nice to know that they are happy practicing their English.

I'm offended when that happens given I'm fluent in the language. In the past due to my lack of Thai, it was the opposite - I wanted people to speak English with me, because I didn't know enough Thai.

 

The issue is not that Thais don't want to speak in their language (they do) but there's a mental block, that they have to overcome because they're not used to foreigners speaking Thai (although it is getting more common). The other aspect is - how good one's Thai is. If one's accent is really strong (such as is often the case with American speakers of Thai) that might cause a Thai who speaks reasonable English to switch to English.

 

The only types who can get quite arrogant and even racist and who you may struggle to speak Thai to are the educated elite, often university professors, doctors and the like, who quite often aren't that good at English, or not as good as they think they are.

[Highlandman]

5 minutes ago, glegolo18 said:

Maybe you should leave your "bad attitude" at home, probably in England, and be nice and communicate with people around you, use your mouth and smile from time to time, and the world will be a better place for all of us, maybe???

Lol, England again. I've never even been to England. Also, how many British people say "gas station"? You Brits use another word altogether. It's called "petrol".

 

I don't have time to have conversations with menial workers ive never met before. I tell them what I want and that's it.

 

You'll be the one people hate (mostly Thais) if you hold up the queue at a gas station by having a pointless conversation with someone who's employed to serve you and move you along as quickly as possible.