Old people with zero English skills while the younger staff just watch and can speak English

[Tomtomtom69]

1 hour ago, fredwiggy said:

If you're in a tourist area, you might expect that at least some of the staff speaks English, and it would be in their best interest to have them, especially seeing the amount of foreigners here. 

 

The old "crow' (disrespectful) that did your processing might be an expert in the trade, with the other employees not knowing it as well as her, and they could be the ones that check you out for payment. 

 

I would much rather have some communication problems with an expert than one who speaks fluent English but isn't as skilled in the job, especially concerning eyes. 

 

They have been doing their jobs with the Thais for years where English wasn't necessary, so when they have an English speaking customer, it just takes a phone to communicate if any of the staff isn't proficient in English. 

 

I'm thinking you're the English teacher. If so, you should understand full well that most Thai English teachers here aren't very good at teaching English, and that's where you fit in. English is only necessary here if you're only dealing with English speaking foreigners. It does help if a worker can speak decent English if they have  English speaking customers. Remember how many other languages are spoken here by tourists and those living here. You can't expect all the shops and businesses workers to be fluent in all languages. The "fossils" are the ones who taught the other workers the trade unless they went to school. Living here you have to adjust the best you can.

 

I wouldn't expect there to be any English-speaking staff at all. In practice, there is usually someone who knows some English, however bad it may be, but I don't expect it. I speak Thai with all Thais regardless of where I am in the country.

 

And yeah, what you describe is very common; you normally don't find many young Thais who happen to have good English being proficient at other tasks. As you say, they might just be a receptionist or store clerk. 

 

I also speak Thai with Burmese and Cambodian migrant workers, unless it turns out their English is better than their Thai (which is often the case in tourist areas such as Koh Chang, Pattaya, Samui etc.) in which case I switch to English peppered with a few words or phrases from their language (be it Burmese or Khmer). With Laotians I will speak Thai or Lao only.

[1FinickyOne]

16 hours ago, Chris Daley said:

some old guy does the entire process.  Does this bother you?

 

I had to go through an entire eye check up at the opticians with some old crow.  She had zero English

He or she - which is it?

 

Christopher or Christine? Sounds like your English needs a bit of work too...

 

I think it is all up to the shop owner as to who does what in their store.. They are surely more familiar with the employees than a customer who has been there for 2 minutes... 

 

And no, it would not bother me as to which employee waits on me... but calling elderly people fossils is never very nice.. eh? 

[Tomtomtom69]

17 hours ago, Chris Daley said:

So you walk into a shop and there are younger staff or interns that speak perfect English but some old guy does the entire process.  Does this bother you?

 

I had to go through an entire eye check up at the opticians with some old crow.  She had zero English and at one point she just said "nevermind" in Thai.  Afterwards the assistant spoke to me in perfect English.

 

How about you?  Do you think we should fire the fossils and pay the young people with 2 degrees, 5 languages and masters more?

 

How hard can the process be of buying new glasses? You get an eye test, they ask you what you see, put some lenses over to see if you can read the chart, then if one or both eyes can't see clearly, they give you a slightly stronger lens and that's really about it.

 

You hardly need much language to communicate your needs for something as simple as that. Usually takes 5 minutes then wait for your glasses to be made, which could take anywhere from an hour to a few days. 

[scorecard]

17 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

I don't get this. If anywhere people are speaking English it's a holiday resort. Most of Thailand speaks little to no English. It's the norm and should be expected.

 

But it is changing, more and more Thais are speaking some / more / better English.

 

This is life. 

[Tomtomtom69]

2 hours ago, Kat Hao said:

As an american, I am often surprised by the number of people that can speak some level of english.  It sure makes my travels easier, but that's pretty much where it should stop -- I have no right to expect people to speak english, no right at all.  

Even more so when we visit countries that are considered 2nd or 3rd world -- whatever those silly labels mean.  Why should you expect to visit a country in SE Asia, that is one of only 3 countries never to have been colonized by anyone, and have some expectation that people should speak your language?  Should the hospitality workers also speak Russian? Chinese?  German? French? Spanish? 
OK, if you book at a resort that caters to your language, OK, good for you.  But if you traveled all the way to Thailand to hear your native language spoken, it begs the question of why you left home in the first place.  Try traveling for the cultural experience, less anger and hostility over a language choice. 

 

I agree but then I also think that in such an international environment, it's silly to assume everyone speaks English. Thais have this strange assumption that every foreigner or at least every farang, is able to converse in English. Some Thais even call it "phasaa falang" or "western language" as if all westerners were the same and that all westerners can not only speak English but there's only one language spoken in the west, which is quite ignorant. 

 

I would never assume that the locals can speak multiple languages, but I would expect there to be some that do (not for my benefit as I don't need it, but for those that do). There are certainly those who speak Russian, German, Chinese, Swedish, French, Spanish, Japanese, Burmese, Khmer and a multitude of other languages, at least in certain areas of the country, to facilitate communication with visitors or expats who happen to be from those countries. Visitors from some of these countries or put another way, some visitors from any of these countries don't speak English at all or very very little. 

[Tomtomtom69]

3 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

But it is changing, more and more Thais are speaking some / more / better English.

 

This is life. 

 

To be honest, I don't find this to be true, but neither am I upset about it. I don't personally need Thais to be better at English. 

[BritManToo]

17 hours ago, Chris Daley said:

So you walk into a shop and there are younger staff or interns that speak perfect English but some old guy does the entire process.  Does this bother you?

 

I had to go through an entire eye check up at the opticians with some old crow.  She had zero English and at one point she just said "nevermind" in Thai.  Afterwards the assistant spoke to me in perfect English.

 

How about you?  Do you think we should fire the fossils and pay the young people with 2 degrees, 5 languages and masters more?

I went to a well known opticians with two attractive young ladies serving.

They couldn't speak English and couldn't operate the eye test equipment.

I had to show them how to do an eye test for glasses.

Think this is normal in Thailand.

Accept and move on!

[LukKrueng]

17 hours ago, still kicking said:

So you go to Spain for holidays, do you have to learn Spanish? 

If you go anywhere on holidays, and for some reason have to go to an optometrist, would you complain that this optometrist doesn't speak your language??

[BritManToo]

Just now, LukKrueng said:

If you go anywhere on holidays, and for some reason have to go to an optometrist, would you complain that this optometrist doesn't speak your language??

No but I'd complain if he couldn't operate his equipment!

[scorecard]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

But it is changing, more and more Thais are speaking some / more / better English.

 

This is life. 

Unfortunately stronger / faster development is often held back by Thai teachers who are tasked to teach English but can't themselves speak English or speak it very poorly. 

 

My granddaughter went to a primary school in CM with an 'English program'. First period 80 minutes every day was English and the focus was on conversation. Teacher a mid 20's young guy from the UK who has gained specific qualifications (and good experience) to teach English conversation and limited time on grammar. 

 

An old Thai female English teacher had to sit in the back of the room for every lesson (above), take notes and last period every day reteach the same lesson to same kids. Her lesson focused mainly on criticizing the morning lesson conducted by the foreign teacher.

 

Progressively the students realized her negatives were unfounded / wrong and the kids found / invented reasons to miss the afternoon class.

 

My granddaughter never missed the afternoon class but came home and shared with me and her Thai father (who speaks near perfect English). She wanted to be very sure what was correct.

 

She had very good English course books and if needed I found the 'item' in her course books and we constructed perhaps 4 or 5 further examples to emphasize the correct 'version'. 

 

It all came to a head when the Thai English announced she was going to start a new course labeled 'TINGLISH'.

 

School headmistress soon put a stop to that and within 24 hours the old Thai English teacher was retired early. 

[thesetat]

@Chris Daley

Did you ever think, that maybe the younger ones were showing respect to the doctor and allowing him to save face that he has poor english skills? 

You make this story into more than it is. As well as belittling the experienced professional. 

His workers at least, know how to keep their jobs.

[JensenZ]

19 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Nearly every time I see someone complaining, or observing a shortfall within Thailand, some lame guy, who has not taken the time to think things through, nor to devote any focus or effort to a reasonable reply, says something like "Perhaps Thailand is not for you", or maybe you should leave, or the top prize, "if you do not like it here, go back to your own country". Hard to even respond to such inane statements. Why? Because I have some issues with the place? Sorry to inform you, but the nature of a discerning mind, is to have issues. 

 

Though absolute contentment must be a beautiful state of mind, it is not something most of us are blessed with, in case you have not noticed. The fact that I complain, does not mean I do not love Thailand, nor most of it's people. I do. I love my life here. I have a very good life here. But, I do have some complaints, and there are some things I would love to see improved. I should leave because of that? 

 

Please. Next time you make a post, try to devote at least two moments of thought to it.

 You're defending a foreigner who has no respect for Thai elders, calling them "old crows" and "fossils", just because they cannot speak English. The OP most definitely should pack his bags and leave. The sooner the better.

 

I agree that it's cliché when foreigners who complain are invited to leave, but defending this pr**k is a step too far.

[daejung]

22 hours ago, still kicking said:

So you go to Spain for holidays, do you have to learn Spanish? 

And when we go to Britain or USA do we have to learn English ? They even speak less foreign languages

[daejung]

22 hours ago, Chris Daley said:

So you walk into a shop and there are younger staff or interns that speak perfect English but some old guy does the entire process.  Does this bother you?

 

I had to go through an entire eye check up at the opticians with some old crow.  She had zero English and at one point she just said "nevermind" in Thai.  Afterwards the assistant spoke to me in perfect English.

 

How about you?  Do you think we should fire the fossils and pay the young people with 2 degrees, 5 languages and masters more?