On 12/18/2025 at 10:51 AM, Woke to Sounds said:

IF I were a Thai, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

This is Thailand and we speak Thai.

 

English has no place here when you think about it really.

Maybe you are not aware but Thailands depends heavily on tourism of which 95% of tourists speak English!! 

This is where the Thai authorities are doing the people an injustice, like it or not English is by far the most spoken language and Thailand is a tourist dependant nation! In Europe & Scandinavia as well as many other countries english is taught at a very young age where leaders recognise the advantage to both the nation and the individuals!! Maybe the hi'sos are happy to keep the majority at their current level of communication, I guess it means there is more room at the trough!

15 hours ago, paul1804 said:

This is where the Thai authorities are doing the people an injustice, like it or not English is by far the most spoken language and Thailand is a tourist dependant nation! In Europe & Scandinavia as well as many other countries english is taught at a very young age where leaders recognise the advantage to both the nation and the individuals!! Maybe the hi'sos are happy to keep the majority at their current level of communication, I guess it means there is more room at the trough!

 

The HISo's and the government want the people to remain as poor, uneducated, clueless, and compliant as possible.

Have to agree with spidermike that asking questions of Thai's is a no no because of the stupid loss of face belief.   A good friend of mine (now deceased) taught English in his local school.  He spoke Thai which helped and he encouraged the pupils to ask questions which he said helped with the learning in the class, however outside of his class there was no way the kids would ask questions of the other teachers.

If it was not for the stupid loss of face belief in this country, i believe it would be miles ahead of where it stands, economically and every other way.

On 12/19/2025 at 1:44 PM, KhunLA said:

Business in TH, and daughter found out, Chinese is the better language to have, then Japanese, then English.

 

Marketing, those knowing Chinese, got more, better commissioned clients, at all 3 previous companies she worked for.

I assume that you believe Thailand will be taken over by China 

20 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

I assume that you believe Thailand will be taken over by China 

Why would I assume that ?  China has no interest in taking over any country.  No country has actually succeeded in taking over other countries, this or last century.

 

Just going by what my daughter told me, since in marketing, and use to handle worldwide accounts of top brands.   

 

World's largest producer, and one world's of largest consumers, speak Chinese.  Think in the business world, especially living in E Asia or SEA, it would be beneficial to be fluent in Chinese.

On 12/19/2025 at 8:47 AM, murto said:

teacher here i Thailand across four different schools,

I hope you're not teaching English ha ha 🙂 

10 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Why would I assume that ?  China has no interest in taking over any country.  No country has actually succeeded in taking over other countries, this or last century.

 

Just going by what my daughter told me, since in marketing, and use to handle worldwide accounts of top brands.   

 

World's largest producer, and one world's of largest consumers, speak Chinese.  Think in the business world, especially living in E Asia or SEA, it would be beneficial to be fluent in Chinese.

Can you be more specific when you say speak Chinese. The official language of the PRC is Mandarin. Many Chinese don't speak Mandarin.

What slipping down ? In many big stores, that make their money mostly with the foreigners, they often do not speak a word of english...or maybe it depends on the mood of the day if they want to speak to the falang or not who is wanting to bring them money ?

 

Same for government offices in popular beach towns like Hua Hin where it becomes tricky to find a helpful ear to communicate in english. 

18 hours ago, nglodnig said:

I hope you're not teaching English ha ha 🙂 

ha ha.

 

On 12/18/2025 at 2:49 PM, StayinThailand2much said:

 

They interviewed staff at Central Chidlom years ago, why they couldn't communicate in English, after some tourists from Singapore complained about that. They answered: "No need."

 

When I visited a bank in Bangkok, only one staff member (incl. the manager) understood and spoke English; the security guard from Myanmar! 😆 

   Yes, and when those cave boys were rescued, only the Myanmar boy could speak English and communicate with the rescuers.  Thailand should have been hugely embarrassed but, of course, wasn't.   And, as the article shows, things have only gone downhill since then, rather than improved.  Working its way to the very bottom--not far to go now.  Pathetic Education department.  

On 12/19/2025 at 1:19 AM, mfd101 said:

One of the effects of 'never been colonized' .

 

Why should they, Thailand is the center of universe.

On 12/21/2025 at 1:46 PM, KhunLA said:

Why would I assume that ?  China has no interest in taking over any country.  No country has actually succeeded in taking over other countries, this or last century.

 

Just going by what my daughter told me, since in marketing, and use to handle worldwide accounts of top brands.   

 

World's largest producer, and one world's of largest consumers, speak Chinese.  Think in the business world, especially living in E Asia or SEA, it would be beneficial to be fluent in Chinese.

Of course it would have an advantage. Having said that when a team of Chinese business people (men and women) came to the Middle East they all spoke English. Speaking just Chinese does limit the countries you can deal with whereas English is the global language of business.

2 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

Of course it would have an advantage. Having said that when a team of Chinese business people (men and women) came to the Middle East they all spoke English. Speaking just Chinese does limit the countries you can deal with whereas English is the global language of business.

I thought the subject was Thais, and their need for English.  Not the Chinese, who want to do business in the Middle East.

 

And yes, my daughter fluent in English has help here, but, she is in international marketing.   What percentage of Thais actually need English.  Not even necessary in the travel industry, as long as theirs a couple folks with basic English at resorts.

 

30+ million tourist a year, so it seems English isn't really needed.  One of the most visited countries in the world.

17 hours ago, Geoff914 said:

Can you be more specific when you say speak Chinese. The official language of the PRC is Mandarin. Many Chinese don't speak Mandarin.

Can you be more specific when you say Mandarin. The official language of the PRC is Putonghua.
‘Official’ refers to the state standard, not universal native use.
Putonghua is also the PRC’s lingua franca.

On 12/21/2025 at 1:46 PM, KhunLA said:

Why would I assume that ?  China has no interest in taking over any country.  No country has actually succeeded in taking over other countries, this or last century.

 

Just going by what my daughter told me, since in marketing, and use to handle worldwide accounts of top brands.   

 

World's largest producer, and one world's of largest consumers, speak Chinese.  Think in the business world, especially living in E Asia or SEA, it would be beneficial to be fluent in Chinese.

Oh so you dont read history and of course Taiwan is part of mainland china!! 

3 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Can you be more specific when you say Mandarin. The official language of the PRC is Putonghua.
‘Official’ refers to the state standard, not universal native use.
Putonghua is also the PRC’s lingua franca.

Putonghua is the Mandarin dialect of Beijing. Never the less the official language of China is Mandarin. There is no such language as "Chinese" although I get a lot of people say they speak Chinese.

13 minutes ago, Geoff914 said:

Putonghua is the Mandarin dialect of Beijing. Never the less the official language of China is Mandarin. There is no such language as "Chinese" although I get a lot of people say they speak Chinese.

Putonghua is based largely on Beijing pronunciation, but it is a standardised national language, not the Beijing dialect itself.

The official language of the PRC is Putonghua, not ‘Mandarin’ — which is an English umbrella term for a group of related varieties.

And while ‘Chinese’ isn’t a single spoken language, it’s a valid umbrella term in English, much like ‘Arabic’.

2 hours ago, paul1804 said:

Oh so you dont read history and of course Taiwan is part of mainland china!! 

Ignore the MSM distractions.  History ... here's reality, via AI ...

 

If you read history I think you will find that Europeans discovered the island of Taiwan before the Chinese did. The island was and still is inhabited by aboriginal people. So if anybody has a right to Taiwan it isn't China. But since when did that get in the way of China grabbing anything that it fancies, Tibet, South China Sea. They had a go at Vietnam but got their ar5e5 kicked. At best around the 16th/17th century mainland Chinese started to settle on the island. The local war lord paid homage to the Emperor. But it was just that, an Emperor. The sovereignty claim is extremely weak.

On 12/20/2025 at 10:11 AM, blaze master said:

 

We did French but no German. What decade in Ontario?

70's kingston

10 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Ignore the MSM distractions.  History ... here's reality, via AI ...

 

And of course Tibet is part of China as well but not by choice or historically!!

8 hours ago, Geoff914 said:

If you read history I think you will find that Europeans discovered the island of Taiwan before the Chinese did. The island was and still is inhabited by aboriginal people. So if anybody has a right to Taiwan it isn't China. But since when did that get in the way of China grabbing anything that it fancies, Tibet, South China Sea. They had a go at Vietnam but got their ar5e5 kicked. At best around the 16th/17th century mainland Chinese started to settle on the island. The local war lord paid homage to the Emperor. But it was just that, an Emperor. The sovereignty claim is extremely weak.

Yes thats a true story! 

On 12/19/2025 at 9:57 PM, ikke1959 said:

here in THailand??? 

Yes.

 

I speak what has just been described as "survival Thai" - well perhaps a little better. I find as I bimble around rural Northern Thailand that plenty of the younger generation speak "survival English". 

 

My daughter (effectively bilingual) is a student at a local public university.  Most of her friends can get by in English.

As for bar girls, well I have several friends who work in bars (don't get excited, it stays firmly in my trousers) they make their living from chatting to customers - "hustling for drinks" and of course they speak English. They are usually funny, charming and effective communicators.

 

I honestly don't think that it is as dire as these ranking tables suggest - it rather depends of course on who you survey,  and frankly what you want to use the survey results for ( to flog?).

 

Mind you, last time I was in the UK I was horrified  - no one in any of the high street banks spoke Thai!

21 hours ago, KhunLA said:

I thought the subject was Thais, and their need for English.  Not the Chinese, who want to do business in the Middle East.

 

And yes, my daughter fluent in English has help here, but, she is in international marketing.   What percentage of Thais actually need English.  Not even necessary in the travel industry, as long as theirs a couple folks with basic English at resorts.

 

30+ million tourist a year, so it seems English isn't really needed.  One of the most visited countries in the world.

In country no but elsewhere it is needed.

On 12/21/2025 at 1:46 PM, KhunLA said:

Why would I assume that ?  China has no interest in taking over any country.  No country has actually succeeded in taking over other countries, this or last century.

 

Just going by what my daughter told me, since in marketing, and use to handle worldwide accounts of top brands.   

 

World's largest producer, and one world's of largest consumers, speak Chinese.  Think in the business world, especially living in E Asia or SEA, it would be beneficial to be fluent in Chinese.

Check out Tibet

On 12/19/2025 at 1:47 PM, hotandsticky said:

 

 

Not helped when the parents also fail to value education.

The system is the major problem.  If they got rid of the cannot fail aspect you would find a great increase in concerned parents

22 minutes ago, MarkBR said:

Check out Tibet

Don't care, not moving there or visiting.  Only care about TH.   Where they don't need English, and I don't need Thai.  Though know enough Thai to get by living rural, and anything else, G-lens will translate for me.

1 hour ago, MarkBR said:

The system is the major problem.  If they got rid of the cannot fail aspect you would find a great increase in concerned parents

I agree with you about the system, but any changes would not IMO affect the ignorance of most of the parents- certainly in rural/poorer areas 

On 12/21/2025 at 2:46 PM, KhunLA said:

World's largest producer, and one world's of largest consumers, speak Chinese.  Think in the business world, especially living in E Asia or SEA, it would be beneficial to be fluent in Chinese.

Yes, it is certainly beneficial to be fluent in Chinese in this region. Malaysia, the top source of tourists to Thailand, has many Mandarin speakers. In fact, Malaysia has the most Mandarin speakers outside of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. But of course, most Malaysians can speak English. Thai, Indonesian and Filipino Chinese however, mostly couldn't speak any Chinese dialect. In this region, only Chinese Malaysians and Chinese Singaporeans have retained their Chinese names and language.