3 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

A work ethic that propels them to study hard and to learn.

You're wrong.

18 hours ago, JAG said:

Ironically, as has been pointed out, many of the "English teachers" in That schools are recruited from the Filipines.

They are cheap to employ.

No surprise there, since they are lucky to earn $500/month in the Philippines.

5 hours ago, mikeymike100 said:

There doesn't need to be.

Correct, but Thailand is making good progress. In Bangkok I don't feel restricted at all by my lack of the local language. And even home, around Buriram Muang, more and more young professionals speak good english. With a special mention to Tooth Cafe, my remarquable new dentist.

38 minutes ago, Older and Wiser said:

Bull<deleted>. I've lived in the Philippines 27 years and put 2 kids through the Philippines private school system. Your comments are total tosh.

You're obviously not an English teacher nor been a recruiter screening teacher applicants.

I am sorry for the inadequate education your kids suffered.

15 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

There isn't overly high proficiency of Thai comprehension in the Philippines either....

I don't think she was talking about Tagalog proficiency in Thailand. Not that I care to defend the precocious visitor. It's always uncomfortable watching someone trying to elevate themselves above others.

I am fond of saying, "Culture always wins." An example of that is the Thai tendency to smile and pretend they speak English. When I first moved to Bangkok 14 years ago, I quickly learned, they are pretending to understand. So, one day I went to "The information" counter at Siam Paragon and asked for directions to a store. She smiled and motioned with her hand, pointing right at the center of the large divider that separated the two sides of the mall. So I motioned and asked "Go to the right?" A smile and a "Yes" "Or perhaps, (motioning) I should go left?" "Yes." I then said, "There are two popular hypothesis that light either travels as a particle or a wave. Do you think it most likely travels as a particle? "YES." But then again, it could also travel as a wave, could that be true? "YES." That was the day "I got it" and realized trying to communicate in English in Thailand, is a fool's errand. They are trained to create a "happy vibe moment" and have zero respect for other people's time. That is why for my whole lifetime, when I asked a person, all over the globe, for directions, and they said "I don't know, I would stop and really thank them! "Thank you for giving me one of the two best answers. (1) Exact directions because you KNOW them (2) "I don't know" ... Thank you for respecting my time, and not sending me on a wild goose chase. So here is a "Pro Tip" ... when you ask directions (especially in Thailand) ... and they say "Go this way" ... smile, point in the opposite direction and kindly say "Could it be this way?" If they say "Yes" ... THEY DON"T KNOW WHERE IT IS.

42 minutes ago, WOLINM said:

I speak English well, this can be easy for even fellow Scots to understand.

As a Norwegian, I understand Scottish English quite well. Mostly by watching Scottish actors on Heartbeat😄

13 minutes ago, JustinTyme said:

I am fond of saying, "Culture always wins." An example of that is the Thai tendency to smile and pretend they speak English. When I first moved to Bangkok 14 years ago, I quickly learned, they are pretending to understand. So, one day I went to "The information" counter at Siam Paragon and asked for directions to a store. She smiled and motioned with her hand, pointing right at the center of the large divider that separated the two sides of the mall. So I motioned and asked "Go to the right?" A smile and a "Yes" "Or perhaps, (motioning) I should go left?" "Yes." I then said, "There are two popular hypothesis that light either travels as a particle or a wave. Do you think it most likely travels as a particle? "YES." But then again, it could also travel as a wave, could that be true? "YES." That was the day "I got it" and realized trying to communicate in English in Thailand, is a fool's errand. They are trained to create a "happy vibe moment" and have zero respect for other people's time. That is why for my whole lifetime, when I asked a person, all over the globe, for directions, and they said "I don't know, I would stop and really thank them! "Thank you for giving me one of the two best answers. (1) Exact directions because you KNOW them (2) "I don't know" ... Thank you for respecting my time, and not sending me on a wild goose chase. So here is a "Pro Tip" ... when you ask directions (especially in Thailand) ... and they say "Go this way" ... smile, point in the opposite direction and kindly say "Could it be this way?" If they say "Yes" ... THEY DON"T KNOW WHERE IT IS.

That is so typical Thai... Can't lose face by letting a random stranger know you can’t understand English.

I wonder how much money Crispy Froid's parents spent on her education in the U.K., with a little French too, if her name is any indication. Certainly more than a Grab driver's income. The accent is pure Essex grandma.

8 hours ago, bokningar said:

But they speak quite good Filipino AND English

A large number of Filipinos speak three languages very well: English, Filipino (based on Tagalog), and their native language.

It is genuinely difficult for Thai speakers to correctly pronounce English words, as it is for English speakers to pronounce Thai words. Such is not the case in the Philippines.... and they use the English alphabet with a few Spanish letters thrown in.

However, this Filipino is also extremely ignorant, expecting English to be spoken when travelling to foreign lands. Most people with half a brain can use a translator, which is now available on most phones.

I'm American, retired Military and I've traveled and lived in other countries. While it's certainly convenient to speak English, I've never expected others to speak it just because it's my native language. These days, there are so many Language apps that getting around that issue is not difficult.

My wife is Thai, speaks, reads, and writes English. If anything, I'm a bit embarrassed that I don't speak Thai. Her son goes to school out in the province and is in middle school. He speaks a little English and is learning more every day. I suspect that by the time he is through with high school, his English will be good enough to communicate with others. If they want to learn, they likely will learn.

17 hours ago, still kicking said:

It's funny, my nephew is a medical engineer, he went to Europe, Japan USA and speaks English as well as I do. Yes, he lives in BKK as a matter of fact, most of my Thai family members speak some English.

Sure, particularly younger Thais in Bangkok, and most particularly among the Thais who are ethnically Chinese. There's little point in denying the Thais of Chineses decsent control most of the economy, thus they have money to educate their kids in English - or at least can pay for them to learn it. Thailand is about connections. The wealthier your family is (e.g. has a business and extended family that practices guagxi), the better edge you'll have over the rest of the population. Even third and fourth generation Thai-Chin practice guangxi.

English has long been accepted as a universal "second" language, and only a couple of weeks ago there was an article on here pointing out that the standard of English in Thailand's schools is very poor.

I tried to explain to my Thai stepdaughter when she was at school, that an understanding of English would increase her prospects of getting a decent job with career prospects when she left, but "dumb farang know nothing". She's now working all hours in a factory, working shifts and wondering if I might have been right!

22 hours ago, bdenner said:

There's the "pot calling the kettle black".

My step daughter spent her high school years in a private school with Filipino English teachers and the lot of em were hopeless illiterates.

That’s not their fault, it’s only what the schools want to pay (for).

The Filipina was a tourist, right? The thing to ask our social media influencer is how many hours do thai kids study in their whole school career. They start at four YO, leave at 18-19 - all study 5 hours a week, some an extra hour or so with a foreign speaker, some have tuition after school .. so it’s safe to say that every grab driver / rider has had 3000 hours study. It takes a ballpark of 1500-2000 hours to be professional fluent - but these guys have an extra 1000 hours on top - and this is a conservative estimate allowing for sports day practice, scout camp, etc. but the rest of the world has to show patience and understanding. What cultural differences do I not understand?

I usually teach Chinese kids, but I have a 10 year old Thai student, I treat him like a 5 year old - get him to draw a picture of his face and demo me how he is feeling - he draws a smiley face, I tell him happy, I drill him on the sentence, with actions - then start the lesson “how are you?”

“I’mfinethanksandyooooo” - it’s the system.

I can’t be critical because even after living here off and on for 15 years my Thai language skills are rudimentary at best. I dare say there are more like me out there. For me to criticise would be downright hypocrisy. I take my hat off to those that are multilingual but cannot condone criticism of those that aren’t.

When a Thai high school graduate, with some 12 years of mandatory English studies, can't speak English well, that says so much about her "Thai culture".

And none of it is good.

On 1/12/2026 at 9:49 AM, HappyExpat57 said:

Her ignorance is only surpassed by her hubris.

Indeed. If she wants to communicate with Thai people, she should learn to speak Thai.

2 hours ago, JustinTyme said:

I am fond of saying, "Culture always wins." An example of that is the Thai tendency to smile and pretend they speak English. When I first moved to Bangkok 14 years ago, I quickly learned, they are pretending to understand. So, one day I went to "The information" counter at Siam Paragon and asked for directions to a store. She smiled and motioned with her hand, pointing right at the center of the large divider that separated the two sides of the mall. So I motioned and asked "Go to the right?" A smile and a "Yes" "Or perhaps, (motioning) I should go left?" "Yes." I then said, "There are two popular hypothesis that light either travels as a particle or a wave. Do you think it most likely travels as a particle? "YES." But then again, it could also travel as a wave, could that be true? "YES." That was the day "I got it" and realized trying to communicate in English in Thailand, is a fool's errand. They are trained to create a "happy vibe moment" and have zero respect for other people's time. That is why for my whole lifetime, when I asked a person, all over the globe, for directions, and they said "I don't know, I would stop and really thank them! "Thank you for giving me one of the two best answers. (1) Exact directions because you KNOW them (2) "I don't know" ... Thank you for respecting my time, and not sending me on a wild goose chase. So here is a "Pro Tip" ... when you ask directions (especially in Thailand) ... and they say "Go this way" ... smile, point in the opposite direction and kindly say "Could it be this way?" If they say "Yes" ... THEY DON"T KNOW WHERE IT IS.

In a large grocery store, when I ask a Thai employee where an item is, they generally point somewhere or say "aisle whatever". Then I say "Show me."

Yeah, I'm gonna call you on your ignorance

5 hours ago, CM Dad said:

Did you study history at Trump University?

Nope,

Not at all, but it is correct what I am saying.

The poor level of English does not matter that much for the general public, they will be doing the mundane jobs anyway which means no contact with English speakers and hence no need to speak English.

Thais interfacing with people at airports, tourist companies etc all speak good enough English.

The top few percent of Thais who get to the top of the education ladder will speak enough English for the jobs they do so there again no problem.

For example there are lots of people in the West who are rubbish at maths and/or science but that does not matter as there are enough people with those skills in the system, the rest do the mundane jobs which do not need a high education.

But in any case if I need to tell a taxi driver or a builder working on my house something I just open the translate app on my iPhone, say the sentences in English and it is translated a second later into spoken Thai via the loudspeaker, so what is the problem?

Perhaps the Filipino woman was too dim to know how to use it?

1 hour ago, rattlesnake said:

Indeed. If she wants to communicate with Thai people, she should learn to speak Thai.

She was a tourist, does that mean she has to learn the hundreds of main languages in the world so she can go and visit those countries? That sounds a bit daft.

What language do you think German, French, Russian etc tourists use to speak to Thais, English of course but no problem as most people in the tourist trade do speak English and if not they can use the simple to use instant Iphone translator app.

What language does a Spanish person use when going on holiday to Germany for example, English of course.

7 hours ago, cdemundo said:

We all have our preferences I guess.

I work with a lot of Thais who went international school and learned English from a young age.

Their English pronunciation is indistinguishable from a native speaker.

Generally they have a sort of "mid-Atlantic" accent, neither British nor American.

This is in spite of having mostly British teachers.

They tend to say that American English is easier to understand, but they haven't been to Louisiana.

When I was taking a Thai language course at Chulalakorn, I met a young lady there. During my conversation with her I thought she was from the U.S. of A.. Not only was she fluent in English but she had an accent from Arkansas, U.S. of A. She had never been outside of Thailand. Her English language instructor at Chula was from Arkansas, hence, her southern accent.

11 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

When I was taking a Thai language course at Chulalakorn, I met a young lady there. During my conversation with her I thought she was from the U.S. of A.. Not only was she fluent in English but she had an accent from Arkansas, U.S. of A. She had never been outside of Thailand. Her English language instructor at Chula was from Arkansas, hence, her southern accent.

When I am in the massive central shopping centre near Kathu, Kathu in Phuket I sometimes walk past groups of Thais school kids, Thais, farangs, mixed Thai/farang speaking to each other in English in most cases their language skills are great and the accents are neutral, I suspect they are school kids who attend the many private schools in Phuket.

The French refuse to speak English is common rule.

Last time I was in Thailand(last year), I was spoken to in English from Thai(South). They wanted to learn.

Then I take my time and dont mumble in English, but speak right, articulated and slow.

Same as I started with my wife, had some English, but not yet big.

34 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

She was a tourist, does that mean she has to learn the hundreds of main languages in the world so she can go and visit those countries? That sounds a bit daft.

What language do you think German, French, Russian etc tourists use to speak to Thais, English of course but no problem as most people in the tourist trade do speak English and if not they can use the simple to use instant Iphone translator app.

What language does a Spanish person use when going on holiday to Germany for example, English of course.

If the Spanish person goes to the Philippines, they might run into someone that they can have a conversation in Spanish with. I have met a few Philippines that could speak it.

2 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Sure, particularly younger Thais in Bangkok, and most particularly among the Thais who are ethnically Chinese. There's little point in denying the Thais of Chineses decsent control most of the economy, thus they have money to educate their kids in English - or at least can pay for them to learn it. Thailand is about connections. The wealthier your family is (e.g. has a business and extended family that practices guagxi), the better edge you'll have over the rest of the population. Even third and fourth generation Thai-Chin practice guangxi.

His Family is not rich but he spend yeas in OZ as a trainee nurse and talked English with me and at work. Now he works for a big company and travels a lot.

The tourist is correct given the dependancy Thailand has on tourism, but I guess the Thai elites are happy to keep the less educated the way they are and that means there will be more space at the trough!! Its a disgrace but then its not exactly a very moral world is it!!!

21 hours ago, Maybole said:

I speak English with a rural Ayrshire accent, this can be difficult for even fellow Scots to understand.

I suppose Maybole is the deep south says the man from Newton Mearns

Thailand accounts for less than 1% of the global population, around 80% of the global population are either fluent in English or speak English as their 2nd language. Of the remaining 20% which includes Thailand some speak a little English so why would the Thai government not make English in schools compulsory given not only the global trend but Thailand is hugely reliant on tourism!!

3 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Sure, particularly younger Thais in Bangkok, and most particularly among the Thais who are ethnically Chinese. There's little point in denying the Thais of Chineses decsent control most of the economy, thus they have money to educate their kids in English - or at least can pay for them to learn it. Thailand is about connections. The wealthier your family is (e.g. has a business and extended family that practices guagxi), the better edge you'll have over the rest of the population. Even third and fourth generation Thai-Chin practice guangxi.

Apologises about being a pedant - guanxi. Guangxi is the Autonomous Province