English, Which Version.

[Mosha]

Which version of English is being taught in Thailand? My friend's step daughter came home from school with some home work. It involved naming items of clothing. She asked my friend, who like me is a Brit, what a certain item was. He replied Jumper. The next day she came home from school, and said to Paul. "The teacher says you are wrong, she says it's a sweater." Now growing up in Yorkshire, it was usually jumper or pullover. I googled sweater yesterday, and it says <In British English, a sweater is called a pullover, sweater, jersey, or jumper. Jumper being the most common useage, in Britain and Australia. In S.Africa they use jersey.>

The teacher, who incidentally is due to marry an Australian friend, has told the girl not to listen to the Farangs as they don't speak correctly.

[otherstuff1957]

Most Thais, even Thais who teach English, are not aware that there are different dialects of English. I once asked a Thai teacher that I was working with if that school used British spelling or American spelling. She just looked shocked and asked "There's a difference?".

Also, you will just confuse your friend's step-daughter's teacher if you point out that there can be more that one word for a particular garment. In multiple choice tests, there can only be one correct answer, therefore the concept of multiple correct answers will cause your average Thai teacher's brain to overheat and smoke to start coming out of her ears.

Even if your friend's step-daughter has a Farang English teacher, her Thai teacher will still give her her grade. So, most Thai students will realize that there is no percentage in bucking their Thai teacher's perception of what is the correct answer.

[fred2007]

Which version of English is being taught in Thailand? My friend's step daughter came home from school with some home work. It involved naming items of clothing. She asked my friend, who like me is a Brit, what a certain item was. He replied Jumper. The next day she came home from school, and said to Paul. "The teacher says you are wrong, she says it's a sweater." Now growing up in Yorkshire, it was usually jumper or pullover. I googled sweater yesterday, and it says <In British English, a sweater is called a pullover, sweater, jersey, or jumper. Jumper being the most common useage, in Britain and Australia. In S.Africa they use jersey.>

The teacher, who incidentally is due to marry an Australian friend, has told the girl not to listen to the Farangs as they don't speak correctly.

Who does? Thai?

[Xangsamhua]

Which version of English is being taught in Thailand? My friend's step daughter came home from school with some home work. It involved naming items of clothing. She asked my friend, who like me is a Brit, what a certain item was. He replied Jumper. The next day she came home from school, and said to Paul. "The teacher says you are wrong, she says it's a sweater." Now growing up in Yorkshire, it was usually jumper or pullover. I googled sweater yesterday, and it says <In British English, a sweater is called a pullover, sweater, jersey, or jumper. Jumper being the most common useage, in Britain and Australia. In S.Africa they use jersey.>

The teacher, who incidentally is due to marry an Australian friend, has told the girl not to listen to the Farangs as they don't speak correctly.

Who does? Thai?

No one. "Correct" English is something you might find in a textbook. No one actually speaks it. Look at any tapescript of a conversation between native speakers. Also, while I'm on the case, a natural language is not made for translation. OK, we have to do it, but it often doesn't really work and yields disappointing results. Paraphrasing works better, but expecting consistent one-on-one correspondence between words in two languages is simplistic, especially when one language, i.e. English, has so many words with the same or similar meanings. And that's quite apart from dialect differences; ask a non-native speaker and an American and an Australian and an Englishman what they think the word "vest" means.

[endure]

And that's quite apart from dialect differences; ask a non-native speaker and an American and an Australian and an Englishman what they think the word "vest" means.

In England it's a string thing

Edited March 16, 2009 by endure

[Ijustwannateach]

There's no standard; it all depends on the school and/or the teacher. Suggest OP find another school and/or teacher if it's that important to him.

[fred2007]

And that's quite apart from dialect differences; ask a non-native speaker and an American and an Australian and an Englishman what they think the word "vest" means.

In England it's a string thing

A recent pic of you ?

[endure]

And that's quite apart from dialect differences; ask a non-native speaker and an American and an Australian and an Englishman what they think the word "vest" means.

In England it's a string thing

A recent pic of you ?

Yes, just after my successful diet

[PeaceBlondie]

otherstuff1957 said it best. But endure's vest is worth a thousand words.

[thaicbr]

Its one of the reasons i try to teach British and American versions of the English language. I was once corrected in class by a teacher for spelling colour. I already knew not to make her lose face so just took out my dictionary and got to the correct page and gave it to her. it was 'oh sorry, i not know sorry'

It was no problem for me But can be very confusing for students when they try and do tests developed by older Thai teachers who still don't use word contractions etc. I am 16 year old etc

Allan

[Mosha]

There's no standard; it all depends on the school and/or the teacher. Suggest OP find another school and/or teacher if it's that important to him.

As I said it's my mates step daughter, although we all are a friend of the teacher. We got a bit cheesed off when we were told we didn't know the correct word. It's not as if we were speaking slang/dialect, which we do when we want a private chat.