Hi folks:The wife has a degree in English from Ramhamkaeng BKK, and her English is pretty good. However, when she asks me to correct her, generally I do it about half the time. Why? (thai/english speak: I don't sure.) I do know Thais talk English the same way they speak Thai, without all the extra stuff like tense. WHY do farang talk pigeon English to their gf/wives? For example: you want go here eat?..you want make love?..we go movie now..you want buy land?..when I hear other farang talk to their wife/gf in pigeon english I sometimes snicker and think they are being lazy or something else, yet I do it too sometimes. It serves no purpose except to give subtle or tacit approval to the speaker that she is speaking properly, or enabling her to continue in this vein. I am "guilty" of speaking pigeon english to my wife at times,perhaps 25 to 50 % of the time although I don't track it closely. If someone asked me why I do it, I would say partially because lovely Thai women sound so cute when they mildly chastise you and say something like "don't do like that!"

Moved to general, as not related to housing

No, I don't speak pidgin (pigeon is a bird) English with my spouse, and because I have never done so, neither does he. His English, while accented, is fluent and he uses correct tenses.

I have never understood this need to speak this way, all it does is teach your partner to speak English in an ignorant sounding manner.

Pigeon or tinglish may be the most efficient communication option. I lived most of my life in Hawaii where the local dialect is pigeon so when I first came here it was quite easy to understand the tinglish and easy for the locals to understand me. If you are teaching someone with the eventual goal of them integrating into an english speaking country, that is a different matter. I like the fact that I can be lazy and speak pigeon with my gf. When she wants to learn the correct way to say something, I do my best to help.

Not usually around a g/f long enough to teach them good English, so I speak pidgin English a lot of the time as it is an easier way to communicate over the short term.

With Thai people who have a good command of English I then find it harder to remember to speak good English. On the phone to English friends I also speak normal English.

So it depends on the situation and the circumstances, not because it is cute or anything.

No, I don't speak pidgin (pigeon is a bird) English with my spouse, and because I have never done so, neither does he. His English, while accented, is fluent and he uses correct tenses.

I have never understood this need to speak this way, all it does is teach your partner to speak English in an ignorant sounding manner.

You are right. I have been lazy and will start correcting her alot more..thanks

No, I don't speak pidgin (pigeon is a bird) English with my spouse, and because I have never done so, neither does he. His English, while accented, is fluent and he uses correct tenses.

I have never understood this need to speak this way, all it does is teach your partner to speak English in an ignorant sounding manner.

But if pidgin English is the only way to communicate it becomes necessary. If I talk to my wife using proper grammar and tense, she doesn't understand. I think I also speak pidgin Thai with a rural accent!

Never.

--

With other Thai people, if I am speaking English, I try to keep it sounding neutral and clear and simple until i can gauge their English ability, but not "pigeon" English. Most of the time when I am speaking to local Thai I will speak Thai. Im not fluent, but even if i sound a bit silly at times, i gain more confidence ongoing. I would be quite sad if I learned that I was being spoken to with the equivalent of pigeon English. Simplified, sure, but I wish to be spoken to in a 'normal' way.

Sometimes i speak nid noi pidgeon englsih to thais who havent got good command of English,but not with my my thai gf of 4 years.She speaks good english,khmer and some chinese.

No I speak Pigeon Thai to my wife, and she responds with proper Thai or proper English when She knows I won't understand her response.

When confronted in a situation where my command of Thai is useless, and the person I am speaking too has almost no English. I resort to hand signals and very basic words in either language. Of course I look like a fool; I know because that is what I think when I see someone else doing the same thing. But what else can you do? I am trying to learn more Thai.

My wife's written English is nearly perfect.

But she has the problem that is so common to Thais, the habit of dropping or changing certain letters.

This all too often changes the sentance completely.

Like: R L T TH V W S...

She learned her English at Uni and before she met me did not get practice with native English speakers.

It is OK for me as I usually know what she is saying but it becomes a problem when she talks to other people that are not used to conversing with Thais.

Does anyone know of a teaching method to correct this?

I think it's completely counterproductive to speak pidgin anything with a significant other. It's actually one of my biggest pet peeves as I listen to various pals of mine asking their wives 'Why you go to bar with friend? I want you get me ciga-ret before you go, okay?'

With my girlfriend, we spend about 75% of our time speaking Thai. She has made it very clear that she isn't speaking dumbed-down Thai to me and I would never deign to insult her with pidgin English. As far as I can see, it's something that will hold her English development back.

In some of my more impatient moments (in shops or asking directions), when my Thai isn't sufficient, I'll resort to pidgin English with strangers. However, I really try to avoid this as much as I can.

I speak pidgin English to the Mrs. I know it's bad, but it's all she can handle. Then again, she is from Bromley.

BTW I find it absolutely hilarious when I hear older farang men talking to their younger "partners" in Tinglish. It sounds like how you might speak to a retarded baby monkey from Mars whose only concept of human interaction was gleaned from an old VHS copy of Greystoke dubbed into patois.

I was listening to a grey haired sandle-socker on the BTS the other day shouting down his mobile. The conversation basically went like this:

"John go home. No. Home. John go home"

"Nok where? Where Nok? Nok where?"

"Nok train? Same same me! John train. John same Nok."

He finished the call and just stood smiling at his mobile phone.

(I couldn't help wondering what phone sex between the pair would be like: "Nok harder. Harder. No, harder. No, more hard. No, Nok harder. John go now. Now! JOHN GO NOW. Pfft.")

It really depends on if I need it or not. Sometimes she understands what I say, other times she doesn't, then I have to pull out the tinglish.

No, I don't speak pidgin (pigeon is a bird) English with my spouse, and because I have never done so, neither does he. His English, while accented, is fluent and he uses correct tenses.

I have never understood this need to speak this way, all it does is teach your partner to speak English in an ignorant sounding manner.

From now on i will use the Queens English and introduce myself likewise " Oh hello, my name is Walter, i am from Dusseldorf in Germany", Not, ello luv, i am wally from yellow money,i come on big silver bird today, aw much you want for boom boom tie rack,?.

no,never we hold an ordinary conversation ,i stopped using Tinglish after coming to Thailand for a couple of years and realized how silly it sounded.

I try to communicate with people. Sometimes, I have to dumb-down my English so that I would be understood by the other person. Sometimes, I mix up Thai and English words to make it easier. By Thai wife speaks perfect English. There is no need for me to speak Pidgin unless I want to wind her up...

Do I speak Pigeon with my Thai lady ?

No, but there is a fair amount of bill & coo.

(She does the billing and I go Coo.)

I speak pidgin English to the Mrs. I know it's bad, but it's all she can handle. Then again, she is from Bromley.

BTW I find it absolutely hilarious when I hear older farang men talking to their younger "partners" in Tinglish. It sounds like how you might speak to a retarded baby monkey from Mars whose only concept of human interaction was gleaned from an old VHS copy of Greystoke dubbed into patois.

I was listening to a grey haired sandle-socker on the BTS the other day shouting down his mobile. The conversation basically went like this:

"John go home. No. Home. John go home"

"Nok where? Where Nok? Nok where?"

"Nok train? Same same me! John train. John same Nok."

He finished the call and just stood smiling at his mobile phone.

(I couldn't help wondering what phone sex between the pair would be like: "Nok harder. Harder. No, harder. No, more hard. No, Nok harder. John go now. Now! JOHN GO NOW. Pfft.")

hahahahah

nana bts of course

I think it's completely counterproductive to speak pidgin anything with a significant other. It's actually one of my biggest pet peeves as I listen to various pals of mine asking their wives 'Why you go to bar with friend? I want you get me ciga-ret before you go, okay?'

With my girlfriend, we spend about 75% of our time speaking Thai. She has made it very clear that she isn't speaking dumbed-down Thai to me and I would never deign to insult her with pidgin English. As far as I can see, it's something that will hold her English development back.

In some of my more impatient moments (in shops or asking directions), when my Thai isn't sufficient, I'll resort to pidgin English with strangers. However, I really try to avoid this as much as I can.

You hit the nail on the head.Thanks for your honesty. On my part it is laziness and and a little selfishness, and I will stop it.

you want make love?..

What is your success rate is with this line? Maybe I need to try more pidgen.

I speak pidgin English to the Mrs. I know it's bad, but it's all she can handle. Then again, she is from Bromley.

BTW I find it absolutely hilarious when I hear older farang men talking to their younger "partners" in Tinglish. It sounds like how you might speak to a retarded baby monkey from Mars whose only concept of human interaction was gleaned from an old VHS copy of Greystoke dubbed into patois.

I was listening to a grey haired sandle-socker on the BTS the other day shouting down his mobile. The conversation basically went like this:

"John go home. No. Home. John go home"

"Nok where? Where Nok? Nok where?"

"Nok train? Same same me! John train. John same Nok."

He finished the call and just stood smiling at his mobile phone.

(I couldn't help wondering what phone sex between the pair would be like: "Nok harder. Harder. No, harder. No, more hard. No, Nok harder. John go now. Now! JOHN GO NOW. Pfft.")

..thanks for your astute and humorous observations..we are all monkeys in varying degrees I suppose.

Most farang think that comunicating this way is just easier. My wifes English is pretty good but people still speak to her as if she has never heard the launguage complete with sign and hand gestures.

I try not to do it anywhere but it is too easy to follow the norm, i mean look at the farang offcicial (think hes English),down jomtien immigration office He speaks to everyone falang or not in an awfull pigeon English, its truly embarrasing, look out or should i say listen for him next time you are there. Up to you!

Was that Pidgin? I thought the better version was "we go Bungalow pam-pam?"

you want make love?..

What is your success rate is with this line? Maybe I need to try more pidgen.

My wife's written English is nearly perfect.

But she has the problem that is so common to Thais, the habit of dropping or changing certain letters.

This all too often changes the sentance completely.

Like: R L T TH V W S...

She learned her English at Uni and before she met me did not get practice with native English speakers.

It is OK for me as I usually know what she is saying but it becomes a problem when she talks to other people that are not used to conversing with Thais.

Does anyone know of a teaching method to correct this?

It may be the way Thais speak english just mimics the way they naturally speak..This is possibly why there are so many distinct english "accents" from thai to russian,etc..in exile, be the patient teacher and correct her and lots of repetion, as practice makes more perfect.BTW..keep up the good work

My wife's written English is nearly perfect.

But she has the problem that is so common to Thais, the habit of dropping or changing certain letters.

This all too often changes the sentance completely.

Like: R L T TH V W S...

She learned her English at Uni and before she met me did not get practice with native English speakers.

It is OK for me as I usually know what she is saying but it becomes a problem when she talks to other people that are not used to conversing with Thais.

Does anyone know of a teaching method to correct this?

It may be the way Thais speak english just mimics the way they naturally speak..This is possibly why there are so many distinct english "accents" from thai to russian,etc..in exile, be the patient teacher and correct her and lots of repetion, as practice makes more perfect.BTW..keep up the good work

More perfect ?

When I first went to work overseas, I used to speak in pidgin English to my TCN workmates.

Then when I went back to the U.K. on home leave it was pointed out to me that I kept slipping into pidgin, which was embarrassing.

I realised that this is a habit, not easy to break, so I never speak pidgin now. I make a habit of talking more slowly to those who have trouble understanding English and I find that works just as well.

Hi folks:The wife has a degree in English from Ramhamkaeng BKK, and her English is pretty good. However, when she asks me to correct her, generally I do it about half the time. Why? (thai/english speak: I don't sure.) I do know Thais talk English the same way they speak Thai, without all the extra stuff like tense. WHY do farang talk pigeon English to their gf/wives? For example: you want go here eat?..you want make love?..we go movie now..you want buy land?..when I hear other farang talk to their wife/gf in pigeon english I sometimes snicker and think they are being lazy or something else, yet I do it too sometimes. It serves no purpose except to give subtle or tacit approval to the speaker that she is speaking properly, or enabling her to continue in this vein. I am "guilty" of speaking pigeon english to my wife at times,perhaps 25 to 50 % of the time although I don't track it closely. If someone asked me why I do it, I would say partially because lovely Thai women sound so cute when they mildly chastise you and say something like "don't do like that!"

Mostly they speak Pidgin because they are looking at a short term relation. Mostly they get it too. Bloody ridiculous seeing a couple married a few years and him speaking pidgin and usually not Thai.

My wife was educated in England and there have been occasions where some idiots have come up to her and said – you from where? Etc. There’s too many farang here married to bar women and low class ones. I often wonder what they think after 5 years. I bet they regret what they thought was a good decision 5 years before.

Bloody ridiculous seeing a couple married a few years and him speaking pidgin and usually not Thai

Couldn't agree with you more. I am married to a Vietnamese but it is the same thing over here: expatriates married to local ladies speaking pidgin are total gits IMHO and one has to wonder how they can have any meaningful relationship at all.

A lot of non Great Britannic Europeans, who live at least partly in Thailand, cannot speak Oxford English. To the contrary, many of them are happy that they can master Tinglish at least.

Some cannot speak even that. Their Thai wives communicate with them in their mother language.