Thailand Not Ready For English As Second Language

[Hardie]

Thailand's 'neighbor countries' score higher in all subjects- according to Thai govt.'s own info as of a few years ago- so presumably English, too. The only way to effect change is to shift the culture away from 'fun fun fun'- that's the problem, as if the only means to social progress is to marry up. Once value is placed on education at all levels, then things might improve. English or Chinese or whatever is secondary. Education is what is important. I doubt that most English-language PhD's in physics can speak a second language. That's no guarantee of a better income, except maybe in 3rd-world tourist-oriented economies.

[jcbangkok]

Thailand's 'neighbor countries' score higher in all subjects- according to Thai govt.'s own info as of a few years ago- so presumably English, too. The only way to effect change is to shift the culture away from 'fun fun fun'- that's the problem, as if the only means to social progress is to marry up. Once value is placed on education at all levels, then things might improve. English or Chinese or whatever is secondary. Education is what is important. I doubt that most English-language PhD's in physics can speak a second language. That's no guarantee of a better income, except maybe in 3rd-world tourist-oriented economies.

Then I stand corrected if what you are quoting is true. But my limited experiences tell me different in terms of English compression in these countries.

Bottom line is, I hear you ... but maybe many folks in Thailand prefer to have fun than climb the corporate ladder or feel the strong craving to have much more than what they need. In Buddhism one should not want for more more than they need. I am not saying this is true but I think it is wrong to use or force our definition for success on another culture or nation. Maybe half the problem with Thailand is so many things contradict one another in terms of where they want to be as a nation. Think about how much The Church has prevented modernization over the centuries in the western world. Possibly their beliefs system of not getting too worked up about things and that the goal of daily should be fun prevents a lot of progress in terms of what we believe should be their goal.

In many ways Thailand is a much richer country than other western nations ... richer of course not talking about $

Edited October 11, 2010 by jcbangkok

[sngiam]

Thai people need to be brave to speak out , for those who know how to speak English. Most Thai people scared people laugh at them when they using wrong grammer.They are shy. They should start long time ago.

Encourage more Thai young teacher learn English. Thailand should be improve more. Is time for Thailand to follow new century. Thailand need to train more English teacher so they can teach to people from age 3 to age 50's. English sub in every TV drama.

[jcbangkok]

Thai people need to be brave to speak out , for those who know how to speak English. Most Thai people scared people laugh at them when they using wrong grammer.They are shy. They should start long time ago.

Encourage more Thai young teacher learn English. Thailand should be improve more. Is time for Thailand to follow new century. Thailand need to train more English teacher so they can teach to people from age 3 to age 50's. English sub in every TV drama.

Your first sentence is so correct. It wasn't until about my 6th visit seeing my brother in law that he worked up the courage to speak to me in English. Prior to that we struggled many times speaking Thai and in the end it turned out his English was far better than my Thai. His English got better and better after his nervousness subsided. At first I thought he just knew a few words he could string together but turns out he speaks English fairly well. And this is a smart mid 30s business owner who felt shy to speak English. He doesn't deal with a lot of English speakers in his business and I think in order to have any confidence you really need to have conversations in English. But add to this the tendency for Thais to be shy and avoid conversation ... it really makes for a problem.

How many times has a Thai person told you that you can speak English because their friend or relative will understand but just cannot speak English? Obviously, this is more an issue of their shyness or lacking confidence in their abilities to speak English.

Edited October 11, 2010 by jcbangkok

[SergeiY]

Thailand's 'neighbor countries' score higher in all subjects- according to Thai govt.'s own info as of a few years ago- so presumably English, too. The only way to effect change is to shift the culture away from 'fun fun fun'- that's the problem, as if the only means to social progress is to marry up. Once value is placed on education at all levels, then things might improve. English or Chinese or whatever is secondary. Education is what is important. I doubt that most English-language PhD's in physics can speak a second language. That's no guarantee of a better income, except maybe in 3rd-world tourist-oriented economies.

Learning a second language in school is just another brain exercise like that what you learn in subjects like physics, chemistry, mathematics, history or geography and so on. Something you have learned there you will be never need again in your life even if you get some university degree in whatever.

So a second language in the curriculum is a part to improve education. But it don't has be English. And be able to read and write in that secondary language is much more important than to have the perfect pronunciation like a native speaker.

Illusory is an outcome that Thailand will become a bilingual society (where every servant can please the American tourist).

But it is still impressive how far you can get with speaking only English in Thailand, you can do a lot of things. That will be more difficult in a couple of European countries if you speak only English. But some of these English only speakers still complaining.

[wandrinstar]

Bar Girls speak better English than most Native Thai English Teachers.

[jcbangkok]

I agree 100% that they should have a Sesame Type show on TV ... in fact, they should simply have Sesame Street

I doubt Big Bird will be more attractive to Thai kids than Ultraman...

Probably showing my age here but I have no idea who Ultraman is, lol

But I do remember these segments they used to have in the USA during Saturday morning cartoons called School House Rock ... I honestly learned more from them then I did during school at that time.

This was my favorite one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkO87mkgcNo

[jcbangkok]

I used to be an English teacher in Thailand and once we had a seminar with a representative of the Ministry of Education. I asked her then "is it real that we cant fail students in Thailnd and why?" . The answer was "yes because it is not good for business"

Therfore as long as you cant fail kids... they DONT study... so dont waste your time about trying to improve anything.... the kids just dont study.

thats why the education is soooo bad in Thailand.

If u cant fail a kid... how can u motivate them to study???

There is also positive motivation in addition to negative motivation ... but I agree there needs to accountability.

[SergeiY]

I agree 100% that they should have a Sesame Type show on TV ... in fact, they should simply have Sesame Street

I doubt Big Bird will be more attractive to Thai kids than Ultraman...

Probably showing my age here but I have no idea who Ultraman is, lol

But I do remember these segments they used to have in the USA during Saturday morning cartoons called School House Rock ... I honestly learned more from them then I did during school at that time.

This was my favorite one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkO87mkgcNo

Ultraman is the coolest thing evar! Since 1966! You are not showing your age, but just your cultural ignorance.

And there is some sesame street version on Thai TV. I come across Ernie from time to time on the afternoon.

[jcbangkok]

I agree 100% that they should have a Sesame Type show on TV ... in fact, they should simply have Sesame Street

I doubt Big Bird will be more attractive to Thai kids than Ultraman...

Probably showing my age here but I have no idea who Ultraman is, lol

But I do remember these segments they used to have in the USA during Saturday morning cartoons called School House Rock ... I honestly learned more from them then I did during school at that time.

This was my favorite one... http://www.youtube.c...h?v=mkO87mkgcNo

Ultraman is the coolest thing evar! Since 1966! You are not showing your age, but just your cultural ignorance.

And there is some sesame street version on Thai TV. I come across Ernie from time to time on the afternoon.

Thankfully, I have better and more enjoyable things to do than watch cartoons or for that matter much TV especially in the day time. But I am happy for you if Ultraman floats your boat for entertainment.

[KCPhuket]

There is a fantastic show on TV for kids to learn English called super why. Kids of all ages seem to love it. The problem over here is, ITS DUBBED IN THAI!

On TruevisionsTV Super Why is in English, but it is now shown at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.! My daughter, who is in school at those times, loves the show. It used to be on at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

[mkawish]

What is the first language???? Alot of Thai's cannot speak Thai. Just talk to any girfriend or wife of a farang living in LOS. Most of them speak Isan -Laos and have difficulty reading newspapers.When was the last time you saw any Thai sitting down reading the paper? Farangs who marry 'thai" speak provincial isan dailects not Thai. POK POK!!!! sep-ili

That is a strange reply

I live in an Isan village and speak Thai to anyone I meet.

I often go out for lunch/dinner and see Thais reading some newspaper (which I also read when available at restaurants, which is most of the time)

Furthermore my wife gets angry when I utter some words in Isan-Lao. In short: I am not allowed to speak Isan-Lao to anyone, people I meet don't talk Isan-Lao to me neither.

You are definitely a very lucky man.

You are the envious of many indeed.

[hayden5650]

Are you trying to say that the bar girls speak better English (& German, & Russian, & Arabic, etc) than the UNI grads?

Seems likely given the daily practice they have in conversational English. Probably the university graduates write better English if it's any consolation.

In my experience, bargirls speak by far the best English. Up there with a girl who has had a farang boyfriend for a year or so.

Thais who just learn it at university are pretty shit, not entirely their fault though. I was helping some with their study, and could seriously find 2 or 3 mistakes on every page of the textbooks from which they were studying.

The material just isn't there for effective learning, half of it being written by other Thais, and the rest being from America where the English language has already been fairly well butchered.

[kiwiinasia]

I have an idea!

Lets get Thailand to import all the unemployed Uni graduates from the Uk/USA/etc for 1 year to go up country and teach English.

Pay them 30k a month and see what happens.

Probably a better result than the pidigin english being taught by Thai/Filipinos at the moment.

[hayden5650]

I have an idea!

Lets get Thailand to import all the unemployed Uni graduates from the Uk/USA/etc for 1 year to go up country and teach English.

Pay them 30k a month and see what happens.

Probably a better result than the pidigin english being taught by Thai/Filipinos at the moment.

That's not a bad idea. Sort of like a Gap year.

And in exchange we could import some Thai girls to teach our women a thing or two about femininity.

[reenatinnakor]

Bar girls speak the best english out of all the professions in Thailand. Employ all the bar girls as teachers. There you go, have killed 2 birds with one stone.

[jan1van1hooten]

Regarding the presence of English teachers, It sometimes seems like thai immigration policy is not well thought out. But thailand is the best governed country in southeast asia.

In Germany, many of the technical and scientific textbooks for colleges are in English because it is cheaper for the Germans just to buy textbooks in English than to have them translated.

Filipinos, who speak the best english in Asia supposedly learn for 6 years at school, but this is also true of citiizens of other countries, like Germany, whose spoken English is not good. The difference is whether they can speak and understand spoken english.

Because of the Filipino policy (possibly the only good government policy in that country), their citizens are able to get work requiring English fluency all over the world.

In Thailand it is the small private english schools that will drive the country's improvement, because they have fewer restrictions, and are less formal than the universities.

The reason Thailand's english fluency may be suffering, aside from Thai's simply not having money for lessons, is that it has eliminated many potential teachers partly by imitating America's paranoid mania for population control. Many expats are kept on a temporary basis by visa restrictions and requirements for bank deposits for retirement resident status.

Thailand's lust to become the Switzerland of Asia inspired them to kick out the budget tourists, who would have had more incentive to teach english, instead of finding a way to attract the more affluent ones. More affluent tourists will not be the ones who teach english in a country, because they are affluent because they already have well-paying jobs in their own countries which they are not going to give up to teach english.

Thus Thailand should reverse its restrictive visa policies, that started long before Taksin but which he continued. They should lengthen and cheapen the tourist visa and look the other way about people working on it. Consulates like those in Penang and Hong Kong that make it difficult for expats to get visas should be instructed to change their polices.

Edited October 12, 2010 by jan1van1hooten

[Humphrey Bear]

Having lived in Thailand for more than a decade, I now live in Vietnam.

When working outside Saigon, I had dozens (literally) of country kids of primary school age coming up to me with "What's your name? / Where you from? / How old are you?" and so on. Phrases they learnt in school around seven or eight years old, maybe younger. (Difficult to judge, as they are small in stature)

The older kids, up to about 12 years, can hold simple conversations. Above that I don't see many of them, as they are busy studying or playing on computers. But going around the markets and so on, I can usually make myself understood.

In Saigon, where I live, I see few kids. But those I do see are polite and understand English. Waitresses in restaurants, cafes, people in shops and markets all understand English, will converse and will crack jokes with you. They are far and away more advanced in English than the Thais and far away more thinking about future business and how to improve themselves.

It's a much better environment than both rural and city Thailand - except that there are not the girlie-bars. Much stricter moral code.

All-in-all, I still have to travel back to Thailand sometimes, but will never live there again on a long-term basis. The language difficulties, the thought processes, the culture are far too alien for me to understand them easily.

[mark45y]

Farangs who marry 'thai" speak provincial isan dailects not Thai. POK POK!!!! sep-ili

Errrrrrr maybe for you. How can you generalise like that?

My wife is from Bangkok. I speak Thai in the Bangkokian dialect.

No 'Isan' about it.

My first GF was from Bangkok and I learned how to speak Thai at a University in Chiang Mai. Current GF is from Phetchabun. I find Bangkok Thai easier to speak than Chiang Mai Thai so that is what I speak. I speak a little Issan because of when I taught I found it easier to discipline some children yelling at them in Issan. They would feign ignorance when I spoke nice soft Thai but it seemed to wake them up when shouted in Issan. "You don't understand my Thai, OK you little farmer, then we speak Issan. Now you understand, shut up and listen, OK?"

[Pib]

I have talked with several teachers and been told that the most of the kids really are not interested in learning English.

Maybe it is just me but there seems to be a undertone here that if it is not Thai it is no good.

Most Thai's are really not interested in the rest of the world; so why learn another language from that big world out there.

Have you ever wondered why Thai news shows (like on Channels 3, 5, & 7) report very little news events happening outside of Thailand? Answer: Little interest by most Thai's in what is happening outside of Thailand. As my Thai wife and many Thai friends have told me over the years, Thailand is a simple country and really don't like getting involved in international affairs. Not saying that "lack of real international involvement" is good or bad; just saying that is the way most Thai's seem to think.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Pib

[mark45y]

Having lived in Thailand for more than a decade, I now live in Vietnam.

When working outside Saigon, I had dozens (literally) of country kids of primary school age coming up to me with "What's your name? / Where you from? / How old are you?" and so on. Phrases they learnt in school around seven or eight years old, maybe younger. (Difficult to judge, as they are small in stature)

The older kids, up to about 12 years, can hold simple conversations. Above that I don't see many of them, as they are busy studying or playing on computers. But going around the markets and so on, I can usually make myself understood.

In Saigon, where I live, I see few kids. But those I do see are polite and understand English. Waitresses in restaurants, cafes, people in shops and markets all understand English, will converse and will crack jokes with you. They are far and away more advanced in English than the Thais and far away more thinking about future business and how to improve themselves.

It's a much better environment than both rural and city Thailand - except that there are not the girlie-bars. Much stricter moral code.

All-in-all, I still have to travel back to Thailand sometimes, but will never live there again on a long-term basis. The language difficulties, the thought processes, the culture are far too alien for me to understand them easily.

When I first (1968) got to Vietnam is was easy to make yourself understood in French. Around Saigon everyone spoke French. I think it is assumed natural for Vietnamese to speak a second language.

This is a big advantage over Thailand who have never had to deal with a second language to conduct business and government matters.

Before 1950 to transact business in Vietnam the Vietnamese had to speak French.

As far as morality, remember a large percentage of South Vietnam was Catholic especially the landed aristocracy.

That was where the whole problem started, Ho Chi Minh giving away the land of the rich Catholics to the Buddhist peasants.

[moetownblues]

English is the universal language and it would be wise for it to be taught to all students. Maybe Thai's think Zulu would be more viable as a 2nd language.

[jcbangkok]

English is the universal language and it would be wise for it to be taught to all students. Maybe Thai's think Zulu would be more viable as a 2nd language.

I am not going to argue that it would be wise to teach to all students but keep in mind it is already taught in Thai schools and has been for a while. I have no idea to what level. In the US you are required to take a second language course (usually Spanish or French) in public schools but since it is not practiced outside this one class, few people ever remembers it beyond the basics such as counting to 10. I also question how much an Issan farmer would get from learning English as opposed to learning some other knowledge during English class. But getting off track here ...

I simply wanted to point out that we are certainly putting a very high standard to Thais learning English when even the UN needs to hire countless interpreters because world leaders are all not well versed enough in English to make it the "universal" language at the UN, let alone the world. I'm sure there may be other areas too but the only place I know for sure globally that English would be considered the "universal" language is by pilots .... and that may just be international pilots.

[jcbangkok]

I have talked with several teachers and been told that the most of the kids really are not interested in learning English.

Maybe it is just me but there seems to be a undertone here that if it is not Thai it is no good.

Most Thai's are really not interested in the rest of the world; so why learn another language from that big world out there.

Have you ever wondered why Thai news shows (like on Channels 3, 5, & 7) report very little news events happening outside of Thailand? Answer: Little interest by most Thai's in what is happening outside of Thailand. As my Thai wife and many Thai friends have told me over the years, Thailand is a simple country and really don't like getting involved in international affairs. Not saying that "lack of real international involvement" is good or bad; just saying that is the way most Thai's seem to think.

I see the Thai news talk about Paris and Lindsay sometimes

Edited October 12, 2010 by jcbangkok

[cup-O-coffee]

This is a very difficult discussion to find a solution, because the end goal is to be able to live out your life with the things you would like, and the security to protect that. This equates out to a reasonable income to accomplish that. Isn't that right, after all? There is way too much importance being given to institutions of learning. That is an error that brings about the downfall of nations. There should be more focus on where the child comes from before he or she enters into these institutions. Thai schools seem to think they have some right to tell parents how to raise their children. Maybe they are right. But where I was raised, the parents told the schools how to raise their children, when these institutions have the children in their keeping; OR ELSE! Not so here.

I am not so sure that Thai people feel that learning English, per se, is going to fit in to their future goals. On the other hand, I am not sure that the Thai people even know what they want themselves. Ask any Thai what their dreams are, and they will stare off into space and say nothing, or they will tell you they want something that is clearly outside of their present capabilities to achieve.

With that last sentence in mind; watch a Thai, and for the most part, they will let 5 or 10 valuable years roll by, and not do one single thing towards achieving that thing they told you they want. Yes; I understand the economical barriers, but that does not even come in to play here. I am talking about minds, and the development of those minds. Where is the genesis of this lack of movement and inspiration; this lack of creative and imaginative reaction of the mind; the "Big Bang" in each individual human being, so to speak? Some wait for it, and some expect it (like the posters here, and the Thai government and their spoken "intentions"), but it never seems to arrive into the minds we all debate, argue and lecture over; the children. Why is that? Can you pour out what has not been put in?

Children age for 6 or 7 years before they ever see a classroom. It is my strong opinion that the development that goes on during those years, with the child's mind, is more critical to that child's successes or failures in his or her life, than the results of what 50 years of what the best schools could ever offer.

I see no father figure here. I do not see, nor know of any evidence, that the fathers interact with their children's hungry, developing minds, and nurture creativity, imagination, inspiration, and the like. Where are the fathers of Thailand? The children that come from families with a loving and dedicated father figure, and a supportive an nurturing mother, are usually well on their way by the time they see their first teacher. It is nothing more than handing a baton over to a capable individual, who sees eye to eye with your needs for the child; someone who builds on what the father and mother began, and not someone who tells the ignorant father and mother what is best for the child and that beating your child will be part of the process. In a near-perfect world, the teacher simply takes over what the father and mother were responsible to begin, and carries on with that. That is because reading, writing, and arithmetic will already have been introduced into the minds of the children. Additionally, fathers who read to their children, create a hunger for knowledge that can never be quenched. Teachers feed that hunger with the fuel of knowledge that only books can provide. A teacher is an extension of the father and mother, and not the other way around.

All I see here is the children learning subconsciously through the common, mind-killing behavior of the adults. Children here see knees, and rarely eyes. Humans need eye contact in their mental development in order to build resolve, constitution, confidence, self-esteem, and self-image. I do not see any methods engaged by this country, or its families, that helps find a child's learning aptitude and style, and develop it before they enter school. Regrettably, the child enters school, an unprepared victim, fully unawares of their positive and negative learning abilities, completely lacking the knowledge and support of the father, and they immediately get hit by a tsunami of culture that condones racism, discrimination, humiliation, abuse and fear. One wrong move or word, and you get momentary blindness from the switch, or an ear or hair pulled, or a cuff to the side of the head. What can be more humiliating and damaging to a child than to have a teacher call you a derogatory name in front of your peers? Public humiliation at that age can be more damaging than physical abuse, and immediately puts you at the mercy of the pack of animals around you. This is the environment these little ones are cast into; children in adult bodies teaching future adults.

This swiftly snuffs out any natural human ability to self-actualize. The teacher is their judge, jury, abuser and bully, and the uninterested father and mother blindly cast these little ones into the mouth of the beast. All mental development to that point (however lacking at this stage of the child's life) is arrested and held in bondage by a culture that tosses aside human self-actualization in favor of "face" and status. Natural selection kicks in, and the child quickly has his or her path charted by a system that bases survival on an "anything goes" style, as long as you come out on top.

Whether by ignorance, infidelity, lack of interest in one's own children, or the Animistic belief that "the boy will find his own path. I can do nothing to change that" are the reasons, I do not see evidence of parents here interacting with their children with a future in mind. With these things in mind, what makes anyone think that English will successfully be "knowledge-transferred" to a demographic that shows no sign of establishing early childhood development, because the parents do not participate in that endeavor?

A lot of these posts are brilliant, and suggest plausible solutions. But how can you explain the color "red" to a man, who has been blind since birth? An education system will only strive to be as excellent as the ones who have a need for it to exist. The parents here do not strive for excellence in their own lives, hence you see the results. We have an education system here that copies other countries, but without the hearts and minds of the parents to be the driving force.

We have an education system that is a corporation, that processes the items, with profit as its only fuel, and no regards for parental input. The schools tell the parents what is and what is not. Instead of people expecting and blindly trusting the corporation to raise their children, fathers and mothers should be the reason that the schools exist. To be stockholders, of sorts, and to make sure that an institution of learning maintains the standards that produce intelligent, literate children, instead of corrupt, money hungry directors and under qualified, jaded, abusive teachers. The parents should tell the schools what to do, and not the other way around.

Any country that condones (as its thousands of years of core belief) behaviors and views such as lying, cheating, backstabbing, racism, illiteracy, discrimination, abuse, violence, nepotism, patricide, corruption on a grand scale, matricide, mutilation, alcoholism, human slavery, sexual impropriety in relationships, avoidance, superstition, "if it's not fun, it"s not worth it", and every other part of the most caustic characteristics of human kind, can never really, truly achieve what their more developed counterparts are achieving. More developed countries have already evolved through these human characteristics, and have, for the most part, subdued these caustic human characteristics in their nature.

For the time being, there will be far too few "Haves" and an obscene number of "Have-nots". Just my opinion, but with a son on the way, this is a chief concern, and I feel I am already doing what a lot of fathers have clearly demonstrated that they never bother to do, or even have an inkling to do; to make a way for my child to begin his life and succeed as a valuable resource, and an intelligent, friendly, strong and wise human being. I do not need a teacher or a director or a policeman or a school to get him there; only their assistance.

[ryladie99]

This is one of the funniest statements government has made lately.

In Thailand even doctors and lawyers hardly speak English and they want to make it second language?! LMAO-WHAT A JOKE.

In banks, corporations, business-hardly any senior managers speak any English and those are with extremly good education and background

English is the easiest language in the world and yet 99.9% of the locals can not string few words together.

The ones that do, just butcher the language.

For example, can anyone explain to me how the following works

"My friend you" or My dog you"

In Thai, assuming they are translating word for word, it would be "puan kong khun" or "maa kong khun" which word for word is "friend of you" or "dog of you" So how the hel_l do some arrive at "my friend you"??

To further add, one of my Thai teachers at school who supposedly studied in UK, can nto even explain the different between what and which, while the other one studied in Singapore( and correct me if i am wrong but English is the language used at uni) and she does not know what break up means.

I forget to tell everyone that we have 2 kinds of English languages....American English and English English.....

Which one the Thai Government wants to use???

Slangs will be hard for the Thai to learn and That why the people do not understand Break up means??

My opinion....

[kuffki]

This is one of the funniest statements government has made lately.

In Thailand even doctors and lawyers hardly speak English and they want to make it second language?! LMAO-WHAT A JOKE.

In banks, corporations, business-hardly any senior managers speak any English and those are with extremly good education and background

English is the easiest language in the world and yet 99.9% of the locals can not string few words together.

The ones that do, just butcher the language.

For example, can anyone explain to me how the following works

"My friend you" or My dog you"

In Thai, assuming they are translating word for word, it would be "puan kong khun" or "maa kong khun" which word for word is "friend of you" or "dog of you" So how the hel_l do some arrive at "my friend you"??

To further add, one of my Thai teachers at school who supposedly studied in UK, can nto even explain the different between what and which, while the other one studied in Singapore( and correct me if i am wrong but English is the language used at uni) and she does not know what break up means.

I forget to tell everyone that we have 2 kinds of English languages....American English and English English.....

Which one the Thai Government wants to use???

Slangs will be hard for the Thai to learn and That why the people do not understand Break up means??

My opinion....

Actually we have 5 if not more-Oz English, Canadian, South African and all have their own slang.

But i am pretty sure "break up" with girlfriend/boyfriend is the same slang in all English slangs.

[jcbangkok]

This is one of the funniest statements government has made lately.

In Thailand even doctors and lawyers hardly speak English and they want to make it second language?! LMAO-WHAT A JOKE.

In banks, corporations, business-hardly any senior managers speak any English and those are with extremly good education and background

English is the easiest language in the world and yet 99.9% of the locals can not string few words together.

The ones that do, just butcher the language.

For example, can anyone explain to me how the following works

"My friend you" or My dog you"

In Thai, assuming they are translating word for word, it would be "puan kong khun" or "maa kong khun" which word for word is "friend of you" or "dog of you" So how the hel_l do some arrive at "my friend you"??

To further add, one of my Thai teachers at school who supposedly studied in UK, can nto even explain the different between what and which, while the other one studied in Singapore( and correct me if i am wrong but English is the language used at uni) and she does not know what break up means.

I forget to tell everyone that we have 2 kinds of English languages....American English and English English.....

Which one the Thai Government wants to use???

Slangs will be hard for the Thai to learn and That why the people do not understand Break up means??

My opinion....

Actually we have 5 if not more-Oz English, Canadian, South African and all have their own slang.

But i am pretty sure "break up" with girlfriend/boyfriend is the same slang in all English slangs.

I am also fairly sure the word breakup has been around centuries and is not slang.

And not only are there all these various differences of how English is spoken in these countries ... within most of the countries there are different dialects. Maybe Thais should teach Cockney English in the schools.

Edited October 12, 2010 by jcbangkok

[Humphrey Bear]

I simply wanted to point out that we are certainly putting a very high standard to Thais learning English when even the UN needs to hire countless interpreters because world leaders are all not well versed enough in English to make it the "universal" language at the UN, let alone the world. I'm sure there may be other areas too but the only place I know for sure globally that English would be considered the "universal" language is by pilots .... and that may just be international pilots.

In the UN many delegates speak in their own language because the TV is being broadcast back to their own countries and they want their populace to see and understand what they are doing at the UN.

Muammar Gaddafi seldom speaks English, but when he does it is easily understandable. King Abdullah and Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia speak better English than I. Abbhasit was educated at Eton and Oxford, having been born a Geordie.

In Sweden kids from an early age have lessons in English - not lessons on English, but lessons in English - mathematics, physics and so on.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

[Chan mai roo crap]

First measure : Do NOT allow Thai English teachers to speak Thai in English lessons!!!

I don't know what to assume. Are you an English teacher who doesn't speak Thai and is jealous of other English teachers who have been here longer and do speak Thai.

Are you a linguist who is recommending this because it is a faster and better way to speak English?

Have you taken Thai lessons where the instructor spoke no English?

I taught in Thai schools for three years from grade school to University level.

I taught English at Ramkanghaeng Uni for 5 years. If you spoke any Thai in the classroom it was instant dismissal. The rule was also applied to the poor suckers who taught in primary and secondary schools on the dreaded Nonthaburi project.