Don'T Speak 'Thaiglish'

[KeyserSoze01]

To the OP, do you really think the average Thai can understand "proper" English, with all the inflection, colloquial expressions, regional dialects, slang and accents? Being a native English speaker myself, I still can't make out but about have what a pommie says during a conversation. Perhaps you and your wife should lock yourselves in your house so you are not exposed to the real world, plonkers or not.

I'm a pommie and I haven't got a clue what that bit in bold is supposed to mean? Is it English?

"Native English" I think mate!

Oh dear. I suppose you never had a typo.

have = half

Pommies, jocks, geordies, micks, paddies, taffys, etc... How is it possible that a country the size of Kansas can have so many regional dialects, slang and accents.

Edited May 18, 2011 by KeyserSoze01

[electrozebra]

To the OP, do you really think the average Thai can understand "proper" English, with all the inflection, colloquial expressions, regional dialects, slang and accents? Being a native English speaker myself, I still can't make out but about have what a pommie says during a conversation. Perhaps you and your wife should lock yourselves in your house so you are not exposed to the real world, plonkers or not.

I'm a pommie and I haven't got a clue what that bit in bold is supposed to mean? Is it English?

"Native English" I think mate!

Oh dear. I suppose you never had a typo.

have = half

Pommies, jocks, geordies, micks, paddies, taffys, etc... How is it possible that a country the size of Kansas can have so many regional dialects, slang and accents.

Because we don't want those Plonkers down South in London to understand us

[StreetCowboy]

Rocketmanbkk

If what we say gives you a laugh, so be it. The majority of us won't give a 'monkeys' what you or your wife may think. As for people speaking Thai behind our backs, water off a ducks back mate.

Like one of the posts says, you need to leave your little bubble and explore your own country.

Happy days, I love it here and I love broken English.

Thats a thought, what about our fellow european friends who don't speak perfect English?

Had a great laugh with a Sweedish guy the other night in broken English.

Its always nice to spread a little cheer, and if it makes someone feel better about themselves, who are we to begrudge them it?

After living years in England, his wife deserves a little joy in her life

SC

[DavidSL]

I think we should just let 'F1fanatic and 'rocketmanbkk' duke it out, to see which moronic side of the argument wins first.

F1fanatice, please stop speaking to thai people like a knob. You are being laughed at and making yourself look like a right knob!

I'm actually doubting whether the poster is actually married, or just talking about a girlfriend. From his posts, I'm going to guess he's around 17 years old?

Unless you're of a similar age to your wife (and worth a lot of money), I suspect your wife will be v tolerant of other, wealthier farang - when not in your company.

Completely unnecessary. Yes, the OP has written some dumb post about how we all look like 'right knobs' in his and his 'wife's' opinion, but there's really no need to start attacking his 'wife's' faithfulness in the relationship. Are you claiming all Thai women go for the wallet? That would surely make you a complete bitch?

"and also teaches her to talk dirty" - Your wife's friend's husband (I think I got that right!) is just the typical, stupid farang that was unable to find a g/f in his home country, moved here and amazingly found a woman that thought him incredibly attractive..... Which is why we have such an awful reputation here.

The last person on earth you need to look to for advice is him or his wife.

Wait, not a complete bitch, just a moron who assumes to know all about everyone here. The reason we have such an awful reputation here, believe it or not, is because of what you just did - ASSUMING. You just did exactly what you seem to hate, perpetuating a stereotype. If a man is in a relationship with a Thai woman, by your standards, they should cease any activity which might further risk the bad reputation these relationships summon. Hypocritical bullsh*t.

Now, I'm not claiming that either of you are morons in the real World, but it looks as if in this thread you are both just living up to the Internet stereotypes of morons on opposite sides.

[Soutpeel]

I think we should just let 'F1fanatic and 'rocketmanbkk' duke it out, to see which moronic side of the argument wins first.

I was thinking hand bags at dawn....

[nocturn]

My wifes friend is married to an ex english teacher, he taught in the UK and Thailand. He has been with his wife for about 5 years. You would think he wouldn't speak Thenglish to her, specially since he would want her to speak proper English and not sound stupid. But he does and also teaches her to talk dirty. Once i got to know her, she is a very nice and trustworthy girl. But the way he has let her speak and the things he has taught her have made her come across as the oppisite.

Plus how do you think children learn. If you was to keep saying things like," where you go". Do you think they will learn to speak properly.

My rule is, talk to everyone the same, untill they say they don't understand. Then i will change the way i speak to them. But i help as much as i can.

"and also teaches her to talk dirty" - Your wife's friend's husband (I think I got that right!) is just the typical, stupid farang that was unable to find a g/f in his home country, moved here and amazingly found a woman that thought him incredibly attractive..... Which is why we have such an awful reputation here.

The last person on earth you need to look to for advice is him or his wife.

you just cant get away from that agenda of yours, can you?

[Deeral]

Is this even Tinglish anyway? of course not!

OK - if you use verb tenses when communicating with someone with limited English you may well be obscuring the verbs themselves and thus obscuring the meaning of what you want to say.

for instance - They will recognise the word "go" but may not realise the word "going" is the same verb.

Irregular verbs such as "go" can be even more confusing - go and went - who is going to connect those two words has having the same meaning?

your choice of words - like "plonker" will of course also mean nothing to the listener in most cases. They may recognise "er" as someone or something who does something but then they will wonder about "plonk"

Basically you should be able to modify or pare down your language so that the meaning is clear to the listener. This may involve the reduction of verbs to "base verb" or reviewing your choice of vocabulary - e.g. replace "plonker" with fool, idiot etc. I doubt if "plonker" is even in anyone's "talking dict" (strangely appropriate).

(as pointed out somewhere above - if they DO find your word plonker in a dictionary they will realise you have called them a penis.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Deeral

[Theoutsider]

i'm a plonker but i hate thaksin,

[RabC]

To the OP, do you really think the average Thai can understand "proper" English, with all the inflection, colloquial expressions, regional dialects, slang and accents? Being a native English speaker myself, I still can't make out but about have what a pommie says during a conversation. Perhaps you and your wife should lock yourselves in your house so you are not exposed to the real world, plonkers or not.

I'm a pommie and I haven't got a clue what that bit in bold is supposed to mean? Is it English?

"Native English" I think mate!

Oh dear. I suppose you never had a typo.

have = half

Pommies, jocks, geordies, micks, paddies, taffys, etc... How is it possible that a country the size of Kansas can have so many regional dialects, slang and accents.

Its because we have History and Traditions, the amount of time Aus has been around, all you have is habits and most of those are questionable.

[Debothai]

I think the most hilarious thaiglish I have ever heard was between a couple that we knew, he Iraqi, she from Pattaya. One day they are over at our place in UAE, we had some guests over, and Iraqi man (Kifah) is doing the barbque chicken (he is good at it). Among the guests were two Kenyan ladies and they were eating barbque and seemed to be enjoying it, when Thai Lady (Nuang) offered the Kenyan ladies some more to eat and remarked "YOU LIKE MY HUSBAND COOKING, YOU?" They were not amused...I had to explain to them that what she meant was she was enquiring whether they liked the way of cooking barbque of her husband...Another time she was saying "He - Him and She - Shim" Always a blast when old Nuang and Kifah came around...The best was when they had an argument...I don't know what happened to them nowadays we lost touch.

On the subject of thaiglish, i talk thai to my wife, but there are some occasions when I want to be 100% clear to my wife I use thaiglish in text messages..that's mainly because my phone doesn't type thai.

Besides here in UAE, the english used is hindglish. Although educated indians can and do speak good english, the workers do not and it's a funny type of english...Example " Go, I?" or " My go, come, my no go no come!"

One night I was in a disco and conversing with a Arab man and his english was poor, I couldn't get was he was on about, then i asked if he knew Pattaya, then we started talking in thai, and his thai was very good...

I think that thaiglish has two major advantages, 1. It can be understood easily by thais who don't have an english education and 2. It is hilarious. Why not induce humour in everyday situations?

Have you never heard a thai woman say this when very angry : " UP TO YOU THINK!!!"

Edited May 19, 2011 by Debothai

[Deeral]

I reckon Tinglish is the combination of Thai and English to make words. "TeeWee", "get mai?" etc

I think the average expat is spouting a kind of pared down English .... the locals have developed - especially in Pattaya a kind of "pijin"

"Boom-sing"Check binetc etc

Regional accents are researched a lot, they aren't static....... one thing can be geography - many towns in US and even OZ were small and isolated and the language failed to change as there was little or no interaction with people outside their own community. Many people in the community weren't native English speakers either so they tended to just use the language they heard from their neighboursMany US English expressions are quite archaic and went out of use in the UK a couple of centuries ago.

Edited May 25, 2011 by Deeral

[harrypatterson]

I can usually understand Thaiglish, as can many Thai people, but what the hell is a plonker? Is this Thaiglish? English? French? Maybe Klingon.

[inthepink]

To the OP, do you really think the average Thai can understand "proper" English, with all the inflection, colloquial expressions, regional dialects, slang and accents? Being a native English speaker myself, I still can't make out but about have what a pommie says during a conversation. Perhaps you and your wife should lock yourselves in your house so you are not exposed to the real world, plonkers or not.

I'm a pommie and I haven't got a clue what that bit in bold is supposed to mean? Is it English?

"Native English" I think mate!

Oh dear. I suppose you never had a typo.

have = half

Pommies, jocks, geordies, micks, paddies, taffys, etc... How is it possible that a country the size of Kansas can have so many regional dialects, slang and accents.

I thought a typo was when you accidentally hit the wrong key, usually one in close proximity to the one you were aiming for (like 's' instead of 'a'). You must have been having an epileptic fit if 'have' was a typo for 'half'

Anyway, I wasn't having trying to have a pop at you (well not a serious one!), I spent a good couple of minutes staring at that sentence and couldn't make sense of it. Now you have explained it, it makes perfect sense - even if it's hard to fathom why you only understand half of what English people say....maybe you only understand everything that half the English people you speak to say (such as those from the North who have difficulty speaking the language correctly)?

[calibanjr.]

Speak to make yourself understood in the circumstances you find yourself in.

Why do so many people feel the need to come on here and try to dictate what other people say or do, or how they live their lives.

Got sod all better to do possibly ?

Seconded, Cobalt. My general take on life.

[StreetCowboy]

Is it OK to talk like Gravion?

SC

[onionluke]

Is it OK to talk like Gravion?

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4448423

SC

Yes. Language changes with time and new words are created to define new concepts and stuff.

Gravionish . The new urban slang of Pattaya .

[scottyd]

You are probably right, you do sound like a "plonker" when you speak Tinglish, however you will only sound like this to others who speak english, and that is irrelevant.

If the person you are speaking to is not that good at English then I will adjust how I speak to benefit them, whether I speak slower or even adjusting as far as speaking Tinglish.

I speak Thai a little, and I would hope that any Thai person that spoke to me in Thai would adjust the way they speak to help me understand too, even going as far as using Enghai hahaha.

Regarding the argument that you should speak properly to help the Thai person speak English, that is good in theory, however I don't want to give an English lesson to every Thai person I speak to, you would come off as more of a "plonker", or for a better word a "wanke_r" if you did this. Picking apart the way they speak, it is a bit patronising really.