PM Yingluck's Gaffe - Remember Your Lines

[SICHONSTEVE]

I thought she did rather well seeing as she has somewhat had all of this thrust upon her.

It just seems like she's yet to reach the levels of confidence and experience which the other Thai Dips and Hons mentioned in the lead article have reached after decades spent in the field of diplomacy.

It's an unfair comparison in my opinion.

"I thought she did rather well seeing as she has somewhat had all of this thrust upon her".

Did her brother torture her then!!!!!. She's a grown woman quite capable of saying NO!!!! Maybe she wishes she had gone with her initial instincts and done just that, as all that crying must have played havoc with her mascara!!!!

[Buchholz]

Big Deal, so Yingluck pronounced a word wrong. The worse "gaffe" I have heard about is how the new minister of "tourism" of Thailand whose positon is to fly around and promote Thailand in other countries (appointed because of her connections with Thaksin) cannot speak the international language of English.

Actually, that would be the Foreign Minister Surapong, Yingluck's and Thaksin's cousin.

He's used translators during international discussions in English, despite having completed a Master's Degree AND a Doctoral Degree at two different American universities in English.

.

Edited November 19, 2011 by Buchholz

[hehehoho]

Probably better than her saying whencum.

[SICHONSTEVE]

I'm no fan of her / her brother but what's the big deal here? Everyone will know what the intended word was and it's not her first language. You can bet your life she did better than ANY non Thai politician would do giving even a one minute speach in Thai. This just isn't a news story, just an incidental part of Clinton's visit...where any focus should be.

"You can bet your life she did better than ANY non Thai politician would do giving even a one minute speach in Thai".

Talking of speaches - why can't you spell speech correctly??? Do you have some kind of speech impediment???.

[Buchholz]

Poor woman is damned if she does and damned if she don't.

The billionairess is hardly poor.

.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Big Deal, so Yingluck pronounced a word wrong. The worse "gaffe" I have heard about is how the new minister of "tourism" of Thailand whose positon is to fly around and promote Thailand in other countries (appointed because of her connections with Thaksin) cannot speak the international language of English.

Actually, that would be the Foreign Minister Surapong, Yingluck's and Thaksin's cousin.

He's used translators during international discussions in English, despite having completed a Master's Degree AND a Doctoral Degree at two different American universities in English.

.

OK!!! is it a "he" or "she"????

I shouldn't imagine that it would be so difficult completing a Masters Degree and Doctorate in America without understanding a word of English!!!!!:jap:.

However, to reach professorship status you would probably need to know conversational pieces such as "how are you" and "I am fine, and you"????

[jehricaholic]

At 2 minutes. Actually sounds more like she stumbled on 'welcome' as opposed to overcome.

It's a bad fumble of 'welcome', she's reading a script and repeats the word several seconds later with proper pronunciation

[Buchholz]

Someone like Sondhi leading yellow shirts and village scouts to close down Thailand's airport, a major international hub for almost two weeks, and the military and government standing by doing nothing is more of an embarrassment than Yingluck. The military killing and beating lots of Thammasat students on more than one occasion is more embarrasing han Yingluck. Just my 2 cents.

Get the maths right. The PAD only close the airport(s) for 9 days. 9 days is not almost 2 weeks as claimed.

Plus (3) three days cleanup nd security checkout - 9, 12, what's the difference? 1-2 days, 9 days is just as bad as 12 - I am certain that it was a month before international operations from many countries and tourists got back on board. You seem to miss the key point of international embarrassment which is the focus of the discussion and examples. What's wrong with you starting a debate about 9 days or almost two weeks without considering the aftermath days?

Purely for accuracy sake, 8 day shut down with the airport reopening a day and half later:

Bangkok airport re-opens

AFP

Fri, Dec 05, 2008

BANGKOK - BANGKOK'S main airport resumed full operations Friday

A ceremony due mid-morning was to officially reopen Suvarnabhumi international airport, after an eight-day siege by anti-government protesters ended on Wednesday.

"There are about 550 scheduled flights due to operate (Friday) at Suvarnabhumi," an Airports of Thailand spokesman said, adding that passengers would be treated to puppet shows and dance performances.

http://www.asiaone.com/Travel/News/Story/A1Story20081205-105780.html

[jehricaholic]

If the Pattaya bar girls mangled "hello, welcome" like the PM, their bars would have no Farangs.

[drdoom6996]

Hillary is just a Yingluck in a different colored skin. I would not trust either of them any farther than I can throw them together. 3mm.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Someone like Sondhi leading yellow shirts and village scouts to close down Thailand's airport, a major international hub for almost two weeks, and the military and government standing by doing nothing is more of an embarrassment than Yingluck. The military killing and beating lots of Thammasat students on more than one occasion is more embarrasing han Yingluck. Just my 2 cents.

Get the maths right. The PAD only close the airport(s) for 9 days. 9 days is not almost 2 weeks as claimed.

Plus (3) three days cleanup nd security checkout - 9, 12, what's the difference? 1-2 days, 9 days is just as bad as 12 - I am certain that it was a month before international operations from many countries and tourists got back on board. You seem to miss the key point of international embarrassment which is the focus of the discussion and examples. What's wrong with you starting a debate about 9 days or almost two weeks without considering the aftermath days?

Purely for accuracy sake, 8 day shut down with the airport reopening a day and half later:

Bangkok airport re-opens

AFP

Fri, Dec 05, 2008

BANGKOK - BANGKOK'S main airport resumed full operations Friday

A ceremony due mid-morning was to officially reopen Suvarnabhumi international airport, after an eight-day siege by anti-government protesters ended on Wednesday.

"There are about 550 scheduled flights due to operate (Friday) at Suvarnabhumi," an Airports of Thailand spokesman said, adding that passengers would be treated to puppet shows and dance performances.

http://www.asiaone.c...205-105780.html

"passengers would be treated to puppet shows"

Aaaaahhh!!!! so that's where Yingluck was 3 years ago - getting a bit of practice in, I guess!!!.

[Buchholz]

Big Deal, so Yingluck pronounced a word wrong. The worse "gaffe" I have heard about is how the new minister of "tourism" of Thailand whose positon is to fly around and promote Thailand in other countries (appointed because of her connectioins with Thaksin) cannot speak the internatioinal language of English.

Well, in my pettifogging way, I like to check these claims. According to the Ministry's website, the Minister for Tourism is Mr Chumpol Silapa-archa (hmm...sounds familiar) and he has an MBA from Syracuse University in New York. You must be thinking of someone else.

Post # 92. The PM's and Thaksin's cousin, Foreign Minister Surapong.

.

Edited November 19, 2011 by Buchholz

[Buchholz]

I thought she did rather well seeing as she has somewhat had all of this thrust upon her.

It just seems like she's yet to reach the levels of confidence and experience which the other Thai Dips and Hons mentioned in the lead article have reached after decades spent in the field of diplomacy.

It's an unfair comparison in my opinion.

"I thought she did rather well seeing as she has somewhat had all of this thrust upon her".

Did her brother torture her then!!!!!. She's a grown woman quite capable of saying NO!!!! Maybe she wishes she had gone with her initial instincts and done just that, as all that crying must have played havoc with her mascara!!!!

And she had said "No" to him for years, before finally agreeing and getting the nomination 49 days before becoming Prime Minister.

.

[Buchholz]

Big Deal, so Yingluck pronounced a word wrong. The worse "gaffe" I have heard about is how the new minister of "tourism" of Thailand whose positon is to fly around and promote Thailand in other countries (appointed because of her connections with Thaksin) cannot speak the international language of English.

Actually, that would be the Foreign Minister Surapong, Yingluck's and Thaksin's cousin.

He's used translators during international discussions in English, despite having completed a Master's Degree AND a Doctoral Degree at two different American universities in English.

OK!!! is it a "he" or "she"????

I shouldn't imagine that it would be so difficult completing a Masters Degree and Doctorate in America without understanding a word of English!!!!!:jap:.

However, to reach professorship status you would probably need to know conversational pieces such as "how are you" and "I am fine, and you"????

Definitely a "he" on the right:

Chiang Mai's Pheu Thai Party candidate Surapong Towichakchaikul on the election campaign trail with a masked campaign worker:

http://www.oknation.net/blog/print.php?id=365032

From his parliamentary bio:

Master's Degree (Engineering), Youngstown State University, Ohio, U.S.A.

Doctoral Degree (Engineering), University of Akron, Ohio, U.S.A.

http://mp.parliament.go.th/biographical/frontweb/Human_Resource/PersonDetail_Eng.aspx?Iden=H3GyEAxiZE9MK01KqJRtgA==

.

Edited November 19, 2011 by Buchholz

[Sydebolle]

Well, Yinglucks English is clearly substandard as she lacked practice. Maybe she should resort to what she, as head of the government, is entitled to. Let her talk only Thai. Look at i.e. Europeans, Sarkozy, Merkel, formerly Berlusconi and Putin; they all used their native language and got some wizzardy professionals to simulaneously translate what they said.

But then again ........ English is taught in England, American in America, Canadian in Canada and Thai in Thailand. This explains the bilinguality of Abhisit or certain media icons like Sarosha.

[SICHONSTEVE]

I thought she did rather well seeing as she has somewhat had all of this thrust upon her.

It just seems like she's yet to reach the levels of confidence and experience which the other Thai Dips and Hons mentioned in the lead article have reached after decades spent in the field of diplomacy.

It's an unfair comparison in my opinion.

"I thought she did rather well seeing as she has somewhat had all of this thrust upon her".

Did her brother torture her then!!!!!. She's a grown woman quite capable of saying NO!!!! Maybe she wishes she had gone with her initial instincts and done just that, as all that crying must have played havoc with her mascara!!!!

And she had said "No" to him for years, before finally agreeing and getting the nomination 49 days before becoming Prime Minister.

.

And just WHY did she change her mind??? It cannot be anything to do with Thaksin's amnesty as she stated several times "my brother's situation is not a priority for this government should we be elected"....I suppose you believed this!!!

She was there to serve the people and improve "their lot" she spouted unconvincingly from the rooftops, before Thaksin (nothing to do with the running of this government gov!!! honest) decided to make a third of Thailand resemble Waterworld by instructing that "no water was to be released from the dams to damage his expensive rice crops until they had been harvested"!!!!

The only good thing to come out of this is that his crops copped it as well.

OK then please inform me as to what reason you think "Yingluck the Novice" changed her mind then and thought it a good idea to get involved in politics all of a sudden when she had resisted for so long as she clearly "didn't fancy it"!!!!

Edited November 19, 2011 by SICHONSTEVE

[warfie]

At 2 minutes. Actually sounds more like she stumbled on 'welcome' as opposed to overcome.

Agreed, sounds more like she just had a little difficulty pronouncing a word (welcome) of a foreign (for her) language.

The only "gaffe" I see is in the use of the word "gaffe" by the so-called reporter.

[animatic]

at least she is not speaking Ebonics

Clearly not Hooked On Phonics either.

[animatic]

At 2 minutes. Actually sounds more like she stumbled on 'welcome' as opposed to overcome.

This make a good ads for shool of english in Thailand.

Or for Lionel Logue speech therapist services.

More like Lincoln Logs School of Speech Therapy

Her English was pretty good for a Thai..... Haven't there been other PM's who could,t find their hotel rooms (I still fall on the floor laughing about that one...) or PM's speaking little or no English? I think you'll find the answer to be YES. We all know the state of English usage in Thailand. Give it a break....

True...

but few of them never got a Masters Degree in America either.

Her brother has abysmal English, and apparently bought himself a PhD.

Since with his English skills couldn't even read a PhD Thesis out loud,

let alone defend it in front of Professors.

It is a reasonable assumption money talked and a Masters walked,

and she forgot what little she knew soon after. Oh I'd say she sat through the courses,

and such but clearly english as required for a USA Uni student is lacking.

[Orac]

Big Deal, so Yingluck pronounced a word wrong. The worse "gaffe" I have heard about is how the new minister of "tourism" of Thailand whose positon is to fly around and promote Thailand in other countries (appointed because of her connections with Thaksin) cannot speak the international language of English.

Actually, that would be the Foreign Minister Surapong, Yingluck's and Thaksin's cousin.

He's used translators during international discussions in English, despite having completed a Master's Degree AND a Doctoral Degree at two different American universities in English.

OK!!! is it a "he" or "she"????

I shouldn't imagine that it would be so difficult completing a Masters Degree and Doctorate in America without understanding a word of English!!!!!:jap:.

However, to reach professorship status you would probably need to know conversational pieces such as "how are you" and "I am fine, and you"????

Definitely a "he" on the right:

From his parliamentary bio:

Master's Degree (Engineering), Youngstown State University, Ohio, U.S.A.

Doctoral Degree (Engineering), University of Akron, Ohio, U.S.A.

http://mp.parliament.go.th/biographical/frontweb/Human_Resource/PersonDetail_Eng.aspx?Iden=H3GyEAxiZE9MK01KqJRtgA==

.

Odd - could have sworn I have seen him speak english in TV interviews

[americaninbangkok]

"passengers would be treated to puppet shows"

Aaaaahhh!!!! so that's where Yingluck was 3 years ago - getting a bit of practice in, I guess!!!.

Just getting a visual forming in my head... TS's puppeteering hand is so far up YS's arse, she can't say the word welcome properly!

And by the way, the airport took in it's last flight at 11:45p on Nov 25. Closed on Nov 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, Dec 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Yes, it was claimed to have re-opened on the 5th, but in reality, the PAD "de-occupied" it on the 4th so everyone could claim it was "open for business" on the 5th (for obvious reasons). On the 5th, clean-up began. On the 6th, I watched the arrivals/departures boards at Swampy showing 85+% of the flights cancelled since airlines were still trying to re-position their aircraft to resume flights. It effectively came back to normal operations on the 7th/8th.

[hyperdimension]

at least she is not speaking Ebonics

She supposedly attended a predominately "black" university, so one would think that she'd pick up some of the jive-talk accent. Maybe she interacted with fellow students in non-verbal ways.

[Payboy]

Wonder how much Thai Hirrally has at her command.

Is there any reason in the world other than living in Thailand or being an Ambassador to Thailand to learn the Thai language?

Just to check Bill's CamFrog chat history?

[USNret]

"After all, she received a master's degree from Kentucky State University in America."

Well, that explains it. I'm pretty sure they don't speak English in Kentucky.

[patjem]

At any rate, Yingluck may want to show off her English during international events. After all, she received a master's degree from Kentucky State University in America.

How real is the MA? If she has an MA and says "overcome" instead of "welcome" there is definitely something wrong here.

There are many Thai politicians with "honorary" degrees, or instead call THEM BOUGHT DEGREES, and they erase the honorary when noting the degree.

But her speech-writers should have done a better job in creating a speech with the right diction.

Welcome and overcome do not seem to be a diction problem. Maybe she though Hilary was overcome by being able to meet the great one's sister.

Speech-writers should come up with the right notes to match the speaker.

"received" a degree appears to be the operative word... according to a report in CNN, she told Obama that she had unfortunately never visited the USA.

[housepainter]

I ask myself why a multi millionairess would ever choose Kentucky University for her Masters Degree.

Equally, I've always been bemused by Thaksin's Doctorate in Criminology, again from a somewhat obscure US university.

When you can afford the best in life why settle for lower rated universities for something as prestigious as a Masters or Doctorate?

Despite the need to have a TOEFL rated English level prior to study abroad and then ability to write grammaticly correct English and with an advanced level of vocabulary - Thaksin always starngled the language, struggled to speak effectively and made communication rather awkward.

And yet we asked to believe that an American University found his standard of written English [ his thesis ] way in advance of his oral ability and did not question it! Then little sister follows but settles for a Masters. That must be her second degree and yet she has difficulty joining up the dots of an reasoned debate. In the same breath we are expected to believe she was a competent business woman; capable of running a multi- million dollar company.

I wonder then just why she gives the impression of being out of her depth if asked to run a raffle.

For such a clearly ignorant woman it only suits her to plead ignorance when it comes to matters that involve the amnesty for her brother. Of course she knows nothing.

A masters from Kentucky State proves that.

[lannarebirth]

At any rate, Yingluck may want to show off her English during international events. After all, she received a master's degree from Kentucky State University in America.

How real is the MA? If she has an MA and says "overcome" instead of "welcome" there is definitely something wrong here.

There are many Thai politicians with "honorary" degrees, or instead call THEM BOUGHT DEGREES, and they erase the honorary when noting the degree.

But her speech-writers should have done a better job in creating a speech with the right diction.

Welcome and overcome do not seem to be a diction problem. Maybe she though Hilary was overcome by being able to meet the great one's sister.

Speech-writers should come up with the right notes to match the speaker.

"received" a degree appears to be the operative word... according to a report in CNN, she told Obama that she had unfortunately never visited the USA.

Obama congratulated Shinawatra on her "inspirational" election win, and offered condolences and assistance to those affected by the flooding in Thailand.

He also described Thailand as one of America's oldest allies and spoke of the two nations' great friendship. When Shinawatra expressed her regret at not having visited the United States, Obama responded by inviting her to Hawaii.

http://edition.cnn.c...bama/index.html

Of course "never" and "not having" are not the same thing and she may have been referring to the APEC meeting. Maybe.

Edited November 19, 2011 by lannarebirth

[lannarebirth]

I ask myself why a multi millionairess would ever choose Kentucky University for her Masters Degree.

Equally, I've always been bemused by Thaksin's Doctorate in Criminology, again from a somewhat obscure US university.

When you can afford the best in life why settle for lower rated universities for something as prestigious as a Masters or Doctorate?

Despite the need to have a TOEFL rated English level prior to study abroad and then ability to write grammaticly correct English and with an advanced level of vocabulary - Thaksin always starngled the language, struggled to speak effectively and made communication rather awkward.

And yet we asked to believe that an American University found his standard of written English [ his thesis ] way in advance of his oral ability and did not question it! Then little sister follows but settles for a Masters. That must be her second degree and yet she has difficulty joining up the dots of an reasoned debate. In the same breath we are expected to believe she was a competent business woman; capable of running a multi- million dollar company.

I wonder then just why she gives the impression of being out of her depth if asked to run a raffle.

For such a clearly ignorant woman it only suits her to plead ignorance when it comes to matters that involve the amnesty for her brother. Of course she knows nothing.

A masters from Kentucky State proves that.

The new Deputy Finance Secretary who is in charge of revising how all tax revenues are accounted for is also from KSU.

[tropo]

At 2 minutes. Actually sounds more like she stumbled on 'welcome' as opposed to overcome.

I agree. I hear "wolcome" and she used "welcome" clearly in the next sentence.

[sprq]

Big Deal, so Yingluck pronounced a word wrong. The worse "gaffe" I have heard about is how the new minister of "tourism" of Thailand whose positon is to fly around and promote Thailand in other countries (appointed because of her connections with Thaksin) cannot speak the international language of English.

Actually, that would be the Foreign Minister Surapong, Yingluck's and Thaksin's cousin.

He's used translators during international discussions in English, despite having completed a Master's Degree AND a Doctoral Degree at two different American universities in English.

.

You have to wonder about those American universities.

That said, both Sarkozy and Merkel speak in their native languages at international forums, even though they both speak reasonable English. This is wise; leaving the English to top class professional interpreters is the best way to communicate what you really mean, as a politician, diplomat, businessperson or whatever.

It's only when their English is so good -- probably better than their interpreters' -- that non-native speakers should speak in English themselves on any substantive matters. And who is the perfect example? Why, our very own former prime minister, 'Mark' Abhisit!