Govt Raps WSJ Criticism Of PM Yingluck's Thai-Language Speech

[bigbamboo]

Note to Ms Yingluck and anyone else it may concern. Speeches are the perfect example of the law of diminishing returns. The shorter and sweeter they are the better they are received. No one wants to hear someone droning on for seven minutes, especially in a language they don't understand.

Edited March 10, 2012 by bigbamboo

[arrowsdawdle]

TallGuyJohninBK, #8^

"All the linguistic issues aside, the real issue here is how did the Japanese business community respond to Thailand's pitch about its future flood control measures?

Unfortunately, the news post in this thread gives absolutely no clue on that issue, which will help determine whether lots of Japanese manufacturing companies keep their operations here in Thailand with all their employment of Thai workers"

A comment which drives home my point, that this article was not about that.

It was all about subtly diminishing Ms. Y.

Perhaps, the point is that typical protocol, when delivering a foreign language speech in a native language sovereignty, is to provide earphones and real-time translations. If the reason Thani gave was that they were saving time, why waste 7 minutes nobody could understand when copies were already handed out?

She had to be SEEN to be delivering the canned speech,

not just make a press release handout to bigwigs.

So her carriage and delivery and veracity would be judged

by those steely Japanese conglomerate leaders.

Not something you can do while reading a hand out.

In business dealings japanese judge their potential partners manner equally to the words they hear.

They didn't hear any words. They heard foreign noise.

[CalgaryII]

http://en.wikipedia....tate_University

Presently rated world wide at 3,365th place.

4icu.org/reviews

collegeprowler.com

Academics

"This school is not rated in this subject"

Abhisit Vejjajiva educated at Oxford University, World Wide Ranking 4/5th - currently Opposition Party Leader

(formerly PM by default but never voted in as a result of an election by the Thai voters)

Yingluck Shinawatra educated at Kentucky State University, World Wide Ranking 3,365th - Prime Minister Thailand

Guess there's more to politics than just a "good" degree?

Yup

One is Prime Minister via national electoral processes.

The other has never been Prime Minister via national electoral processes.

Most likely Abhi is thinking, "dam_n, and I could have gone to KSU"

[KeyserSoze01]

The point of the article was to denigrate Ms. Y.

It's a good thing she has you to blindly defend her in every turn regardless of what she does.

Just giving some balance.

A public service kinda thing!

Talking louder and faster than everyone else doesn't makes you right. Nor is it fair and balanced.

[yoshiwara]

"The report also noted that US-educated Yingluck could have chosen to speak in English."

I really do not believe that she has studied in the U.S.

which college?

Maybe it was one of those internet college, you pay 50 usd and you get your diploma.

No, you get 50 USD diploma's at Oxford.

But includes a silver spoon.

In a hole and digging hard.

[afarang]

She is incompetent and a bad influence on Thai children who are told to learn and speek english on a daily basis, Her english is on a level par with a first grader.

Pity you cannot spell English correctly, nor understand where capital letters should be used , nor is your use of English Grammar totally delightful, trying to inject some humour into your inane diatribe

[DLock]

Govt. raps WSJ criticism of PM's Thai-language speech, #1^

A little Opposition mischief making again?

I suspect so.

In a backhanded way trying to diminish Ms. Y., knowing full well British born Abhi's language proficiency.

To highlight this little tidbit - a seven-minute speech for heaven's sake - says it all.

".............during her visit to Japan, after an article in The Wall Street Journal criticised Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's decision not to address the audience in English.

Complaining about not speaking English in a Japanese forumn....a bit of a reach.

For this 'diminishment' to have traction, it needed English language as the put-down.

"Thani also questioned the reporter's motive in writing the article. "I sincerely hope this is not the direction to be taken by a respected newspaper such as yours," he concluded"

This gets at a question of who's "motive"?

It is well known by many, that the foreign media socializes and lives in the world of the Amart, when in Thailand.

They have little understanding of the mostly unilingual world of the PTP/UDD/Red Shirts.

As a result, for example, when speaking to Europeans politically astute contacts, who nevertheless follow their domestic media reports on Thailand, it is often like talking to PADites.

So this instance of a foreign reporter dumping on Ms. Y, indicated to me he/she is following the impulses of her buddies.

"The report also noted that US-educated Yingluck could have chosen to speak in English. "It could be, though, that Ms Yingluck wasn't entirely confident in English. A video of her greeting visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Thailand last year by saying 'overcome' instead of 'welcome' got heavy play on YouTube," wrote the reporter.

And by inference, the unspoken agenda is to drive home the point that our buddy Abhi, wouldn't make this mistake.

Forgetting the little fact he couldn't win a Thai election, if his life depended on it.

You can go on rambling all you like,and projecting blame in all and sundry directions, the fact is the the Japanese came away from this very important meeting,without any clue what it was all about,and what Thailands plans are to contain future floods.So don't expect the Japanese to start rebuilding their businesses,any time soon on the strength of this incompetent, third rate charade.

I'm sure a seven minute speech will have zero effect on investments decisions.

It was merely a short introductory prelude, to a networking session between stakeholders.

She could have been speaking Tongolese for all such introductory comments amount to, prior to the real work beginning.

But as inconsequential as it was, highlighting it served another purpose, which we can all speculate about.

I have speculated it was intended for Ms. Y diminishment.

Tongolese?

What language do you refer to in trying to make your rather ironic point?

[TAWP]

Abhisit Vejjajiva educated at Oxford University, World Wide Ranking 4/5th - currently Opposition Party Leader

(formerly PM by default but never voted in as a result of an election by the Thai voters)

Could we drop the posting of outright lies and distortions?

No-one is ever elected to PM via election by Thai voters.

Nor is a first PM, as oppose to the second or third that might take the position during the same sitting between the elections of the MPs, of any more value or importance.

[FOODLOVER]

Govt. raps WSJ criticism of PM's Thai-language speech, #1^

A little Opposition mischief making again?

I suspect so.

In a backhanded way trying to diminish Ms. Y., knowing full well British born Abhi's language proficiency.

To highlight this little tidbit - a seven-minute speech for heaven's sake - says it all.

".............during her visit to Japan, after an article in The Wall Street Journal criticised Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's decision not to address the audience in English.

Complaining about not speaking English in a Japanese forumn....a bit of a reach.

For this 'diminishment' to have traction, it needed English language as the put-down.

"Thani also questioned the reporter's motive in writing the article. "I sincerely hope this is not the direction to be taken by a respected newspaper such as yours," he concluded"

This gets at a question of who's "motive"?

It is well known by many, that the foreign media socializes and lives in the world of the Amart, when in Thailand.

They have little understanding of the mostly unilingual world of the PTP/UDD/Red Shirts.

As a result, for example, when speaking to Europeans politically astute contacts, who nevertheless follow their domestic media reports on Thailand, it is often like talking to PADites.

So this instance of a foreign reporter dumping on Ms. Y, indicated to me he/she is following the impulses of her buddies.

"The report also noted that US-educated Yingluck could have chosen to speak in English. "It could be, though, that Ms Yingluck wasn't entirely confident in English. A video of her greeting visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Thailand last year by saying 'overcome' instead of 'welcome' got heavy play on YouTube," wrote the reporter.

And by inference, the unspoken agenda is to drive home the point that our buddy Abhi, wouldn't make this mistake.

Forgetting the little fact he couldn't win a Thai election, if his life depended on it.

You can go on rambling all you like,and projecting blame in all and sundry directions, the fact is the the Japanese came away from this very important meeting,without any clue what it was all about,and what Thailands plans are to contain future floods.So don't expect the Japanese to start rebuilding their businesses,any time soon on the strength of this incompetent, third rate charade.

I'm sure a seven minute speech will have zero effect on investments decisions.

It was merely a short introductory prelude, to a networking session between stakeholders.

She could have been speaking Tongolese for all such introductory comments amount to, prior to the real work beginning.

But as inconsequential as it was, highlighting it served another purpose, which we can all speculate about.

I have speculated it was intended for Ms. Y diminishment.

Tongolese?

What language do you refer to in trying to make your rather ironic point?

Tongan= Language of Tonga

[JAG]

Yet another occasion when it should have been the noble, intelligent, well educated Mark making this speech. You see she is simply not qualified......

pesky elections!

Edited March 10, 2012 by JAG

[FOODLOVER]

You don't have to be qualified but you should be for the people, not for your family.

edited for punctuation

Edited March 10, 2012 by FOODLOVER

[lannarebirth]

Yet another occasion when it should have been the noble, intelligent, well educated Mark making this speech. You see she is simply not qualified......

pesky elections!

Good article in todays online Bangkok Post concerning that. Kong Rithdee gives another one of his great observations in "Davos, Tokyo and clueless Tinglish".

[CalgaryII]

Please close this thread before the Shinawatras are sainted by the loud Canadian Conspiracy Clown.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Or before he becomes so pathological he can't tell the difference between his lies, red propaganda, and real life and laws (ex: twisting around the electoral process and pretending the majority of people in fantasy land are red shirts) . This guy has a serious complex, trolling on here literally around the clock. To be painted into a corner, then dig yourself into a deep hole afterward.

I admit I had time today, to spread some good news and warmth everywhere.

There is that trolling word again.

Does that mean all those who disagree with me are trolls?

[Orac]

This seems to be a storm in a teacup and of little importance.

Clearly it would have been better if there had been a simultaneous translation being done but, for a seven minute speech and if a written japanese translation was available at the time, the actual presence of the PM and a large entourage of senior Thai politicians along with the other networking and visits that went on would more than made up for her not delivering the speech in a 3rd language.

As for the further questioning of the PMs english skills, though a bit ropey she can clearly get by so I am not sure how relevant that is. Being fluent in english would probably impress the TV crowd but outside of that it is probably not that great an asset particularly given the nationalistic and insular view of a lot of Thai people, especially the lower socio-economic groups that PT rely on for their votes. English fluency can be a double edged sword in the current political environment because by drawing attention to the fact that Abhisit has a far better command of English than Yingluck plays to the PR line that he is technically English by birth, as is Korn for that matter.

[rubl]

TallGuyJohninBK, #8^

"All the linguistic issues aside, the real issue here is how did the Japanese business community respond to Thailand's pitch about its future flood control measures?

Unfortunately, the news post in this thread gives absolutely no clue on that issue, which will help determine whether lots of Japanese manufacturing companies keep their operations here in Thailand with all their employment of Thai workers"

A comment which drives home my point, that this article was not about that.

It was all about subtly diminishing Ms. Y.

Perhaps, the point is that typical protocol, when delivering a foreign language speech in a native language sovereignty, is to provide earphones and real-time translations. If the reason Thani gave was that they were saving time, why waste 7 minutes nobody could understand when copies were already handed out?

But, but, you forget she looks nice (even hot according to some). Surely it doesn't really matter what she says then?

[rubl]

I realize fully and completely what I am saying, and I stand by every word.

Who believes me is up to them...I am reflecting the electoral majority's opinions clearly demonstrated in the last election.

My opinions are in the majority, and will be reinforced next election.

He is a political exile, not a fugitive. Coupists persecuting those they coup, do not a fugitive make.

Thank you, dear Calgaryll. More fully now I understand why six hours ago you wrote "this is a political discussion board filled with inconsequential idiot political junkies like myself."

Edited March 10, 2012 by rubl

[AleG]

http://en.wikipedia....tate_University

Presently rated world wide at 3,365th place.

4icu.org/reviews

collegeprowler.com

Academics

"This school is not rated in this subject"

Abhisit Vejjajiva educated at Oxford University, World Wide Ranking 4/5th - currently Opposition Party Leader

(formerly PM by default but never voted in as a result of an election by the Thai voters)

Yingluck Shinawatra educated at Kentucky State University, World Wide Ranking 3,365th - Prime Minister Thailand

Guess there's more to politics than just a "good" degree?

Would that be that nepotism trumps qualifications? Yay!?

[pipo1000]

Isn't Thai the most used language in the world then?

[CalgaryII]

http://en.wikipedia....tate_University

Presently rated world wide at 3,365th place.

4icu.org/reviews

collegeprowler.com

Academics

"This school is not rated in this subject"

Abhisit Vejjajiva educated at Oxford University, World Wide Ranking 4/5th - currently Opposition Party Leader

(formerly PM by default but never voted in as a result of an election by the Thai voters)

Yingluck Shinawatra educated at Kentucky State University, World Wide Ranking 3,365th - Prime Minister Thailand

Guess there's more to politics than just a "good" degree?

Would that be that nepotism trumps qualifications? Yay!?

No, elections do.

Edited March 10, 2012 by CalgaryII

[lukeskywalker]

I bet the printed English version of her speech looks like it was written by a first grader and would make about as much sense as trying to listen to her speech in Thai.

[ballpoint]

The obsession of the Shinawatra supporters borders on religious fanaticism. Thaksin the redemptor and the infallibility of the clone. What is missed here by these poodles is that the Thai government went to Japan to reassure Japanese business that all was okay, flood wise. Japan holds the cards, not the Thais. Thailand has more to lose in the long term than Japan does. To provide an additional bit of emphasis, the Prime Minister made a speech, specially for them, to show her sincerity. And nobody thought to provide a vocal translation. Apart from simple courtesy, it's also exceedingly foolish. Who would write a begging letter in a language foreign to the recipient? For all they knew she could have been reciting her favourite tom yum recipe. And all that the whirling dervishes of the Shinawatra cult can do is spin as they have never spun before in trying to blame the evil Democrats for buying off the WSJ, the evil Japanese for not providing their own translater, the evil Thai based journalists, even when they are actually based in Japan, the evil majority of TV members who see through the cr*p for what it is, and the evil anyone else who isn't wearing red and/or has a square face.

I bet the pleading for Thaksin's Japanese visa last year was done in Japanese.

[pipo1000]

Actually,it is known that Japanese business people, in contrast with the Chinese, have no knowledge of English so I guess it will make little difference if they were addressed in English,German.Italian or Thai.

[Orac]

I bet the printed English version of her speech looks like it was written by a first grader and would make about as much sense as trying to listen to her speech in Thai.

I assume this is it though it doesn't look like 7 minutes:

[Buchholz]

Complaints complaints and more complaints......has anyone complained when Obama spoke English to Chinese, Japanese and Russian audiences.

Or when Japan PM, Russia President/PM, France President all gave their speech in their respective mothers' tongue....

For a proper analogy, you fail to recognize that Obama doesn't possess a Masters degree obtained in the native language from a Chinese, Japanese, OR Russian university.

Additionally, you also fail to recognize that the Japanese PM, Russian President, and French President don't possess a Masters degree obtained from an English-language university.

Yingluck has a obtained a Masters Degree conducted in the English language. For some zany reason, people logically conclude then that she should be able to speak English.

.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Buchholz

[FOODLOVER]

Spreading something warm indeed.

[waza]

The problem is Yingy has no english skills, no organisational skills, no leadership skills and poor political skills, which makes her perfect to be Thakkies hand puppet but an embarrassment as a countries political leader. Despite the poster with no credibility writing 50% of the topics posts to devert attention from Ms Yingy to some so called called conspiracy between Ahbist and the WSJ, the fact remains that Yingy's poor english skills are not as bad as her organisational skills and she is an embarrassment to Thailand.

[sbk]

This topic is about Yingluck and her English skills and the WSJ article. Lets keep it that way. Off topic posts deleted.

[Siam Simon]

The problem is Yingy has no english skills, no organisational skills, no leadership skills and poor political skills, which makes her perfect to be Thakkies hand puppet but an embarrassment as a countries political leader. Despite the poster with no credibility writing 50% of the topics posts to devert attention from Ms Yingy to some so called called conspiracy between Ahbist and the WSJ, the fact remains that Yingy's poor english skills are not as bad as her organisational skills and she is an embarrassment to Thailand.

Yingluck has very moderate English skills, decent organisational skills, CEO-type leadership skills and remarkably good political skills for a so-called novice. Yes, it's obvious that she takes orders from her 'Chairman', but so did Abhisit and other PM's prior to and post-Thaksin, so no unusual international embarrassment there. Posters and credibility.....hmmmmm.....Calgary posts too much for me, and is rather 'evangelical' about his/her clearly stated beliefs. Takes a one-sided view of things but makes some good points and comes across as sincere, so has some credibility. Waza makes good points at times, but is willfully disingenuous when it comes to any issue that doesn't fit his/her message, so has some credibility.

My own assessment of Yingluck is that she's about a 5 and 1/2 out of 10 so far. But she still seems to be enchanting people around the world, so she's far from an embarrassment for Thailand up to now. But there's plenty of time yet for her to mess up for the naysayers

[GooEng]

But she is pretty!

dam_n right! And quite tall by the look of it.

[khaowong1]

Is her brother banned from Japan? If not, why didn't he go and make the speech?

Neither can speak English very well, despite attending University overseas. Makes you wonder how they passed their respective courses.

My thoughts exactly. I wonder what their grade average was not being able to speak English well. I'm pretty sure the uni teachers in the US don't speak Thai. Where did they go to school?