Bloken Engrish...aka...broken English

[krisb]

Its the little things about my wife that make me love her,

She has me in fits of laughter daily with her self taught English. Gotta hand it to her though, shes fluent in 2 dialects of Thai and her English has improved in leaps and bounds especially now she lives here in Australia, I do my best to teach her and she tries,

But.....She has a while to go until shes got it!

Now guys and girls on TV, please dont think Krisb is mean putting his wifes English problem on a forum for all to see,

I actually find it really cute about her......it makes her...her!

Heres a couple examples that come to mind...

"Washing machine go out"......this means hanging the clothes on clothes line.

"Turn the fire off"......this means turn the light off.

Not to mention how many times Ive explained the difference between "him, he, his, her, hers, theirs, them"..to name a few.

1 day she will get it, Im sure!

So whats some broken English your Thai partner says that makes you laugh?...Dont be shy, and its not being mean, its what makes them... them

[CharlieH]

When she has to do the laundry she calls it "washing washing", as in "I take care washing washing" never understand why she likes to say it twice.

Always makes me smile, as does "BBQ toast" not just toast its always "you want BBQ toast" at breakfast.

Edited November 17, 2012 by CharlieH

[Songhua]

Tenses. 'He tell me yesterday' or 'I go buy it next week'.

My wife's vocab is quite good - she says and understands things like eg regulation, coalition or facilitate so it surprises me when she occasionally stumbles. Just last night she was relating something that happened in a store:

'She not even competitive'

'huh?

'She not competitive, don't know her job well'

'Oh, competent?'

''Yes, compliment'

Lol. It's like a cryptic crossword sometimes!

[macksview]

yes,the wife has good writing and spelling skills,thanks for those excellent tech college teachers who sharpened up her almost forgotten basics she learnt at school and college in thailand.

at her work she saw the newspaper and it a had a picture of the leader of the opposition party,her boss told me this (paid up member of the opposition party), she looked at the picture and said "there is that bloody big goose abbott",her boss stunned that his normally polite staff member would say this, asked her why mr abbott was a goose, "he must be a big goose,because many goose follow him" was her reply.

at the start it was like cryptic crosswords at times, forgotten most of the classics.

[WilliaminBKK]

Explained years ago my name can be Will, Wills, William, Bill, Billy and be prepared the family all use different names.

One time conversing with my Father - "You know I really love your Willy"........... my poor Father nearly collapsed on the spot.

On of my favourites is turn the on off or turn the off on- dam_n I am starting to say it

[krisb]

[macksview]

the wife says i am going to do the "washing up", then she walks out into the laundry emptys the clothes basket and starts loading the machine, i thought you said you were going to do the washing up,"you are blind my husband,i am bloody washing up"

"washing up clothes or plate, same thing (forcibly said)" i tried to explain the difference if there is one, her reply "english is a stupid language"

[simple1]

Not using past or future tense - can get really confusing when she describes something that I think happened today, when she is actually talking about something that occurred yesterday, ten years ago or an event in the future.

[Kilgore Trout]

the wife says i am going to do the "washing up", then she walks out into the laundry emptys the clothes basket and starts loading the machine, i thought you said you were going to do the washing up,"you are blind my husband,i am bloody washing up"

"washing up clothes or plate, same thing (forcibly said)" i tried to explain the difference if there is one, her reply "english is a stupid language"

Sounds like she has a genuine interest in your culture and language

How does she react if you say Thai is a stupid language?

[mania]

Well too be fair we would all need to hear how our Thai sounds to them

Back when my wife was first in the US she could speak English very well already but sentence structure

was still Thai. Things like Heater Water instead of Water Heater etc.

But as I said pretty much the same as our "accented" Thai sounds to them.

Also the mixing of Thai with English

Like the OP stated

"Turn the fire off"......this means turn the light off.

In Thai "Fai" is light so she was probably mixing Thai in there

Same as we do when speaking broken Thai in the beginning.

I agree cute. Accents can be cute

[bdw]

People in my own family still say dinner when referring to the noon-time meal.

[macksview]

the wife says i am going to do the "washing up", then she walks out into the laundry emptys the clothes basket and starts loading the machine, i thought you said you were going to do the washing up,"you are blind my husband,i am bloody washing up"

"washing up clothes or plate, same thing (forcibly said)" i tried to explain the difference if there is one, her reply "english is a stupid language"

Sounds like she has a genuine interest in your culture and language

How does she react if you say Thai is a stupid language?

i say that sometimes,she laughs,but says thai makes sense more than english because of the tones,english words spelt the same but with different meanings troubles her the most.

[DocN]

I still love the washing/watching- mix up;

"I go watching the laundry" / "I go washing TV"...

(saying that: her English is MILES better than my Thai will EVER be!)

[Songhua]

A couple of years back our son, then 16 (and so with a newfound knowledge of everything worldly and supposedly funny) said, 'Watch out mum, I'm gonna flatulate'

Mum: 'Jesus, was that you (insert name here)?'

Son: 'Warned ya'

Mum: 'No, you said you were going to the fridge'

[whybother]

My GF: "I sore my leg".

I have managed to get her to say it correctly now.