If Thais Don't Prepare Their Communication Skills Now, They Will Struggle When A E C Takes Off

[LuckyLew]

IMO Thai's need to learn the following

1- Customer service

2- Customer loyalty

3- How to say please

4- How to say thank you

5- How to keep their fingers out of their noses

[ZhouZhou]

"Languages have immense power that can help you win the hearts of people from other countries, which is good for you to deal with them," Sudakarn said.

That are very true words.

makes you wonder how much the Thai basher can speak of the local language. they probably failed in the winning heart mission and now look at everything bad and angry because they don't understand.

learn languages, people. learn your neighbors language. it is a good thing.

and learn mandarin of course.

[Markaew]

Anyone that teaches English here understands the problem. It doesn't matter how often they talk about it the problem won't disappear.

In high school classrooms the boys are completely disinterested except for about 5% and the girls are interested except for about 5%.

I believe much of the disinterest comes from the Thai English teachers that generally discredit the foreign teachers so the students follow their lead.

Next point: Why are Thai teachers teaching English? The students end up speaking Thai-English which you cannot understand. When students have completed high school they have received about 15 years of English classes and most can speak relatively no English.

Since Thais are superior then why should they listen to a foreigner?

If students show disinterest. i would blame the teacher not the student.

That is a true Thai perspective. A student can't do badly because it's the teachers fault. That's why you have a no-fail policy in Thailand. It's never the student's fault.

[ZhouZhou]

IMO Thai's need to learn the following

1- Customer service

2- Customer loyalty

3- How to say please

4- How to say thank you

5- How to keep their fingers out of their noses

Customer service is very good.

they say "thank you", they say" please"

soon they will able to say that in the 10 main languages of Asean countries,

She said a language learning app and software would be available for download by the end of this year. They would provide 900 often-used sentences in each of the 10 main languages of Asean countries, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese, so students and Thai people can learn the languages on their own through tablets and PCs.

Can you say "please" in bahasa indo, korean or in mandarin?

does your country have similar education project? probably not.

[ZhouZhou]

Anyone that teaches English here understands the problem. It doesn't matter how often they talk about it the problem won't disappear.

In high school classrooms the boys are completely disinterested except for about 5% and the girls are interested except for about 5%.

I believe much of the disinterest comes from the Thai English teachers that generally discredit the foreign teachers so the students follow their lead.

Next point: Why are Thai teachers teaching English? The students end up speaking Thai-English which you cannot understand. When students have completed high school they have received about 15 years of English classes and most can speak relatively no English.

Since Thais are superior then why should they listen to a foreigner?

If students show disinterest. i would blame the teacher not the student.

That is a true Thai perspective. A student can't do badly because it's the teachers fault. That's why you have a no-fail policy in Thailand. It's never the student's fault.

If a teacher is good she/he will get the attention of their students. not only in Thailand but everywhere on the world.

but good teacher are very rare.

[Markaew]

IMO Thai's need to learn the following

1- Customer service

2- Customer loyalty

3- How to say please

4- How to say thank you

5- How to keep their fingers out of their noses

Customer service is very good.

they say "thank you", they say" please"

soon they will able to say that in the 10 main languages of Asean countries,

She said a language learning app and software would be available for download by the end of this year. They would provide 900 often-used sentences in each of the 10 main languages of Asean countries, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese, so students and Thai people can learn the languages on their own through tablets and PCs.

Can you say "please" in bahasa indo, korean or in mandarin?

does your country have similar education project? probably not.

You are really crapping sunshine today.

[Markaew]

Anyone that teaches English here understands the problem. It doesn't matter how often they talk about it the problem won't disappear.

In high school classrooms the boys are completely disinterested except for about 5% and the girls are interested except for about 5%.

I believe much of the disinterest comes from the Thai English teachers that generally discredit the foreign teachers so the students follow their lead.

Next point: Why are Thai teachers teaching English? The students end up speaking Thai-English which you cannot understand. When students have completed high school they have received about 15 years of English classes and most can speak relatively no English.

Since Thais are superior then why should they listen to a foreigner?

If students show disinterest. i would blame the teacher not the student.

That is a true Thai perspective. A student can't do badly because it's the teachers fault. That's why you have a no-fail policy in Thailand. It's never the student's fault.

If a teacher is good she/he will get the attention of their students. not only in Thailand but everywhere on the world.

but good teacher are very rare.

Easy to talk about, difficult to back up. We can all define what teachers are like in heaven so when you get some students from heaven then let me know.

[A Member]

I agree with most of what has already said. English conversation needs to be the priority and leave the extensive grammar rote learning for later. Most Thai students are afraid to speak because they have not been given the chance to practice conversation skills. A lot of Thai Teachers I know can not speak English very well. I am sorry to say that the Thai Education system does not have enough time, money, or desire to make the necessary change in time.

This is an excellent post. I had quiet a few years of teaching English, including at university level, until I got fed up banging my head against various walls. I was appalled at so called Thai English teachers who couldn't put a full sentence together and who were passing on the mistakes they themselves had been taught. I had students in university who, in high school, had been taught English in Thai and other than chanting words and phrases had never actually spoken English in Q and A converstaion so as a consequence had no confidence whatsoever. it cannot and will not improve until the government and educational authorities do the unthinkable - change the system

[Arkady]

"Although some Thais living along the borders can use their neighbours' languages,..."

Even this is something of an overstatement because almost none of the these Thais can read or write Lao, Khmer, Burmese or Malay. They can just speak the dialect of their village and most are close to illiterate in Thai.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Arkady

[ZhouZhou]

If students show disinterest. i would blame the teacher not the student.

That is a true Thai perspective. A student can't do badly because it's the teachers fault. That's why you have a no-fail policy in Thailand. It's never the student's fault.

If a teacher is good she/he will get the attention of their students. not only in Thailand but everywhere on the world.

but good teacher are very rare.

Easy to talk about, difficult to back up. We can all define what teachers are like in heaven so when you get some students from heaven then let me know.

I am an expert on this. I went to school for many years. been a student for many years. and still take lesson seminars now as grown up with a job.

i have seen many teachers and their different ways to teach. only few were good.

how you can be a good teacher if you think bad about your students? you will fail.

[Markaew]

I agree with most of what has already said. English conversation needs to be the priority and leave the extensive grammar rote learning for later. Most Thai students are afraid to speak because they have not been given the chance to practice conversation skills. A lot of Thai Teachers I know can not speak English very well. I am sorry to say that the Thai Education system does not have enough time, money, or desire to make the necessary change in time.

This is an excellent post. I had quiet a few years of teaching English, including at university level, until I got fed up banging my head against various walls. I was appalled at so called Thai English teachers who couldn't put a full sentence together and who were passing on the mistakes they themselves had been taught. I had students in university who, in high school, had been taught English in Thai and other than chanting words and phrases had never actually spoken English in Q and A converstaion so as a consequence had no confidence whatsoever. it cannot and will not improve until the government and educational authorities do the unthinkable - change the system

Actually, there is an agency that promotes/forces NES teachers to speak in Thai while they are teaching English. Never made sense to me. So English speaking was at about 20% of the class.

[A Member]

"Although some Thais living along the borders can use their neighbours' languages,..."

Even this is something of an overstatement because almost none of the these Thais can read or write Lao, Khmer, Burmese or Malay. They can just speak the dialect of their village and most are close to illiterate in Thai.

This is so accurate. In parts of rural Isan the medium of instruction in primary school is the local dialect and as a teaching colleague put it to me " Thai is virtually learning a second language ".

[techboy]

Nice to hear that some language opportunities are being offered to Thai people. I'm sure most of them have been available for many years with just a small interest shown. Now, they are promoting the financial aspect "we will lose many opportunities when more investments flow into the region" - hopefully this will encourage more people to study and then use their new found knowledge not only for financial gain but to also start peace and friendship accords throughout the region

@BrianCR: Is that a POSITIVE post I see here? Be careful, you may get kicked off...

Well done. Nice post.

Do be careful now sir... In this environment you may have just also targeted yourself as an unruly upstart.

[Markaew]

If a teacher is good she/he will get the attention of their students. not only in Thailand but everywhere on the world.

but good teacher are very rare.

Easy to talk about, difficult to back up. We can all define what teachers are like in heaven so when you get some students from heaven then let me know.

I am an expert on this. I went to school for many years. been a student for many years. and still take lesson seminars now as grown up with a job.

i have seen many teachers and their different ways to teach. only few were good.

how you can be a good teacher if you think bad about your students? you will fail.

So you are a student and you know everything about teaching. I though you were speaking with some credibilty but the reality is you are an expert at being a student.

[trevoromgh]

Until the education system gets a complete over hall I dont see Thai's getting any better at English. There is a reason why Thai's are the worst English speakers in SEA, the education system is failing them. Until this changes, nothing else will.

Sorry can't resist since this is about education. "Overhaul"......

haha, got me, i was typing to quickly and didnt even think about it.

Cough ..... you were typing 'too' quickly actually .....

[Jawnie]

Thai education officials fail to understand and appreciate how difficult English is for the native Thai speaker. Even smart Thais who've studied English for 10-20 years still have great difficulty with it as well as a lack of confidence. While it makes a certain amount of sense to want to speak the language of neighboring countries, Thai education officials need to understand that every day, week, month, and year that goes by without a massive leap forward in English-language proficiency, is a day, week, month, year that Thailand falls farther and farther behind the rest of the international community.

[A Member]

A lot of the commonsense thoughts are negated by what actually happens here irrespective of how good or bad teachers are since parents can buy entry to schools at all levels, buy grades and of course degrees. On good authority I can say Thaksin gave Bangkok University the cash to build a new library so his daughter would be admitted since she didn't have the necessary grades. At Ramkhamheng Uni when his son was caught taking papers into an exam the vice-president made a stupid statement suggesting that cheating was no big deal, of course junior T wasn't trying to cheat as he was only carrying a " letter ". Things like this are commonplace at all levels of Thai " education "

[dunque]

Last month I was leaving Mae Sai (Thailand) for Tachilek (Burma) severely limping with a very bad knee and supported by a walking stick.

The Thai border guard said 'what happen you nee'

The Burmese border guard said 'good morning sir, what happened to your knee'

Amazing that you could detect the Thai guard missing pronouncing the 'k'.

[dunque]

Until the education system gets a complete over hall I dont see Thai's getting any better at English. There is a reason why Thai's are the worst English speakers in SEA, the education system is failing them. Until this changes, nothing else will.

Sorry can't resist since this is about education. "Overhaul"......

haha, got me, i was typing to quickly and didnt even think about it.

Cough ..... you were typing 'too' quickly actually .....

I was wondering about Thai's - seems to have been used extensively in this thread by alleged native English speakers.

[yourauntbob]

ZhouZhou

"I am an expert on this. I went to school for many years. been a student
for many years. and still take lesson seminars now as grown up with a
job.
i have seen many teachers and their different ways to teach. only few were good.

how you can be a good teacher if you think bad about your students? you will fail."

So if i have students that do really well and learn in my class but also have students who do not learn and perform poorly, does that make me a good teacher or bad teacher? You cant cast all blame on the teachers for poor performance of some.

Zhou, dont you find it a bit interesting (to say the least) that Thailand recruits the same teachers as surrounding countries and has lower performance on their exams?

[A Member]

There are 52 million Hispanics in US and a 3000 km land border with Mexico. Does every American citizen speak at least some Spanish? No, because there is no pressure to learn. The immigrant learns the language of the host country. As long as there will be more Laotians or Burmese coming to Thailand for education or work, they will learn Thai and not the other way around. I doubt we'll see the Isaan people crossing the border to Cambodia in order to find better paid jobs. They'd rather go to Phuket or Pattaya and learn the local version of Thai language.

what if the host country doesn't have any official language?

It is always good to speak more than one language and even better to speak more than 2 language.

China has regional dialects such as Cantonese which have more speakers than many national languages such as Thai. Chairman Mao said a dialect was " a language without an army or navy " but all host countries have a national language even if, Like Singapore, there is more than one

[Thai at Heart]

There are 52 million Hispanics in US and a 3000 km land border with Mexico. Does every American citizen speak at least some Spanish? No, because there is no pressure to learn. The immigrant learns the language of the host country. As long as there will be more Laotians or Burmese coming to Thailand for education or work, they will learn Thai and not the other way around. I doubt we'll see the Isaan people crossing the border to Cambodia in order to find better paid jobs. They'd rather go to Phuket or Pattaya and learn the local version of Thai language.

what if the host country doesn't have any official language?

It is always good to speak more than one language and even better to speak more than 2 language.

China has regional dialects such as Cantonese which have more speakers than many national languages such as Thai. Chairman Mao said a dialect was " a language without an army or navy " but all host countries have a national language even if, Like Singapore, there is more than one

Been there done that. People from different parts of provinces sometimes can't even effectively communicate with each other. As for communicating across provinces by phone, I have seen employees struggle to even communicate the most basic things, because the dialects are so strong.

[Ragzilb]

I dont understand why Thailand is even going to become part of this ASEAN. Hope that it will not become a reality, since Thailand is the most attractive country in the whole of south east. we will have 10 mio people from all the above countries who will move here. It will be one big mess I think

[cup-O-coffee]

Name the problem and I'll demonstrate how it is purely currency-driven thinking.

Thailand is "currency driven" in all its aspects: religion, politics, education, insurance, business, etc. From top to bottom and bottom to top, until the Thai people consider and engage "performance-driven" thinking, then all of this is really a bunch of hoo-ha.

The Thai can be lead to the water, but he will refuse to let you lead him there unless you deceive him into thinking you are leading him to currency, or are foolish enough to supplement him with currency; and he will die from thirst right at the water's edge for his obsessive lust of currency.

Generally speaking, of course.

[MaxLee]

I dont understand why Thailand is even going to become part of this ASEAN. .....

.......

Because that adds FACE value towards the International society. Public image is more important than actual substance and cohesive actions taken to improve the quality of standards, something the Thai-(Chinese) people on top don't give a damn about in the first place....

[NeverSure]

Last month I was leaving Mae Sai (Thailand) for Tachilek (Burma) severely limping with a very bad knee and supported by a walking stick.

The Thai border guard said 'what happen you nee'

The Burmese border guard said 'good morning sir, what happened to your knee'

On average, the people of Cambodia have far better English skills that average Thais. They are really focusing on it. They get it.

[Markaew]

Last month I was leaving Mae Sai (Thailand) for Tachilek (Burma) severely limping with a very bad knee and supported by a walking stick.

The Thai border guard said 'what happen you nee'

The Burmese border guard said 'good morning sir, what happened to your knee'

On average, the people of Cambodia have far better English skills that average Thais. They are really focusing on it. They get it.

Absolutely. I love visiting Cambodia, Phnom Penh specifically. After being in Thailand for a while and I go visit there, it's really surprising how advanced they are. Not just their English but their clear thinking. A very comfortable place to visit. Lots of western food.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Markaew

[Chrisswe]

Yes problem, Thais don't have any communication skills, they have been learnt how to argue for there's proudness and believes.

[kurnell]

There are 6 girls in my office. All speak English, 2 speak French and 1 speaks German also.

[Mooner]

There is only one international language despite the plethora of languages globally. English is the only way for Thai's to get ahead, but then they would be able to see what the rest of the world really can offer and that would not be good for the Thai elites who control the country and the continuing repression of the Thai populace at large now would it?

To learn only English would be very narrow minded.

Agreed but if you not good at learning languages or only have the time to learn one. Dont forget they only have 2 years then English is the one to learn. Its the official business language after all!