Would Thailand Benefit From Switching?

[jvs]

Would Thailand benefit from switching to the English alphabet?I don't know how Thai people feel about this and i would like to see some opinions.Other countries have done it and did well because of it,would it be better if other Asian countries would also do it?

In Europe we all speak different languages but we all use the same letters which makes a new language a lot easier to learn.

I know some people may say it is part of who they are but for the sake of future generations would it be more practical?

Give up something now to benefit later?

[aTomsLife]

As one capable of reading Thai, I can tell you it's damn near impossible to reproduce the Thai vowels sounds with the English alphabet. Not trying to be malicious, but your question seems absurd.

[bigbamboo]

Interesting question with Asean union on the horizon. Big hitters Singapore and Malaysia plus G20 member Indonesia, wealthy Brunei and English savvy Philipines will all be at a lingual advantage over the rest, including Thailand.

But Thailand will never change and you can argue why should it but it is one reason why Thailand will remain part of the second tier along with Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

[fletchsmile]

Interesting question. I do think the Thai alphabet holds back people from realising as much potential as they could. Then again I also think that's deliberate too. Thailand as a whole would benefit over time, but the vested interests are more likely to prevail.

One thing they could do is put spaces between words. As it is makes it tougher on peoples eye's and less easy for the brain to pick out pictures and shapes and read quicker.

As an explame ervyeone can raed tish in Egnislh but the smae deosnt wrok in Tahi.

Even though incorrect, the shapes of words helps your brain process quicker. Thai would be

AsanexplameervyeonecanraedtishinEgnislhbutthesmaedeosntwrokinTahi.

Second sentence is much slower to read, and worse still in Thai script.

Cheers

Fletch

Edited May 15, 2013 by fletchsmile

[aTomsLife]

True, separating words would be advantageous for one learning Thai, but Thais probably enjoy the fact that their language is difficult for outsiders to learn.

Vietnam adopted the Roman alphabet, but previously Vietnamese had been written with Chinese characters. Thus there wasn't a true alphabet to throw out, and moreover being a colonized people, the Vietnamese didn't have much say in things.

[bonobo]

Interesting question with Asean union on the horizon. Big hitters Singapore and Malaysia plus G20 member Indonesia, wealthy Brunei and English savvy Philipines will all be at a lingual advantage over the rest, including Thailand.

But Thailand will never change and you can argue why should it but it is one reason why Thailand will remain part of the second tier along with Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

I guess I could point out the the per capita GDP of Thailand is about twice that of Indonesia. Indonesia does have a larger GDP, but is has a tremendously larger population.

As to the tones and vowel issues that other posts mention, Vietnamese has the many of the same issues, but they were able to modernize their writing using Latin letters.

Thailand has already adopted a heavy use of Latin letters. Look at any advertising, and most will use either some Latin letters or even entire English words. A large proportion of product names are in Latin letters, as well.

While there are many types of writing, the world basically boils down to four with regards to business: Latin, Chinese, Arabic, and Cyrillic. I didn't list Hindi as in the business world, English is used in India, and I didn't list Japanese as Latin letters and Kanji (which is basically Chinese characters) are also used in addition to hirigana and katakana (and romanji is often used for computer typing)). Countries that use a native script pretty much have to have speakers of other languages if they want to compete on the international stage.

[bangkockney]

I wouldn't say that just because groups of languages share an alphabet it makes them easier to learn. On the contrary, there are numerous European languages that are notoriously difficult to learn. Hungarian is one that springs to mind.

I've always performed pretty badly at language learning. But, the script was something that focused my mind and really got me into learning Thai.

[NeverSure]

We had a Thailand news article in the news section recently where leaders were saying how important it is for Thais to learn the languages of Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. for the upcoming ASEAN thing. I about fell over. My first reaction was that Thais must strongly want to keep and use Thai. Insert you own reason here.

It was as if they didn't even know that world commerce is done with English, and that way at most everyone has to learn just one additional language. The Japanese and Russians do business with China in English for the most part. If there's going to be global commerce, there has to be a global language.

So no, I don't think there's a prayer of getting Thais to change alphabets or languages. In my unscientific observations, even Cambodians are ahead of Thais with English. Anything Thai is best, I guess. ??

[aTomsLife]

I wouldn't say that just because groups of languages share an alphabet it makes them easier to learn. On the contrary, there are numerous European languages that are notoriously difficult to learn. Hungarian is one that springs to mind.

I've always performed pretty badly at language learning. But, the script was something that focused my mind and really got me into learning Thai.

I agree -- Thai is more easily read in Thai script. Thai transliterations into English make for some ridiculous pronunciations.

[jvs]

I remember when the wall came down there were a lot of places teaching Russian and when the students went over to Russia they found out they had been learning English.

I understand Thai people want to keep their on language but do you see the benefits on economic level if you would switch?

I can agree if anyone could speak their own language(of course) plus English, everyone will be able to communicate.No more learning of three or four different lingos in school.

In the Philippines i found a lot of people communicating in English and a lot of news is being broadcasted in English also.

Language is what gives a people their own identity but is giving up the alphabet for future sake a taboo?

[MrHammer]

As others have pointed out, you can't just switch a tonal language script to a monotonal script. Thai romanisation is not useful at all, since everyone seems to translate as they hear it which can be very different if you're a brit, american, german, scandi etc. So actually, as a scandi, many of the sounds I hear are similar to our æ,ø,å sounds, but because the English language doesn't have those sounds, I am forced to read 'ae' for exampel in 'laew' which in reality sound almost exactly like the 'æ' sound found in Scandinavian languages. I know there are those sound symbols that are used in teaching, but they're not used commonly or on signs.

I'd rather that the Thai government and school system actually prioritized English. I mean, the reason why scandiniavians for example in general have good english ability is because we are taught it from 2'nd or 3'rd grade and with many hours, plus our school system makes a point of teaching about foreign culture. Of course, being small countries, we understand that you can't expect the world to learn our language.

Thailand is an extremely inward looking country compared to almost any other Asian country. That's part of why it has a unique culture, but it makes it difficult to relate and communicate sometimes. Compare it to Singapore and the differences are glaring.

[manarak]

As one capable of reading Thai, I can tell you it's damn near impossible to reproduce the Thai vowels sounds with the English alphabet. Not trying to be malicious, but your question seems absurd.

Actually all Thai sounds can be reproduced using the English alphabet but applying German pronounciation.

Remain the tones

Edited May 15, 2013 by manarak

[krisb]

Impossible as it sits. Do you think a whole country should loose their language culture? What would happen with letters like Kor kwai, Kor kwat, Kor kuun, ngor ngoo and that's just a few.

Really you need a better understanding of the language 1st. Much easier if you learn Thai than 65 million learning English don't you think?

[MrHammer]

If Thais really knew what was best for them, don't you think they'd like to speak English? It is the latin of the modern world. If you want to do business you learn English.

[Naam]

In Europe we all speak different languages but we all use the same letters which makes a new language a lot easier to learn.

exceptions prove the rule, e.g. Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia, Belorus and Ukraine.

[sustento]

If Thais really knew what was best for them, don't you think they'd like to speak English? It is the latin of the modern world. If you want to do business you learn English.

I suspect that in 20 years time you'll be saying 'if you want to do business you learn Mandarin'.

Edited May 15, 2013 by sustento

[sustento]

I'm not usually one to fly the PC flag but isn't this thread a prime example of linguistic arrogance?

[sustento]

I wouldn't say that just because groups of languages share an alphabet it makes them easier to learn. On the contrary, there are numerous European languages that are notoriously difficult to learn. Hungarian is one that springs to mind..

When you've finished learning Hungarian you can move on to Basque, Polish or Finnish.

[Naam]

I wouldn't say that just because groups of languages share an alphabet it makes them easier to learn. On the contrary, there are numerous European languages that are notoriously difficult to learn. Hungarian is one that springs to mind..

When you've finished learning Hungarian you can move on to Basque, Polish or Finnish.

learning Polish is a breeze compared to the other languages you mentioned.

[GuestHouse]

If Thais really knew what was best for them, don't you think they'd like to speak English? It is the latin of the modern world. If you want to do business you learn English.

I suspect that in 20 years time you'll be saying 'if you want to do business you learn Mandarin'.

Except that english is firmly entrenched as the language of business, not least because many contracts are written in english and enacted under the English law - which commands a level of international trust that the Chinese might struggle attaining,

[sustento]

If Thais really knew what was best for them, don't you think they'd like to speak English? It is the latin of the modern world. If you want to do business you learn English.

I suspect that in 20 years time you'll be saying 'if you want to do business you learn Mandarin'.

Except that english is firmly entrenched as the language of business, not least because many contracts are written in english and enacted under the English law - which commands a level of international trust that the Chinese might struggle attaining,

More linguistic arrogance. In the 19th century German was firmly entrenched as THE language of science. If you wanted to do science you learnt German. Nowadays you learn English. Next century?

All is change...

[NeverSure]

If Thais really knew what was best for them, don't you think they'd like to speak English? It is the latin of the modern world. If you want to do business you learn English.

I suspect that in 20 years time you'll be saying 'if you want to do business you learn Mandarin'.

Except that english is firmly entrenched as the language of business, not least because many contracts are written in english and enacted under the English law - which commands a level of international trust that the Chinese might struggle attaining,

More linguistic arrogance. In the 19th century German was firmly entrenched as THE language of science. If you wanted to do science you learnt German. Nowadays you learn English. Next century?

All is change...

Germany was indeed a leader in science and the people still have that talent. Germany is relatively small compared to the rest of the world, and science is just one discipline.

In the 19th century the world was much bigger, with sailing ships and no internet. Today it is much smaller with passenger jet service for all and an internet and telephone. Personal communication world wide is instantaneous.

In these modern circumstances of such a small world, the major economies that started the industrial and technology revolution speak English. It is now important to be able to send an email or text to anyone. The more this grows and the faster it grows, the more people are left out if they don't know English.

By the time China could develop to be such a leading economy that it could expect everyone to know Mandarin and demand it, the whole world will know English. This is like a lot of other things. Once the basic design is in place, it can be almost impossible to change it.

So no. English is already the international language of trade and China does business with Russia in English. It gets more entrenched every day, even in China as they feverishly teach English.

That isn't arrogance, it's practicality. It is what it is, as they say.

Edited May 16, 2013 by NeverSure

[bangkokburning]

I don't really see a benefit, as it is tonal you willnbe stuck with some bastardization like Vietnamese. Anyone that has tried to pronounce Vietnamese will know that is a huge fail.

Thailand desparately needs to learn English. It is the lingua franca of the world, like it or not.

It will miss out on high skills training and oppty in the sciences, it will miss out in trade opportunities.

Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and HKG already leaps and bounds. Vietnam will be formidable!! Vietnam has the ability to deliver everything Thailand can, better, faster and cheaper. Further, when that gathers steam, Vietnam will hand off industries to Cambodia and Cambodia and Lao will boom.

If doing business is a hassle, no one can communicate and everyone is asking for kickbacks and bribes - the business goes elsewhere.

Thailand offers nothing unique. With the baht crushing its trade, its visa polices and lack of English it better wake up.

Thailand might (might) not lose ground, but will will indeed cede by laziness, lack of vision and corruption

Thailand needs English, not simply a Roman alphabet.

[samran]

So we use the Roman alphabet but then what? Apply the pronunciation of which european tongue? The french spelling of the Laos capital has stuck (Vientiene) when if you went for the english pronunciation by rights it should be spelt Vieng-chan.

A vietnamese colleague of mine has a name spelled as Trang using the romanised VN alphabet, but her name is actually pronounced Chang.

Suspect the OP hasn't really thought this one through...

[doggie888888]

As one capable of reading Thai, I can tell you it's damn near impossible to reproduce the Thai vowels sounds with the English alphabet.  Not trying to be malicious, but your question seems absurd. 

The Chinese successfully implemented pinyin, their romanised version. And I daresay Chinese is also tonal and have sounds not easily replicated.

And when romanising, they probably won't use "English alphabet" but some thing called international phonetics alphabet. It's not a new thing, this transliteration and Romanising of a language.

I got a feeling it's a question of control over the language...can't have foreigners playing around with it and becoming better at it than a Thai!!!

[Issangeorge]

"I suspect that in 20 years time you'll be saying 'if you want to do business you learn Mandarin'."

 The Chinese are going to continue to do business in English. More than 300 million Chinese already have some knowledge of English and more are learning it everyday. These English speakers are going to continue to do business in English as all the rest of the world do.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[GuestHouse]

I think it a good idea for Thailand to keep its script.

A move to yhe Roman alphabet would remove any excuse expats with 20 years or more in country have for not knowing more of the Thai language than they need to order a cold beer.

[yourauntbob]

Thailand change?

[samran]

Even funnier, a retired old fart changing.

[jvs]

Too bad some people can not resist making stupid remarks.On the other hand thank you for the really nice and insight full reactions.

I have been thinking about opening this thread for awhile and was hoping for pro and cons and that is what i got.

As far as the languages from the old eastblock countries, i have been there and find a lot of people speaking english.

I don't mind at all if people speak with an accent , a lot of native speakers do!

Just for good measure i am not a native English speaker myself but i happen to be of the opinion English will be- and for the most part already is - the most used language between different countries.

I am not saying at all Thailand should give up their language,i was just asking for different opinions in case they would ever switch.