snowflake Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I have been here in Thailand for the last 13 years, I have dealt with immigration on several occations, good and bad... Most of the time they have been fairly good and polite, but one thing has allways annoyed me insanely much... Why the HHHLLLL can't they speak better English? Oh, I am sure that in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket they can speak English, but what about the other provinces??? Immigration is the first line for the Thai gov. to deal with foreigners, problems, visas, and other important stuff... tourists and residents (people who work here) alike, is there not a requirement for the immigration officers to speak at least basic English? I find it rather pathetic that the other day they called me, the only 2 words I understood from the conversation (I just cant speak Thai on the phone), was immigration and cancel (that was the day after I renewd my Non-B for 1 year)...I filed a complaint to immigration main office, they should be ashamed that they do not speak English at a high school level, I can even go to 7eleven and they try harder than these lazy gov. officials... Any thoughts?Yes, I will leave Thailand this year, but not over this, that is a personal choice I have debated over several months. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post overherebc Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 How many British Immigration workers speak Thai ? Just sayin like. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post samran Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 I think you've got the language issue the other way around. 13 years in Thailand. Can't speak Thai? 31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post glegolo Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 How many British Immigration workers speak Thai ? Just sayin like. And that is a valid compharizon? That was amongst the worse I have ever heard actually..... May I therefore ask you... - "how many countries outside Thailand, speak thai"??? How many countries outside Sweden speak swedish? No it is NOT the english-spoken "restoftheworld" that shall adapt to these non-educated immigration-officials... They must start to understand that there is a whole would outside Thailand, and that they must adapt to it in order to survive in the long run..... By the way... I do not know about Britain, but I gues it is exactly like Sweden. Both Britain and Sweden are having translators for all kind of languages and we are just doing fine.... I agree too, it is a shame that the immigration officies here in Thailand speaks so bad english or no english at all, so I should feel ashame if I were a thai...... Glegolo 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kirstymelb101 Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 I think you've got the language issue the other way around. 13 years in Thailand. Can't speak Thai? touché 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginkas Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Have seen many Japanese at the immigration office who only speak Japanese. Immigration say many complaints that the forms are not in Japanese and the staff don't speak Japanese! Same - same for Koreans. Local up-class (5 star) hotel manager here told me the other day that 20% of the guests now come from China. They are re-printing all their forms and signs to include Chinese as these guests do not use English at all. They have also had to employ a Chinese manager and Chinese speaking staff. Native English speakers comprise about 12% of their guests. Suspect Thai Immigration may have to speak Chinese in the future, and re-print all their forms with Thai and Chinese, dumping the minority use of English. P.S. Also heard Germans and French complaining about the "overuse" of English and not using "their" language if Thailand wants visitors from "their" countries! The world is a-changing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glegolo Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Have seen many Japanese at the immigration office who only speak Japanese. Immigration say many complaints that the forms are not in Japanese and the staff don't speak Japanese! Same - same for Koreans. Local up-class (5 star) hotel manager here told me the other day that 20% of the guests now come from China. They are re-printing all their forms and signs to include Chinese as these guests do not use English at all. They have also had to employ a Chinese manager and Chinese speaking staff. Native English speakers comprise about 12% of their guests. Suspect Thai Immigration may have to speak Chinese in the future, and re-print all their forms with Thai and Chinese, dumping the minority use of English. P.S. Also heard Germans and French complaining about the "overuse" of English and not using "their" language if Thailand wants visitors from "their" countries! The world is a-changing. Yeaah! These germans and especially french,,, they still think that their countries is on the top of the world, not realising that english is actually being THE language that will be used throughout the world outside Asia of course., in the future... Glegolo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overherebc Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 How many British Immigration workers speak Thai ? Just sayin like. And that is a valid compharizon? That was amongst the worse I have ever heard actually..... May I therefore ask you... - "how many countries outside Thailand, speak thai"??? How many countries outside Sweden speak swedish? No it is NOT the english-spoken "restoftheworld" that shall adapt to these non-educated immigration-officials... They must start to understand that there is a whole would outside Thailand, and that they must adapt to it in order to survive in the long run..... By the way... I do not know about Britain, but I gues it is exactly like Sweden. Both Britain and Sweden are having translators for all kind of languages and we are just doing fine.... I agree too, it is a shame that the immigration officies here in Thailand speaks so bad english or no english at all, so I should feel ashame if I were a thai...... Glegolo You must be the guy or his brother that I worked with in Europe many years ago who walked off the job because all the local workers didn't speak English and the food, beers etc wasn't real. I ended up staying there for 3 years and had a great time and made 'loadsamonie' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glegolo Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 How many British Immigration workers speak Thai ? Just sayin like. And that is a valid compharizon? That was amongst the worse I have ever heard actually..... May I therefore ask you... - "how many countries outside Thailand, speak thai"??? How many countries outside Sweden speak swedish? No it is NOT the english-spoken "restoftheworld" that shall adapt to these non-educated immigration-officials... They must start to understand that there is a whole would outside Thailand, and that they must adapt to it in order to survive in the long run..... By the way... I do not know about Britain, but I gues it is exactly like Sweden. Both Britain and Sweden are having translators for all kind of languages and we are just doing fine.... I agree too, it is a shame that the immigration officies here in Thailand speaks so bad english or no english at all, so I should feel ashame if I were a thai...... Glegolo You must be the guy or his brother that I worked with in Europe many years ago who walked off the job because all the local workers didn't speak English and the food, beers etc wasn't real. I ended up staying there for 3 years and had a great time and made 'loadsamonie' I dont know... But I doubt that you and me were in the same ballpark when it comes to work. I really think that english is, and will be even more recognized as THE langue to use in the future alongside Chinese of course... Not counting here in Asia...... Glegolo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post overherebc Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 Sorry m'lud, said while shuffling feet, wringing flat cap in hands and trying to tug forelock all at the same time. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomtomtom69 Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Have seen many Japanese at the immigration office who only speak Japanese. Immigration say many complaints that the forms are not in Japanese and the staff don't speak Japanese! Same - same for Koreans. Local up-class (5 star) hotel manager here told me the other day that 20% of the guests now come from China. They are re-printing all their forms and signs to include Chinese as these guests do not use English at all. They have also had to employ a Chinese manager and Chinese speaking staff. Native English speakers comprise about 12% of their guests. Suspect Thai Immigration may have to speak Chinese in the future, and re-print all their forms with Thai and Chinese, dumping the minority use of English. P.S. Also heard Germans and French complaining about the "overuse" of English and not using "their" language if Thailand wants visitors from "their" countries! The world is a-changing. English won't be dumped on immigration forms, probably there will be all three languages. In fact, I believe it is already possible to find immigration forms in Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and possibly even German and French. I have seen some of them already it's just that they don't hand them out regularly unless you specifically request an immigration form in that language. I would even go so far as to say that Thai immigration might dump Thai from it's forms and just leave English with another major language like Chinese. After all, Thai Airways for years had only English on it's boarding passes, then re-introduced Thai alongside English, finally dumping Thai again about a year ago. How a national airline can dump it's national language on it's boarding passes beats me, perhaps someone might care to enlighten me? Surely there is no chance a Chinese airline would ever try to do the same...how would 90%+ of the flying population be able to understand what's printed on them? I wouldn't put much faith in Thai officials being able to speak Chinese in the future. They might be able to learn to say a few token words like "nihao" and "xie xie" as is the case now but anything more complex will hardly be picked up very quickly by officials who already struggle just with English. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Sceptict11 Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 I am always grateful when a Thai person speaks to me using English. I am able to speak some Thai and can hold a simple conversation. The last time I visited immigration I spoke to the Officer in Thai, he smiled and asked if we could converse in English as he needed the practise! It is , in my opinion, the absolute hight of arrogance and ignorance to expect your Mother tongue to be spoken no matter where one happens to be in the world. Over the years I have lived/worked in many places and can manage daily living in Swahili, Thai,German, French, Arabic, Hindi and English . A small amount of effort taken to learn something of others language(s) reaps huge reward. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennyEagle Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 (edited) why in the world should a Thai person have to speak english, you are in Thailand, not England, I have been here many years, no problems, I think you would be better off in england I speak no Thai Edited May 31, 2013 by DennyEagle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post watcharacters Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 (edited) . I read an interesting article on this matter on Forbes.com Part of what was said in the article is "The ability to speak a second (or third) language is clearly important for becoming a global leader, as I’ve previously written. But – for better or worse – it seems that English may be the most essential language for global business success at the moment. Indeed, even in powerhouse China, more people are currently studying English than in any other country. An incredible 100,000 native English speakers are currently teaching there." There may be a variety of causes for the OP to not speak Thai to a sufficient level for communicating with a Thai official including but not limited to hearing loss, speech impediment, or stroke as well as other reasons. I don't think his topic was meant to be offensive to Thailand or immigration in particular. He does bring up some valid points, IMHO. Edited May 31, 2013 by watcharacters 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 We do not need to go down under the bridge - several posts removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 And yet another troll post removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MYKTHEMIN Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Take Note, the language for the upcoming asean union is ENGLISH and most Thai's are years behind their neighbours, maybe that is why it is taking so long to get started? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notmyself Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 The forms I have seen are written in both Thai and English so..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post EBlair48 Posted May 31, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2013 (edited) How many British Immigration workers speak Thai ? Just sayin like. And that is a valid compharizon? That was amongst the worse I have ever heard actually..... May I therefore ask you... - "how many countries outside Thailand, speak thai"??? How many countries outside Sweden speak swedish? No it is NOT the english-spoken "restoftheworld" that shall adapt to these non-educated immigration-officials... They must start to understand that there is a whole would outside Thailand, and that they must adapt to it in order to survive in the long run..... By the way... I do not know about Britain, but I gues it is exactly like Sweden. Both Britain and Sweden are having translators for all kind of languages and we are just doing fine.... I agree too, it is a shame that the immigration officies here in Thailand speaks so bad english or no english at all, so I should feel ashame if I were a thai...... Glegolo You must be the guy or his brother that I worked with in Europe many years ago who walked off the job because all the local workers didn't speak English and the food, beers etc wasn't real. I ended up staying there for 3 years and had a great time and made 'loadsamonie' I dont know... But I doubt that you and me were in the same ballpark when it comes to work. I really think that english is, and will be even more recognized as THE langue to use in the future alongside Chinese of course... Not counting here in Asia...... Glegolo I believe the OP states he speaks Thai, just not well enough to understand it over the lousy phone connections- hard to understand English sometimes (cruddy reception at my no land line place- constantly.) IMO it is quite deliberate to not have taught the populace English, far too much uncomfortable info to be gleaned out there on the WWW. As ASEAN is using English as a standard and as Thailand agreed to this, and to train Govt sufficiently, er, by now actually- all immigration and related staff should be fluent , seems the OP has a valid point. Even Chinese speak English. Edited May 31, 2013 by EBlair48 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notmyself Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 As ASEAN is using English as a standard and as Thailand agreed to this, and to train Govt sufficiently, er, by now actually- all immigration and related staff should be fluent , seems the OP has a valid point. Even Chinese speak English. I agree and as I said, all the form I have had to deal with are in Thai and English so you would expect to be able to use either. I did suggest perhaps a year ago to a very nice lady at Samui immigration that the TM. 7 should also be available in Russian but was told that that would cause more problems than it solved. Upon reflection, I think she was right. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watcharacters Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 . " Even Chinese speak English." there must be an echo on this board. REF: #14 it really was a good article. Google " business language of the world" if you like. Just checked my moto and car license and strangely enough they're BOTH in English as well as Thai. Wonder why? I believe the OP states he speaks Thai, just not well enough to understand it over the lousy phone connections- hard to understand English sometimes (cruddy reception at my no land line place- constantly.) IMO it is quite deliberate to not have taught the populace English, far too much uncomfortable info to be gleaned out there on the WWW. As ASEAN is using English as a standard and as Thailand agreed to this, and to train Govt sufficiently, er, by now actually- all immigration and related staff should be fluent , seems the OP has a valid point. Even Chinese speak English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sceptict11 Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 (edited) The European Union has 23 "official" and "working" languages ! Within Europe there are many successful businessmen/academics etc but none speak 23 languages and English is not widely spoken in continental Europe. Even in countries such as Sweden, with a long history of teaching a second/third language, cannot claim 100% of government employees are competent in the use of another language. I suspect ASIAN will "interpreting" official documentation for many years to come! As a matter of interest how many languages do TV members expect Thai officials to be fluent in using ? Ref http://ec.europa.eu/languages/languages-of-europe/eu-languages_en.htm Edited June 1, 2013 by Sceptict11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baerboxer Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Take Note, the language for the upcoming asean union is ENGLISH and most Thai's are years behind their neighbours, maybe that is why it is taking so long to get started? The reality is that English is the international language for commerce, academia, science and medicine. This is unlikely to change. There are more Chinese people learning English than the population of the UK. China and India have very large populations, but their countries contain many dialects and languages. Sure China introduced Puthonghua ("regular language" which we call Mandarin). But how many outside China or Chinese ethnicity use this. India uses English as the language for law, business and education. Having said that, if you live in another country it would be wise and polite to learn at least some words and expressions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baerboxer Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 The European Union has 23 "official" and "working" languages ! Within Europe there are many successful businessmen/academics etc but none speak 23 languages and English is not widely spoken in continental Europe. Even in countries such as Sweden, with a long history of teaching a second/third language, cannot claim 100% of government employees are competent in the use of another language. I suspect ASIAN will "interpreting" official documentation for many years to come! As a matter of interest how many languages do TV members expect Thai officials to be fluent in using ? Ref http://ec.europa.eu/languages/languages-of-europe/eu-languages_en.htm English is not widely spoken in continental Europe? Really? Maybe in the East where Russian was the forced second language and many have some German due to historical reasons. But, in Western Europe most inter country business, in my experience, is in English. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sceptict11 Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Well I am pleased that your experience has been good ! Guess you have never attempted to do businesses with a French, German or Swiss town hall or the local Police ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoman Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Like it or not, English is pretty much considered the "International Language" for both Business and International Government / Political Functions... But we have to remember that like most Government Jobs / positions in Thailand the Immigration Police usually "Buy" their position and mostly because a friend or relative is already "Employed" in that branch of Goverment... So the ability to Speak English, or any language other than Thai, would only make the job easier after being hired and has little to do with actually getting hired... Pianoman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sceptict11 Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 pianoman If what you assert is true why does the UN employ so many interpreters ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suradit69 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 I have been here in Thailand for the last 13 years, I have dealt with immigration on several occations, good and bad... Most of the time they have been fairly good and polite, but one thing has allways annoyed me insanely much... Why the HHHLLLL can't they speak better English? Oh, I am sure that in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket they can speak English, but what about the other provinces??? That's allways [sic] bothered you? Maybe they didn't want to embarrass the native born English speakers who seem to struggle with their own language. Of course speaking fluent English would not be a big help to the Germans, Swedes, Japanese, et al who also use the services of Immigrations. Since you've been here 13 years, why haven't you learned Thai? Or maybe this post is meant to be a wind up?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mario2008 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 2 posts deleted. 1 flame and 1 generalization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHenry Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 See...Immigration Office does not serve you. So they do not need to speak English, because they do not want anything from you. You want visa from visa not the other way around. So you have to use available means to get it. I think that is their logic. On the other hand not knowing English is becoming an irritating and slowing down factor for themselves. That is why you can see the recent improvement in Bkk and Pattaya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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