Thailand's English Skills Lowest In S E A

[aTomsLife]

You are just repating old wives tales here - assumptions made about intellect an education basee d on nothing more than a column in the Daily Mail.

Sorry you're talking tripe. Kids can grow up quite happily learning 4 or 5 languages, this may equip them to better approach other subjects but our language learning ability - although varying from person to person - is not an indicator of how bright someone is. In fact there is another problem here and that is measuring intelligence - which CANNOT objectively be done.

for a child to be recognised as "having learning difficulties" a subjective assessment at best- requires the family etc to realise this - unfortunately they seldom do - neither will a teacher (they are not psychiatrists) in a class of 50 - it requires a social serve that is geared to this - as it doesn't even function that well in Western Countries it is unlikely to happen in rural Thailand.

Mentally impaired people all over the world acquire language sometimes several languages yet they still experience learning difficulties in other areas.

Don't be flippant -- I'm not repeating wives tales, and I'm certainly not talking tripe. If you're sceptical of the research I've referenced, that's your prerogative. But to say second language acquisition isn't indicative of intelligence is silly. Not everyone can pick up a second language, while some people are fortunate enough to learn many.

There are many brilliant writers who struggle with math and vice versa. A person needn't be astute in every subject in order to be considered intelligent. If someone has learning difficulties in some areas but excels in others, that is rather par for the course. Autistic people are often very intelligent, some are even savants.

[wilcopops]

It does not take a Rhodes scholar to work out that Singapore was an English colony so English is a second language, also Malaysia. And that The Philippines was an American protectorate so their second language American English. However as we ALL know Thailand was never conquered so knowing everything, they do not have or need English as a second language !

Oh, Thailand has been conquered, all right.

It's just that the people who did it the Coastal Chinese from Fukien and Swatow wouldn't dream of teaching these people how to speak Teo Chieu. Not in a hundred years.

I have been in board rooms where pleasantries were exchanged in this language.

Damned right these people have been conquered.

...and you will notice that both that many Thais speak very good mandarin or other Chinese dialects and that the Thai language itself is a Chinese influenced language.

Haven't found many good mandarin speakers, but many of the various immigrant dialects.

Eh? Do you mean "but not many" - check out the Chinese who immigrated here last century - they are often from Hunan and other areas and they still speak regional Chinese languages.

As I said, what I have ecperienced, they speak hokkien or taejeow (excuse spelling), but less mandarin. But then, China is a mass of dialects with mandarin glued on top.

Get more experience!

[wilcopops]

You are just repating old wives tales here - assumptions made about intellect an education basee d on nothing more than a column in the Daily Mail.

Sorry you're talking tripe. Kids can grow up quite happily learning 4 or 5 languages, this may equip them to better approach other subjects but our language learning ability - although varying from person to person - is not an indicator of how bright someone is. In fact there is another problem here and that is measuring intelligence - which CANNOT objectively be done.

for a child to be recognised as "having learning difficulties" a subjective assessment at best- requires the family etc to realise this - unfortunately they seldom do - neither will a teacher (they are not psychiatrists) in a class of 50 - it requires a social serve that is geared to this - as it doesn't even function that well in Western Countries it is unlikely to happen in rural Thailand.

Mentally impaired people all over the world acquire language sometimes several languages yet they still experience learning difficulties in other areas.

Don't be flippant -- I'm not repeating wives tales, and I'm certainly not talking tripe. If you're sceptical of the research I've referenced, that's your prerogative. But to say second language acquisition isn't indicative of intelligence is silly. Not everyone can pick up a second language, while some people are fortunate enough to learn many.

There are many brilliant writers who struggle with math and vice versa. A person needn't be astute in every subject in order to be considered intelligent. If someone has learning difficulties in some areas but excels in others, that is rather par for the course. Autistic people are often very intelligent, some are even savants.

"Don't be flippant" you sound like my old school ma'am!

References? Where?

your problem is you think you know what intellect is - - a catch 22 thing really isn't it?

\

you're also confusing the idea that language acquiring is an "intellect" thing whereas it actually has been shown that acquisition of languages can help learning - cart and horse......

Edited June 11, 2013 by wilcopops

[Thai at Heart]

You are just repating old wives tales here - assumptions made about intellect an education basee d on nothing more than a column in the Daily Mail.

Sorry you're talking tripe. Kids can grow up quite happily learning 4 or 5 languages, this may equip them to better approach other subjects but our language learning ability - although varying from person to person - is not an indicator of how bright someone is. In fact there is another problem here and that is measuring intelligence - which CANNOT objectively be done.

for a child to be recognised as "having learning difficulties" a subjective assessment at best- requires the family etc to realise this - unfortunately they seldom do - neither will a teacher (they are not psychiatrists) in a class of 50 - it requires a social serve that is geared to this - as it doesn't even function that well in Western Countries it is unlikely to happen in rural Thailand.

Mentally impaired people all over the world acquire language sometimes several languages yet they still experience learning difficulties in other areas.

Don't be flippant -- I'm not repeating wives tales, and I'm certainly not talking tripe. If you're sceptical of the research I've referenced, that's your prerogative. But to say second language acquisition isn't indicative of intelligence is silly. Not everyone can pick up a second language, while some people are fortunate enough to learn many.

There are many brilliant writers who struggle with math and vice versa. A person needn't be astute in every subject in order to be considered intelligent. If someone has learning difficulties in some areas but excels in others, that is rather par for the course. Autistic people are often very intelligent, some are even savants.

Children can pick up two or more languages with little effort if they are started early enough. It may not be reflected in equal ability or perfection of the two languages, but it is actually a relatively painless process.

[smileydude]

Some years ago I spent a few weeks in an Isaan village.

The neighbor's four year old boy impressed me as only slightly more than an imbecile.

My Thai friends in this village agreed. They described the boy as aw-tiss-tick a word that Upcountry Thais will use

to describe a slow kid or a slightly retarded kid.

A few years later the mother hooked up with a Cobra Gold Marine and within a few months she, her two kids and the US Marine ended up in Okinawa. The kid spent three year there in a school for army kids from all over the place. This school was run and staffed by Americans and other Westerners.

Two years ago I was back in the village and I happened to run into this kid. He didn't remember me, of course but he appeared bored out of his mind and with no one to play with wandered over into the yard to have a chat. He spoke fluent American accented English. He was just bubbling over with enthusiasm and curiosity.

The kid was intellectually ALIVE.

I rest my case against Thailand's educational system.

Learning language is not a sign of high intellect - we ALL have an innate ability to learn language.

You missed the point entirely. DB's anecdote wasn't about just language acquisition, but that that boy was capable of learning in general. It was the Thai education system that was causing his perceived stupidity. I second this, as I see many bright kids in my classes, who are almost always drowned out by the mass of students who couldn't care less about actually learning something over the course of a day.

It's not the education system - it is the fault of the immediate social system firstly - and language learning is not necessarily an indicator of intellect.

Agree. Most thais do not have the opportunity to finish high school let alone learn english. Why?

Because of the socio-economic structure and distribution of wealth. They don't have enough money to finish their education and need to leave school to earn money often times to help their families or younger siblings. For those who are fortunate to continue their education the Thai education system from schools such as Triam Udom, Mahidol Anusorn, Mahidol University, Chulalongkorn University , KMUTT (winner of several world robotic championships) offer quality education albeit not geared towards proficiency in the English language.

http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/country-profiles/thailand

Nevertheless the statistics indicate Thailand needs to place more priority and direct more resources towards education and give every child a fair chance to see if he/she can grow intellectually in hopes of grooming better future leaders then what we have right now. Things aren't lookin too bright if we have buffalo's leading the herd.

[atyclb]

I have two sons, Thai American. Their English is very good, but I only speak to them in English. They both go to Thai schools, not international schools. One son is in regular class and the other is in HM the Kings class at the same school. The quality of teaching is different. in the Kings class the English teacher is from the USA. In the regular class they are Philippine or Indian.

When I came here in 1966, I was in the US Army and worked with Thais. Some of them were very fluent in English, but they were trained by the Army.

The problem with the English language usage in Thailand is oral communication and comprehension. The majority listen to the English and than translate it to Thai in their head. Professor Brown at AUA taught the total immersion program, learn by listening.

Quite true. The structure of the Thai language can't be maintained, with just English words being substituted - if so then you get "my friend you" (etc etc etc) instead of "your friend". The same is equally true for Expats who try to pick up Thai words and then simply transliterate them - result - rubbish!

Both languages need regular and constant conversation which builds on and extends what has gone before. And constant and continual practice. It's something very few Thai kids get. Relate it to learning to play an instrument. It's not possible to progress is you only play it twice a week for an hour when you have a lesson.

R

"peuwan kaung koon" Thai = friend of yours thus it is fairly similar in this case.

[pisico]

Ah. But to see that a country a nationalistic, with a company as successful as Samsung actively embracing English so aggressively, is in itself interesting.

For a start, ASEAN - will be using English as lingua franca.

It is also the lingua franca for business and in the case of Samsung, technology is an area that has used English for years.

although Chinese is VERY important - especially in Thailand, it is impossible for it to replace English in areas such as technology or computing as the Chinese writing system cannot be adapted sufficiently for these purposes.

A friend of mine made a fortune teaching 45 year old Korean middle managers to write correct English.

Remember, Samsung is a gargantuan global company with many divisions in Korea alone. Today, all email is English, even in Korea.

Imagine a medium Thai company trying to achieve that?

I will have what Wilcopops is having. I need it to escape reality for the next 200 years

[atyclb]

Score of 55 sounds kind of high?

[Tomtomtom69]

Until Thai schools engage native English teachers to teach English, the standard will always be the poorest in Asia.

Until the English language is spoken widely every day across Thai society (as it is in Hong Kong, India, The Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore etc) the standard will always be the poorest in Asia! (but much better that Laos Cambodia, Burma and Vietnam - -hooray hooray! There's hope for Thailand yet!)

R

The standard of English spoken in Myanmar and Cambodia is much higher than in Thailand, although one can't expect everyone they meet to speak English but in the main cities it's a piece of cake finding a good English speaker (even more so in Myanmar than in Cambodia but it holds true for both countries). In Vietnam, I found that local professionals from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi can speak better English than their Thai counterparts. Because far more Vietnamese have emigrated or lived abroad than Thais, there is also a higher chance of meeting a Vietnamese person who can speak decent English compared to a Thai.

[seancbk]

Also to find out just how well known these tests are I Googled "jela" nothing zilch nada......

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

I searched for Jobstreet English Language Assessment and loads came up. JELA is just an abbreviation used in the article by The Nation.

[aTomsLife]

You are just repating old wives tales here - assumptions made about intellect an education basee d on nothing more than a column in the Daily Mail.

Sorry you're talking tripe. Kids can grow up quite happily learning 4 or 5 languages, this may equip them to better approach other subjects but our language learning ability - although varying from person to person - is not an indicator of how bright someone is. In fact there is another problem here and that is measuring intelligence - which CANNOT objectively be done.

for a child to be recognised as "having learning difficulties" a subjective assessment at best- requires the family etc to realise this - unfortunately they seldom do - neither will a teacher (they are not psychiatrists) in a class of 50 - it requires a social serve that is geared to this - as it doesn't even function that well in Western Countries it is unlikely to happen in rural Thailand.

Mentally impaired people all over the world acquire language sometimes several languages yet they still experience learning difficulties in other areas.

Don't be flippant -- I'm not repeating wives tales, and I'm certainly not talking tripe. If you're sceptical of the research I've referenced, that's your prerogative. But to say second language acquisition isn't indicative of intelligence is silly. Not everyone can pick up a second language, while some people are fortunate enough to learn many.

There are many brilliant writers who struggle with math and vice versa. A person needn't be astute in every subject in order to be considered intelligent. If someone has learning difficulties in some areas but excels in others, that is rather par for the course. Autistic people are often very intelligent, some are even savants.

"Don't be flippant" you sound like my old school ma'am!

References? Where?

your problem is you think you know what intellect is - - a catch 22 thing really isn't it?

\

you're also confusing the idea that language acquiring is an "intellect" thing whereas it actually has been shown that acquisition of languages can help learning - cart and horse......

Acquiring multiple languages growing up and second language acquisition latter in life aren't the same thing.

Not "referenced", I should have wrote mentioned.

While we're correcting each other's vocabulary, look above, I bolded your use of the word "acquiring"; writing acquisition would have been more appropriate. I hope I've brought back more memories of your old school ma'am, you pompous douche.

Edited June 11, 2013 by aTomsLife

[Soutpeel]

Translators from within the company told me face to face that they struggled to grasp strong dialects when traveling through the provinces.

No different from travelling through the UK then have you ever heard a cockney trying to talk to a geordie...or scouser talking to a

Glaswegian...

Many years ago while working the Gulf we had a very broad Glaswegian guy offshore and he was talking to the Thai lads and they were all looking at me, as if to say "come on translate what he is saying"....in the end I just shrugged my shoulders and said to the Thai lad...dont look at me, I havent got clue what he is saying either LOL

[Thai at Heart]

Until Thai schools engage native English teachers to teach English, the standard will always be the poorest in Asia.

Until the English language is spoken widely every day across Thai society (as it is in Hong Kong, India, The Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore etc) the standard will always be the poorest in Asia! (but much better that Laos Cambodia, Burma and Vietnam - -hooray hooray! There's hope for Thailand yet!)

R

The standard of English spoken in Myanmar and Cambodia is much higher than in Thailand, although one can't expect everyone they meet to speak English but in the main cities it's a piece of cake finding a good English speaker (even more so in Myanmar than in Cambodia but it holds true for both countries). In Vietnam, I found that local professionals from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi can speak better English than their Thai counterparts. Because far more Vietnamese have emigrated or lived abroad than Thais, there is also a higher chance of meeting a Vietnamese person who can speak decent English compared to a Thai.

A friend of mine married a Vietnamese woman and I went to the wedding. Speaking French will the elder blokes was good fun, but the English of the 6 to 12 year old kids was very surprising.

It just seemed that they treated it as something that could be learnt, if enough effort was devoted to it.

[Soutpeel]

Acquiring multiple languages growing up and second language acquisition latter in life aren't the same thing.

Not "referenced", I should have wrote mentioned.

While we're correcting each other's vocabulary, look above, I bolded your use of the word "acquiring"; you should have wrote acquisition. I hope I've brought back more memories of your old school ma'am, you pompous douche.

Oh dear we seen to have an English teacher death match in the making...sticks of chalk at dawn is it ladies ?

[comserve]

Ahh, small potatos- an official decree and all Thai citizens will be fluent english speakersin six months. I seem to recall a similar decree enacted by the Thai Tourist police and that worked out well for them... :

I do admire the can do spirit here

How about the English spoken by shop assistance. If they don't understand what you want then: "NO HAVE"

[Thai at Heart]

Translators from within the company told me face to face that they struggled to grasp strong dialects when traveling through the provinces.

No different from travelling through the UK then have you ever heard a cockney trying to talk to a geordie...or scouser talking to a

Glaswegian...

Many years ago while working the Gulf we had a very broad Glaswegian guy offshore and he was talking to the Thai lads and they were all looking at me, as if to say "come on translate what he is saying"....in the end I just shrugged my shoulders and said to the Thai lad...dont look at me, I havent got clue what he is saying either LOL

My grandma was Glaswegian, so no issue there.

The hardest accent I ever encountered was broad North Carolina. Sometimes impossible.

But really, in China, the dialects are very strong and distinct. I just looked on Wikipedia, there are 8 distinct known and accepted dialects.

[smileydude]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

Thailand's education system doesn't rank too shabby here. The only asian countries ahead of them are South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Mongolia. This article does not reflect anything more then the OBVIOUS, countries who integrate the english language into their culture are going to speak better. Duh

[Tomtomtom69]

Ah. But to see that a country a nationalistic, with a company as successful as Samsung actively embracing English so aggressively, is in itself interesting.

For a start, ASEAN - will be using English as lingua franca.

It is also the lingua franca for business and in the case of Samsung, technology is an area that has used English for years.

although Chinese is VERY important - especially in Thailand, it is impossible for it to replace English in areas such as technology or computing as the Chinese writing system cannot be adapted sufficiently for these purposes.

Chinese is not particularly important in Thailand except when it comes to accommodating the desires and needs of an increasing number of Chinese tourists (who are actually increasingly younger, professional and travel by themselves and are thus able to use English, therefore somewhat reducing the need for Chinese). There are actually relatively few signs, menus etc. in Chinese in Thailand - nearly everything is either in Thai only or English and Thai. Even in Chinatown it's not a given that every menu, sign etc. will have Chinese on it. Quite the contrary actually.

I'm surprised anyone would make a statement like this. I even asked my Thai-Chinese friends about their views on learning Chinese. They said: "it's completely irrelevant to us because we live in Thailand. Who would we use it with?" So there you go.

As an intermediate user of Chinese myself, I can tell you it is very possible to adapt Chinese to technology, computing etc. the Chinese in China have done it very well and use a system called PinYin to type Chinese using English characters that represent the sound and then you choose from a list of characters representing this sound and meaning. In fact, while Thai is easier to adapt to technology given it's alphabet, it's amazing that demand for Thai language Windows Operating Systems is very low (except for Thai language Microsoft Office programs, which some Thais use with others opting for the English language equivalents). In China, this is very different. English language versions are available but very rarely used by locals as Chinese versions dominate. Receipts, signs etc. are often only in English in Thailand, whereas these same things are usually only in Chinese in China.

[thhMan]

First is the need to get qualified English teachers in. I am tired of correcting my kids work, because some teacher cannot write properly and teaches how to mithpell words

All the posts before mine are pretty much spot on and a massive slap in the face is coming Thailand's way.

So I guess I will sit and watch how the Thai public will react to the Govt. officials when the dams break and they finally realize that the universe does not revolve around them as they have been told...

It should be a good show

Edited June 11, 2013 by thhMan

[Unkomoncents]

You mean it needed tests to come to this conclusion?

Several years ago I was in the situation of having to correspond at length with the head of the English department at one of the big Bangkok Universities . . . the lady in charge of teaching the teachers. I was astonished to discover that her written English was probably similar to that of a bright UK/USA/Aus etc 8-or 9-year-old . . . ie, confident but littered with grammatical and structural mistakes.

Will the Thai nation remain smug and offhand when it is suddenly out in the same competitive trading arena as the other ASEAN countries?

And will it keep its back turned with even fiercer pride, and shout even more loudly about how much finer the nation is than its . . . neighbours?

YOOOOOOOOOO BETCHA IT WILL!

R

Farang can't understand Thainess

It's difficult for many to understand why a people, especially one with such abundant resources, would choose/accept mindsets and policies that generate only poverty, ignorance, and obscurity for the majority. Thais are a tough nut to crack, and they offer a perfect exemplification of why development money and money in general cannot be counted on to improve the lot of society. There is no shortage of wealth in Thailand, but as in other equatorial ring countries (aside from some of the Middle Eastern ones, for obvious reasons) corruption, disorganization, malfeasance, blind pride, and incompetence reign supreme.

[Unkomoncents]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

Thailand's education system doesn't rank too shabby here. The only asian countries ahead of them are South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Mongolia. This article does not reflect anything more then the OBVIOUS, countries who integrate the english language into their culture are going to speak better. Duh

That's because the Education Index is calibrated using "mean and expected years of schooling indexes". In other words, the more time you spend in school, the higher you rank. That's one of the biggest, most obvious problems with Thailand: on standardized tests and assessments, Thais score lower than counterparts in almost every country in Asia (with the possible exceptions of Cambodia, Burma, etc.), and this is despite the fact that Thais spend more money per capita on education than Singaporeans, Taiwanese and many other Southeast Asians. Thais, as you noted, also clock extremely long hours, with children as young as six being subjected to eight or nine hours of daily instruction. Quality education in Thailand is EXTREMELY expensive, with Bangkok international schools costing roughly what it costs to attend an American college or university. If you want a measurement of educational quality and not a comparative "human development" (meaning GDP, life expectancy, infant mortality, literacy [which is defined in Thailand as being able to read and write your own name] index from the UN, you'll need to look elsewhere.

[Shaunduhpostman]

Having taught in all kinds of situations (language institutes, regular schools, companies, and university) in Thailand over the last 14 years, and from what I observe goes on here, there are so many obstacles to a Thai learning to become a competent speaker/user of the language while trying to learn in Thailand, many of them already mentioned on this thread. But perhaps a list of them all will once again help me and anyone interested put it in perspective:

[Shaunduhpostman]

Having taught in all kinds of situations (language institutes, regular schools, companies, and university) in Thailand over the last 14 years, and from what I observe goes on here, there are so many obstacles to a Thai learning to become a competent speaker/user of English, many of them already mentioned on this thread. But perhaps a list of them in no particular order all will once again help me and anyone interested put it in perspective:

1. Culture doesn't support the idea that learning requires work and working at anything or being eager or making an effort is considered by many to be ungraceful and unbecoming

2. No need for most Thais to learn English, nor do they want to otherwise

3. Lack of interest in anything not Thai or international or regional, so no motivation

4. Cultural tendency to not tolerate mistakes in self or others nor take risks necessary to try using new language, saving face always comes first by a wide margin

5. Ruling classes invested in the wholesale failure of the majority of Thais, English is just another thing they aren't allowed to have lest they begin to be a competitive threat

6. Succeeding at English makes one different and by that subject to having problems socially

7. Education system probably designed to demotivate, subordinate, and disempower

8. Education system doesn't value good teachers ie; doesn't pay them enough, doesn't hire them, doesn't like them when they are hired, seen as a threat to the authority of headmasters etc. who have little to no English ability or teaching skills

9. Xenophobia is high and probably not getting better

10. Thailand's history of having no contact with western ways or languages

11. Government education authorities perennially have no will to begin to address problems pragmatically. For example it's better to declare that it is the Year of Learning English and be done with it.

12. Rigid narrow inflexible attitudes when it comes to education "philosophy," do it the traditional way or the highway

13. Immigration requirements for foreign teachers get worse, more complicated, and simply impossible to comply with with each passing year

14. Most Thais simply don't want to learn English which probably ought to be respected as their choice

15. Thai culture isn't oriented towards the verbal/valuing communication end of the spectrum, in fact it is often better that there is a misunderstanding or communication gap so that face can be saved,

16. Test scores are the only thing that matter to educators and education systems

17. Less English in the world around Thais, ie; more movies overdubbed in Thai, products and signs increasingly are Thai only

I'm sure there are reams of other difficulties Thais face, but of course many people here learn English quite well. I'd agree that the bottom line is that you have to have some motivation hence many bargirls or tourist industry people become quite competent at English. I doubt Thailand is going to stand for having other people from other ASEAN nations take their jobs away from them as seems to be what is promised by the 2015 ASEAN union where workers of ASEAN nations will be able to work in Thailand with minimal to no immigration restrictions. It seems those foreign workers would then become top choice for international firms and hotel industry. I would guess that Thailand will negoatiate some kind of special dispensation from the ASEAN Union whereby they don't have to allow such workers to come in and work here and they will probably find some way to put off English proficiency for Thailand off permanently. I can't see Thailand responding by actually educating the populace in English nor do I see them allowing masses of Phillipinos to begin working all the hotel desks and taking all the jobs working at international firms based here. Just my two cents.

[pramaprow]

....3 languages

Thai...English...Thai-English

Too right...teaching correct English is basically futile here (been tutoring kids for thirty five years('slaps forehead')) because, when spoken correctly (particularly in the presence of other Thais), the speaker is giggled at (openly, or otherwise) and not understood (which immediately turns on face, and that's the end of that)...and there you have it, the Thai way (Thai-English) or the highway...

Edited June 11, 2013 by pramaprow

[Noistar]

Maybe the problem is with the level of foreign English teachers that are hired here.

Native English speaking teachers are in a minority schools and have their efforts negated by their students having other English lessons with Thai teachers.

Mind you, if the 'foreign English teachers' don't have English as their first language (eg Filipinos), the Thai education system doesn't seem to be helping itself.

[gerryBScot]

I think expats in Thailand relish this kind of survey result, but of course they aren't interested in looking into it further, much better to sit back and say "I told you so" as if they have some in depth knowledge of the cutlural ins-andouts of language leaning and a detailed knowledge of language teaching - suddenly everyone's an expert?

Singapore - ex- British colony

Malaysia - ex-British colony

Philippines - ex - US colony

Indonesia and Thailand not a lot of difference apart from the fat Idonesia had Dutch and English influences

The 'facts' are that Indonesia was a Dutch colony. Moreover English is mandatory in Holland.

The facts also are that Thailand was never 'colonised' (sic) a fact that their xenophobic masters place great emphasis on. BUT they were conquered by the Burmese AND the Japanese. (and were it not for the allies Japanese would be the official language)

And for the record English, is widely spoken in Burma, particularly by anyone who is semi educated.

And finally, Aung San Suu Kyi 'whilst not your 'normal Burmese' has a command of English that would put many Oxford grads to shame.

The problem in Thailand is that parents don't see the need for their children to learn/speak English consequently not many do/or are proficient in the language.

maybe Aung San Suu Kyi's command of English has something to do with the fact that she herself is an Oxford University graduate!

[diehard60]

I think you would find that Loas, Veitnam and even Cambodia would be higher then Thailand. And this is because the teachers in rural schools cannot teach English. They will tell you they are English teachers but 2. They can't speak, 2. Can't write, 3. Cannot and will not listen. I knew this 15 years ago. And now people are just waking up?????

[Noistar]

....3 languages

Thai...English...Thai-English

Too right...teaching correct English is basically futile here (been tutoring kids for thirty five years('slaps forehead')) because, when spoken correctly (particularly in the presence of other Thais), the speaker is giggled at (openly, or otherwise) and not understood (which immediately turns on face, and that's the end of that)...and there you have it, the Thai way (Thai-English) or the highway...

I think you're right. In a school situation especially, it's always easier for a Thai to say they speak English 'nit noi' (in Thai!).

[Noistar]

I think you would find that Loas, Veitnam and even Cambodia would be higher then Thailand. And this is because the teachers in rural schools cannot teach English. They will tell you they are English teachers but 2. They can't speak, 2. Can't write, 3. Cannot and will not listen. I knew this 15 years ago. And now people are just waking up?????

Perhaps what you're suggesting (or my interpretation) is the 'hub' of the problem. Thais (sweeping generalisation) don't have the interest or will to learn. The teaching environment of "good morning students, sit down, keep quiet, open your books, listen, don't ask questions, see you next week", is hardly conducive to triggering the learning bug.

[apetley]

 

 

 

I think expats in Thailand relish this kind of survey result, but of course they aren't interested in looking into it further, much better to sit back and say "I told you so" as if they have some in depth knowledge of the cutlural ins-andouts of language leaning and a detailed knowledge of language teaching - suddenly everyone's an expert?

 

Singapore - ex- British colony

Malaysia - ex-British colony

Philippines - ex - US colony

Indonesia and Thailand not a lot of difference apart from the fat Idonesia had Dutch and English influences

 

The 'facts' are that Indonesia was a Dutch colony. Moreover English is mandatory in Holland.

The facts also are that Thailand was never 'colonised' (sic) a fact that their xenophobic masters place great emphasis on. BUT they were conquered by the Burmese AND the Japanese. (and were it not for the allies Japanese would be the official language)

And for the record English, is widely spoken in Burma, particularly by anyone who is semi educated.

And finally, Aung San Suu Kyi  'whilst not your 'normal Burmese' has a command of English that would put many Oxford grads to shame.

The problem in Thailand is that parents don't see the need for their children to learn/speak English consequently not many do/or are proficient in the language.

 

maybe Aung San Suu Kyi's command of English has something to do with the fact that she herself is an Oxford University graduate!

Yes she speaks English very well which sort of begs the question how come certain Thai politicians who graduated at English speaking universities can't string more than a few words together?

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