My kids English , in Thailand some stories , experiences

[WilliamCave]

I was talking to one of my neighbors recently and I said your English is good. That I could understand every thing he is trying to say.

Then he said to me your kids don't speak English , to my surprise of course that he said that.

So I go over to my son and asked him why he would not speak English to him?

He replied to me , dad he does not understand English the same as you and me .

I do hear many Thais tell me his English is very bad and he does not understand English and they are surprised he is like that because I am English,

I am actually happy most Thais say that.

Because he is not speaking Thai/English or some version of English.

He does speak English with me. Same as if I am talking to an English person.

I have had many english speaking western friends come to my home and they sit with my kids and talk with out any problem.

I have asked my friends what they thing of his English?

The usual response is that they talk to him and he answers like an english person not like a Thai trying to speak English.

My wife even tells my kids to listen to me not Thais when they try to correct them.

As I said in another post , my son was told by his teacher his English was not up to standards he need to change the way he talked English.

So I was concerned because it bothered my son .

So I went to the school to chat with the teacher and she could not carry a conversation with me so I looked to my son and told him what to ask her and he became my interpreter with the teacher.

If you could see the deer in the head lights look from the teacher when my son was translating between the languages

I have a Thai friend who lived in the west for 20 years and they actually told me that most thais will not be able to follow my son in a conversation in English .

The reason is he actually speaks English not a version of English that Thais think it should be

Just my experiences

[Mole]

Does your son looks like a Thai?

I am a native Thai, but I grew up in Norway, so I speak English kinda with a slight Norwegian accent and definitely does not speak it with the typical Thai accent, although I can speak it the Thai way as well. Often I find that Thais tends to understand better if English words are spoken with that peculiar Thai accent and certain consonants and verbs are said in a particular way.

Exactly what English do you speak? Is it British, Australian, American, etc..?

Also, your son, was he born here in Thailand and grew up here? In this case, chances are that you may practically be the only person he has been speaking English with on a regular basis and he would have definitely picked up more or less your exactly accent. For some reason, this particular accent may be kind of hard or unfamiliar for Thais.

I know that most Thais tends to be more familiar with American English than British or Australian English. Certain British and Australian/New Zealand accents can be quite hard for Thais to understand, but quite understandeabe for any English speaker of whatever accent.