Thailand ranked 55th in English proficiency: 60-nation ranking

[Tiffer]

Yeaaaaa .... welllllllll who didn't know that. Teachers are paid well. and act like "rock stars" but unfortunately they can only act - not teach. Thai people/children deserve better.

I agree with the final comment, but say the first two to my face and you wont have a working leg to stand on...

[allan michaud]

Here's the link to the full list. Thailand came in ahead of...

• 56. Panama
• 57. Kazakhstan
• 58. Algeria
• 59. Saudi Arabia
• 60. Iraq

http://www.ef.com/epi/

[Ulic]

Thailand would move up in the ranking list if they included bar-girls in the test.

[MaxYakov]

I recently visited Japan and was quite surprised about how little English seemed to be spoken. It isn't only Thailand that struggles with English.

Again, this is being looked at the wrong way. Japan does not have a very large population of English speakers because ... they do not need them. Evidence is their huge success in almost all fields of interest to forming a strong, modern economy. It is NOT popular in Japan to study English from grade school - like it is in Thailand.

If, however, you encounter Japanese who do speak English (usually Japanese who have studied overseas in an English speaking country), you may find they outclass their Thai counterparts who have been learning English since very young age. You can't compare the East Asians to the Thais in this way. China, Japan, Korea - have tremendously strong economies by comparison and do not rely heavily (up to 25%) on tourism revenue.

Sama same. Unless you are a bar-girl in Nana or Cowboy, a typical Thai on the street don't need to know a word of English. Just like in Japan.

That's right, that's right. The only place English-speaking-only people shop is in Nana or Cowboy. </sarc>

Or are you assuming that based on your personal shopping habits? And what does a "typical Thai on the street" have to do with anything - for that matter, WTH is a "typical Thai on the street", anyway?

English-speaking-only people have to communicate with Thais for various reasons in many different situations (at least in tourist/expat locales). In my experience, in tourist/expat locales, they do fairly well (or can quickly come up with someone with passable English skills). I know one Bangkok dental chain that was subsidizing/encouraging their employees to take English classes because it provided better customer relations and service, contributing to their bottom line.

[MaxYakov]

For Thai people there is no need to learn English .. Why??? Watch the shows on TV .. only Thai screaming and "sanuk". shows or movies/soaps... . and if there is an English movie it is dubbed with all the same voices and very childish...

Thai people don't like to read, indeed because subtitles are too difficult.. Maybe should the whole education system be renewed..First learn to read and understand your own language and show on TV how important English is..

Even if the EP students in my school have their farewell party, the whole evening is in Thai... Why not in English???? But Thais will be Thais

most of the movies i have seen, the subtitles did not match what was spoken anyway.

Yes, this is very common. Often, the English-language subtitles are a joke (sometimes literally) as well.

It's too bad because media having an English soundtrack with accurate Thai subtitles can be a very good way to learn English. I met a Swede who had excellent English skills. He said it was primarily because he watched the Swedish-subtitled Santa Barbara TV series (and probably other, additional English-language, Swedish-subtitled programs) in Sweden.

It seems, at least from my cable TV offering, that many English-language movies soundtracks are dubbed with a Thai-language soundtrack. They often even have Thai subtitles as well! The best Thai subtitling (according to my GF) is done by "SDI Media" who provide Thai-language subtitling for Fox cable movies and other programming (such as CI and Universal) on Thai cable TV. They are even credited via a subtitle that appears during the display of the the credits for the programming itself (at the end).

Edited November 20, 2013 by MaxYakov

[Bkungbank]

Singapore should be 11th and Malaysia should be 12th because I lived in KL

[SantiSuk]

Hardly surprising that Singapore, Malaysia and India are substantially better than Thailand - they are all former British colonies. Vietnam picked up a lot of American English in the Vietnam war.

Not defending Thailand - no excuses why they should be substantially worse than Japan and Indonesia