Content of speech more significant than language skills: Thai politics

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
Content of speech more significant than language skills
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- People in Thailand missed the point and appear to have only listened to Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn's English accent when he delivered Thailand's statement during the 69th Session of the United Nations in New York over the weekend.

Many people praised Tanasak for his good English as he read out a prepared speech at the UN but did not care about the content of his speech.

But, Thai people, notably the well-educated elite in Bangkok, are obsessed with the English ability of their leaders, as they used poor English as a way to attack previous elected leaders and ministers. They look down on every elected politician who is popular among the rural poor and insult them for their poor English.

Role models for Thai leaders are people like former premiers Anand Panyarachun, who was educated at Cambridge, and Oxford graduate Abhisit Vejjajiva, who speaks English fluently. Many say their English is better than a lot of farang.

Indeed, many Thais, including the elite, have an inferiority complex about their English language skills. More than 80 per cent of graduates in Thailand have no proper command of English. It's not hard to understand why they expect their leader to do better. Thai people feel anguish whenever foreigners say "The poor Asian is speaking like a Thai".

Many well-to-do Thais judge foreign ministers by their English ability. A foreign minister who cannot speak proper English in public or respond to foreign journalists would be graded as a failure.

Of course, language is a crucial part of diplomatic work and foreign affairs, but English is not an essential one. Many world leaders don't speak English - they may or may not - but they don't use English when negotiating with foreign partners or speaking in public.

Unlike the Thai elite, Chinese and Japanese people would be disappointed or even feel shame if their leaders are pretentious enough to speak English to foreign counterparts. All Chinese ministers prefer talking to foreign counter?parts via interpreters, not only for convenience but this gives them time to think carefully while waiting for translators to finish. If something goes wrong in the talks, they can always blame the translators.

Thai ministers and even some senior officials at the Foreign Ministry have made many mistakes in diplomatic work in the past just because they tried to show off their English ability.

Frankly speaking, General Tanasak has no problem with English. As a former military attache, he is familiar with the language. Like many other Thai foreign ministers, he speaks proper English with a Thai accent. Luckily, he escaped from pressure from the elite and mass media to highlight his English language skill.

However Thai people and political observers should stop using language ability to judge leaders or ministers, and look instead at what they say.

The well-written speech at the UN, which General Tanasak did not prepare by himself, said many things that his government is unable to do. He said in his speech that "Thailand is not retreat?ing from democracy", but what the junta and his government are doing now is not democratic at all.

The minister, who is also a member of the junta, blamed conflicting parties for their failure to break the political impasse before the coup. He was not aware of the fact that his junta is implementing reconciliation process by pick?ing up only one side of opposing parties in the National Reform Council (NRC). People named in the shortlist of NRC members are the same people who protested against the previous government and actively supported the coup. None of the other opposing side was selected to the reconciliation process, so how can this government achieve reconciliation? On the contrary, what the junta has done is deepen the division in the Kingdom.

In the modern world, diplomatic discourses are enforced by what happens in practice. Beautiful language in well-prepared speeches becomes lies if what the government does is different from what they say they will do. The foreign minister can tell the international community that Thailand is building a democracy but nobody will believe this as long as the junta continues to suppress intellectuals and freedom of expression at home. Good English does not help, indeed.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Content-of-speech-more-significant-than-language-s-30244518.html

-- The Nation 2014-10-01

[willyumiii]

It's all in the ear of the beholder??? As a native English speaker, I was recently asked to help judge an English speaking contest at a local school.

All of the other judges were Thai English Teachers

. To my surprise and disappointment, The students who spoke the best English, with the best pronunciation and sentence structure, did not win!

The Thai English Teachers all voted for the students who spoke the most like the Thai English Teachers, mispronouncing words, mixing "R"s for "L"s, not finishing words and not using s on the end of plural or possessive words!

I'm afraid that I learned that what you want to hear is the way you yourself sound.

I felt sorry for the students who did well and did not win

. I spoke to them and their parents privately and explained that to my "Native English" ear, they did very well and should not be discouraged.

Edited October 1, 2014 by willyumiii

[BSJ]

Oh my goodness! Does anyone think that giving a speech at the un matters one zit? Most of the scumbag countries there don't pay their fair share of the organisation cost and will sell their vote to whoever lines their pockets with silver.

It's one big expensive joke.

[lostinisaan]

Many say their English is better than a lot of farang.

No wonder why they say "phuut Phassa Farang" so often. A lot of farang are better in Italian, Spanish, German, Neanderthalian, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, etc....as they have a different native tongue.

But even the teaching "elite" also called teachers do not seem to know that there're people and people.

[lostinisaan]

It's all in the ear of the beholder??? As a native English speaker, I was recently asked to help judge an English speaking contest at a local school.

All of the other judges were Thai English Teachers

. To my surprise and disappointment, The students who spoke the best English, with the best pronunciation and sentence structure, did not win!

The Thai English Teachers all voted for the students who spoke the most like the Thai English Teachers, mispronouncing words, mixing "R"s for "L"s, not finishing words and not using s on the end of plural or possessive words!

I'm afraid that I learned that what you want to hear is the way you yourself sound.

I felt sorry for the students who did well and did not win

. I spoke to them and their parents privately and explained that to my "Native English" ear, they did very well and should not be discouraged.

Gotta agree, as I also feel very sad for those students who really imply for example a good joke, or something that makes perfect sense, but it's generally not being understood by the Thai judges.

If you really were the only native English speaker, you should point that out in a way that they don't lose face and you don't lose your job.

The hub of mispronounced and misunderstood speeches...........

[Suriya4]

This article is written solely to praise the English ability of PM gen Prayuth. (yes PM, not the FM)

[Thai at Heart]

From a political perspective, its basically the icing on the cake as to whether a politician can speak English. I think it is basically an irrelevance.

What benefit did being educated at Eton or Cambridge bring any of these people in running a developing country? Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm. Apparently, not a lot.

[chainarong]

What the author didn't say is that to save face and too many wongs don't make it wight the Chinese don't like whiteys' so they save face by not getting it wong, that's the only reason , how embarrassing for the leader of China to make a mistake , but then again there are 300 thousand on the streets of HK saying that they have, it is better to have tried than not tried at all, this includes English..

[Commerce]

Wouldn't it be better to first concentrate on getting Thai kids, all up to Matthayom 12, to be able to write Thai well first?

The student standard of Thai writing falls below that of writing English...... the latter being incredibly poor. And I know not of one child who can read Pali, but they can all sing the songs!

The OP writer can criticise and judge, but that allays to one's own language also, and the standard of writing Thai is quite simply dismal nowadays.(As can be said of English writing farang children).

Speech and contact is for ASEAN; the truth of the matter lies in education and the abysmal standards of teaching, curriculum content (in all subjects), and all that goes with it in Thai so called education.

[fab4]

Unfortunately the waffle in the majority of the article distracts from the important message that the author was trying to get across in the last three paragraphs. If that was the intention ( I seriously doubt that was the idea ) it has certainly achieved that judging from the posts above.

Edited October 1, 2014 by fab4

[HUAHIN62]

Why should he or any new leader be judge differently that the previous PM ? She was condemmed by many on TV for not being fluent in English. Some of the new leaders have no public speaking skills and struggle to speak Thai correctly.

[Chang_paarp]

It is the content of that speech that is earning the FM the disdain of the diplomatic community. It is vapid and self-serving.

Here is a link to the text of the speech from the Thai Foreign Ministry web site.

[manhood]

Well i dont know how this writer of an article is getting the idea to write such a stupid article!!!!!!!!!

Its important to fullfill the english skills to work on international affairs , otherwise nobody would respect that person>!

Sure its also important what he is talking about.

And anybody will fail if he not talk about the truth and that what he realy want to say if he needs the time of an interpretor to translate while he has to think about the upcomeing lies that will dissapear from his mouth!

So if you cant both and to both in the same time you are sure not an ELITE and most of the Thais in any kind of position are for me far from anything that i would name ELITE: it cant be only ELITE those people who made their money by corruption and robbery of the people fo Thailand but be adored from them anyway!

AND: this country, sorry, did need urgently somebody as Gen Prayut! Sure there are many things you cant speak open about in this newspaper but you even did not before as investigating journalism is unknow and unwanted in this coutry!

[JOC]

Why should he or any new leader be judge differently that the previous PM ? She was condemmed by many on TV for not being fluent in English. Some of the new leaders have no public speaking skills and struggle to speak Thai correctly.

In Madame Yinglucks case, it was a double whammy. Limited language skills and no content!!

Remember Mongolia??

[wabothai]

I have to face a thai speaking english.

On the telephone i don't understand a word.

[Soutpeel]

What benefit did being educated at Eton or Cambridge bring any of these people in running a developing country?

speaking fluent English...?

once suspects being educated at Eton and Cambridge also exposed them to the skulduggery that goes on among the British upper classes and politicians

lest not forget the vast majority of British politicians are lying, thieving ba*tards as well who would sell their own grandmothers if it got them votes, the ability to right things off on expenses or kiddie fiddle till their hearts content..

so one would say

They have learned to lie an cheat in Thai and learned the same thing in English at Eton and Cambridge

[3NUMBAS]

mangled does mangled ,they only need 50 words to get by

[Thai at Heart]

What benefit did being educated at Eton or Cambridge bring any of these people in running a developing country?

speaking fluent English...?

once suspects being educated at Eton and Cambridge also exposed them to the skulduggery that goes on among the British upper classes and politicians

lest not forget the vast majority of British politicians are lying, thieving ba*tards as well who would sell their own grandmothers if it got them votes, the ability to right things off on expenses or kiddie fiddle till their hearts content..

so one would say

They have learned to lie an cheat in Thai and learned the same thing in English at Eton and Cambridge

i doubt somehow that they learnt that at Eton.

Public school is rather famous for embibing fair play and honesty. But then I doubt Abhisit was much for the rugby pitch or the playing fields of Eton in general. The Thais that I was in school with weren't much for sports......Not quite sure how you reconcile that image about public school or oxbridge. Very odd attitude.

[englishoak]

What a totally pointless, up its own backside Article.

[chotthee]

I have to face a thai speaking english.

On the telephone i don't understand a word.

Are you sure he/she not from Australia; or worst Glasgow?

[bubblegum]

OP I'm sure you do not like Thai people speaking good English, just have a look at your own writing please. Its terrible bad English.

Tank u now ya

[visionchaser45]

"Democracy must be based on respect for the rule of law. And it must be about good governance, transparency, accountability and equal access to justice.

This was not the case of my country before May 22nd."

This is clearly not the case after May 22nd either and, under the junta and most likely the next propped-up civilian government, will not be the case for the foreseeable future.

[visionchaser45]

"...the fact that his junta is implementing reconciliation process by picking up only one side of opposing parties in the National Reform Council (NRC). People named in the shortlist of NRC members are the same people who protested against the previous government and actively supported the coup. None of the other opposing side was selected to the reconciliation process, so how can this government achieve reconciliation? On the contrary, what the junta has done is deepen the division in the Kingdom."

And there you have it; the makings of civil war. The biggest surprise is that this article was published by The Nation. Stay tuned...

[khunpa]

Very true the content is much more important, than in what language is communicated.

Like e.g. if you say "All tourists in Thailand should wear a wristband for protection".... Then that sounds stupid and really makes no sense, no matter if is communicated in Thai, Swedish, English, French or another language... Same goes for "We have a suspect and we have all the evidence, but we will wait 3 days to make the arrest"

[Krataiboy]

Many say their English is better than a lot of farang.

It seems the need for Thais to brush up their English is not exclusive to certain politicians, but also extends to national newspaper columnists.

Thai English-language newspapers are full of howlers by Thai staff writers whose grasp on the world's lingua franca is clearly fragile to say the least.

With ASEAN committed to English as the member nations' common language, the media should at least be allowed to recruit editors and sub editors who are native English speakers.

It might just save a few faces.

[chotthee]

At leadt Yingluck tried her best (although not very good).

PM General Prayuth don't give a dam.