With all the new cars/pickups sold to falangs, why no English manuals?

[giddyup]

I think this subject has run it's course, at least for me. Obviously some new car buyers have received English manuals with no hassle and others had to order them and wait. Obviously I'm totally out of order even expecting an English manual, before I buy another car I'll try to get fluent in Thai.

[sanuk711]

I looked into this matter for a friend who has a problem with his Triton's satnav,he needs to change it into English everytime he needs it and then all of the streetnames and hotel names etc are still in Thai language.

In Singapore the truck is sold with the satnav all in English and it should be able to download an update from there so you have the menu and all of the names in English?

I could not get into the site because had to authenticate the satnav but if you have that it should be possible.

Guess what the main Language is in Singapore..................... Duh..............

Singapore English is regarded as the main language in Singapore----http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Singapore

Edited December 29, 2014 by sanuk711

[Ace of Pop]

If you get stuck with a Speednavi ask any 16 Y.O. Kid , he can set it in seconds.The Vocational College Kids round here can , and override the Key Alarm Locks.

[stevenl]

I looked into this matter for a friend who has a problem with his Triton's satnav,he needs to change it into English everytime he needs it and then all of the streetnames and hotel names etc are still in Thai language.

In Singapore the truck is sold with the satnav all in English and it should be able to download an update from there so you have the menu and all of the names in English?

I could not get into the site because had to authenticate the satnav but if you have that it should be possible.

Guess what the main Language is in Singapore..................... Duh..............

Singapore English is regarded as the main language in Singapore----http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Singapore

Yes, that's why jvs suggested to download the latest update from there and get menu in English.

[giddyup]

If you get stuck with a Speednavi ask any 16 Y.O. Kid , he can set it in seconds.The Vocational College Kids round here can , and override the Key Alarm Locks.

Hang on, there's one passing now, and he speaks perfect English! What are the odds?

[nursebob]

I bought my Toyota from Toyota sure in Surin, the salesman promised I would get my driver's handbook posted to me it 2 weeks, and I got it.

[HerbalEd]

I just bought a BMW ActiveHydrid 7L in Thailand and it came with a manual for the car, and a manual for the navigation, communications & entertainment system ... and they were in Thai and in English.

With many (most? all?) cars sold in Thailand that are also sold in USA (& probably other countries), you can download the English-language manuals as PDFs from the internet.

[HerbalEd]

I can't get a hard copy English version of the Speednavi V4.0

Is this not it?

http://www.speednavi.com/?page_code=0303

That's it, but there are over 70 pages to print off, I want the small booklet that comes with the pickup, but in English. I need to be able to keep it in the glove box for easy reference.

Take what you can get .... and thank the guy for sending it to you.

[HerbalEd]

i got English manuals after request for both of my vehicles (both Nissan). It took a few weeks but in the meantime I got by with manuals (PDF) downloaded from the internet.

Did you print them all off? I figure there would be at least 200 pages in drivers manual and sat/nav manuals. Not prepared to do that.

Not a problem for me. I always have my computer and/or iPad in the car. Plus I'd much rather have a PDF which I can search easily, cut-&-paste, email, etc. etc. Book manuals are so 20th Century. ;-)

[HerbalEd]

In England they do not supply manuals in Thai, German, Spanish.............or any language unless ordered.........Why should LOS be different...?

Because as I said in my header, so many new cars are sold to falangs here. How many Thais are buying cars in England?

Just how many of the 900,000'ish new cars sold each year in Thailand do you think are bought by Westerners?

I suspect you think the farang market is much bigger than what it actually is.

I don't know, you tell me. There are estimates of up to a million falangs living in Thailand, how many buy a new car? I know when I was shopping around for a new pickup there were more falangs looking than Thais. That's Pattaya, be different in the country.

How many "estimates" have you seen? And I'm not talking about what you heard some stranger say in a bar.

I too have no authoritative statistics, but I seriously doubt there are anywhere near 1M farangs in Thailand. And, I have common sense to know that the number of farangs who buy autos/trucks in Thailand is a very small number compared to Thais.

Don't know where you live, but many farangs mis-assume the ratio of farangs to Thais in Thailand is the same as BKK's Sukhumvit or Pattaya's Walking Street. When you get out of the tourist areas there are actually very few farangs.

[HerbalEd]

I'm surprised Mitsubishi Thailand can not help you.

So far my experience has been that manuals are available in English, foc, but the dealers don't always know and obstruct the process of getting one sometimes. But I have received manuals for Isuzu 2x and Mazda 1x without problems. Nissan was more difficult because the dealer obstructed, but one phonecall to Nissan Bangkok solved that.

.

I'm certainly not disagreeing with you but I'm wondering why you think the dealer would intentionally obstruct a falang customer from having an English language copy of the product he sells.

That was my conclusion:

dealer told them they did not have it and could not provide it, several times, so I called headquarters in Bangkok who told me they'd send the manual to the dealer.

dealer told me it did not arrive yet, 2 days after announced delivery date, upon me getting very upset with the saleslady I was told the post office just dropped off the manual 5 minutes ago.

That's Thai laziness and ineptness ... not a conspiracy against you. Don't take it personally, or else you'll go stark raving mad living in Thailand.

[stevenl]

I'm surprised Mitsubishi Thailand can not help you.

So far my experience has been that manuals are available in English, foc, but the dealers don't always know and obstruct the process of getting one sometimes. But I have received manuals for Isuzu 2x and Mazda 1x without problems. Nissan was more difficult because the dealer obstructed, but one phonecall to Nissan Bangkok solved that.

.

I'm certainly not disagreeing with you but I'm wondering why you think the dealer would intentionally obstruct a falang customer from having an English language copy of the product he sells.

That was my conclusion:

dealer told them they did not have it and could not provide it, several times, so I called headquarters in Bangkok who told me they'd send the manual to the dealer.

dealer told me it did not arrive yet, 2 days after announced delivery date, upon me getting very upset with the saleslady I was told the post office just dropped off the manual 5 minutes ago.

That's Thai laziness and ineptness ... not a conspiracy against you. Don't take it personally, or else you'll go stark raving mad living in Thailand.

Yes, I know, they simply did not care at all. And neither did I when I bought a new car, would not even consider them anymore.

But getting angry quite often does achieve something here.

[HerbalEd]

Your in Thailand and purchased a car here, speak Thai or you seem to know how to use a computer , contact the Manufactor direct. Simple

Do you take me for a total dummy? Of course I've been in touch with Mitsubishi head office and ordered the Drivers manual (English), but they can't seem to help re the manual for the GPS. BTW, it ain't always as simple as you seem to think. Have you ever done it?

No, not a "total" dummy.

[frozin1]

What about English repair manuals? I mean the OEM Manuals that the dealers have, these are typically hundreds of pages in length. It is an absolutely essential resource if you wish to work on your car or truck.

F1

[giddyup]

Your in Thailand and purchased a car here, speak Thai or you seem to know how to use a computer , contact the Manufactor direct. Simple

Do you take me for a total dummy? Of course I've been in touch with Mitsubishi head office and ordered the Drivers manual (English), but they can't seem to help re the manual for the GPS. BTW, it ain't always as simple as you seem to think. Have you ever done it?

No, not a "total" dummy.

Two words, you can guess what they are.

[HerbalEd]

Yes, I know, they simply did not care at all. And neither did I when I bought a new car, would not even consider them anymore.

That's Thai laziness and ineptness ... not a conspiracy against you. Don't take it personally, or else you'll go stark raving mad living in Thailand.

But getting angry quite often does achieve something here.

Getting angry does work 'sometimes' but it usually makes one look like a fool and most often only results in silence ... or violence. Not that I'm immune from losing it sometimes here in Sigh-land ... but I find a "stern" reaction or request usually works better than anger.

[stevenl]

Yes, I know, they simply did not care at all. And neither did I when I bought a new car, would not even consider them anymore.

That's Thai laziness and ineptness ... not a conspiracy against you. Don't take it personally, or else you'll go stark raving mad living in Thailand.

But getting angry quite often does achieve something here.

Getting angry does work 'sometimes' but it usually makes one look like a fool and most often only results in silence ... or violence. Not that I'm immune from losing it sometimes here in Sigh-land ... but I find a "stern" reaction or request usually works better than anger.

Getting angry got me the result: the manual in English, which they claimed was not available.

[Strangebrew]

Falang smart google it Or if your not smart pay for translation

[A1Str8]

For what? They already made money. There's no reason to put in additional effort.

[lucifer666]

Google it. I found the English version of the manual online.Took me all of 5 seconds. The software updates are there also.

[MW72]

Because as I said in my header, so many new cars are sold to falangs here. How many Thais are buying cars in England?

Just how many of the 900,000'ish new cars sold each year in Thailand do you think are bought by Westerners?

I suspect you think the farang market is much bigger than what it actually is.

I don't know, you tell me. There are estimates of up to a million falangs living in Thailand, how many buy a new car? I know when I was shopping around for a new pickup there were more falangs looking than Thais. That's Pattaya, be different in the country.

How many "estimates" have you seen? And I'm not talking about what you heard some stranger say in a bar.

I too have no authoritative statistics, but I seriously doubt there are anywhere near 1M farangs in Thailand. And, I have common sense to know that the number of farangs who buy autos/trucks in Thailand is a very small number compared to Thais.

Don't know where you live, but many farangs mis-assume the ratio of farangs to Thais in Thailand is the same as BKK's Sukhumvit or Pattaya's Walking Street. When you get out of the tourist areas there are actually very few farangs.

According to the internerd there are roughly 200,000 foreigners living in Thailand. That is 0.3333% of the population. Considering many of them will be Russian, Scandinavian, German, Japanese, Chinese etc I would guess that the number of English speaking vehicle buyers is pretty small. I doubt there is a great need for supplying English language manuals when selling vehicles.

[Don Aleman]

Apparently you haven't been in Thailand very long or never buy anything here as most, from hot pots to Tvs have instructions, sometimes it seems in 89 languages, ( Swahili ? ), but not in English.

What can you expect from people who, most, don't recognize United States Of America - saying United States is met with blank stares by many.

[KhnomKhnom]

Here is another misguided foreigner thinking they are a financial god-send to Thailand. Instead, do the math of how tiny is the impact of local ordinary foreigners here..... not counting billions foreigners invest.

This parallels the mistaken idea that some small percent of the already small percent of foreign tourist money (maybe 2% of the total 10%?) makes a difference to Thailand. These ideas are just false self-importance.

Get used to it ! Thais rather you not be here, wish not to encounter you, and know they are actually superior if never saying so.

FOREIGNERS ARE A MINORITY, English usage is a MINORITY, and foreign advice is just blowing hot air in Thailand.

Adapt or move out, please.

[HerbalEd]

Apparently you haven't been in Thailand very long or never buy anything here as most, from hot pots to Tvs have instructions, sometimes it seems in 89 languages, ( Swahili ? ), but not in English.

What can you expect from people who, most, don't recognize United States Of America - saying United States is met with blank stares by many.

Say "USA" and they'll all instantly know what you mean.

[HerbalEd]

Here is another misguided foreigner thinking they are a financial god-send to Thailand. Instead, do the math of how tiny is the impact of local ordinary foreigners here..... not counting billions foreigners invest.

This parallels the mistaken idea that some small percent of the already small percent of foreign tourist money (maybe 2% of the total 10%?) makes a difference to Thailand. These ideas are just false self-importance.

Get used to it ! Thais rather you not be here, wish not to encounter you, and know they are actually superior if never saying so.

FOREIGNERS ARE A MINORITY, English usage is a MINORITY, and foreign advice is just blowing hot air in Thailand.

Adapt or move out, please.

You exaggerate to the other extreme. Ever notice how many road signs, business signs, menus, etc. in Thailand are in English?

And as to your statement that "Thais rather you not be here, wish not to encounter you ... '" I beg to differ.

I was a very regular visitor to Thailand for 30 years and been living here for 5, and I've rarely seen/experienced what you say. And please don't assume it's because I'm naive or a pollyanna, and you're so smart.

Edited December 29, 2014 by HerbalEd

[Ace of Pop]

Thai Kids are brighter than Ferang English Teachers with Sat Nav. They set it up first in Thai,entering the Code first,call over the Dumb Teacher, kid still wondering why he needs it as he never goes anywhere due to no funds .Just Tesco once a Month. Then he shows Thiko how it Works and after 5Hrs dumbo twigs it and the Kid flicks-it back to English ...Thais Kids Aint Dumb..JOB DONE.

[firefox999uk]

All i did was to print the sat nav manual double sided and stapled it togeather

to make a booklet (half A4 size) that fits in the glove box....its only 34 pages doing it that way.

Have a Nice Day

[rickirs]

check the internet

http://www.autobytel.com/car-ownership/advice/how-to-find-your-car-s-owner-s-manual-online-124631/

[arthurwait]

In England they do not supply manuals in Thai, German, Spanish.............or any language unless ordered.........Why should LOS be different...?

Because as I said in my header, so many new cars are sold to falangs here. How many Thais are buying cars in England?

Because most were bought on the first car scheme in their wifes name.

Saying that the Volvo sales girl handed me an English manual saying this is for you and gave my wife a thai one.

[IMHO]

You exaggerate to the other extreme. Ever notice how many road signs, business signs, menus, etc. in Thailand are in English?

English on road signs is pretty much an international standard in areas frequented by tourists, and it's still not very widespread in Thailand. Business signs in English are either local novelties, businesses serving tourists or foreign businesses. Menu's in English are definitely only in tourist areas.

That said, English becomes the official language of business in all 10 AEC member states in a few days time