"Official" English Language in Thailand is an "Abortion"

[redandyellow]

My Thai brother in law has a Doctorate degree in English. Yes he speaks English well to a point, but his written English is abysmal, or should I say - typical of educated Thais.

Several years ago I was on Similan Islands reading a tourist sign, and I recognized my brother in law's "bastardized" English writing style.

The light went on. This is not English, this has morphed into "Thinglish," and this is Thailand.

The style is legible enough once you are used to it, but so full of typos, run-on sentences and syntax errors than one would not know where to begin to edit the stuff.

That's a lie. He periodically sends me stuff to edit. You have to start all over again, re write the whole thing. Then I send it off, and have learned to expect no thanks or reply for my one to two hours of free work on his behalf.

I tell the wife he should perhaps acknowledge that he received the edited copy, but that isn't the Thai style, is it? If they say thanks, they lose face somehow.

I quit getting frustrated years ago. That's also a little lie, but I did adapt somewhat to Thai culture.

I realize the complaint box is full, as I hear my sister in law yelling in the background..and the baby too.

Best