OPINION: Why international kids who grew up in Thailand don’t speak Thai

[Jonathan Fairfield]

OPINION: Why international kids who grew up in Thailand don’t speak Thai

By Almanya Narula

OPINION – As a young Thai-Indian citizen who has spent almost twenty years of her life in the Land of Smiles, it is tragic to learn that “Mai Khao Chai” and “Phut Thai Mai Pen” are the primary sentences I use on a day-to-day basis.

This is also a common phenomenon shared among many of my peers, who were also educated in international schools across Thailand.

According to a former Thai professor of mine, the reason for such negligence of the culture and language traces back to a lack of relevant Thai history and language lessons in international schools, causing “a lot of students to not realize the importance of knowing the language and culture”.

It’s true, and it is also true that one can not fully understand the importance of something unless they are made aware of its existence. International schools drive us to form our own independent opinions, however, when the only subjects that are discussed in classrooms revolve around western cultures, there is very little opportunity for students to get accustomed to Thai culture and form opinions on it.

Read more: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2015/09/04/opinion-why-international-kids-who-grew-thailand-dont-speak-thai

-- Coconuts Bangkok 2015-09-10

[Skytrain2hell]

On of the reasons we send our kids to international schools is so that they learn a bit about every country, not just Thailand. My kids study at KIS International School where there's students from over 40 different nations. As much as I love Thailand, I don't want my kids to spend a lot of time studying about Thai culture, history and language when there is so much more out there. The majority of university acceptances are at US and UK schools, and their knowledge of "Thainess" won't help them that much when they are outside of Thailand.

The point of an international education is to learn in an international setting, not just a Thai setting. That being said my kids are able to speak Thai, and they are learning a fair amount about Thailand and Thai culture.

[Thailaw]

On of the reasons we send our kids to international schools is so that they learn a bit about every country, not just Thailand. My kids study at KIS International School where there's students from over 40 different nations. As much as I love Thailand, I don't want my kids to spend a lot of time studying about Thai culture, history and language when there is so much more out there. The majority of university acceptances are at US and UK schools, and their knowledge of "Thainess" won't help them that much when they are outside of Thailand.

The point of an international education is to learn in an international setting, not just a Thai setting. That being said my kids are able to speak Thai, and they are learning a fair amount about Thailand and Thai culture.

Interesting topic. My kids are half Thai, and I want them to speak, read and write Thai-- they live in Thailand and speaking the language is important. But, learning to speak, read and write English, to me, is even more important. It will allow them to travel and live anywhere, and give them choices that most Thais don't enjoy. When they were young and pre-school they spoke primarily Thai and a little bit of English with me. But now they are in an international school, and the instruction is all in English, But, more important, I think, they have a mixed group of friends from many countries -- Thailand, US, UK, Korea, Russia, etc.-- and when they play and interact, there is only 1 language that they all can speak -- English. So, English has become the norm, and the language with which they seem most comfortable, and speak if they have a choice. They speak Thai with their mom, and she makes an effort to force that to, I think, counter the move towards speaking English. But when they are alone, with only themselves, they speak English 90% of the time. To me, it is not an unwelcome change. And if there was no effort to push speaking Thai at home, they would only speak English now. Language is simply a vehicle for communication, and if all of your friends, teachers and family speak English, why would anyone learn Thai? Many affluent Thais, educated in international schools and universities outside Thailand, speak little or no Thai. Is that bad, I think not. Indeed, Thailand needs to move towards more English speaking capability among its general population. The world is becoming global, and the "universal" language is English. If you plan to live in Thailand or one or both of your parents are Thai, than knowing Thai is a must. Otherwise, "mai khow jai" or "phoud thai mai di". is probably enough, along with "kob khun mak, krap" ...Works for me.

[MaeJoMTB]

And there was me thinking it was their foreign dads fault, who hate everything about Thailand.

My boy's 4yo, he attends Amphur school, speaks Central Thai, Lanna and English with no problems.

[reptile91602]

My kids grew up in Thailand, half Thai and Half falang . We left when they were around 10 years old and now they are around 20 years old. They both speak ok Thai but do not read or write it. They speak it only because their mom never stopped talking in Thai to them even though she speaks English quite well. Even for the 8 years in the states we lived she continued speaking Thai with them much of the time. The reason they don't read and write it is that I chose to home school them in Thailand as the international and local schools all sucked.

I couldn't leave them in Thai schools where they would learn nothing but Thai and the instruction that was available to them from international schools near us was pathetic or way to expensive and they would probably be strung out on drugs had they gone there. Neither have anything to do with drugs but they do like a swig of juice once in a while.

Edited September 10, 2015 by reptile91602

[Rhys]

Hmmm...Start with the parents who sent them away for a reason..

[joshstiles]

What would be the point of studying thai language or culture.....???? In another 30 years it will be part of china anyway once China invades and takes over after Democracy has been totally bastardized to operate exactly like communism.

In any case.... you might as well learn Latin....it's a dead language too.

[kiwikeith]

On of the reasons we send our kids to international schools is so that they learn a bit about every country, not just Thailand. My kids study at KIS International School where there's students from over 40 different nations. As much as I love Thailand, I don't want my kids to spend a lot of time studying about Thai culture, history and language when there is so much more out there. The majority of university acceptances are at US and UK schools, and their knowledge of "Thainess" won't help them that much when they are outside of Thailand.

The point of an international education is to learn in an international setting, not just a Thai setting. That being said my kids are able to speak Thai, and they are learning a fair amount about Thailand and Thai culture.

My kid goes to private school not international, he can speak fluent Thai and english, I made sure of this and I will make sure he can read and write both as opportunities are many for employment ,interpretors ect especially in my homeland.

One thing I did notice was that children often stop speaking Thai when they return back to falang parents home country, one young boy told me he was pressured and bullied to not speak Thai even though several Thai children were at the school they all got the same treatment.

I know many Thai families in NZ who say their kids stopped speaking Thai after they started school and eventually stop speaking it altogether.

[TPI]

What would be the point of studying thai language or culture.....???? In another 30 years it will be part of china anyway once China invades and takes over after Democracy has been totally bastardized to operate exactly like communism.

In any case.... you might as well learn Latin....it's a dead language too.

Oh Josh, that's pretty harsh! Although I can't think of any reason why I would like my kids to speak enough Thai to live and work here. While the language is not going to become "dead". I can't see where it might become useful...International business? Local business? medicine? media? science? Rice farming.....maybe!

[jasonsamui55]

What about those who live in Thailand because they like the international expat community and have no Thai parents and kids go to International school? My kids carry 4 passports and 2 additional residencies, but none of them are Thai. They're citizens of the world who just happen to be in Thailand presently because its nice place to live for the moment. They speak English primarily, but they have been having daily Mandarin Chinese lessons since before they could walk or talk, and neither parent is Chinese. Its just about having them learn languages that will be useful in the world. Thailand might just be the place where they live for several years as a child, or maybe all of their childhood, but I doubt they would go to university here or choose to make a career or at least an early part of their lives here. That's why Thai language wouldn't be very useful for them for the long term. There is only so much room to learn languages. In my opinion, one must choose carefully and wisely and I think they're much better off with English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, etc. Go for the most commonly used languages, ie: universal languages, not one that limits them to just one place.

[DavisH]

On of the reasons we send our kids to international schools is so that they learn a bit about every country, not just Thailand. My kids study at KIS International School where there's students from over 40 different nations. As much as I love Thailand, I don't want my kids to spend a lot of time studying about Thai culture, history and language when there is so much more out there. The majority of university acceptances are at US and UK schools, and their knowledge of "Thainess" won't help them that much when they are outside of Thailand.

The point of an international education is to learn in an international setting, not just a Thai setting. That being said my kids are able to speak Thai, and they are learning a fair amount about Thailand and Thai culture.

My kid goes to private school not international, he can speak fluent Thai and english, I made sure of this and I will make sure he can read and write both as opportunities are many for employment ,interpretors ect especially in my homeland.

One thing I did notice was that children often stop speaking Thai when they return back to falang parents home country, one young boy told me he was pressured and bullied to not speak Thai even though several Thai children were at the school they all got the same treatment.

I know many Thai families in NZ who say their kids stopped speaking Thai after they started school and eventually stop speaking it altogether.

That's quite common in Australia too. The kids are embarrassed when with their foreign parents and may have to speak another language in public.

Kids are more likely to learn two languages (well) if they live in Thailand. My son has no problems with speaking both english and Thai in the presence of others.

As for the OP, the Thai kids I know who have gone to international schools speak both Thai and english fluently. However, I have one student who will not speak Thai to any teacher, Thai teachers included (she fully understands Thai). She is Thai but was raised in Canada until third grade. She still even has the accent and speaks english to her Thai parents at home. I still haven't figured that out yet, but she is doing herself a disservice.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

While some still struggle with the concept of children being bilingual the world has moved on to raising multi-lingual children. Living in Thailand all children should learn Thai and to enable them to integrate better into western society they should learn English. Unfortunately that may not be enough today and children should learn another language such as Mandarin. Even with these 3 languages they will only cover about +- 2/7 of the world population (Mandarin 1 bn, English home language +- 380 mil and second language +- 510 mil = 890 mil).

[Rhys]

Kudos to the parents who get it right....

[nakhonandy]

Most kids I know going to International schools have to learn Thai.

Of course all other lessons are in English.

They are also learning Mandarin, there are options for other languages also.

Pretty well rounded IMHO.

[sawadee1947]

On of the reasons we send our kids to international schools is so that they learn a bit about every country, not just Thailand. My kids study at KIS International School where there's students from over 40 different nations. As much as I love Thailand, I don't want my kids to spend a lot of time studying about Thai culture, history and language when there is so much more out there. The majority of university acceptances are at US and UK schools, and their knowledge of "Thainess" won't help them that much when they are outside of Thailand.

The point of an international education is to learn in an international setting, not just a Thai setting. That being said my kids are able to speak Thai, and they are learning a fair amount about Thailand and Thai culture.

yes, I agree. Thailand is not the center of the world. Nothing important takes place here and did not in the past. But it is worth to know the history. That's it.

[Boatfreak]

Why would I ask my 5 year old child who already knows 3 languages to learn Thai as the immigration will never guarantee you that you can stay? Even worst if you go for a Student visa, once you have learned the Thai language you are requested to leave the only country where Thai is spoken. Where is the incentive?

[maderaroja]

What would be the point of studying thai language or culture.....???? In another 30 years it will be part of china anyway once China invades and takes over after Democracy has been totally bastardized to operate exactly like communism.

In any case.... you might as well learn Latin....it's a dead language too.

I agree with this poster. Thais should learn English so that they can do business with the world. The Thai language is not even the same in all parts of Thailand. The Thai food is different depending on where you are in the country. The "Thai" customs are different depending on where you are in the country. So, there is no reason to learn the Thai languages or customs unless you learn them all, from every little village and tribe.

[cocopops]

What about those who live in Thailand because they like the international expat community and have no Thai parents and kids go to International school? My kids carry 4 passports and 2 additional residencies, but none of them are Thai. They're citizens of the world who just happen to be in Thailand presently because its nice place to live for the moment. They speak English primarily, but they have been having daily Mandarin Chinese lessons since before they could walk or talk, and neither parent is Chinese. Its just about having them learn languages that will be useful in the world. Thailand might just be the place where they live for several years as a child, or maybe all of their childhood, but I doubt they would go to university here or choose to make a career or at least an early part of their lives here. That's why Thai language wouldn't be very useful for them for the long term. There is only so much room to learn languages. In my opinion, one must choose carefully and wisely and I think they're much better off with English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, etc. Go for the most commonly used languages, ie: universal languages, not one that limits them to just one place.

There's always the chance that language will be a solved problem 20 years from now. Crude real-time automatic translators already exist - it may be that in time it will be possible for any old cell phone to provide better real-time translations between major languages than any human scholar.

[RapidMethod]

It's not really about whether it's important or necessary to speak Thai or not, it mostly depends on who you mix with. If you're gonna live in a kind of expat bubble and only mix with other foreigners then Thai is probably a waste of time.

Saying that, it doesn't take much effort for kids to learn Thai - my 5-year-old picked it up in about thre emonths by hanging around with the neighbors' children (albeit he learnt impolite street Thai at first). My older kids worked through my Rapid Read Thai program and learnt to read over a few days - they took to it like a duck to water (because of the South Park style mnemonics I suppose)!

My teenage son prefers to mix with English-speaking Thais, so he doesn't speak much Thai. My eldest, however, is very sporty and spends time with local Thais as well as foreigners, so she is working through my 'fluency' course with a Thai teacher (studying a romance novel about a Thai girl living with her cousin in Sydney). She can converse reasonably well.

Communicating in Thai - or whatever the local language is - has various social advantages. It gives you independence, you can make deeper friendships (if you care about that), you can more easily assimilate. It's not about whether it's an internationally-useful language, it's about whether you want to be part of the society you're living in or whether you prefer to be detached from it and either form your own cliques or stand aloof from your Thai family and peers.

For my part, I prefer being able to choose. And it makes my life so much more enjoyable. I like to chat with local people who aren't fluent in English, or who don't speak it at all. I also enjoy the independence and freedom (and in some situations, the power) of being able to deal with any situation on my own if need be.

About my Rapid Method. It's a simplified yet effective approach to learning to speak and understand Thai through reading signs, menus and colloquial, conversational texts. By reading, you can pick up Thai independently direct from your surroundings - and you know exactly how to pronounce words clearly and distinctly. And if you study (usually romance) novels or movies (by reading and understanding the subtitles), you'll become fairly fluent in Thai in a very enjoyable way.

[gerryBScot]

I think the Thais also have a very strange attitude to education in general and language learning in particular. My daughter goes to a provincial bilingual school, I am a Brit NES and mum is filipino. Our lingua franca is English and the girl is to all intents and purposes a NES. I had what I can only describe as a surreal discussion with the highly decorated Executive Director which was to establish whether I wanted my girl to learn Thai as most other foreigners were happy for their sproggs to do the English programme. I say surreal because my thinking was I want my daughter to learn languages and it's more the process of learning a language, developing the skills of language learning and feeling confident in using another language that interests me than whether it is Thai, English, Latin, Serb-croation or Scots Gaelic. Notwithstanding PhDs and D Phil awards on the office walls, this good lady looked at me in horror as I suggested that learning a new language at an early age was likely to be a good way of developing a child's cognitive abilities and I wanted my little darling to get as much of it as possible. And then I confirmed the good lady's worst fears. I said I was utterly uninterested in her exam performance in any subject as she is barely four years old and that I really would be unconcerned if her grades were low. My sense actually was they were trying their damnedest to wriggle out of teaching the bab. They couldn't give me any good reason why my little treasure should not learn Thai. In fact the system here is such a joke that much as I love living here it is time to get going in order to try and get the weans into a decent school and system.

[kiwikeith]

On of the reasons we send our kids to international schools is so that they learn a bit about every country, not just Thailand. My kids study at KIS International School where there's students from over 40 different nations. As much as I love Thailand, I don't want my kids to spend a lot of time studying about Thai culture, history and language when there is so much more out there. The majority of university acceptances are at US and UK schools, and their knowledge of "Thainess" won't help them that much when they are outside of Thailand.

The point of an international education is to learn in an international setting, not just a Thai setting. That being said my kids are able to speak Thai, and they are learning a fair amount about Thailand and Thai culture.

My kid goes to private school not international, he can speak fluent Thai and english, I made sure of this and I will make sure he can read and write both as opportunities are many for employment ,interpretors ect especially in my homeland.

One thing I did notice was that children often stop speaking Thai when they return back to falang parents home country, one young boy told me he was pressured and bullied to not speak Thai even though several Thai children were at the school they all got the same treatment.

I know many Thai families in NZ who say their kids stopped speaking Thai after they started school and eventually stop speaking it altogether.

That's quite common in Australia too. The kids are embarrassed when with their foreign parents and may have to speak another language in public.

Kids are more likely to learn two languages (well) if they live in Thailand. My son has no problems with speaking both english and Thai in the presence of others.

As for the OP, the Thai kids I know who have gone to international schools speak both Thai and english fluently. However, I have one student who will not speak Thai to any teacher, Thai teachers included (she fully understands Thai). She is Thai but was raised in Canada until third grade. She still even has the accent and speaks english to her Thai parents at home. I still haven't figured that out yet, but she is doing herself a disservice.

Well figure out this, the falang children bullied the Thai children and told them don't speak that monkey language here.

To say the language is useless and dead is a reflection of the red necked bigotts that post here,and most are only one way minded fools

And they supose themselves as superior, yet they are one track minded , blinded, bigotts.

[Confuscious]

I don't know about the others in this thread, but I can only speak about my experience.

My kid was enrolled in an English Program at A........n.

In Prathom 3, she could barely write a sentence in English.

Writing Thai language was a complete "no way".

But at the tests, the results were very good.

From the 32 students, only 2 or 3 "top": students were able to write a few English sentences.

That was the point at which I decided to stop with all the "extra classes" and teach her myself (sometimes with the help of my English and Thai friends).

My kid can now write English very good (Madthayom 2).
But many kids of her class are still illiterate in English.

A lot of kids in English program can not write a simple essay about what they did in the holidays.

I have a friend, whose daughter is in Prathom 4, English Program at S.....t.

She can not write a word in English!!!!!!

My friend and his daughter are going back to their country in 2 weeks and hope that the school is better as in Thailand.

ALL schools in Thailand are not even worth to be named a "school".

The teachers don't teach in the normal school hours to enable them to ask $$$$$ for "extra classes" or private schools which are rising like mushrooms.

As long as the school system in Thailand is not reformed, nothing will change.

[hakuho]

disagree with kiwikeith. Thai is worse than a dead language. At least Latin is still used in legal documents; as in 'pro bono', 'ex post facto', 'caveat emptor', 'pari passu', 'non compos mentis', 'habeas corpus' and hundreds of other examples of international usage. So to those who insist that pasathai has intrinsic value anywhere but Thailand I ask, 'cui bono'? Recently, when I was deposed at the phra kanong police station I had to bring my housekeeper (meh baan) with me to interpret. Imagine a nation with the highest record of global tourism where the police at the largest station in the largest city in the country have ZERO individuals on duty to interpret even the simplest of verbal interactions....that country is Thailand. Pathetic monkeys.

[kiwikeith]

I don't know about the others in this thread, but I can only speak about my experience.

My kid was enrolled in an English Program at A........n.

In Prathom 3, she could barely write a sentence in English.

Writing Thai language was a complete "no way".

But at the tests, the results were very good.

From the 32 students, only 2 or 3 "top": students were able to write a few English sentences.

That was the point at which I decided to stop with all the "extra classes" and teach her myself (sometimes with the help of my English and Thai friends).

My kid can now write English very good (Madthayom 2).

But many kids of her class are still illiterate in English.

A lot of kids in English program can not write a simple essay about what they did in the holidays.

I have a friend, whose daughter is in Prathom 4, English Program at S.....t.

She can not write a word in English!!!!!!

My friend and his daughter are going back to their country in 2 weeks and hope that the school is better as in Thailand.

ALL schools in Thailand are not even worth to be named a "school".

The teachers don't teach in the normal school hours to enable them to ask $$$$$ for "extra classes" or private schools which are rising like mushrooms.

As long as the school system in Thailand is not reformed, nothing will change.

Correct, kids dont even know what they learned at school today as it was .Zilch

[kiwikeith]

disagree with kiwikeith. Thai is worse than a dead language. At least Latin is still used in legal documents; as in 'pro bono', 'ex post facto', 'caveat emptor', 'pari passu', 'non compos mentis', 'habeas corpus' and hundreds of other examples of international usage. So to those who insist that pasathai has intrinsic value anywhere but Thailand I ask, 'cui bono'? Recently, when I was deposed at the phra kanong police station I had to bring my housekeeper (meh baan) with me to interpret. Imagine a nation with the highest record of global tourism where the police at the largest station in the largest city in the country have ZERO individuals on duty to interpret even the simplest of verbal interactions....that country is Thailand. Pathetic monkeys.

What use is indian if you dont want to trade with them, or russian ect ect ad infinitam/

[Baerboxer]

disagree with kiwikeith. Thai is worse than a dead language. At least Latin is still used in legal documents; as in 'pro bono', 'ex post facto', 'caveat emptor', 'pari passu', 'non compos mentis', 'habeas corpus' and hundreds of other examples of international usage. So to those who insist that pasathai has intrinsic value anywhere but Thailand I ask, 'cui bono'? Recently, when I was deposed at the phra kanong police station I had to bring my housekeeper (meh baan) with me to interpret. Imagine a nation with the highest record of global tourism where the police at the largest station in the largest city in the country have ZERO individuals on duty to interpret even the simplest of verbal interactions....that country is Thailand. Pathetic monkeys.

What use is indian if you dont want to trade with them, or russian ect ect ad infinitam/

Indian?? There are 26 languages on an Indian bank note. They are the main ones. States have different languages and multitudes of dialects and obscure ones.

Thai is related to the Southern Indian languages.

All law, business, academics etc in India are conducted in English. They use English as the common language.

[SantiSuk]

My look-kreung is a Thai, not an International!

I want to live here not in International Land. I'm happy if she finds the same.

Learn English too - yes of course but I would prefer that she is rooted in one culture, not some mythical international culture.

[realenglish1]

THe biggest problem is the lack of international education in Thai schools. This will not help the leaders of Tomorrow. You ask why there is such a problem

Its clear in Thai schools they do not teach to think out of the box. They do not teach international history only a bit and then mostly Thai

Thailand is not the center of the world as other countries are not as well.

It is vitally important to teach about world events and topics However this will not happen because Thai authorities believe it will create people with world education that will question the status quo

So why would others want to go to an international school and not learn Thai Its because in the bigger picture on the world stage it really means very little

Its a more positive thing for them to learn English and Chinese as well as Korean and Japanese

Once kids are exposed to the wider world out there they realize there is little need to learn

Its sad I admit but it is also a self inflicted by the Thai culture thinking they are the center of the Universe Other cultures realize there is a big bad world out there

[Jonmarleesco]

Well, the Thai schools, as well as a number of the international variety, know damn-all about history, period! Hence, the incident in very recent Thai history when a group of school pupils, and their teachers, thought it wholly acceptable for the kids to dress up and parade around in full Nazi uniform, seemingly in complete ignorance of the relevance of the regalia.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Jonmarleesco

[hgma]

ALL the farang children (both parents foreigner) and krung Thai (one parent Thai National at our childrens school speak multiple languages, but primairy Thai.

At Home in our case Thai .......learning English - Dutch and Lao

All Languages in spoken reading and writing mode.

Bangkok is far away in some cases.