horisize Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Just watched today a English teaching channel on DLTV, you'd expect everything to be correct, but NO, they even got a noun down as an adjective. Either they have a really serious problem or the farang proof reader needs to be sacked. All words are nouns, whether it is an adjective or not depends on its position in syntax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshstiles Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 whats all the hype...in another 10 - 20 years after some foreseeable tradgic events...thailand will be annexed by china and english wont mean sh1t give it a rest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim207 Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Years ago the Bangkok Post ran a weekly series of full page advertisements in English from a Thai government department, promotional material clearly aimed at an English audience. Every single paragraph full of glaring mistakes. The advertisements went on for several months with the same basic errors week after week. All that money spent on advertising yet no budget for a native English speaker to do even the most basic of proofreading... Nearly every time I have been asked to help a student with some English homework, I have found many basic errors in the textbook they were issued. Once, one book was so riddled with errors in its multiple choice questions I filled in some more suitable answers. The workbook came back with all my simple corrections marked as wrong despite the book choices not making any sense at all. Anyone who has seen some of the textbooks out there will know what I mean, questions with answers that seem like they have been lifted from Google translate... I stopped helping people with homework because it is to hard to figure out what the questions are asking. Sad, alot of kids that are enthusiastic about learning English have been discouraged when I can't understand their homework. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sead Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 This is how it looks while theres still some English teachers. Wait until they kick the English teachers as planned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonmarleesco Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Just watched today a English teaching channel on DLTV, you'd expect everything to be correct, but NO, they even got a noun down as an adjective. Either they have a really serious problem or the farang proof reader needs to be sacked. [smirk] I think you mean "an" English teaching channel........... And I think you mean an English-teaching channel - a channel that teaches English, as opposed to an English one that teaches ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonmarleesco Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Just watched today a English teaching channel on DLTV, you'd expect everything to be correct, but NO, they even got a noun down as an adjective. Either they have a really serious problem or the farang proof reader needs to be sacked. All words are nouns, whether it is an adjective or not depends on its position in syntax. Personally, I prefer conventional dictionaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTuner Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I guess it's an improvement over having everything in Thai only. Now if they'd just start showing some American soaps and using subtitles in Thai ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhys Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 that's what you get for using Google translate! fortunately, it rarely gets worse than that. sadly, it's almost the norm. Local Teacher's memorial. The photo says it all... sadly at one school.. apparently, a principal got it wrong and put on the head stone of the school the FEAR of God, impelll su.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowbo Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 ...this is a perfect example of corruption in the Education Ministry...the 30% of the budget paid for this trash went to China for lowest bid, while the remaining 70% went to the crony elite! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritTim Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Those saying the translations in the OP are from Google Translate are insulting the current state of that program. Google Translate might have perpetrated that nonsense five years ago, but would do a better job today. Most likely, the translations were done using a software tool created by Thais. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MockingJay Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 (edited) Looks like they really got the perfect English teaching nailed... Who needs native foreign speakers to teach Thais English if you have valuable books like this? Right! Get all the foreign teachers out of this country, because "Thai peopen can do themself, you no?"There were times in my 2.5 decades here, when I believed that things are moving forward (Thaksin era), but ever since he was ousted, the country has been moving backwards at horrific speed. It really is sad to see I am not a Thaksin lover, absolutely not. Of course he was filling his pockets, but at least he did something to move the country and the people forward in addition, while anyone else (before and after) focuses solely on filling their own pockets while doing absolutely nothing. Best to expect are some moronic speeches in front of cameras, like accusing rape and murder victims in Thailand to be at fault themselves because they have been "arousing" the rapists via sexy clothing and above average looks... Have to go and puke for a while now. I'll feel better soon... Edited November 17, 2015 by MockingJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatproblem Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 It's only a problem if someone who knows sees it ,same as the fishing and the police and the corruption and and and Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowbo Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I just can't let this topic go... my 8yr old has been in an all British curriculum Intl. school since she was 1-1/2yrs old... the lead teacher in every classroom is western (either Brit or American)...she receives 8hrs of Thai language instruction per week by a Thai national...not unsurprising, she scores 90+ in her English language skills, but is failing her Thai language with less than 70! This says a lot about the quality of Thai teachers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldroj Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Creative translations! Seems no worse than the creative translations that NNT or the broadcaster we can trust dish up to us under the guise of English. Probably a set text for Journalism 101 in Thailand. วันนี้คุณแม่ทำกับข้าวอะไรให้หนูทานบ้าง – if there’s rats involved, I’m not hungry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig krup Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 They could nearly solve the problem with one "Kemal Ataturk" moment: see what needs to be done, and do it. 1) They can already represent their language using western/Roman script. 2) Pronunciation always lives in the spoken language. No English native speaker uses the pronunciation guide in a dictionary. 3) Having Thai script, and a massive number of consonants and vowels is (therefor) unnecessary. 4) If the learned and used "ah, buh, cuh, duh) for both languages the whole country would be bilingual, and they'd solve a thousand other problems when it came to IT, science and engineering, trade and financial markets and everything else. John Stuart Mill (who worked for the East India Company) said that the orient dies because of the rule of custom. That's all that stands behind this adherence to a script that makes no sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyG Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 (edited) Those saying the translations in the OP are from Google Translate are insulting the current state of that program. Google Translate might have perpetrated that nonsense five years ago, but would do a better job today. Most likely, the translations were done using a software tool created by Thais. You are vastly overstating the abilities of Google Translate. Using the phrase from waldroj's posting. Google Translate gives: "Today, you can cook anything for me to eat it." The textbook has: "Today's mother cooking something to eat some rats." An accurate translation (mine): "Today, mother [formal], what various dishes have you made for Nuu* to eat [semi-formal]?" Neither Google nor the textbook comes anywhere close. Incidentally, Bing gives: "Today mom what do mice eat?" * A cute word used by adults to address children, and children to refer to themselves. Literal meaning rat or mouse. Edit: added Bing translation. Edited November 17, 2015 by AyG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmiuc Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 when the teachers at my school took the 'required test...." all got level A1 and 2 level B1 proficiency... that is for teaching young learners... at my school, it is the worst i ever seen in English proficiency... we have "gifted classes" which cannot read, write, speak or proper listening in English...yet these are gifted students... with M6 being the worst. the gov't decision to cut foreign teachers is not to enable better learning... it is to stop funding the importance of learning... corruption in schools is so bad, they are giving money for free, because the schools are suppose to hire native speakers, but then they consider Filipinos as native speakers and only have to pay 12-15,000 baht, but yet get the native English fees from the gov't... never seen such a money grubbing place as schools are today. PM says he will stop it...well cutting out true foreign teachers who depend on living here with this income, as low as it is... really sinks this country deeper into chaos... how many years has it been since an increase in salaries for foreign teachers? even china has risen the rate from 6000 rmb to usually minimum 8000/9000 rmb over the years... with some jobs paying 10 to 20,000 rmb... while Thailand has paid a general salary of 25,000 to 30,000 for 20 years or more... yet the economy changes... but thai teachers get substantial raises along with a lot of bonuses and perks in the job, not to mention the tea money that flows through a department, specially in foreign languages because directors are not able to speak those languages, so has no clue on how to manage them... so thus... this result... Thais cheating Thais.... and others.. in education. yet it always has been said, that education is the crux or foundation for a society... so this foundation is weak and not stabilized... 'yet' after how many years? my suggestion... stop letting Thais teach and increase the foreign teachers giving them leeway to stabilize this educational area... stop focusing on just math and science as you cannot have the foundation of English in this AEC community. I have yet to see any geniuses from the Thai community based on "math and Science"... You will not become the Technological Hub based on current events/situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAG Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Tip of the iceberg I'm afraid. And a government recommendation that NES teachers should start on 18K Baht a month is just about to increase their ever-decreasing access to real English speakers. This subject is flogged to death at least once a year yet the 'poo yais' do nothing about it. Maybe they are the problem here. The "poo yais" are the problem, in education, and in just about every field of human activity in this country. The ordinary people are appallingly badly served by those who purport to serve and lead them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmiuc Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 lets address another area of these illiterate programs that are going on... THEY TEACH ENGLISH...BUT THEY DO NOT SUPPORT IT... all thai teachers teach English in thai... they give the midterm, final tests in THAI... specialized programs for English... do they do ENGLISH ACTIVITIES? no... they go to beach in chantaburi, the science museum, all in thai.... the only activity sometimes and is totally stupid in my opinion is doing ENGLISH CAMPS... where foreigners become monkeys and dance around in English for the thais to mock how stupid the English camp was and why parents need to pay for such nonsense... yet these are sponsored by the schools or agencies... but nothing really English oriented... English movies, English activities that are really real world things... yet MOE/OBEC allows this crap to happen in the schools...that's why they are wanting to stop it... the train is about to derail with the economic problems coming this way... (oh they will borrow money from china, which means china wants chinese over English... nothing to do with AEC development, but china holding countries hostage over their culture... so we can understand why things are a-rye in this country towards education... isn't it funny we only heard one time about the 2pm to 4pm activity time? already failing of course... so another MOE failure coming up(has been for several years now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandtee Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I think the creators of this book were originally food menu writers. Example 'Noodles with untold miseries soup'. I took it to mean noodles with soup of the day. Untold miseries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAG Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 (edited) when the teachers at my school took the 'required test...." all got level A1 and 2 level B1 proficiency... that is for teaching young learners... at my school, it is the worst i ever seen in English proficiency... we have "gifted classes" which cannot read, write, speak or proper listening in English...yet these are gifted students... with M6 being the worst. the gov't decision to cut foreign teachers is not to enable better learning... it is to stop funding the importance of learning... corruption in schools is so bad, they are giving money for free, because the schools are suppose to hire native speakers, but then they consider Filipinos as native speakers and only have to pay 12-15,000 baht, but yet get the native English fees from the gov't... never seen such a money grubbing place as schools are today. PM says he will stop it...well cutting out true foreign teachers who depend on living here with this income, as low as it is... really sinks this country deeper into chaos... how many years has it been since an increase in salaries for foreign teachers? even china has risen the rate from 6000 rmb to usually minimum 8000/9000 rmb over the years... with some jobs paying 10 to 20,000 rmb... while Thailand has paid a general salary of 25,000 to 30,000 for 20 years or more... yet the economy changes... but thai teachers get substantial raises along with a lot of bonuses and perks in the job, not to mention the tea money that flows through a department, specially in foreign languages because directors are not able to speak those languages, so has no clue on how to manage them... so thus... this result... Thais cheating Thais.... and others.. in education. yet it always has been said, that education is the crux or foundation for a society... so this foundation is weak and not stabilized... 'yet' after how many years? my suggestion... stop letting Thais teach and increase the foreign teachers giving them leeway to stabilize this educational area... stop focusing on just math and science as you cannot have the foundation of English in this AEC community. I have yet to see any geniuses from the Thai community based on "math and Science"... You will not become the Technological Hub based on current events/situations. "Gifted" merely means that the parents are prepared to pay extra for a nicer classroom and the status which the title "gifted" confers. I much prefer teaching the ordinary classes. There are far more children in the tattier classrooms, but they are pleasanter and better behaved. The whole business of employing "Native English Speakers" (NES), from countries which do not spring to mind as having English as a first language, paying said NES teachers less than the going rate (and "informally reallocating" the surplus cash) could prove to be the Achilles heel of this whole cutting out the foreign teachers idea. I know of one government school in my area where the entire NES staff are composed of gentlemen from a West African country where French is the primary (European) language! After the initial outlay on getting them "visad up", a sum of cash north of B60000 a month is up for grabs. The education establishment will not take kindly to losing that income stream! Edited November 17, 2015 by JAG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strangebrew Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Granted the English language is not an easy language to learn Same as Thai is a hard language for non Thai's to learn But if you take the time to learn the basic vowels and how to say them correctly You should be able to get by. My Thai friend brings her kids by with there English homework But 90% of the time half of it makes no sense I hope my Thai gets Good enough to translate into Thai what they write in English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIJoe Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 From a couple of Christmases ago at Big C Extra. One would think they'd have money for a proofreader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasset Tak Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I tried to attach some pictures from the English textbook this college choose to use last semester for PWC 3 but I have no idea how to post pictures here on TV so sorry, no pictures. Posting Images - Guidelines Thank you!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petedk Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I've often wondered why Thais don't get native speakers to proofread. The problem is the hierarchy system. Someone at a higher level has studied abroad, etc, and has an inflated opinion of themselves. No one would dare question them even if they knew for sure they were wrong. The person who studied abroad probably thinks they can't do any wrong. Many Thai websites offer an English translation which mostly remains Thai with a little bit of poor English. No offence, but it's very typically Thai. Offer an English option to look multinational and professional without checking the actual content. "It looks good; ergo, it is good" I sometimes get asked to proofread material. Sometimes the material is so poorly written that I have no idea what the writer is trying to say. The other problem is that they expect you to read , say 50 pages, in less than an hour and pay virtually nothing for it. I have sometimes written in big letters "need to be rewritten" next to some paragraphs, only to see that the article was later published without being corrected. I often think "What's the point?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time Traveller Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Don't worry, Soutpeel will be along soon to tell us how Thailand has a great education system, and that people knocking it including this journalist should just leave thailand and go back to their own country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilsonandson Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 If the current PM and his ministers want farang out of Thailand, then that's what will happen. It's not about saving money or improving teacher skills it's about the P.A.D yellow shirts. They don't like foreigners. They are in power now, so if you fall into the catagory of being easily replaced then plan ahead. I have checked out China, Burma and Vietnam, all well paid and the work load seems less than here. As for this article do you really think the govt gives a toot about education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIWIBATCH Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Here is another from a Thai company produced textbook for teaching Thai P5 students about science......(see attachment sorry I do not know how to place photos into the main text) Other gems in this science textbook include...."Do fish get struck by lightning"...and "the Science of Cuteness" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjablonsky Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I have seen so many School textbooks, assignments and many ONET tests with butchered text, sentences and questions. I have gone to the practice of checking the ONET exams and writing out corrections for the students. I have even seen some ONET tests with questions where none of the answers could possible be correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig krup Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Before the mass aerobic sessions in Nong Khai the American bloke whose wife leads the sessions does little impromptu English classes. Having any native pronunciation and real ability - quite regardless of qualifications - makes you a guru. It really shouldn't be this difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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