Words of wisdom: Teacher trash talks Thais who fake farang accent

[wabothai]

It's entertaining.

[dotpoom]

Certainly a heart pounding news story this one?.....so glad I didn't miss it.

[Remi080]

My respect to Adam, as iv seen and followed the path of his career quite often in all those years. I might not be an english native, nor is my english perfect, at least my thai is much better, and so understand what he ment with his post. I assume that not a lot of posters here hold up in the higher class of our thai society based on the comments. Thai people like to impress other thai with speak in a foreign language to push up there stats. Thats it. And thats fake. So be it.

I fake to sometimes, sometimes i like to put some feaders in my a$$ to, by telling thai people im thai and that i was born in thai. So what, im proud of my thai skills, but i dont use it to get more respect or for my own status, i do lerned it so thai dont rip me off in any way.( lerned it the hard way) Set up a new tv program would be good, " farang sok mok" sounds good! . And this program will explane all the farang who are so negative to what ever happends in thailand, the country where they love to live in , but where nothing is good enaugh for them, ofcouse this will be all in thai language, so those i just ment dont feel offended.

Have a good day.

[KarenBravo]

So where does this bloke come from....EXACTLY...........?

Originally from London, but also in Ireland, then also used in Australia, at a time when the prisons in England were too full....?

Are you sure?

It states his nationality in the article and it ain't any of the ones you mention.

[sawadee1947]

Who cares. And I can't see any wisdom in this thread

[car720]

I've heard of this phenomenon before... A Thai Girl (Generals Daughter nonetheless) was dating a friend of mine... After studying abroad she deliberately 'farangaised' (yes I know thats not a word) her Thai...

Those Thai's listening to her thought she was just a spoilt dumb bimbo - they weren't far off the mark.

I have also heard 'accents' in the Thai language spoke by foreigners to Thailand... Its pretty easy to spot unless the standard of Thai spoken by the foreigner is excellent.

So... IMO - this guy is pretty much on the money and more in touch with reality than those who are calling him a douche...

In fact, I suspect some may simply be jealous that on the 'native'o'meter' he's more in touch with Thailand than them.....

or on the other hand, he could just be a show off kid who is doing exactly what he is accusing them of doing.

These young Thais are just doing what every other young person does and that is to try and mark an individuality that can be distinguished from others.

Actually, I wonder how he would get on as an English teacher in a school that prohibits the use of Thai in the classroom.

[MaeJoMTB]

Speaking English with an American accent, can never be considered 'hi-so' by anyone in the world.

[atyclb]

what a tosser. Coming to thailand and making presumptions on thai nationals.

presumptions, as opposed to allegations as posted by TV forum members daily ?

one could argue the guy lives in thailand for 10 years, speaks and reads, and is able to go beyond "ST and LT" in a conversation, thus may actually have adequate understanding-insight into what he saying.

LOS = Land Of miSfits i would try to allege i am not a misfit but would be a tough argument being a tv forum member.

[nithisa78]

get a life Adam.

[nithisa78]

Who cares. And I can't see any wisdom in this thread

nobody can see what isn't there.

[Bluespunk]

My respect to Adam, as iv seen and followed the path of his career quite often in all those years. I might not be an english native, nor is my english perfect, at least my thai is much better, and so understand what he ment with his post. I assume that not a lot of posters here hold up in the higher class of our thai society based on the comments. Thai people like to impress other thai with speak in a foreign language to push up there stats. Thats it. And thats fake. So be it.

I fake to sometimes, sometimes i like to put some feaders in my <deleted> to, by telling thai people im thai and that i was born in thai. So what, im proud of my thai skills, but i dont use it to get more respect or for my own status, i do lerned it so thai dont rip me off in any way.( lerned it the hard way) Set up a new tv program would be good, " farang sok mok" sounds good! . And this program will explane all the farang who are so negative to what ever happends in thailand, the country where they love to live in , but where nothing is good enaugh for them, ofcouse this will be all in thai language, so those i just ment dont feel offended.

Have a good day.

If someone wants to accent their language it's none of Adams &lt;deleted&gt; business and he should butt out.

[coulson]

&lt;deleted&gt; is this? Who doesn't adopt a style of communication that is easier to comprehend amongst a diverse group.....and end up thinking in the same manner.....try living in middle east, I don't believe there is any single language spoken in it's full traditional sense, even Arabic.

This guy gets his free marketing stunt for a statement only relevant to those who profess on language ethics (and make money from it)

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

So what about westerners residing here whose English turns to rat sh!t after a while? What's the ruddy big deal?

I have met people in the UK and after about a minute have said to them, "I see you have spent a while in Thailand..." Big fuss over nothing.

A possible answer to your opening question is that their English was rat turds before they spent time in Thailand.

[car720]

what a tosser. Coming to thailand and making presumptions on thai nationals.

presumptions, as opposed to allegations as posted by TV forum members daily ?

one could argue the guy lives in thailand for 10 years, speaks and reads, and is able to go beyond "ST and LT" in a conversation, thus may actually have adequate understanding-insight into what he saying.

LOS = Land Of miSfits i would try to allege i am not a misfit but would be a tough argument being a tv forum member.

I will not presume what his story is but I will assume a position of disbelief at his comments.

Not bad for a misfit huh?

[car720]

<deleted> is this? Who doesn't adopt a style of communication that is easier to comprehend amongst a diverse group.....and end up thinking in the same manner.....try living in middle east, I don't believe there is any single language spoken in it's full traditional sense, even Arabic.

This guy gets his free marketing stunt for a statement only relevant to those who profess on language ethics (and make money from it)

Agreed.

I think he could use a lesson in linguistic pragmatics.

[djlest]

my english is crap after living here for umpteen years, sure when i go back home i get it back but still, i get comments on how different it is...

i think regional accents can be lost and do alter a lot, some people seem to lose accents very easily, others cannot lose them for the life of god...

some people are like sponges, others are like rocks...

[ableguy]

Interesting. I have never heard a "farang" accent.

Nor have I ever heard of a Thai faking a English or American accent, or not able to speak Thai any more.

I know a few kiddies (my own including) that sound a little more American 'cause of the influence of cartoon network.

And of course, I can pin point the area on the map that any Thai that studied in the UK based on the accent they came back with - but only when they speak English.

But fake accents? I think Adam is a bit of a f*ckwit. Fact is - if you send a Thai to London for 2-3 years, they will pick up the accent when they speak English.

You have totally missed the point, go back and read the post again.

Ps here is a clue

They speak Thai with an English accent, not English with a Yorkshire twang for instance.

[jayboy]

It's all useless crap really and no different to people in their own countries moving from one region to another and taking on local accent's. In 1988 i moved from Kent to Somerset for 18 years and every time i went 'back home' my family and friends told me i was speaking with ' Zomerzet speak' , and i expect that was true. Was i bovvered ?...Not in the least.

According to my Thai wife a lot of Thai's cannot speak their own language properly anyway, at any time, including people the ilk of Yingluck and other so called 'High So's '.

When I hear a member say "my Thai wife told me..." I reach for my revolver because what invariably follows is a stream of bilge.

[ajarnmark]

I am not surprised at all. I have managed many Thais (in Academia and industry) and almost all of them "forget" their Thai language because they lived "very long" out of Thailand. They forget how to write and if you talk to them in Thai, they will (try to) reply to you in English. This is more common among Thais abroad than those in Thailand.