PM urges Thais to learn and practice English via 'Echo English' application

[JAG]

Having watched the PM himself in action over the past months he should take up his own suggestion.

He's reading english books which is good but it doesn't teach how to speak.

When i hear Thai speaking english on the radio/tv i always have to chuckle....Fayboo, wurlwaaiweb, appun and so on.

Just stop making thai soap-series and let them watch english series with subtitling, works much better to learn english.

I can't even order a hamburger at the MacD or a Pizza superdeluxe at the Pizza company because they don't understand me.

"Hamburger set krap,Coke Zero yai krap."

"Pizza superdeluxe krap"

That should do the job.

It's something to do with living in Thailand I suspect!

And no , I don't make any claims to be fluent in the language, but if you live here I do think one should try. Say it with a smile and they may chuckle, but 99% of the time they will smile back and do their best to help you.

Edited March 9, 2016 by JAG

[bluesofa]

Having watched the PM himself in action over the past months he should take up his own suggestion.

He's reading english books which is good but it doesn't teach how to speak.

When i hear Thai speaking english on the radio/tv i always have to chuckle....Fayboo, wurlwaaiweb, appun and so on.

Just stop making thai soap-series and let them watch english series with subtitling, works much better to learn english.

I can't even order a hamburger at the MacD or a Pizza superdeluxe at the Pizza company because they don't understand me.

I feel the idea of making Thai soap-operas in English with Thai subtitles would be wonderful!

Seriously though, as a Brit, when I've asked Scandi friends why their English is so good, a lot have said the same thing - they watch English language films with the English soundtrack and subtitles in their native language. They've said that getting used to hearing it helps them speaking it.

I don't hold out much hope of it happening here though.

My Thai is reasonable, I remember watching the film Meet The Fokkers" (mods: it's a genuine title!) That had Thai subtitles with an English soundtrack. I did notice that at one point, when someone said "Hi honey", the Thai subtitles had the Thai word for honey from a bee (namphung) as opposed to sweetheart (teerak). You just can't get the staff....

[passiflora]

the appl can propose that
good morning teacher
how re you?

I'm fine thank you and you

bye bye
that's all thai pupils can say

[NeverSure]

You know that guy in the background of the picture looks like a certain someone...

I just did a photoshop to "improve" that but have second thoughts about posting it, LOL.

[JAG]

the appl can propose that

good morning teacher

how re you?

I'm fine thank you and you

bye bye

that's all thai pupils can say

But can you say that in Thai?

Any way, it depends on what and how they are taught. I don't claim to be a brilliant teacher, but I got my P5 classes describing a long distance bus journey ( go to the bus station, read the timetable, buy a ticket, board the bus, reclining seats, eat a snack, arrive at destination). A bit of role play acting for buying a ticket and showing you to your seat, catch their imagination and even the slow ones are trying to speak English.

Mind you, they're not too hot on the use of adverbs of frequency in the past continuous.....

And that's the problem with learning English in this country.

Rant over.

If the app gets them speaking then it is successful.

Edited March 9, 2016 by JAG

[Thian]

Having watched the PM himself in action over the past months he should take up his own suggestion.

He's reading english books which is good but it doesn't teach how to speak.

When i hear Thai speaking english on the radio/tv i always have to chuckle....Fayboo, wurlwaaiweb, appun and so on.

Just stop making thai soap-series and let them watch english series with subtitling, works much better to learn english.

I can't even order a hamburger at the MacD or a Pizza superdeluxe at the Pizza company because they don't understand me.

"Hamburger set krap,Coke Zero yai krap."

"Pizza superdeluxe krap"

That should do the job.

It's something to do with living in Thailand I suspect!

And no , I don't make any claims to be fluent in the language, but if you live here I do think one should try. Say it with a smile and they may chuckle, but 99% of the time they will smile back and do their best to help you.

Me chai krab, phut pasaa "hambagaaaa" set supasaaai coke zeloooo.

And Pizza supadalaak.

But even when i try that they don't understand it because the expect me to spea inlit to them.

Don't say i didn't try....even in Black Canyon i can't order a club sandwhich, also not when i say "kraap saenwit" ....or kao pad american they also don't get that.

At Subway i can't order a tuna-sandwhich....i always have to point at the pictures.

When me and my wife are abroad i always let her do the ordering so she learns how to speak perfect english. She feels very proud when they understand her which is great. Her manager can't even order a hamburger at the MacD in Europe, he gave up on that and stays in his hotel ALL day long and orders roomservice there from the reception by pointing at the menu

[toybits]

This APP does sound quite threatening to the Native English Speaker who wants to have earn a living in Thailand teaching English and expecting to be well paid for it. Well, you have to admit that there is indeed a danger in Technology taking over your job. Of course an APP does not have the kind of inter-activeness a NES would be able to provide. One advantage with the APP however, it that it will probably not molest your kids. It also doesn't possess fake credentials.

[JAG]

This APP does sound quite threatening to the Native English Speaker who wants to have earn a living in Thailand teaching English and expecting to be well paid for it. Well, you have to admit that there is indeed a danger in Technology taking over your job. Of course an APP does not have the kind of inter-activeness a NES would be able to provide. One advantage with the APP however, it that it will probably not molest your kids. It also doesn't possess fake credentials.

Ooh, you have got a bit of a bee in your bonnet about NES teachers haven't you! We're not all disciples of Garry Glitter you know!

I don't think this app will replace the human teacher. Rather think of it like an interactive dictionary or phrasebook. It could be a useful tool for learning/studying the language.

[JAG]

Having watched the PM himself in action over the past months he should take up his own suggestion.

He's reading english books which is good but it doesn't teach how to speak.

When i hear Thai speaking english on the radio/tv i always have to chuckle....Fayboo, wurlwaaiweb, appun and so on.

Just stop making thai soap-series and let them watch english series with subtitling, works much better to learn english.

I can't even order a hamburger at the MacD or a Pizza superdeluxe at the Pizza company because they don't understand me.

"Hamburger set krap,Coke Zero yai krap."

"Pizza superdeluxe krap"

That should do the job.

It's something to do with living in Thailand I suspect!

And no , I don't make any claims to be fluent in the language, but if you live here I do think one should try. Say it with a smile and they may chuckle, but 99% of the time they will smile back and do their best to help you.

Me chai krab, phut pasaa "hambagaaaa" set supasaaai coke zeloooo.

And Pizza supadalaak.

But even when i try that they don't understand it because the expect me to spea inlit to them.

Don't say i didn't try....even in Black Canyon i can't order a club sandwhich, also not when i say "kraap saenwit" ....or kao pad american they also don't get that.

At Subway i can't order a tuna-sandwhich....i always have to point at the pictures.

When me and my wife are abroad i always let her do the ordering so she learns how to speak perfect english. She feels very proud when they understand her which is great. Her manager can't even order a hamburger at the MacD in Europe, he gave up on that and stays in his hotel ALL day long and orders roomservice there from the reception by pointing at the menu

Well as I said, I've almost invariably found that if you try, even in my execrable " Somerset accented mangled Thai" most Thais chuckle and try to understand you.

Mind you it could explain some of the bizarre meals I've had from street vendors over the years!

[Pepper1959]

I am a classic case of a retired and qualified Principal with English teaching qualifications only too willing to volunteer and teach English (not interfering with the English teaching system in schools etc) or help improve English skills. The issue is, I am deemed to be working and need a work permit. Just maybe, the government could consider the wealth of talent and resources in this country that are available for free and assist with easier paperwork.

[attrayant]

I am a classic case of a retired and qualified Principal with English teaching qualifications only too willing to volunteer and teach English (not interfering with the English teaching system in schools etc) or help improve English skills. The issue is, I am deemed to be working and need a work permit. Just maybe, the government could consider the wealth of talent and resources in this country that are available for free and assist with easier paperwork.

I've ranted about this many times. There are tens of thousands (more?) native English speaking retirees sitting idle in this country. Many would be happy to spend a few hours a day just chatting with toddlers to get English into their brains. Get English into a child's ears at an early enough age and they'll learn it by osmosis. By the time they get into grade school they'll have a basic functional ability to use English and build upon it.

Give retirees something they'd find valuable that would cost the government little if anything, like a simplified or extended retirement visa extension process. Set up neighborhood daycare centers to satisfy those worried about unsupervised contact between foreigners and children. These problems are not insurmountable but the government sure makes them seem that way.

[Tchooptip]

How about less movies on Thai TV dubbing in Thai sound tracks?

I almost never see movies in English with Thai subtitles, it would be a good start!

[Prbkk]

One of the problems is that language is inextricably linked with Thai sense of self and the extraordinarily ridiculous notion that Thais are so different, unique, special, denying the reality that they are a blend of many cultures, religions, races, languages ( and the better for it).

Young Thais have adopted virtually every bit of western culture, for better or worse, bar the English language. Singapore has done quite nicely by adopting English as its Lingua Franca, even though the official language is Malay. No one could deny that Singaporeans do not have a strong sense of self and national pride.

When a French President, maybe Pompidou, tried to discourage the use of English for fear that it would have an adverse effect on French culture he was just about laughed out of Paris.

The crunch is coming for Thailand: spend serious money on a real plan to make the country bilingual , in a 20-30 year period, or risk remaining a backwater and consign the population to be 'hewers of wood and carriers of water'

Or are hundreds of millions of young Chinese taking up Thai language in recognition of its global significance?

[RigPig]

Listening and paying attention at school would be a good start ?

Maybe English teachers who can speak English would be an advantage too!!!

[Bluespunk]

Here's an idea, why not hire 1000's of professional native English language speaking teachers to deploy all over the country and pay them a decent competetive salary. When I say competetive I'm talking about competetive on an international scale.

In my opinion until this happens and continues over a long period of time (decades) Thailand will continue to be at a disadvantage on a worldwide scale.

Right now there's an exemption in the work permit regulations which allows English language teachers to be paid less than other foreign workers. So the previous governments have made calculated and deliberate choices to do it on the cheap.

You get what you pay for and the results are very clear !

Yet another 'Colonel Blimp' rears his ugly head.

Whether it be Thailand, England, USA, Australia etc etc, teachers are rarely paid anywhere near what many regard they should be. Same goes for nurses.

Go to any average school in Thailand and one of the biggest grumbles is the differential in pay between khun Farang and Khun Thai.

Your statement suggesting previous governments have made calculated and deliberate choices to do it on the cheap is at best fanciful but for here the typical slanderous claptrap that old, self loathing unhappy expat is unable to resist spouting.

Throwing money at something doesn't mean it's going to make it better or work. All it does is encourage corruption.

The syllabus needs overhauling, testing needs reviewing, school administrations need to be closely looked at, and for me one of the most damning aspects of English teaching in Thailand are the language schools and agencies , usually manned by little more than unscrupulous farang bagmen. I've worked as a teacher in schools in Southern Thailand, however I did it on a voluntary basis. Many of the teachers presenting to the schools were little more than philandering drunks looking for a way to finance their pithy existences. They weren't worth paying 3000thb per mth, never mind 30000.

But hey you know all about it. Pay them more money and if that doesn't work, revert to your sort's preferred stance, ie it's Thailand's fault

While I agree with you that there are a lot of chancers posing as teachers in Thailand [and not just here unfortunately], I think the poster was suggesting the govt employs qualified and effective language teachers.

Such teachers are in high demand and command a high salary.

30,000 won't cut it for the best.

Be they Thai or non Thai.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Bluespunk

[Squeegee]

Here's an idea, why not hire 1000's of professional native English language speaking teachers to deploy all over the country and pay them a decent competetive salary. When I say competetive I'm talking about competetive on an international scale.

In my opinion until this happens and continues over a long period of time (decades) Thailand will continue to be at a disadvantage on a worldwide scale.

Right now there's an exemption in the work permit regulations which allows English language teachers to be paid less than other foreign workers. So the previous governments have made calculated and deliberate choices to do it on the cheap.

You get what you pay for and the results are very clear !

Yet another 'Colonel Blimp' rears his ugly head.

Whether it be Thailand, England, USA, Australia etc etc, teachers are rarely paid anywhere near what many regard they should be. Same goes for nurses.

Go to any average school in Thailand and one of the biggest grumbles is the differential in pay between khun Farang and Khun Thai.

Your statement suggesting previous governments have made calculated and deliberate choices to do it on the cheap is at best fanciful but for here the typical slanderous claptrap that old, self loathing unhappy expat is unable to resist spouting.

Throwing money at something doesn't mean it's going to make it better or work. All it does is encourage corruption.

The syllabus needs overhauling, testing needs reviewing, school administrations need to be closely looked at, and for me one of the most damning aspects of English teaching in Thailand are the language schools and agencies , usually manned by little more than unscrupulous farang bagmen. I've worked as a teacher in schools in Southern Thailand, however I did it on a voluntary basis. Many of the teachers presenting to the schools were little more than philandering drunks looking for a way to finance their pithy existences. They weren't worth paying 3000thb per mth, never mind 30000.

But hey you know all about it. Pay them more money and if that doesn't work, revert to your sort's preferred stance, ie it's Thailand's fault

Damning vast swathes of people based on generalizations, a sure sign of poor judgement and lack of insight.

[kblaze]

This is either the best - or worst thing to happen to this language company in Thailand

http://echo-english.com/

and the poor bastard who already this "echo language app"

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/echo-practice-foreign-language/id558585608?mt=8

[metisdead]

Posts using Thai language have been removed as well as the replies. English is the only acceptable language anywhere on ThaiVisa including Classifieds, except within the Thai language forum, where of course using Thai is allowed.

[GAZZPA]

Learning Mandarin is not a good idea for a second language at all. It may be spoken by a great many people but this is mainly because of the huge Chinese population. It is not a language spoken widely though, it is only used in about 5 countries.

English is by the far the best secondary language simply because of its widespread use (approximately 120 countries) and it's Internationally recognised as the global business language. It has been accepted by the Asean as the International language and even the Chinese are becoming increasingly proficient due to their strong exports and International business.

So, Thai people should learn English for sure, it will be much more useful for anyone who choses a secondary language. It is also why English, Americans, Australians etc are less likely to learn a second language. (or cold be they / we are just lazy)

[tbthailand]

so is that a one-tablet-per-child-tablet from the previous administration?

[Orac]

and he's going to start with himself?

Sorry state of affairs if he needs an app to learn english when he is married to an english teacher!

[GerdT]

Listening and paying attention at school would be a good start ?

I wouldn't be that sure about it. Read the national test for Prathom 5 from 2556 and English get's a total new meaning. Not only the grammatical errors spring to the eye but also factual errors. Here an example from the first page of the test: After that I bought a novel "Tom Sawyer" at the bookstore. The writer was Charles Dickens. It's about the adventure of a boy named Tom Sawyer and his friends.

I have 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' as book written by Mark Twain and since 2556 I try to lay the hands on the novel written by Charles Dickens; without success as you might guess.

The two sentences ahead of this sentence are: My meal was very delicious. And I met a beautiful actress, she came here with her friends.

Since ‘and’ is a conjunction word there should be no full stop ahead of it and the comma after actress should be replaced by a colon.

All to be found on the first page.

Edited March 9, 2016 by GerdT

[toybits]

This APP does sound quite threatening to the Native English Speaker who wants to have earn a living in Thailand teaching English and expecting to be well paid for it. Well, you have to admit that there is indeed a danger in Technology taking over your job. Of course an APP does not have the kind of inter-activeness a NES would be able to provide. One advantage with the APP however, it that it will probably not molest your kids. It also doesn't possess fake credentials.

Ooh, you have got a bit of a bee in your bonnet about NES teachers haven't you! We're not all disciples of Garry Glitter you know!

I don't think this app will replace the human teacher. Rather think of it like an interactive dictionary or phrasebook. It could be a useful tool for learning/studying the language.

Whatever floats your boat. I already rely quite extensively on an online translation service that is quite spot on. Yes, I do read Thai and use the app to write in Thai - something I still have to learn. But is it just too daunting for me hunting and pecking at those Thai Characters on the key board. Bee in the Bonnet? Hardly. I don't give a rat's ass about NES. Just saying it like it is.

[Jonmarleesco]

Hmm, I recall another poster getting very irate about a suggestion taxi drivers in particular and Thais in general learn English on a current thread about taxi drivers.

Would they care to comment on the pm's advice?

Must be learning a few useful, if repetitive, words.

[Jonmarleesco]

Listening and paying attention at school would be a good start ?

I wouldn't be that sure about it. Read the national test for Prathom 5 from 2556 and English get's a total new meaning. Not only the grammatical errors spring to the eye but also factual errors. Here an example from the first page of the test: After that I bought a novel "Tom Sawyer" at the bookstore. The writer was Charles Dickens. It's about the adventure of a boy named Tom Sawyer and his friends.

I have 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' as book written by Mark Twain and since 2556 I try to lay the hands on the novel written by Charles Dickens; without success as you might guess.

The two sentences ahead of this sentence are: My meal was very delicious. And I met a beautiful actress, she came here with her friends.

Since ‘and’ is a conjunction word there should be no full stop ahead of it and the comma after actress should be replaced by a colon.

All to be found on the first page.

Ignoring the rest of your grammatical observations, commencing a sentence with 'and' is perfectly acceptable; usually where the preceding pause is too long to justify a comma or semicolon. And the comma should be replaced with a semicolon; a colon is used for quotations, lists or when expanding on a phrase or piece of information.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Jonmarleesco

[Jonmarleesco]

This APP does sound quite threatening to the Native English Speaker who wants to have earn a living in Thailand teaching English and expecting to be well paid for it. Well, you have to admit that there is indeed a danger in Technology taking over your job. Of course an APP does not have the kind of inter-activeness a NES would be able to provide. One advantage with the APP however, it that it will probably not molest your kids. It also doesn't possess fake credentials.

Leave everything to the Thais, you mean? Seems reasonable. Plenty of Thai paedophiles out there; and never a shortage of Thais buying their qualifications.

[Jonmarleesco]

Anything to avoid doing things properly.

[welshissan]

I have lived here over 25 years and the amount of people that have asked me to teach their children is unbelievable! How many turn up,zero! This includes teachers who only want the best for their own children.

Two years ago a friend's daughter asked me to help her with her English homework, not known to me it was her English exam. She actually finished 2nd in Thailand for her year and went to Bangkok for a presentation. She speaks very little English and I had only completed about 75% of the questions due to the limited time! Her older sister then asked me to do the same for her and she won 3rd place in Buriram province! Again I only completed a little of the paper due to time restrictions. Why not ask in the evening before!

My wife, a teacher, cannot understand the importance of English in the modern world, a very sad trait, but my children have learned the importance of English through my talking to them, in both English and Thai

[toybits]

This APP does sound quite threatening to the Native English Speaker who wants to have earn a living in Thailand teaching English and expecting to be well paid for it. Well, you have to admit that there is indeed a danger in Technology taking over your job. Of course an APP does not have the kind of inter-activeness a NES would be able to provide. One advantage with the APP however, it that it will probably not molest your kids. It also doesn't possess fake credentials.

Leave everything to the Thais, you mean? Seems reasonable. Plenty of Thai paedophiles out there; and never a shortage of Thais buying their qualifications.

Please don't put words into my mouth.

[Thian]

How about less movies on Thai TV dubbing in Thai sound tracks?

I almost never see movies in English with Thai subtitles, it would be a good start!

With english subtitling would be better, that's how i learned it.