Thailand’s English standard: It’s not all bad news!

[webfact]

Thailand’s English standard: It’s not all bad news!

 

 

BANGKOK: -- In a week when a YouTube teacher tried to show up the Thais for their poor English comes a chance for the kingdom’s wordsmiths to shine.

 

American teacher and former missionary Nate Bartling was criticized for showing up the Thais and their teachers earlier in the week. But now the nation’s top Scrabble players will be travelling to Malaysia to take on the world’s best in English.

 

Seven of the country’s foremost stars of Scrabble – all of whom would have a vocabulary that would have Mr Bartling scrambling for a dictionary – will be competing in the Causeway Challenge in Johor Bahru that runs from Wednesday to Sunday.

 

Scrabble is the world’s most popular word game and is played competitively by more than ten thousand people across the globe.

Competition will be intense with both the world number one Nigel Richards of New Zealand and number two David Eldar of Australia competing. Competitors will play 45 games for the top prize of 10,000 US dollars.

 

Causeway Challenge organizer Michael Tang from Singapore said: “As usual the Thais will have a great chance of winning. Their Scrabble scene is excellent and their players are world class”.

 

Leading the way for the Thai challenge is Komol Panyasophonlert a computer programmer from Bangkok. Komol was pipped by a narrow margin in the Princess Cup in Central Bang Na yesterday when he lost the final over two legs to Nigel by drawing 1-1 but getting 19 points less.

 

Nigel is reckoned to be the best Scrabble player who ever lived – by far.

 

Komol was keeping his spirits up yesterday despite another demoralizing loss – he has already finished second to the NZ maestro in the world championships and the US National Championships in recent years.

 

“After Sunday’s result I think I have just a ten per cent chance of winning in Malaysia,” he lamented. “It seems like no matter how much good luck I get, Nigel can come back anyway”.

 

Komol played no less than four bingos (seven or eight letter words that get a 50 point bonus) in the first game of the final on a giant board at the shopping center in Bang Na on Sunday. The crowd of shoppers were amazed at the level of his skills.

 

Other Thai players in Malaysia are Chiang Mai doctor Jakkrit Klapajone who represented Thailand in the World Championship in Lille, France in September. Another is Akkarapol Kwansak who has opened an academy for teaching Scrabble to the youth in Korat. He received the backing of the province’s governor recently who said he was a fine example to the nation.

 

English teacher Chollaphat Itthi-aree who was third on Sunday is another Thai in with a chance of a top ten while Weera Saengsit – an expert translator of English to Thai – will be in with a shout. Pichai Limprasert who won seven Thai tournaments in a row earlier in the year and Thacha Koorirat complete the Thai team for the premier division.

 

In addition some two dozen other Thais will be taking part in the second division and youth competitions in Johor.

 

The top Thai players all have English vocabularies well in excess of 100,000 words that would be four to five times that of most educated native speakers of the language.

 

And probably quite a few more than Mr Bartling.

 

Source: http://www.inspirebangkok.com/lifestyle/thailands-english-standard-bad-news/

 

-- © Copyright Inspire Bangkok 2016-11-30

[bluesofa]

That really is a positive news item for once about Thais and their English language ability. Good.

[rwdrwdrwd]

Given that the guy's point was that writing and reading are improperly given focus, rather than speaking and listening, success in Scrabble doesn't really negate his comments.

Edited November 30, 2016 by rwdrwdrwd

[maewang99]

does anyone also suppose... there might be a reason why any and all scrabble contest stories get a 5,000% bigger splash here than they would just about anywhere else... and why scrabble seems to be a bit bigger of a pastime as well? can ya think of one? maybe?       

Edited November 30, 2016 by maewang99

[Kasset Tak]

The root for the average low English skill in Thailand is the lack of knowledge to use the language among Thai English teachers. 

The two Thai English teachers (both of them have MA in English Education) working here In the college managed to get the meager score of 3 on the IELTS while two of my 12 grade students surpassed them and scored 4.5 and 5. I know that my students scores are not that great but still they surpassed their Thai English teachers and I only teach them in subjects like: Principles of Animal Husbandry, Principles of Animal Feed and Vocational Hygiene and Safety in Agriculture!

[rkidlad]

Must be all those locally trained teachers who went on their 6 week course. 

[fruitman]

So they have a guy who's good at playing scrabble, well can he also speak english?

 

I met a big group of Thai managers who all work in the IT, they all manage a province but almost none of them can speak a word english.

 

And the only word they can or try to say is pronounced so bad that i have to let them repeat it 3 times to be able to guess what they mean to say.

 

Mind you, this group gets mandatory english lessons twice a weak from an american private teacher paid by their boss.

 

 

[chainarong]

The Thai Education Department should take the point the standard of English is shocking, Cambodia has better standards and what's more you can cheat at scrabble,  I do.......................... 

[hkt83100]

And how many of these Scrabble Masters can speak a complete sentence in English?

[toybits]

Now, if only 50% of the Thais could play scrabble - that would be impressive. Or is Komol a needle in a haystack?

[ldiablo72]

What a nonsensical article. To compare a board game using single words and comparing it with English standards would be hilarious, if it wasn't so asinine.

[trainman34014]

More Bullshit to baffle brains but you wouldn't expect any more in a country where Flag Waving and Chest Beating are the most important things one has to learn !

[Thaiwrath]

59 minutes ago, hkt83100 said:

And how many of these Scrabble Masters can speak a complete sentence in English?

 

I had a Thai girl who worked for me, and she could read out loud, in near perfect English, the Bangkok Post on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, she explained to me that she didn't have a clue of what any of it meant ! 

[nausea]

Actually, on a global level, which is what matters from a business point of view, it's not about having a massive vocabulary but using a limited vocabulary effectively. Our friend Nat might wish to take note of the BBC article "Native English speakers are the world's worst communicators" (Lennox Morrison, 31 October 2016), a trait which I think he demonstrated admirably in his video. To quote:  "... often you have a boardroom full of people from different countried communicating in English and all understanding each other and then suddenly the American or Brit walks into the room and nobody can understand them. " 

[DaveE13]

1 minute ago, nausea said:

Actually, on a global level, which is what matters from a business point of view, it's not about having a massive vocabulary but using a limited vocabulary effectively. Our friend Nat might wish to take note of the BBC article "Native English speakers are the world's worst communicators" (Lennox Morrison, 31 October 2016), a trait which I think he demonstrated admirably in his video. To quote:  "... often you have a boardroom full of people from different countried communicating in English and all understanding each other and then suddenly the American or Brit walks into the room and nobody can understand them. " 

 I think accents are reason why the Brits or Americans cant be understood. I know I have to talk a lot slower even in Hong Kong where the English Language is spoken.

[Caveat Emptor]

Will a Scrabble board replace Google Translate to help with communication problems ?

[nausea]

 

49 minutes ago, DaveE13 said:

 I think accents are reason why the Brits or Americans cant be understood. I know I have to talk a lot slower even in Hong Kong where the English Language is spoken.

You may be right. The article didn't mention accents but it did talk about speed, also unfamiliar or ambiguous vocabulary, slang, and acronyms. 

[DaveE13]

Just now, nausea said:

 

You may be right. The article didn't mention accents but it did talk about speed, also unfamiliar or ambiguous vocabulary, slang, and acronyms. 

yes that's true these articles are well and good but never take into account everything you mention.

[yellowboat]

Attaining word power proficiency in English is not trivial.  Father use to remind us that there were 20,000 words in the English Language, but his children chose just a handful of off colored ones to express themselves.  Learning to speak well is also not trivial.   

[freebyrd]

4 hours ago, chainarong said:

The Thai Education Department should take the point the standard of English is shocking, Cambodia has better standards and what's more you can cheat at scrabble,  I do.......................... 

 

In Thailand I had to learn to speak Thai to do my job efficiently, not so here in Cambodia.

Edited November 30, 2016 by freebyrd

[seajae]

they play scrabble so they read dictionaries to memorize words, if anyone asked to to pronounce them or what they actually mean they would not have clue, memorizing words to play a game and actually speaking and understanding them are two totally different things, they are still english illiterate but with good memories.

[freebyrd]

3 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

More Bullshit to baffle brains but you wouldn't expect any more in a country where Flag Waving and Chest Beating are the most important things one has to learn !

 

Thailand, the hub of Scrabble now?

[northernboy]

Let the Thai's save face, they have a scramble champion to show the world and hide stand behind.  
As anyone knows that in spite a few Thais being fluent and self-thinker, the education system has failed The average Thai person in regards to English and analytical thinking as well. Face it The rich Thais want the poor and uneducated to stay that way, so they can exploit them.  The idea of the good of the people in Thailand often means the rich and the influential, not the masses.  

[fruitman]

4 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

 

I had a Thai girl who worked for me, and she could read out loud, in near perfect English, the Bangkok Post on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, she explained to me that she didn't have a clue of what any of it meant ! 

 

I also don't understand the Thai newspapers' english. They always try to write sophistocated sentences and use weird words.

[whatproblem]

So thailands got some standards now ,well done 

[Baerboxer]

6 hours ago, rwdrwdrwd said:

Given that the guy's point was that writing and reading are improperly given focus, rather than speaking and listening, success in Scrabble doesn't really negate his comments.

 

The guy is a tool and was being a prat. Walking up to strangers and asking silly questions. Looked a bit staged too.

[Jimbo2014]

I praise thailand for its efforts to retain its language and culture in this age of homogeneous globalisation.   We ridicule Thais for not speaking english.  The vast majority of English speakers living in Thailand speak appalling Thai (if any) and dont see any hypocrisy in ridiculing thais over their english.

[Mook23]

Is "facesavingbyallmeans" a valid word in scrabble ?? 

[chainarong]

2 hours ago, freebyrd said:

 

In Thailand I had to learn to speak Thai to do my job efficiently, not so here in Cambodia.

I was surprised with Cambodia ,they told me that they do first 4hrs at school in English the next four in Khmer

[Mook23]

21 minutes ago, Jimbo2014 said:

I praise thailand for its efforts to retain its language and culture in this age of homogeneous globalisation.   We ridicule Thais for not speaking english.  The vast majority of English speakers living in Thailand speak appalling Thai (if any) and dont see any hypocrisy in ridiculing thais over their english.

I would agree wirh you if those hypocrites had learned thai in their home country in school. Which they didnt. The thai "learn" english as 2nd language... your argument is bulls hit!

Ps. I do speak thai but not to please the thai but to easy my life. I also speak french and german and... wolof! ?