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University teaching shows why Thais' command of English is so abysmal!


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Four pages of comments and not a single commentator has thought to mention the

abysmal translations of Thai to English in most any dictionary or reference material.  As an example, Thais invariably cannot make an R sound to save their life, but looking at any written reference to translated Thai you will find an abundance of words that use "R" in the translation.  How would one even make that mistake if one was educated properly in both languages?

 

In addition, American English is used worldwide as the learning and speaking standard for Business (sorry Brits), but clearly most transliteration is done in what we call "old English".  Not only would this be confusing to an English speaking person, but imagine what is does to a Thai learning English.

 

Lastly, from the number of grammatical and spelling mistakes I see every day on Thai Visa, most of us would be quite unqualified to make a claim to speaking or writing perfect English, and even worse when attempting Thai, written or verbal.  Bashing Thais for their unacceptable language skills is absurd.  How many English speaking expats do you think can read or speak Thai fluently?  I'd bet on a percentage basis not many.

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23 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Which is particularly depressing as there are so many native English speaking people here :sad:.

 

It really shouldn't be that hard to check with someone who actually speaks English.

 

It may well have changed, but some years ago, it was illegal for a foreigner (let's assume a native English speaker, for our purposes) to proof read here in Thailand.

 

It was a Reserved Occupation, but, I reiterate, that "may" have changed.

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2 hours ago, Johnniey said:

What is it a technical/vocational college?

I worked in a Thai university for over 10 years and all the teachers in the English department spoke impeccable English as many of them had PhD's from English universities. They had all studied to a Master's degree level abroad. 

 

The only mistake I often heard was that they used "ever" as in "I ever been to Spain".

 

Who cares if the Thai word "koy" is misspelled? I know many so called Thai speakers who think this word means "have" or "used to", as in "I have been there", "I have eaten it before". 

There was even a poster here years ago called, "ajarn", who had been learning Thai for many years didn't know this Thai word meaning "not very".

 

But go ahead all you people living in Thailand, who can't communicate in Thai, and criticize the Thais ability at speaking English as after all they should, shouldn't they?

 

If they are not interested in a well paid career in engineering, science or medicine then for sure there is no reason for them to learn english.

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That, the teacher says is because "penis" means "urination" (transliterated as "piss" in the Thai letters.

 

There English is so bad because they where never taking to an really NES teacher.

Where are your're badroom?   

 

   

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I was surprised to find that a waitress, in a restaurant that I frequent here in Chiang Mai, spoke excellent English and understood it even when spoken pretty fast. In the end I asked her where she had leaned to speak the language so well.

 

Answer: "at school".

I replied  "Here in Chiang Mai?".

"No in Burma, where I was brought up" she answered.

 

I have noticed that the Burmese do seem to speak stunningly good English compared to the Thais.

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1 hour ago, LawrenceN said:

My wife (who is Thai) got her doctorate from the University of Missouri (where we met) and taught ESL in Wisconsin public schools for 20 years. She could never understand my friend Bob who is from somewhere east of Liverpool. Sorry, that's the best I can do. The geography of England is not my strong suit, never been there.

 

Nobody understands scoucers (Liverpudlians ) not even other ones

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8 minutes ago, paulbj2 said:

I was surprised to find that a waitress, in a restaurant that I frequent here in Chiang Mai, spoke excellent English and understood it even when spoken pretty fast. In the end I asked her where she had leaned to speak the language so well.

 

Answer: "at school".

I replied  "Here in Chiang Mai?".

"No in Burma, where I was brought up" she answered.

 

I have noticed that the Burmese do seem to speak stunningly good English compared to the Thais.

Because they used to be British.

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It's not just Thailand that has dubious teachers of English. My French girlfriend's father bought a really expensive English course and he couldn't understand why, when I looked at it, I couldn't stop laughing. It contained such unforgettable gems as:

 

"We breakfasted upon boiled leg of mutton..."

and perhaps the best:

"I fear the weather may be inclement today, perhaps we should take our waterproofs"

 

Who, today, uses "to breakfast" as a verb

 

 

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1 hour ago, naiharn said:

Who cares? Presumably Thais studying at university who expect Thai text not to contain careless mistakes (even if that is a forlorn hope for text in English).

 

Also, the (presumably foreign) people living in Thailand, who, according to you, can't communicate in Thai, are not being paid to teach the Thai language at University level.

 

 

 

 

I have no idea what you're trying to say here.

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2 hours ago, bark said:

I would love to see if there is any difference, if the kids are taught by Foreign English Teachers as compared to Thai 's.

My bet is not very much.

Visit remote hill tribe villages. They often have native English speaking missionary teachers. The children speak much better English, have a better pronunciation and don't fear chatting with English speaking people as most Thai village children taught by Thai teachers do. You will hear the difference immediately.

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25 minutes ago, TGIR said:

Four pages of comments and not a single commentator has thought to mention the

abysmal translations of Thai to English in most any dictionary or reference material.  As an example, Thais invariably cannot make an R sound to save their life, but looking at any written reference to translated Thai you will find an abundance of words that use "R" in the translation.  How would one even make that mistake if one was educated properly in both languages?

 

In addition, American English is used worldwide as the learning and speaking standard for Business (sorry Brits), but clearly most transliteration is done in what we call "old English".  Not only would this be confusing to an English speaking person, but imagine what is does to a Thai learning English.

 

Lastly, from the number of grammatical and spelling mistakes I see every day on Thai Visa, most of us would be quite unqualified to make a claim to speaking or writing perfect English, and even worse when attempting Thai, written or verbal.  Bashing Thais for their unacceptable language skills is absurd.  How many English speaking expats do you think can read or speak Thai fluently?  I'd bet on a percentage basis not many.

 

They transliterate written Thai, not what people pronounce, and R is a common consonant. Most Thai can pronounce a trilled R when challenged and in good health, otherwise they just say 'L', and the letter L is tossed out completely.

 

You might be interested to know that Thai is a perfect phonetic language, words are pronounced (well, can be) exactly as written with tones and long/short syllables. English is a bastard language and impossible to pronounce from spelling. This confuses everyone, including Thai.

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4 hours ago, Dexlowe said:

The printer may very well have made mistakes -- sometimes deliberate, as in several examples I can give of printers and others, in their supreme arrogance, changing my copy because they thought they were right and I was wrong (despite strict instructions to alter nothing). But it doesn't excuse the fact that the professor (or whoever) had a responsibility to check the final version of the study program before it was printed/published. After all, it's their reputation on the line (not that they seem to care, sadly).

 

..bloody CANNON printers.

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5 hours ago, jpinx said:

There are so many versions of English (Spanish also) that it is hard to know where to set the standard, but there is no doubt that most Thai "English Teachers" are hard pressed to have a conversation in English with a native UK English speaker.

Really? And after 15 years of teaching I only thought there was 1 standard English version.

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How many here play with their penis rather than tennis? Just need to know, 'luv u long time' and 'we go to ATM now' and ' my family very sick need $3000 a month' or 'cow dead, need new one'. That will get most girls by. Most guys should keep playing with their penis to avoid these extravagant extras.

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4 hours ago, Johnniey said:

Actually, it should be, "Are you an Englander?"

 

Can't really criticize, as Americans(a couple with PhD's) that I've known for years call me English even thought they know I'm from Scotland.

 

Thairat seem to like posting troll topics these days. A shame as I used to read it often.

 

 

Englander is a slang word used to refer to English expats who do not make an attempt to assimilate into the local culture, the word you are looking for is English, its actually amazing that you were confused!

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13 minutes ago, rabas said:

You might be interested to know that Thai is a perfect phonetic language, words are pronounced (well, can be) exactly as written with tones and long/short syllables.

Not true. You won't be able to  pronounce more than 80% of Thai words correctly if you don't know how they have to be pronounced. Many of these words have their roots in Sanskrit/Pali language. 

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1 hour ago, TGIR said:

Four pages of comments and not a single commentator has thought to mention the

abysmal translations of Thai to English in most any dictionary or reference material.  As an example, Thais invariably cannot make an R sound to save their life, but looking at any written reference to translated Thai you will find an abundance of words that use "R" in the translation.  How would one even make that mistake if one was educated properly in both languages?

 

In addition, American English is used worldwide as the learning and speaking standard for Business (sorry Brits), but clearly most transliteration is done in what we call "old English".  Not only would this be confusing to an English speaking person, but imagine what is does to a Thai learning English.

 

Lastly, from the number of grammatical and spelling mistakes I see every day on Thai Visa, most of us would be quite unqualified to make a claim to speaking or writing perfect English, and even worse when attempting Thai, written or verbal.  Bashing Thais for their unacceptable language skills is absurd.  How many English speaking expats do you think can read or speak Thai fluently?  I'd bet on a percentage basis not many.

 

"In addition, American English is used worldwide as the learning and speaking standard for Business (sorry Brits)"

 

Really? The European Union (just a tiny market of some 400 million souls) is standardized on English English, in India (the worlds largest English speaking country; sort of) Indian English is standard, in Australia, Australian English - should I go on?

 

American English isn't really standard anywhere except in America; just like feet, inches, gallons and all those bizarre measures aren't really used much except in the US.  

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There is a comprehensively authoritarian subset of teachers and administrators embedded in the education system. They suck up to power, cheat, connive, and aggressively utilize their positions and connections to enrich themselves at the expense of the public and their students. Some are English teachers. They are not to be challenged. That the work they produce is littered with errors, confusing and unprofessional is no surprise. The point is that they can get away with it every time.

 

They were always there, in the background, remnants of the country's military-authoritarian past. Nowadays, they are in full swing. As long as they butress the military government and act as agents to enact its socially-regressive policies to help the country return to full feudalism, their positions are secure regardless of how much quality their work lacks. Sad times in Thailand.

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1 minute ago, Shawn0000 said:

 

Really?  So you are completely unaware of the existence of official English dialects?

A dialect is not a language - it is a variety of a language and consists of a localised group [regional, social and/or ethnicity] using an evolved version which is mutually intelligible to them. All languages have dialects and they all have a standard version. Understand?

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