When english is not your first language...

[carbide]

Have you seen signs like this around Thailand?

 

[colinneil]

OP please explain what is wrong with the sign?

Road is a dual carriage way, so you have to turn left.

Nothing wrong with the sign.

[Crossy]

Agree @colinneil , apart from the spelling of "turn" that is

 

But it does demonstrate the fact that you can totally mangle English and the meaning still shines through.

 

 

[geronimo]

2 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Agree @colinneil , apart from the spelling of "turn" that is

 

But it does demonstrate the fact that you can totally mangle English and the meaning still shines through.

 

 

No right trun?

 

[colinneil]

My mistake   oops !!

[Crossy]

Just now, colinneil said:

My mistake   oops !!

 

I had to look twice

 

Someone once said that we don't read words letter by letter, we see them as a whole. So as long as the first and last letters are correct the others can be in any order and the brain unscrambles and presents us with the correct information.

 

Example https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/can-you-read

 

[colinneil]

Just now, Crossy said:

 

I had to look twice

 

Someone once said that we don't read words letter by letter, we see them as a whole. So as long as the first and last letters are correct the others can be in any order and the brain unscrambles and presents us with the correct information.

 

Example https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/can-you-read

 

 

 Problem is  Crossy, my brain is scrambled most of the day.   

[kowpot]

As long as the first and last letter are correct, you should be able to read it. It matters not what is in the middle. Of course the context of the message has a lot to  do with it.

[starky]

When English is not your first language...  It seems you are set up for life for being ridiculed by people for whom English is their first language and yet probably couldn't read one word of Thai. Bloody natives can't transliterate correctly that should be good for a laugh eh wot!  cue chance for a Thai bash and opportunity to post photos (yet again) of menus, signs and shops with spelling mistakes or poor translation ho ho ho how hilarious.. Not.

[bangkokbanjo]

Ive been here for 3 months and have learned how to read thai. Still learning but i can read that. Just takes a little effort if you're going to live here

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[brewsterbudgen]

Ive been here for 3 months and have learned how to read thai. Still learning but i can read that. Just takes a little effort if you're going to live here

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I wish I had your aptitude for languages or the time to study. 13 years living here and I still can't read a letter of Thai. Can't speak much either, but one of the benefits of living/working in Bangkok is that it's easy to get by with basic Thai.

[Kwasaki]

3 hours ago, geronimo said:

No right trun?

 

Oh come on it's close. 

[reenatinnakor]

My favourite one is "In case of fire, do not use lift".

So basically, do not use the lift!



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[Kwasaki]

8 minutes ago, reenatinnakor said:

My favourite one is "In case of fire, do not use lift".

If you like a laugh google has loads.

 

[transam]

Would have thought the actual sign says it all, you know, the red circle thingy...

[bheard]

Ive been here for 3 months and have learned how to read thai. Still learning but i can read that. Just takes a little effort if you're going to live here

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What a hero!

[nisakiman]

5 hours ago, starky said:

When English is not your first language...  It seems you are set up for life for being ridiculed by people for whom English is their first language and yet probably couldn't read one word of Thai. Bloody natives can't transliterate correctly that should be good for a laugh eh wot!  cue chance for a Thai bash and opportunity to post photos (yet again) of menus, signs and shops with spelling mistakes or poor translation ho ho ho how hilarious.. Not.

Oh, I don't know about that. Seeing humour in a mistaken translation doesn't mean that you are denigrating the translator. I may smile at some of the things I see, but it never occurs to me to think that the person who has done the translation is stupid. I'm acutely aware of how easy it is to make mistakes when you are speaking or writing in a language that isn't your mother tongue. I think that most of us who have a second language make mistakes all the time. And if people laugh at those mistakes, it's rarely in a malicious way. Thai isn't my second language - I speak only a smattering, but I do get a lot of laughs when I try. It doesn't bother me one iota.

 

Of course, there's always Google Translate....

 

 

 

 

[SiamBeast]

The top 3 that I've seen in Phuket:

 

1) In a place where motorcycles weren't allowed: Not Into Motorcycles

 

2) On the side of the road where cars can only park on odd days: No Couple Dates

 

3) In an entrance where the parking is on the right: Turd Right

[Thongkorn]

Maybe Dislexic .

[starky]

8 hours ago, nisakiman said:

Oh, I don't know about that. Seeing humour in a mistaken translation doesn't mean that you are denigrating the translator. I may smile at some of the things I see, but it never occurs to me to think that the person who has done the translation is stupid. I'm acutely aware of how easy it is to make mistakes when you are speaking or writing in a language that isn't your mother tongue. I think that most of us who have a second language make mistakes all the time. And if people laugh at those mistakes, it's rarely in a malicious way. Thai isn't my second language - I speak only a smattering, but I do get a lot of laughs when I try. It doesn't bother me one iota.

 

Of course, there's always Google Translate....

 

 

 

 

Agreed. My point was though that a lot, I would say, of the people that like to bag those with ESL can neither speak, read or write any language but English so it is a bash IMO. I don't know maybe I'm just getting a bit over this forum as it seems recently most threads by the 2nd or 3rd post just denigrate into epic Thai bashes about how stupid, in no particular order: Thais are, their police are, their religion is, the road rules etc. and not a lot of it seems good humoured or non- malicious to me. Cheers

[lanng khao]

Maybe Dislexic .

I only found out i was dyslexic when i went to a Toga party dressed as a goat..

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[simon43]

Have you seen signs like this around Thailand?

 

Staying for a few days in an unfamiliar town, I read this post, spotted the typo, then walked to the nearby supermarket and saw this very sign (I think).

 

It is at the exit of the Villa Market/Index Living Mall car park in north Hue Hin, near to soi 25.

 

Is that correct?  Where do I collect my prize?

[simon43]

I only found out i was dyslexic when i went to a Toga party dressed as a goat..

 

LoL, brilliant!!

[Andrew Dwyer]

Make of this what you will !!
Wat Khao Takiap , Hua Hin

[Speedo1968]

Guess we all have an off day.

[balo]

[Katia]

^ Actually, that's how some native speakers of English write, too!

 

(I had a coworker who would drive me nuts with her random quotation marks and capitalization.  She probably would have written, Please do "not" "sit" on the Railing.)

[geronimo]

On 4/13/2017 at 3:10 PM, Speedo1968 said:

Guess we all have an off day.

Its an abbreviation for Stop On The Place I think .........

 

[daveAustin]

On 4/12/2017 at 9:03 AM, kowpot said:

As long as the first and last letter are correct, you should be able to read it. It matters not what is in the middle. Of course the context of the message has a lot to  do with it.

So if I were to spell Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch as Lknnnffnofnmmmpodfphyutihcnlnsjncknlnlnf-koowmcbnkcnkwurgh, you would know where I'm talking about? 

 

/edit: I guess we're talking about English, right. //

[kowpot]

3 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

So if I were to spell Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch as Lknnnffnofnmmmpodfphyutihcnlnsjncknlnlnf-koowmcbnkcnkwurgh, you would know where I'm talking about? 

 

/edit: I guess we're talking about English, right. //

What is the context of the message? It also has to have the correct amount of letters and yes we are talking about english. Though it may work for some other languages, I am not sure..............