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Thais' lack of ability at foreign languages holding back tourism, says top minister


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Thais' lack of ability at foreign languages holding back tourism, says top minister

 

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Thais have been criticized by one of their own for not being able to communicate well in foreign languages.

 

Deputy PM Thanasak Patimaprakorn said that this inability was holding back tourism development in many sectors, especially the cruise boat market.

 

Thanasak was speaking after the results of a survey conducted by the Tourism and Sports Ministry, the tourism industry association and an investment group were announced. 

 

The survey was conducted concerning the cruise ship market and noted that while business for Laem Chabang and Koh Samui was doing well Pheket had lost its way.

 

Phuket - once considered one of the prime locations for visiting ships in Asia - was now lagging far behind, reported Thai Rath.

 

The influential news organization screamed in its headline that the reason for this was Thais were so weak at foreign languages.

 

The minister said that inability to communicate with foreigners was cited as one of two main reasons for the pleasure boat business in Phuket to be floundering. The other was poor service not matching the requirements of international travelers on cruise liners.

 

Thai Rath said that these kinds of tourists were needed as they spent an average of 6,174 baht a day. 

 

And the cruise boat market was one of the fastest growing sectors with the Thais wanting to see a large slice of the action.

 

But language ability as well as poor service was holding them back.

 

Source: https://www.thairath.co.th/content/1115645

 
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-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-11-3
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My wife's aunt was an English teacher for years, can hardly speak a word. In my village I have been asked a few times to teach but I won't risk my retirement visa. I have offered to chat, the kid can come over (as long as my wife is home), we'll sit on the porch and speak in English. No one has ever taken me up on it.

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It's not like tourism is exactly bad in Thailand them being pretty much #1 and all; however, it could be so much better.

 

I think it's only a matter of time before another viably comfortable, convenient tropical Asian country with nice beaches etc. pulls ahead in creative thinking vis a vis their own tourism industry along with English and Chinese skills not to mention service-mindedness (meaning beyond just the 5-star hotels) to take the brass ring from the complacent Thais.

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All because Thailand is basically an inward looking country with a local superiority complex and an educational system that is in dire need of reforming due to consistently lagging behind it's local piers. However, dream on for change as too many vested interests and the Chinese-Thai elite will have none of it due to them needing an unquestioning slave class to provide cheap labour. Ironically, although people rightly complain about the education system here, it actually does a very good job regarding what it was really designed to do...which is controversial and archaic, working as intended. 

 

Ditch the patronage system, enforce the law, allow critical and free thinking, stop the coups and and hose down the government stables with bleach so as to create a fairer society...and you might have some chance of that and a myriad of other things minister (yeah, right). I could go on, but it would be patronizing to TV members to do so.

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I became acquainted with a Thai/American brother and sister at a university where I worked. They are fluent in both Thai and English, having an American mother and a Thai father. They both tell me that a large percentage of Thais do not even speak their own language correctly, which leads to any number of misunderstandings. Comments?

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46 minutes ago, Chip Allen said:

I became acquainted with a Thai/American brother and sister at a university where I worked. They are fluent in both Thai and English, having an American mother and a Thai father. They both tell me that a large percentage of Thais do not even speak their own language correctly, which leads to any number of misunderstandings. Comments?

Absolutely right! Communication Thai to Thai is an entire misunderstanding when it goes further than "aroi", "sabai" and "suai". My theorie is that they don't really listen, thinking they already know what the sender is telling them.

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Nothing to do with the language, that is just an excuse...

 

Perhaps the farangs got fed up with filthy beaches,  dual pricing, being considered just as a walking ATM, getting cheated  by the taxi/tuk tuk mafia, getting harrassed by immigration etc. etc....look in a bit deeper boys and read TVF regularly...it is a golden source of governance .. :cheesy::sorry::welcomeani:

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1 hour ago, Chip Allen said:

I became acquainted with a Thai/American brother and sister at a university where I worked. They are fluent in both Thai and English, having an American mother and a Thai father. They both tell me that a large percentage of Thais do not even speak their own language correctly, which leads to any number of misunderstandings. Comments?

Yeap. My misus won’t ask for assistance in shops because she gets so frustrated with staff speaking drivel or being incoherrant. 

 

I remember my ex gf would speak to her fellow Thais. They’d speak for a while so I’d be curious to know what two complete strangers could have to talk about. She’d often say they weren’t making any sense. That wasn't the most confusing part. The most confusing part is how two strangers could have such a lengthy conversation and walk away from it with zero curiousity as to what it was all about. 

 

That’s the problem in a culture where you’re not supposed to ask questions. It seriously stunts development when not understanding something is the norm. You don’t even care to understand anymore. 

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Their lack of language skills isn't just holding back the Tourism sector. It is holding back the entire country and all its business areas. I set up offices all over Asia, China and the Middle East, but in 18 months here, I was unable to recruit a single local with the language ability I needed, that was freely available everywhere else. We closed the office. That was 10 years ago. Nothing has changed.

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44 minutes ago, Just1Voice said:

Here's something funny/interesting/sad.  My adopted Thai son is a Thai Language Teacher and, according to him, over half of his students can't even speak Thai semi correctly, and their writing of it is even worse. 

I think the literacy rates would be terrible. But they would never be published without doctoring.

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3 minutes ago, kaorop said:

I think the literacy rates would be terrible. But they would never be published without doctoring.

But what totally ticks him off is that he's not allowed to fail anyone, yet tells me that if he could, he would probably fail over half his students. 

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3 minutes ago, Just1Voice said:

But what totally ticks him off is that he's not allowed to fail anyone, yet tells me that if he could, he would probably fail over half his students. 

I think the complexity of the language and the word into word written form must contribute. This also plays into the "keeping 'them' down" system. In a book i have it say Thai has 23,000 possible syllables where as Cantonese has 3,400 that cant be easy.

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that is an excuse...if thais treated foringers with true respect ,the bhat was it its true value,and a smile meant more than an old slogan..then a vacation in Thailand with the family would be a memorable experience...but filthy beaches and smoke belching tour buses and over priced beach chairs,have sealed the coffin shut...Thailand is dead...tonight loi graton was pathetic..beach rd was almost empty....but they can always build another mall..

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They are not serious.

Very few TV programs or films made in English are broadcast with Thai subtitles.

Most interestingly, with the King today and his much revered father both able to speak English, why have they never been shown doing so?  What a missed opportunity to show how it is useful, modern, important and done by those they look up to.

Thailand No. 1

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2 hours ago, Chip Allen said:

I became acquainted with a Thai/American brother and sister at a university where I worked. They are fluent in both Thai and English, having an American mother and a Thai father. They both tell me that a large percentage of Thais do not even speak their own language correctly, which leads to any number of misunderstandings. Comments?

I hate to be one of the "it happens everywhere" brigade ...

 

But, I guess that a large percentage of people in most western countries do not speak their own language "correctly".

 

Some of the accents and dialects in the UK are completely undecipherable to me. The US has some proper doozies too.

 

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18 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

All because Thailand is basically an inward looking country with a local superiority complex and an educational system that is in dire need of reforming due to consistently lagging behind it's local piers. However, dream on for change as too many vested interests and the Chinese-Thai elite will have none of it due to them needing an unquestioning slave class to provide cheap labour. Ironically, although people rightly complain about the education system here, it actually does a very good job regarding what it was really designed to do...which is controversial and archaic, working as intended. 

 

Ditch the patronage system, enforce the law, allow critical and free thinking, stop the coups and and hose down the government stables with bleach so as to create a fairer society...and you might have some chance of that and a myriad of other things minister (yeah, right). I could go on, but it would be patronizing to TV members to do so.

Good luck! As much as I agree with every point you've made, it's a total waste of breath. The only thing keeping this place afloat is that people looking into traveling this far already know everywhere south of here is too muslim for comfort, and Burma and Cambodia are still totally <deleted>. Laos is nice, but a landlocked country... And equally <deleted> governmentally. Thailand will cruise along as long the other places stay down. Thais don't have to work hard. Why?

They can skate by doing barely anything. The people will still come. We did...

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Myanmar (Burma) has a hell of a lot more costal area on the Adaman Sea than Thailand does, and some big name hotels are already starting to invest there.  At their current rate, if the Myanmar government stays stable, in 10 years, or less, then will kill Thailands "beach front property" holidays, if they manage it right. 

 

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4 hours ago, seminomadic said:

It's not like tourism is exactly bad in Thailand them being pretty much #1 and all; however, it could be so much better.

 

I think it's only a matter of time before another viably comfortable, convenient tropical Asian country with nice beaches etc. pulls ahead in creative thinking vis a vis their own tourism industry along with English and Chinese skills not to mention service-mindedness (meaning beyond just the 5-star hotels) to take the brass ring from the complacent Thais.

Vietnam is doing quite well on that side of things so far.

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Who is this guy? Well, Wikipedia had the answer:

 

Patimaprakorn served as Thailand's chief of defense forces from 2011 to 2014. In this position, he oversaw combat readiness and commanded military operations in all three branches of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. His position was at the top of the military chain of command, although in practice he remained subordinate to army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha.

 

The old saying that people shouldn't throw rocks when sitting in a glasshouse comes to mind. A fast Google search and we know who we are dealing with. Mr Patimaprakorn doesn't speak English, or any other second language.

 

Criticising "the Thai people for not being able to communicate well in a foreign language" makes him to a better joke.

 

 How can soldiers in all important positions achieve anything in the educational, or any other sectors? Don't they learn how to use weapons and how to defend a country?

 

 The military junta makes jokes about the uneducated folks to which they belong to, me thinks. The only educated PM I a sort of liked was a well educated guy who went to Oxford.

 

  The Ministry of Education should have Abhisit as their boss, and not a soldier who's befriended with an oxymoron. Then things might change in apositive way and a foreseeable time. 

 

The problem has to be solved starting at the roots and Thai English teachers should really start to teach their kids English by speaking in English to them. To let them copy stuff of the board and study grammar rules nobody understands, doesn't make much sense.

 

   From a bright grade eight student in October 2017 : "Thai students have to learn a lot of difficult grammar and rules, but they don't have the needed vocabulary to use it." Students should fail if they don't succeed and students must be allowed to ask their English teachers questions without anybody losing face.

 

 Until now, there's an unwritten law by the MoE that students from primary to high school level are not allowed to ask their teachers any questions if they don't understand something.

 

And that's in all subjects, not just in English. Common sense? Nope. 

 

 It's never in favor for others when soldiers rule a country.  

 

 

The joke.jpg

The man.jpg

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But, I guess that a large percentage of people in most western countries do not speak their own language "correctly".
 
Some of the accents and dialects in the UK are completely undecipherable to me. The US has some proper doozies too.


Not talking about regional dialects. Native speakers can usually deal with those by paying attention to context.

My Thai brothers in law told me something similar a few years ago, but I thought they were just joking. Now that I’ve seen the same thing mentioned in this discussion, I went back to ask them for more detail. They say they spend a lot of time in their conversations “mopping up” misunderstandings and explaining themselves three or four times in different ways because they often don’t ‘get’ each other’s meanings well enough the first or second time.

That must be exhausting. I’ve always wondered what my in laws are talking about for hours at a time. Now I understand the language becomes cumbersome whenever fine points and details are needed.
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1 hour ago, Just1Voice said:

Myanmar (Burma) has a hell of a lot more costal area on the Adaman Sea than Thailand does, and some big name hotels are already starting to invest there.  At their current rate, if the Myanmar government stays stable, in 10 years, or less, then will kill Thailands "beach front property" holidays, if they manage it right. 

 

Correct, Many Countries are investing in Burma, now, Myanmar, China Germany Italian , they are cueing up to invest,

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