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


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20 minutes ago, kaorop said:

Ummm no .... I know plenty who are far from dumb and am generally understood by many when I speak my quite limited but reasonbly accurate Thai. But as far as pump attendants go, then yes, they seem to be thick as 2 planks..

Not dumb, but lazy. At least that's what Thai teachers and coordinators tell me: "I was very lazy back in school, and so are the students still today..." (Again, that's what the Thais say about themselves.)

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42 minutes ago, kaorop said:

Ummm no .... I know plenty who are far from dumb and am generally understood by many when I speak my quite limited but reasonbly accurate Thai. But as far as pump attendants go, then yes, they seem to be thick as 2 planks..

A lot of pump attendants these days are not Thai but hail from countries next to Thailand

 

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I guess it depends on what kind of tourism somebody wants.  When I go to visit a foreign country, I don't expect them to do things the way things are done in my home country!  Gosh if I wanted that, there would be no reason to go visit the foreign country. It is their country.  I am more than satisfied with the amount of english spoken in Thailand.  Yes sometimes communication is a problem.  But it is not too difficult to get some help or proper translation.  That is just my point of view as a single tourist.  Those big tour groups have different wants and needs, and  get that.  But I do agree that the English taught their is done horribly and without conviction.

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19 minutes ago, jvs said:

A lot of pump attendants these days are not Thai but hail from countries next to Thailand

 

  lm aware of such things and i can often pick khmer and burmese workers theze days. See enough dangerously crammed into the back of speeding pick ups early mornings or late afternoons.

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On 11/3/2017 at 7:01 PM, 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.

I totally agree. The monumental height of apathy amongst the locals here continues to astound me. 

 

Most of which live under a lid of ignorance / incompetence deliberately driven by those at the top of town. 

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On 11/3/2017 at 7:44 PM, 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.

Yes, seminomadic , me too have a feeling that this would happen in the future, I believe if the cost of spending holidays or taking tours in Thailand become expensive then it will certainly start to loose tourists. Today the tours in Thailand are very cheap compare to say, Malaysia, or Singapore the two potential rivals to Thailand, and English is their second language. Tourists may say I will go where I could understand their English and where they understand when I speak to them, so I could have a more meaningful conversation. That wouldn't be Thailand would it?

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The Tyranny of the English Language rearing its ugly head again. Now then, this Anglo Saxon dialect which was once a dialect somewhere along the Thames (it's true I read a book on it about how english became prominent in its early days), today it has its stranglehold on the neck of just about every country.

They really squeeze your neck hard. If you are not good in English you loose out in many prospects, business opportunities, etc., 

"La tyrannie de la language Anglais", Merde.( for the french to read)

Thailand was such a lovely country before tourists came in large numbers, now if the Thais really become good in English then their manners and characters will change in subtle ways some become good (in terms of manners and character) some would become unpleasant. Why this happen I don't know.

30 years ago when I first went to London I was very surprised by the Indians who were born there or emigrated there from very young age.  They were very pleasant to talk to and they appeared to be very gentlemen in the British ways. I still think they are wonderful people in London. Of course I have experienced with Indians in other places to see the differences.

The English Language may destroy Thailand all together. I suggest they learn french , why? Well, as an anti-dote to the "Tyranny of The English Language".

 

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It happened quite a few years ago, when I asked a teacher for english conversation "how do you do?". I got fancy looks until I asked "how are you?". Oh yes, well, that's life. Thanks god, nor english neither thai is my native language.

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6 minutes ago, hkt83100 said:

It happened quite a few years ago, when I asked a teacher for english conversation "how do you do?". I got fancy looks until I asked "how are you?". Oh yes, well, that's life. Thanks god, nor english neither thai is my native language.

Never understood the how do you do myself. Do what? If you must know, by using my right hand. Probably. Strange question.

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42 minutes ago, madusa said:

 

The English Language may destroy Thailand all together. I suggest they learn french , why? Well, as an anti-dote to the "Tyranny of The English Language".

 

Because Laos and Vietnam did so well. Can't argue with their bread making skills, though.

 

However I propose Thais should start using Finnish as their official language. Would make me a proper hi-so here, that.

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On 11/3/2017 at 10:47 PM, chickenslegs said:

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.

 

You right on the spot, chickenslegs. The famous Irish poet "George Bernard Shaw" during his time had lamented that the English language had declined badly. He said the English language had declined so badly it was like a man who failed and he drinks, because he drinks he fails all the more, reinforcing the problem.

I was told many school boys in England cannot write a sentence without grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. Why are we complaining about the Thais who don't speak Thai language correctly ??

Building the Babel Tower in Thailand is an endless task. I love the Thai Language whether it is spoken correctly or not by the Thais.

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25 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Because Laos and Vietnam did so well. Can't argue with their bread making skills, though.

 

However I propose Thais should start using Finnish as their official language. Would make me a proper hi-so here, that.

Laos & Vietnam are God forsaken countries, you are looking at the wrong countries., Oh no, if Finnish became the official language it will finish off the Thais wouldn't it? Imagine, a Thai saying to a farang, "you speaking finnish?",  & the farang says to his wife, "Darling, this guy is rude, he just told me to shut up". See what I mean?

Dr, are you the aborigine of Finland? I was told the aborigines of Finland have Asiatic eyes and straight hairs?

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.....slanting a tad off topic is the very real fault of Thai educational system---lack of earth sciences. No map reading skills. No understanding how the seasons work. Many kon Thai head to Sweden to work in the greenhouses, picking strawberries at all times of the year to support their family's insatiable financial demands. I knew this slender young female who was heading north to Sweden in late September. I mentioned the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. She laughed hysterically that "...nightime hours would be longer than daylight hours." I was her and her friend's entertainment for an hour.

 

I further entertained them friend by taking out a Sharpie pen and drawing on an orange to depict latitutde and longitude, concepts absolutely out of the mental capabilities of most kon Thai. More laughter.

 

They ended my explanation by taking "...Kon Burgdawg, everyone knows that the sun comes up at 6am and sets at 6pm throughout the world. About a month later, I rec'd a LINE message that said "..."where did the sun go?"

Tough to fix stupid.

Now for sheer humour, try explaining "compound interest" as well as "budget." If you look up the word "'budget," there is a paragraph dedicated to the concept of "tomorrow."

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8 hours ago, chang1 said:

I agree, it's not the number of native speakers that's important, it's the total number of speakers who have some ability to use a language to get by. English is by far more popular than mandarin. 

As a tourist I don't find English is a problem in Thailand but tourists who lack basic English skills will struggle to find any other languages spoken by Thais. Which is what I think he is highlighting.

It's a fact that NES are outnumbered by NNES and that will of course have dramatical changes. If the majority of Non native English speakers then decide to create new words, these words will be in a new printed dictionary and NES will be less important in the future.

 

   NNES teachers who've learned English as a second language might be easier to understand than some Brits from Liverpool, or any other areas where the language isn't really spoken, it's more some mumbled words that are sometimes really hard to understand when you're not from the area. And even people from the same country have their problems to follow certain conversations. .

 

  In the end it's not about having students who all in a sudden start to speak the Queen's English, the language will be more simplified to a point that NNES speakers can understand each other.

 

  English as a global language will be used by the majority and there's no way that English, American, Aussies, New Zealanders, and perhaps some South Africans people will be asked how to pronounce a word correctly. Take these countries and you might hear five different pronunciations of the same word.  

 

 In education it will be more important that students and people in general can communicate in English, but that won't be in British. neither in American, nor in any other native English language.

 

The times where people believed that learning English from a Native English speaker would be the creme' de; la' creme' are fading away. There's enough material online to read about the so called Majority English that will be spoken by way more people than native English speakers.

 

And what exactly does all of this mean for native speakers of English? Well, they are already in a minority. If the calculations are correct, then in only a few years, majority speakers, that is non native English speakers, will outnumber native English speakers by four to one. The two most important Englishes won’t be British English and American English. They’ll be Native English and Majority English.

 

So, basically native English speakers will be handicapped. They will be the only people in the world who speak just one language. Because there won’t be much of a reason for native English speakers to learn a second language.

 

The native English speakers, and not the Majority English speakers will be the disadvantaged.

 

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16 hours ago, RotMahKid said:

No it's Mandarin - 1026 million speakers  and English 765 million.

I think you will find that he was alluding to the fact that proficiency in English is mandatory in shipping, aviation, science, engineering, computing, medicine and law. Got nothing to do with the number of speakers sorry mate.

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16 hours ago, burgdawg said:

Thailand is a Nation of Children, get used to it.

Oh my goodness, what a demeaning and rude thing to say to your hosts!

I have noticed however that young and middle-aged folks in Cambodia and Vietnam do, in general, speak much better English (and some French, and some Chinese) far more than the average Thai. Thailand  has been a far less "colonized" country than any of those of "Indochina" but that may not account for the whole reason that Thailand lags in language skills. I would agree that it is most likely linked to an educational system which has not kept up with modern times, involving not only language skills but STEM education as well.

 

I must say though that I am equally shocked by the number of Thailand's long-term guests who speak little or no Thai, even after having been here many years, even decades. What about that lack of language skills? It needs to be attended to as well. Hit the books, folks!

 

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5 minutes ago, kaorop said:

  lm aware of such things and i can often pick khmer and burmese workers theze days. See enough dangerously crammed into the back of speeding pick ups early mornings or late afternoons.

Perhaps in Bangkok. Here in the North-East they are mostly locals.

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2 hours ago, Marc K said:

Oh my goodness, what a demeaning and rude thing to say to your hosts!

I have noticed however that young and middle-aged folks in Cambodia and Vietnam do, in general, speak much better English (and some French, and some Chinese) far more than the average Thai. Thailand  has been a far less "colonized" country than any of those of "Indochina" but that may not account for the whole reason that Thailand lags in language skills. I would agree that it is most likely linked to an educational system which has not kept up with modern times, involving not only language skills but STEM education as well.

 

I must say though that I am equally shocked by the number of Thailand's long-term guests who speak little or no Thai, even after having been here many years, even decades. What about that lack of language skills? It needs to be attended to as well. Hit the books, folks!

 

A big difference between learning thai and learning another EU language is if you slightly mangle the pronunciation of a word in europe it will most likely be understood, in Thailand that doesn't happen.

Eg, a friend in BKK once asked where I was working at the time and I answered  Bow Vin ( Bo-vin ) he had no idea where I was talking about, he's from Rayong, trying to explain more by saying, on the 331 road between Ban Chang and Ban Bueng just caused blank looks.

Later on, much later on, he mentioned the name himself and called it Baw Vin. It seems Bow Vin doesn't exist as a place or words.

If my wife pronounces a word a little bit wrong in english it can still be understood, Edinburgh 

( Edinburg??? ) The Glaswegian pronunciation, Embra especially when used with reference to Prince Phillip as the 'ChookyEmbra' may be a bit more difficult to get your head around, just give it a minute and yillgitit. ?

Thai has too many letters and tones and allows simple mistakes to way over complicate things.

 

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