Thailand falls to 74th place in EF English Proficiency Index 2019

[BobbyL]

2 hours ago, nickstav said:

I found English proficiency to be quite good in Cambodia, but I've only been to tourist areas. But in those areas I actually thought they were more proficient than Thais.

Agreed. I would say the same from when I went to Myanmar, both of which rank lower than Thailand on that study. 

[mok199]

5 hours ago, BobbyL said:

full Thai language using a Latin alphabet to school kids

Anyone who has studied this language knows ...written thai is difficult , the charactrs are difficult ,with vowels on all 4 sides and no division between sentences....thai language should be in a museum with old relics and dusted off and  used in cultural events.....period

[thequietman]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Thailand needs to get it's act together, hire 25,000 foreign, native English speakers, and just suck it up and admit that they have failed miserably, their educational system is hopelessly broken, their kids are not learning much, and they are so far behind the curve, it is astonishing. Man up! Do the right thing! Help your people! For once, do something that actually benefits the common people. 

 

Also, during my trips to Indonesia, I found the locals spoke far better english than most Thais. 

Yes, I agree, but if the digonells are well educated, then they can think. If they can think, then they have opinions. If they have opinions, then they are going to speak up. If they speak up, they will depose the politicians and vote using their brains!

 

Now, does Thailand and the elites want this? Definitely not, and so the circus continues. ????

[StayinThailand2much]

Way to go to get to ranking #100. But Thailand is on the best way...

[StayinThailand2much]

2 hours ago, cnx101 said:

Worked in a school in Bangkok for a short time a few years ago, like being in the monkey house at the zoo, the kids have no interest just screaming and shouting and playing, I would never ever do this job again.

Sadly, this applies to all school subjects, not just English, with at least half the teachers being incompetent.

 

All that is taught in Thai schools is "face", absolute obedience, making more or less useless things like Krathongs, worshipping the feudal system, and 'that Westerners "stole" part of the country 160 odd years ago'...

 

I feel sorry for the kids, who, after 12 years of schooling, have hardly learnt anything, besides obedience, correct and 'beautiful' Waiing, and that the Thai teachers can hit or scream at them whenever they feel like it...

[tlandtday]

Yes the directors of the schools drive new mercs by charging ridiculous extra fees for everything to the poor thais while the govt adds restrictions for already underpaid english teachers and think they can fill the gap with non native speaking Filipinos.  No wonder their system is failing it like the garbage collection and most everything else is corrupt from the top down. And regarding Cambodia the ones who have had the opportunity to learn english are good speakers.

[DrTuner]

6 hours ago, Langkawee said:

The English are not good at English. Even the Dutch score better on these proficiency tests. 

Yeah, they speak British. Near incomprehensible. 

 

There's a de facto "international English" language now. Very little accent, clearly spoken and mostly based on US English. 

[ramrod711]

8 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Their method is all wrong, far too much emphasis on grammar and book ticking, and nowhere near enough on actual speaking and learning vocabulary

I don't want to be a cynic, the truth is that they don't care. Thais are not stupid, they just don't see a need.Years ago my neighbor asked me to teach his son, I told him that my visa does not allow me to teach but his son was more than welcome to come over and practice his english with me. His son couldn't be bothered, went to school, got a good government job. See, no need.

[ben2talk]

11 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

However, the wealth of school directors has probably reached number 1 !

Their wealth comes well before bringing the best out of the students, by paying for proper teachers, especially in Government schools.

But also their 'rules' take precedence over finding teachers with good skills - focusing almost entirely on processing paperwork and eliminating candidates by the bucketload.

[Saint Nick]

25 minutes ago, ramrod711 said:

I don't want to be a cynic, the truth is that they don't care. Thais are not stupid, they just don't see a need.Years ago my neighbor asked me to teach his son, I told him that my visa does not allow me to teach but his son was more than welcome to come over and practice his english with me. His son couldn't be bothered, went to school, got a good government job. See, no need.

...and it is not likely, that this "clever" laziness will bite them in the behind, one day?

Is it still clever, when - due to ASEAN rules - borders fall and the english speakers from all over the area compete with you for a job...and run circles around you?

As always: no forward thinking, whatsoever! 

[GinBoy2]

This has been a topic discussed so many times it's depressing to read.

 

When we moved to Thailand from Singapore, my son was fluent and literate in English. 

 

Now as a disclosure we moved to Thailand against the better judgement of my Thai wife.

 

So we put the kid in what I thought was a pretty decent private school in Khon Kaen.

 

It was depressing and humorous at the same time to read the 'corrections' to his English homework.

 

The problem is that the teachers can barely speak the language, then as with my son, they punish him for correcting their terrible English.

 

Quite the educational system!

[mok199]

2 hours ago, ramrod711 said:

Thais are not stupid,

When I hear the same sentence used to say ''' I am going to eat'' or ''I am going home'' or ''your child is smart"" etc etc etc without fail each and every time, by every single thai person, regardless of their education , I know one thing,thai language is ''limited'',''boring '', ''primitive'' and ''repetitive'' .......it is a totally ''function based language'' if the speaker is ok with that small vocabulary ,then fine for them..  I am not ,and I want better for my thai children...

[Sagauro]

I can't believe this myth of a NES teacher as being the paragon of English still persists. I can't think of any country, be it in Europe or elsewhere, that bases teaching English at schools on NES. It's such an absurd and obtuse notion. 

It's obvious that Thailand desperately needs qualified THAI teachers of English, the same way it works in every other country, where natives teacher English as a foreign language at schools in their own countries.

[gimo]

10 hours ago, EricTh said:

Ironically, most Thai schools actually hire native English speakers to teach English unlike the schools in Singapore and Malaysia which hire non-native English speakers i.e. locals.

 

       I think most of the non native English speaking teachers in Singapore , have spent a considerable amount of time studying in western countries , unlike the average Thai teachers who teach English here . Less need for native speakers under those circumstances .

[Bangkokazy]

I have stopped caring if the Thai can English.
I have a picture book with me. I'm just pointing to a picture.
Should I have beer and smoke, I point to the picture of a bottle of beer and a pack of smoke.
I have a shirt with maps on where I live. It says on the back it drives me home if I sleep outside

[StayinThailand2much]

59 minutes ago, mok199 said:

When I hear the same sentence used to say ''' I am going to eat'' or ''I am going home'' or ''your child is smart"" etc etc etc without fail each and every time, by every single thai person, regardless of their education , I know one thing,thai language is ''limited'',''boring '', ''primitive'' and ''repetitive'' .......it is a totally ''function based language'' if the speaker is ok with that small vocabulary ,then fine for them..  I am not ,and I want better for my thai children...

It fits well with their 'boring' life: "'What do you like to drink?' - 'Water.'", "'What are your hobbies?' - 'Sleeping...'", "'If you could choose the age at which you die...' - '60.'", "'What do you want to be/do when you grow up/leave school?' (questions for high school students) - '...'" (shrug)...

[emptypockets]

Bit of a slap in the face to the many English teachers who are members of this forum.

[metisdead]

Some troll posts and the replies have been removed. 

[somtumwrong]

4 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Yeah, they speak British. Near incomprehensible. 

 

There's a de facto "international English" language now. Very little accent, clearly spoken and mostly based on US English. 

I agree. Went today with wife and kid to a kindergarden ("campus") in Sathorn (BKK), and there was this teacher from the UK with a horrible British accent. I myself speak a very clear international version of English that is very easy for everyone to understand, and would prefer the teacher to speak the 'international English' as you pointed out. Her British English (can you call it like that?) sounded very low class, surely she was none. But I notice that native English speakers soon drop their accents (UK) or their overly loud use of voice (US) or both (AUS hehe) once they move e.g. to Northern or Central Europe, and start to speak more "international English". To be honest (don't want to intimidate anyone), they sound much smarter in the IT / business world once they do that. The same applies in many countries domestically (drop Isaan dialect, drop Bavarian accent, etc.)

[EricTh]

45 minutes ago, gimo said:

       I think most of the non native English speaking teachers in Singapore , have spent a considerable amount of time studying in western countries , unlike the average Thai teachers who teach English here . Less need for native speakers under those circumstances .

 

Can you give me a percentage as to how many native English teachers versus Thai teachers teach English in Thailand?

 

Wherever I go in Chiang Mai city, I only see native English teachers. Not sure about the rest of the country.

 

[DavisH]

12 hours ago, Langkawee said:

The hearts of the elite will be overjoyed that English is getting worse. Native speakers don't speak English very well these days so that's no longer the solution. Philippinos speak better English than most native speakers from my observations. 

troll

[RedPill]

Som man na 

 

Bangkok 2015

 

"BANGKOK: -- Although Thailand ranked at the very bottom of the English Proficiency Index by EF, the government's next move is to cut back on hiring foreign English teachers and have Thais teach English to Thais."

 

You reap what you seed. I'm truly sorry for the new generation Thai kids not able to speak a single sentence of basic english.

Mission accomplished. Keep the people down and in control. It's a brain dead education system.

 

 

 

 

[DavisH]

21 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Bit of a slap in the face to the many English teachers who are members of this forum.

More than 90% of Thai students have Thai english teachers, especially outside of laege cities. Nothing to do with native speaking teachers. 

[DavisH]

11 hours ago, nasa123 said:

Look and listen to all these Generals and State employees who hold high positions, most of them pointing out that they have high education from the US and England but cannot speak a word English.

I know many civil servants who did postgraduate studies overseas (colleagues of the wife). They all speak english very well. 

[tjo o tjim]

In Panama recently, would have to say it seems like Thailand is much further ahead of them in English proficiency.  They are less reliant on tourism, but even in international commerce the standards seem much lower.

 

In Thailand I might not be able to carry out a conversation in Broken Thai/Bad English, but I never feel like I am unable to communicate my needs.  In Panama my Spanglish could help with some chit-chat, but my communication needs were rarely met without Google Translate...

[mok199]

1 hour ago, StayinThailand2much said:

'boring' life

I prefer to call it ''the simple life'',with a heap of denial ,sprinkled with superstition and defiance.

[kevin612]

For now, I just want to learn Thai.

[gimo]

3 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

Can you give me a percentage as to how many native English teachers versus Thai teachers teach English in Thailand?

 

Wherever I go in Chiang Mai city, I only see native English teachers. Not sure about the rest of the country.

 

      No , I can't . From my  experience in Isaan public schools , it's about 8 Thais ti 1 farang . There are many schools with no native teachers . Perhaps you are basing your assessment on Language schools and international schools only . 

[MaxYakov]

The old worn out: You can lead a horse to water ... My hypothesis is that it's a matter of desire. Most of the passable English speakers, even one or two excellent ones just picked it up here and there on their own - books, internet, movies, etc.

 

 

 

[kevvy]

Sorry , This is Thailand and they speak their native language, I do not see why they have to learn a another language .When I was at school they taught french and Latin. ??? My step daughter had to learn Japanese at her school.