SinglePot Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Blackburn Rovers. Not a problem now though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adryan Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 "Lash Live" = Flashdrive This Word make ne Crazy. My GF speaks real good English and is learning by her self UK and US Letter friends. But yesterday she told me she need a Lash Live! She wana go buy a Lash Live. I ask more then 10. Times what she means! On MBK we found the Lash Live and it was just simple a Flash-drive. F's, R's and V's are problems for English speaking Thais. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazeeboy Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Electricity is one that normally comes out as Electric city 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinglePot Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Sh is the most common sound in Chinese. Big Japanese boss says to small Japanese boss: 'what we call new car?' Small Japanese boss says: 'we call new car...Colt Starion'. True story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raybo Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 When the wife is watching the Thai entertainment new, I yell back at the TV when I hear the Thai reporters saying that Someone is making a new, "Al-uh-bum". Chulai 6768 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudgirl Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Falange aloe Vera very Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackw Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 is there a list of common English words that are difficult to pronounce for Thai speakers? Yes. It's called a dictionary. The fact is the only word I've ever found that Thais could typically pronounce correctly and easily is "a". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckaroo Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 For a laugh, and my own personal sense of humour, each year I would get my classes to try and say "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence" If its not Christmas, get into a discussion about "rubber robbers", still makes me chuckle just remembering about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinglePot Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 For a laugh, and my own personal sense of humour, each year I would get my classes to try and say "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence" If its not Christmas, get into a discussion about "rubber robbers", still makes me chuckle just remembering about it. I'm assuming you are not teaching in the South then! Thais may not be able to talk the English talk but that doesn't mean they don't comprehend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_smith237 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Squirrel Chrysanthemum I once had semen on my car... my reaction appeared quite irrational and strange until I realised it was cement and they realised what semen is. On a separate occasion I was a little taken aback at having to drive 5 km past the semen factory when receiving directions from a Thai friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ongchart Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 'Sh'... shopping becomes 'chopping' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckaroo Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 For a laugh, and my own personal sense of humour, each year I would get my classes to try and say "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence" If its not Christmas, get into a discussion about "rubber robbers", still makes me chuckle just remembering about it. I'm assuming you are not teaching in the South then! Thais may not be able to talk the English talk but that doesn't mean they don't comprehend. No I wasn't teaching in the south, but there are more kinds of rubber than just trees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwallettt Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 On a different note....My wife has mastered the phrase, "No not tonight dear". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JO1973 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Difficulty? Try 26 letters and every combination thereof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Anything with consonant clusters. e.g. sleep, test, spread, sex, three, belt. The list goes on for ever. They avoid using the most common vowel sound in English, the schwar or neutral vowel. Doctor (British), potato, delivery, container 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickthegreek Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Two that took me ages to work out what they were saying were, Rally and Error and a new one recently which makes me laugh is Orangutan, I never knew this had so many L ' S. !!! Just tried the Mrs on Clock...Fab !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynNY Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Necessarily (Problem pronouncing when say it in a whole sentence) En route (Rout? or Root?) This word confuses me when pronounce it. I heard people pronounce either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf5370 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 My favourite is "Grill" - my wife speaks good English (she lived in the UK for 14 years), but can not get this word. When I used to teach, I used to have a series of flash cards with words they confused - both pronunciation and recognition - I used to play a game where they would deal out the cards face down, pull out a card and read it aloud and see if their partner could recognise it in their pack. Some of the words: Save / Safe / Shave / Sheep / Ship / Sip / Chip / Ray / Lay / Raw / Law / War / Wall / Rule etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoonToong Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 "Yes, I swallow" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf5370 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Necessarily (Problem pronouncing when say it in a whole sentence) En route (Rout? or Root?) This word confuses me when pronounce it. I heard people pronounce either way. This is always a problem with Thais here - if they have had any English training, they learn the pronunciation of the teacher's locale. I remember teaching kindergarten kids years back (a fun day) - I had pictures of cartoon things beiningging with three letters "Z", "W" and "Y" I think. Anyway, the cartoon Madagascar had just come out, so for "z" I used the Zebra. Holding up the picture I say "Zed-bra", the say "Zee-bra" straight back at me It must be really quite difficult to them given the tonal language they use day to day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinot Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 I love the word "firefly". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SICHONSTEVE Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Hmmm, so many people deviated from the OP. My GF says sa-peek and sa-leep on purpose to wind me up, but she can say them properly. She can't, however, pronounce "dumpling" always saying dum-ping, even though she can say ling (monkey) perfectly well. The reason that she says sa-leep and sa-peak is because she is supposed to according to the Thai language rules. If two consonants (that are not a consonant cluster) do not have a vowel between them then you insert an 'oh', if you have three consonants that do not contain vowels then you put 'uh' between the first two and an 'oh' between the last two. if there is no vowel between the first two but a vowel between the last two then you insert 'uh' and then pronounce the vowel present between the last two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SICHONSTEVE Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Blackburn Rovers. Not a problem now though. Unless she is a Burnley clarets fan that is!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Mamma Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 My Thai wife has trouble saying "thank you", fortunately I am a constant reminder in formidable utilization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaatWang Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Like Adryan, I was also stumped when my husband wanted to buy a new flash drive. He got very frustrated with me because I didn't understand! We are also still working on Ford, Chevrolet, and refrigerator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirchai Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 A very difficult one is " Rollerblading." Tried it with my wife and we're divorced now.- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirchai Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Hmmm, so many people deviated from the OP. My GF says sa-peek and sa-leep on purpose to wind me up, but she can say them properly. She can't, however, pronounce "dumpling" always saying dum-ping, even though she can say ling (monkey) perfectly well. The reason that she says sa-leep and sa-peak is because she is supposed to according to the Thai language rules. If two consonants (that are not a consonant cluster) do not have a vowel between them then you insert an 'oh', if you have three consonants that do not contain vowels then you put 'uh' between the first two and an 'oh' between the last two. if there is no vowel between the first two but a vowel between the last two then you insert 'uh' and then pronounce the vowel present between the last two. My wife still loves to eat Sapaghetti.- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisuLover Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 School - they say Serkoon. Cold - they say Colns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfukata Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 School becomes schoon. L, I beleive is pronounced N i.e. Ubol Ratchathani = Ubon Ratchathani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckaroo Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 School becomes schoon. L, I beleive is pronounced N i.e. Ubol Ratchathani = Ubon Ratchathani Yeah, what is it with the L and N swap, I just don't get it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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