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[oilinki]

Phuket Gazette has an following ongoing poll: Phuket is among the best-known international tourist destinations in Asia. As such, how would you rate the overall English-language skills of local people working in the tourism industry here?

Nothing special about the poll itself, but the results are far more interesting when comparing how different groups of people see the language skills.

I'm not sure whether some people have altered the results for fun.

Poll:        http://www.phuketgazette.net/poll/
Results: http://www.phuketgaz...r2=1&PollId=254

(copying the table did not work well on preview so)

[KarenBravo]

I think the Thai language skills of resident expats a far more interesting subject.

[stevenl]

I think 'terrible' is a bit overdone, but do understand why foreigners put in Thai language skills are not good.

I also understand the Thai think their language skills are much better than foreigners think. It happens quite often to me I am speaking to somebody who claims to speak Thai but has really no clue.
They can all spell much better than any native speaker though

[geriatrickid]

Local Thai language skills are sufficient when it comes to negotiating commercial activities on Bangla or in Paradise or at many of the shopping center malls. One doesn't need fluency to negtiate the price of boom boom or the sale of a an item at  Robinsons or Big C. Even the local shop clerks at the Big 1 or Family Mart are fluent enough to provide basic service.

[maxman71]

Karen Bravo..."Bravo"!!! I think it's pretty arrogant to expect the locals of any country to able to speak decent English or some other language other that their own for the convenience of foreigners, especially those of us who have been here for an extended period of time. It's just as diffilcult for Thais to learn English as it is for Euros, Yanks, Aussies, etc. to learn Thai.

[oilinki]

Maxman71: how come? English is de facto esperanto, which is currently the most common language in the world. If people from smaller languages wishes to interact with the rest of the world, they simply have to learn English in current world. That has nothing to do with arrogance, it's simply practicality.

It's great if us who live in this country will learn local language, but that is not and will not be required for the visitors of this country. Still there is a need to communicate. That's why it's very important for locals to learn English if they wish to be able to talk to people from various countries.

It's not so far back in the time when French was the language of the diplomats. Some day in the future people will value Chinese way more than today.

[Somtamnication]

I am not arrogant enough to expect perfect English from the locals. Nor do I expect them to be passable. They simply have no clue about the language nor foreign culture, period. They should visit Cambodia or Bali, to get an example of what "passable English"  should be to serve their visiting guests.

[KarenBravo]

maxman71, on Today, 01:35 , said:

Karen Bravo..."Bravo"!!! I think it's pretty arrogant to expect the locals of any country to able to speak decent English or some other language other that their own for the convenience of foreigners, especially those of us who have been here for an extended period of time. It's just as diffilcult for Thais to learn English as it is for Euros, Yanks, Aussies, etc. to learn Thai.

My original comment said "I think the Thai language skills of resident expats a far more interesting subject.".

Now.....how do you get that I'm arrogant because I expect the locals to speak English?

[hansgruber]

No hab englit good thailan.

[SeanPhuket]

I find their skills to be not bad, though there is room for improvement.

Of course peoples perception of the locals English language skills depends an awful lot on where they go, what they do and who they frequent with.

[HongKongPhooey]

Perhaps somebody should do a poll, on to what extent we should really care about what people who answer internet polls think about things.
Perhaps the options could be A) Zero  B, Less than zero or C) I refuse to take part in an internet poll.

There's a good reason the Thais are the only South East Asian country never to have be colonised. I personally like their attitude. You want to come to my country and speak to me, then you learn my F#cking language!!

EDIT: What do you do if you want to do a letter B with a ) around it? And you don't want it to come out like

Edited by HongKongPhooey, Today, 09:26 .

[KarenBravo]

HongKongPhooey, on Today, 09:13 , said:

There's a good reason the Thais are the only South East Asian country never to have be colonised.

Yes, but it's probably not what you think.

[cardholder]

maxman71, on Today, 01:35 , said:

Karen Bravo..."Bravo"!!! I think it's pretty arrogant to expect the locals of any country to able to speak decent English or some other language other that their own for the convenience of foreigners, especially those of us who have been here for an extended period of time. It's just as diffilcult for Thais to learn English as it is for Euros, Yanks, Aussies, etc. to learn Thai.

No - but the ASEAN group think that learning English language skills has value. Watch how superior the Cambodians - and even Laoations - are with not only English, but other languages. The appear to have the incentive and motivation to learn. This is something that the Thais seem to lack - and I won't even start on the standard of English teaching skills.

[hansgruber]

cardholder, on Today, 09:41 , said:

maxman71, on Today, 01:35 , said:

Karen Bravo..."Bravo"!!! I think it's pretty arrogant to expect the locals of any country to able to speak decent English or some other language other that their own for the convenience of foreigners, especially those of us who have been here for an extended period of time. It's just as diffilcult for Thais to learn English as it is for Euros, Yanks, Aussies, etc. to learn Thai.

No - but the ASEAN group think that learning English language skills has value. Watch how superior the Cambodians - and even Laoations - are with not only English, but other languages. The appear to have the incentive and motivation to learn. This is something that the Thais seem to lack - and I won't even start on the standard of English teaching skills.

I went to luang prabang in Laos and I was amazed at the standards of English and even French. Thailand could take learn a thing or two from its neighbours.

Sent from my HTC One X using Thaivisa Connect App

[grumpyoldman]

How about part of the poll being:

Z: How many of you retards speak pigeon to the locals?

I'm always amazed at the goofs who think pigeon English is a better way to communicate than just speaking normally..............chai Tarzan, chai..........

[stevenl]

grumpyoldman, on 44 minutes ago, said:

How about part of the poll being:

Z: How many of you retards speak pigeon to the locals?

I'm always amazed at the goofs who think pigeon English is a better way to communicate than just speaking normally..............chai Tarzan, chai..........

If you want to complain about pigeon English at least write it as it should be, ie pidgin.

[grumpyoldman]

stevenl, on 40 minutes ago, said:

grumpyoldman, on 44 minutes ago, said:

How about part of the poll being:

Z: How many of you retards speak pigeon to the locals?

I'm always amazed at the goofs who think pigeon English is a better way to communicate than just speaking normally..............chai Tarzan, chai..........

If you want to complain about pigeon English at least write it as it should be, ie pidgin.

o.k. thanks, always thought it was spelled like the bird, my mistake.

[KarenBravo]

As usual in Thailand, this comes down to "face".

I've met lots of Thais that can read and write English to a high degree, yet, can hardly speak a word.
They would rather not speak it at all than speak it at the beginners stage and "lose face" because it might not be correct, which is just a normal stage in learning any new language.

[bubblegum]

Funny how the Thai that do speak a bit of English seem to understand all foreigners who speak English to them exept !! for the English people talking to them. I see the same with German, French and Italian folks. They can understand (school) English but not the language most of you English folks talk. You do have some strange dialects :-)

[stevenl]

bubblegum, on 18 minutes ago, said:

Funny how the Thai that do speak a bit of English seem to understand all foreigners who speak English to them exept !! for the English people talking to them. I see the same with German, French and Italian folks. They can understand (school) English but not the language most of you English folks talk. You do have some strange dialects :-)

Do agree with that, subtitles for Alex Fergusaon and Alex McLeish are no luxury.

[grumpyoldman]

A Welshman, Scot and a Cockney Brit were sitting in a bar having a beer, when one of them asked, "what the hell are you on about (?), can't understand a word".

[stevenl]

grumpyoldman, on 31 minutes ago, said:

stevenl, on 40 minutes ago, said:

grumpyoldman, on 44 minutes ago, said:

How about part of the poll being:

Z: How many of you retards speak pigeon to the locals?

I'm always amazed at the goofs who think pigeon English is a better way to communicate than just speaking normally..............chai Tarzan, chai..........

If you want to complain about pigeon English at least write it as it should be, ie pidgin.

o.k. thanks, always thought it was spelled like the bird, my mistake.

Agree with you BTW, hate it as well. Simplify your speech if necessary, but don't speak pidgin.