Aie, aie, aie, my english in LOS!!!

[jasmine]

Hi,

 

[color:"red"] As for Japan, many Japanese can read and write English but have a problem to orally communicate. I think one should avoid any generalization about the ability of Asians to speak good English. [/color]

 

I want to add too, that most Thais who once used to be good in English but have not used it for over 10 years find it really hard to re-learn. Just like me with French, the ability to communicate in it is very bad, but because I still read it once in a while, it stays a little bit with me.

 

My brother's English used to be quite good, now, unless he is forced to, he avoids speaking it. He does speak to his brother in law (my hubby) once in a while in "burst like" sentences. Somehow when he has to, he can. Just my German, I cannot say much at all now from non-usage.

 

I would like to a note here, never assume that the Asian looking people around you do not understand English or many other Western languages, for it is not common for most Thais to just start speaking to the foriegners.

 

Cheers!

[Guest]

>How about the newly expanded EU?

>If there were ever a case for introducing a common language (i.e. English), then this is surely it.

>The fact that it won't happen shows the EU for the self-interested French/German charade it is.

 

A common language might eventually happen once EU gets bogged down with its all new members. All those new kids on the block might settle on a reasonable compromise language that is useful outside Europe and not too complicated: Spanish::.

 

I speak only a handful of words in Spanish, but I can imagine leaning into studying it even in my old age and thinking with a warm glow about all those pissed off superior Brits, Frenchmen and Germans.

 

Wagner

 

[bibblies]

Pah! English is the language of commerce, law, science and international aviation. It's useful everywhere because it has been open to all influences. Let's face it, it's only the pride of the French that is stopping it being adapted in Europe.

 

I learned Spanish too once. It's easy - just add an 'o' to every word. But any languages that have the utterly useless and obstructive characteristics of a) using more than one form of "you" or making nouns masculine, feminine or even neuter :: should be discounted.

[jasmine]

Hi,

 

The Thai has more ways to say "you" than French (You found out didn't you?)

 

[color:"red"] making nouns masculine, feminine or even neuter [/color]

 

I know for the life of me my French is so bad for I cannot figure out what so feminie about a table (la table) and some other wordsjust blow my mind. But I still think French is a beautiful language.

 

Well, to think about gender, there are somewhat that context also in some words in English, can you tell me why a river is referred to as "she", cannot be just the American language?

 

Cheers!

[Guest]

It really bothers me to think that Thais may be employing a dialect of "baby Thai" with me!

 

Not likely. Thai is pretty simple. If you think about it when you talk 'Baby English', what you are doing is removing all the unneccesary complexities and absurdities of the language: plurals, verb congegations, tenses, and irregularities. The interesting thing is how natural and easy it is to speak in this 'broken' English.

 

I go - she goes

why two different forms?

 

today I go yesterday I went

again the tense is already evident from the word 'today'

 

there is one goose there are two geese

uggg....

 

The reason so many Thai's speak 'broken' English is because Thai lacks these unnecessary features.

 

 

[Guest]

And they way they try to speak Thai, I also realise that they learn it from the bar scene.

 

Just curious. What is it that tells you they learnt it from the bar scene?

 

[markle]

Kinda the same way you know someone's picked up English in a bar.

Word choice, structures, etc.

 

As for Thai being fairly simple, well basic Thai grammar rules are pretty simple but there is a big difference in the way educated Thai's and poorly educated Thais speak.

[daeng bireley]

>>It really bothers me to think that Thais may be employing a dialect of "baby Thai" with me! <<

 

Thais modify there speech when speaking to farang, just as we do when speaking english to them, OK there is a lot of differences with thai and english and in some areas it's simpler than english but I am sure if you talk to a bargirl then

listen to her speaking to her friends I bet its different. Casual spoken thai is more different from "proper" thai than casual spoken english is from what is taught in schools. Especially pronouns, particles, word abbreviation or shortening and what about simile, idiom, low and high class words, the use of simple words instead of more complex words, slang etc etc.

[jasmine]

[color:"red"] And they way they try to speak Thai, I also realise that they learn it from the bar scene.

 

 

Just curious. What is it that tells you they learnt it from the bar scene? [/color]

 

Wordings are quite different. Sentences construction is different also.

 

When I met people like that I normally asked them whether they realized that Thai has distinct difference for casual and proper Thai and helped out if possible. Must say some of them are beyond hope/help.

 

Cheers!

[bibblies]

Give some examples. Unless a person's speech is peppered with "baabaabooboo", I'm not convinced that you can tell a bar-Thai speaker from a starter who is simply is struggling to put some words together in the heat of the moment. Thais can assume a lot. I learnt first from a Linguaphone course, absorbed nothing of bar-girl Thai, gave nothing away (I'm very careful!) and still the teachers at Thai language school would insinuate that I had to be spending most of my hours in Sukh. Soi 4.