English in Thailand

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Mike

Given the amount of native English teachers that find employment in Thailand you might be forgiven for thinking that English in Thailand is a second language and would be wide spread. However this is certainly not the case in my experience.

I think its fair to say that in tourist areas and in businesses that have export contracts then yes you will find some fluent English speakers, but outside of that, apart from Thais who have English speaking partners or have worked abroad, then the use of English is very limited.

In a way this surprises me given that all Thai schools from the village government primary school to the top universities either teach English or in the latter case encourage the use of English for academic work. There are even specific English programmes, particularly at private schools.

One could conclude that, given the amount of English teaching that takes place, the apparent failure to embrace English as a second language,  may well be down to the Thai education system, where learning by rote is still high on the agenda.  This could also explain why many non-English speakers can read and write English that is grammatically correct.

With English firmly established as the lingua franca of international business it seems to me that Thailand might well be missing an opportunity to progress even further, when compared to Malaysia for example,  where English is an established second language and also a lingua franca within the country.

It is easy of course to blame the Thai education system for the failure of the country to utilise English more widely.  Perhaps there are other reasons, some historic some cultural that effect this progress.

For example Thais rightly boast about national pride, that they have never been under the rule of a colonial power(open to debate) and that all Thais love Thais. Which if you are a Thai person probably makes you feel pretty good.

A ( more cynical) Western interpretation might however say that this is a nice easy way to keep the rural masses happy while those in power continue to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Take this a stage further and it is easy to see why a well educated population with sound English language skills might not in their best interests.

In the meantime the staus quo is maintained and the next batch of native English speakers heads out to the Thai schools in November to teach English to a bunch of students who for the most part will never use the language.

So what about your experiences, should a country like Thailand have a second language(not necessarily English), does it effect the way Thai business operates, are there benefits when a country has a recognised lingua franca?

Update:

From the Bangkok Post Thursday 7 October:

“The Education Ministry plans to declare English the second language for teaching and learning in schools with an aim to enable Thai people of the new generation to communicate with other people in Asean and world communities in English, Chinaworn Boonyakiat said on Thursday.”

Read the full story at English to be second language.

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  • http://www.danploy.com/diary.htm DanPloy

    Well, keeping the masses uneducated as a means of control goes back a long time of course; the church were one of the worst in this respect. But in Thailand I just don’t think education is given enough priority, (is it anywhere in the world?) but I am not sure it is a deliberate thing.

    A second language is always useful although I didn’t think so at school when I was being spoon fed Spanish. You could argue that it might make more sense for the second language to be Mandarin given the proximity to that country and its increasing importance on the world stage.

    I have met quite a few Thai electronics technicians in this country and few speak English well. That is strange and really limits their career options as (almost) all technical papers, the pre-eminent electronic engineer’s society (USA), almost all conferences, most exhibitions and most data sheets are in English. The ‘Thai’ words for resistor and capacitor are ‘resistor’ and ‘capacitor’ so they have a head start already.

    In Singapore where 75% of the population is Chinese but English is the first language, (but all children are also taught Mandarin and one other language, usually Malay), and all roadsigns are English there are now calls for the signs to also be in Chinese because it doesn’t reflect the ethnicity of the country as it stands. So maybe Thailand is actually ahead of everyone else. Or maybe by not doing anything Thailand eventually looks ahead because what comes around, goes around and in these recessional times people and countries start to look inward.

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Dan like you at school I really couldn’t see the need because in my small world everyone spoke English anyway-wow have I grown up since then!

      I wondered about the technical side and half guessed the right answer. My limited experience in Singapore obviously confirms your findings, but of course the country has a colonial history as does Malaysia.

      I sometimes, probably wrongly, think that a dose of modern colonialism might have done Thailand good from a development point of view. Vietnam now seems to value its former colonial ties and I believe French is still widely spoken(correct me if I’m wrong) of course it also has a long way to go to catch up with Thailand in certain areas.

  • http://nuevofarang.blogspot.com/ Lloyd

    Malaysia is not a good example of an Asian country adopting English, especially given it past history as an English colony. I would say KL, Lankgawi, parts of Eastern Malaysia and most of the tourist orientated Islands have a good grasp of English but outside of that Malaysia is not much different to Thailand with Bahasa Malay or variants of it being the dominant language. Over recent years there has been more and more of a push for Bahasa Malay to be used more as the primary language in the Government and the legal systems.

    Singapore has also changed and it is now quiet common to get a gab driver who doesn’t speak much English but can speak fluent Chinese (various), Malay and Indian (various) languages, korean is also becoming very common.

    Its pretty much the English, Americans and Australian who “push” English onto everyone, it can be seen as a good or bad thing. Having travelled extensively I don’t subscribe to the belief of “pushing” a language on a culture purely for monetary gain, be it tourist dollars or international trade. One of the things that has ruined Bali is the widespread use of colloquial Australian slang with just about every second trader saying “gday mate”.

    I enjoy Thailand for its culture, would that be any better if English was spoken, I doubt it.

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Lloyd on my own albeit limited travels in Malaysia, to the areas you mention, I certainly found English widely spoken. Of course there are several versions of English used in Malaysia which I guess might rival Bahasa Malay?

      I think there needs to be a commonality in language used for business, but that doesn’t have to be English although it is widely spoken, as is French and Spanish.

      I would not wish to change the Thai culture but I do think the nature of the beast does at times limit Thailand on the international stage.

  • Phil B

    When I first went to Thailand around 37 years ago there really were few Thais who spoke English, including people working in railway stations, bus depots, department stores, etc. (There were also no coffee shops or 711 or Maccas etc). It is very different today. Not only do far more people understand and speak some English, but I believe far more poorer rural people understand and speak some words in English.
    My wife’s family provide an example of the change. My wife is 57 with several older and younger siblings. Her mum doesn’t speak any English, nor does her older brother and his wife. However all her other 7 siblings speak English, ranging from just OK to very good partly due to education and partly because of their various jobs. In the next generation, all of our Thai nieces and nephews understand and speak English, ranging from competent to speaking beautiful English. There are quite a few reasons for this that I see: More English education in school and they have higher level educations; more people and more of their friends speaking English ‘on the streets’; more English-speaking movies/TV; the internet; and last but not least, about 6 of them have now done part of their education and worked overseas (UK, USA, Australia). One now lives in the London, another in Singapore and another in Melbourne. Big difference from the previous generations. Not hard to guess what we might see in the next generation.
    While my wife’s family obviously do not come from a poor rural background – I think they are solid middle class – but I think the changes in their family over a generation or 2 are representative to a fair extent of millions of Thais. These kids and young adults are a big step ahead of previous generations.

    So my perspective is that Thailand has come a long way in their ability to understand and speak English, but for all sorts of reasons, it doesn’t happen overnight. What they do need is to have more teachers from English speaking backgrounds so more students learn to speak correctly and confidently. Again, I think progress is being made in this area but not every class or every student will be covered.

    Finally, Thailand will probably not be any different from most countries in the world (perhaps outside of Europe) in that the majority will only ever speak their own language fluently. But I think the percentage who understand and speak useful English will continue to increase and become significant. There will probably be a greater percentage of Thais speaking a second language than Australians. And me? I have secondary school French and enough Thai words to survive albeit with mangled tones. I like to think I provide amusement for my Thai family ! I need to do some study….

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Phil firstly I think what you say is very balanced. I am sure there are many more cosmopolitan Thais than a decade or two ago. Where I live English is certainly not high on the agenda I know one Thai locally in PKK who speaks fluently, but in my bank and local Immigration office I would struggle to find anyone who understands me(both in my Thai and English).

      I am as guilty as the next man for being a lazy linguist but I have had to try to speak Thai here because without Duen I would struggle to get anything done.

      • Phil B

        Mike, no doubt I will find the same as you when we eventually live outside Bkk and other cities and my Thai-speaking will need to improve considerably. In planning our coming trip, I mentioned to ‘she who must be obeyed’ that when she spends a week with her mother I would perhaps toddle up to the north-east as I have not been there before. SWMBO obviously thought about this for a day or so and then announced that I was not proficient enough in Thai to look after myself and she would accompany me. But I needed to get my language skills up to speed. She didn’t give a deadline but I think I am on notice.

        • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

          Hi Phil that made me smile, of course if you head NE then you have to tackle the local Isaan language too………good luck :-)

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