Thais struggle to speak English well

Our brain functions coping with language develop from infancy to about twelve years old. We learn the letters, the building of words and the grammar of speech. What we know by twelve years old is the basis of what we will be capable of achieving linguistically for the rest of our lives. After that, we can learn words and language by rote, but fluency is difficult to achieve.

Dialect is a problem. I cannot understand a Geordie from Newcastle, speaking English. Thais have the same problem if I speak Thai. 'Dog', 'horse' and 'come' are all the same to me. Thais get locked into saying 'Generan' for 'General', find plurals difficult to deal with, and have difficulty with the final "s" sound. A colleague, with good English, in my office, could not say "box" to save her life. It is not a question of not listening. It is an actual inability to say it properly.

Thais are at a disadvantage in that their language is simple and does not equip them with the tools to learn other languages. If Thais are to accomplish English speech, they need to learn it from a very early age, from an English speaker without a pronounced accent.

Richard Bowler

Bangkok