He tries not to get the three confused.
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He tries not to get the three confused. |
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Home HIV and the Developing World Another World gay life on five continents God Would Be An Atheist Fiction Opinion Reviews martin@martinforeman.com Appeal to your wallet:  31 May 2004 World Copyright © Martin Foreman |
Every so often there are complaints in the English-language press here in Bangkok about the poor quality of Thai English in notices and publications that have obviously been written by people who did not spend their formative years in a Perth* primary or Hull high school. I gave an example of a few months ago when I described the “multi-purpose storage aplicance” (ie set of filing drawers - see picture right) that I had bought, and a glance through the instruction book for the PAQS PID720-13B speed adjustable impact drill that I have just bought tells me to “Disconnect the dirll when you’re not using it before cleaning. any when changing drills and other accessories.” “Store your drill in a dry place. Of the reach of children” I find such mistakes more amusing than irritating. In almost every situation, the original meaning is immediately clear, or can be worked out quite quickly. Besides, most printed material (including, sad to say, this website) is redundant; it doesn’t matter if the fire regulations in your hotel bedroom are practically incomprehensible – the diagram shows you where your room and the stairs are and if you still use the lift in such a situation literacy in any language will not help you. And of course it isn’t just a Thai phenomenon. You can find poor translations in every country where English is not the native language. The classic, apocryphal story is of the menu in a Spanish restaurant offering a fish dish as “rape in the local fashion” – and a few people make minor careers from cataloguing such bons mots. It is not so much Thai English that bothers me, as the ubiquity of English in Thailand. Everywhere you go in this city, the English language and the Latin Alphabet call out to you. Some international products – usually those which have been here a long time, such as Coca- and Pepsi-Cola – have Thai versions of their logos. Many others – Boots, Tesco, Visa are the ones which immediately come to mind, do not. Mariah Carey announces her concert in English. The Central department store chain advises customers of its sale days in the same language. And while most programmes on television (the local earthbound broadcasts – I don’t have cable or satellite) are in Thai, stand by for product advertisement and placement in the language of Manhattan. (I just checked Channel 7 where a teenage youth was happily chewing "Xylitol gum".) Even the names of modern buildings are in English, both office blocks and upmarket condominiums. Sometimes the sign or product advertised gives the equivalent in Thai, but more often than not the Thai version is either provided in small, barely legible lettering or missing altogether. While a few signs are aimed at foreigners, the great majority are actually directed at a predominantly Thai audience, who are expected to be familiar with their meaning. (Or rather, the Thais with money to spend are expected to be familiar…) But the intrusion of English does not stop there. Shakespeare’s tongue gets adopted, even when there are perfectly acceptable Thai equivalents. Thus petrol stations advertise, in Thai, free drinking water – and the word for free is none other than the English word transliterated into Thai. And the Thai version of the English words Night Bazaar not far from my home is not, as you might expect, the indigenous words for night (tum) and bazaar (dtalaat) but transliterations of what is actually meaningless sound in Thai - “night” and “bazaar”. Encouraging this use of a foreign language, a plethora of English-language schools have opened across the country in the last few years, mostly based on British tradition and boasting teachers from the UK. Fines are reportedly levied for those who have the temerity to speak their mother language in their own country within those hallowed halls. Of course this obsession with English is not confined to Thailand. In almost every country English is seen as as essential to success as a good education and the right political connections. It has supplanted Russian and French as the second language almost everywhere. And as I was once a teacher of English to foreigners for many years, I have every reason to be grateful that growing up in the UK and speaking as if I was weaned by the BBC, meant that I was given for free a valuable talent that others were happy to pay me for. But there is a great difference between using English as a tool for communication in international environments where a common language is essential, and allowing English to dominate the national discourse. The basic underlying message from the presence of English in so situations where it is either inessential or inappropriate is that Thai is less prestigious language, it is the poor country cousin, a little dowdy and ignorant, not sophisticated enough to be let out in public. Thai is a language to be slightly ashamed of, while my native tongue is modern, hip, rich, knowing, allowing me to exude prestige from the moment I open my mouth. Many years ago I lived, first in Greece and then in Brazil. Within six months I could converse in Greek and Portuguese and within a year I was reading novels with the occasional help of a dictionary. In contrast, eight months after moving to Thailand, the only time I get to practise Thai is with taxi-drivers – not particularly rewarding occasions. My middle-class Thai friends and acquaintances speak English most, if with occasional mistakes (lack of tense, use of “interesting” instead of “interested” – that kind of thing) and do not have the patience to let me practise my Thai. And those from poorer backgrounds – earning £90 a month (US$150 to the internationally minded) and with parents in the provinces scraping by on half that amount see me as an opportunity to practise their English, as if knowing me will somehow help them earning a living, rather than a starvation wage. And so I sit at home and study the alphabet and learn words that I soon forget because I have no-one to practise them with. And when bored with that I listen to pop records and the many variations on “chan rak tuh” (I love you) and watch soap operas and I still haven’t a clue what is going on. I’m curious to know what will be the situation fifty years from now. Dozens of languages disappear each decade. I suspect that Thai will still be here, but I’m not so sure about a century from now. And as for English…? It should enjoy its place in the sun as Greek, Latin and French once did. By mid-century it will seem slightly old fashioned. As the US fades and China becomes the world’s superpower. Mandarin will be the international language. I started learning it fifteen years ago and though I gave up after a year, it’s still kicking around my brain. In fact sometimes I’m trying to speak Thai and I get mugged by a word in Confucius’ tongue; maybe it’s time to pick it up again. * As a Scot whose formative years were spent shuttling between Edinburgh and Dundee and whose family occasionally drove him the 23 miles to the Perth Repertory Theatre, I am always slightly surprised when people assume I am talking about the Western Australian capital, which, after all, owes its name and origins to the little Scottish town that still straddles the River Tay. |
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2003 columns... 2001 - 2 columns...  This month's good cause 
Highlighting the issue of child soldiers |
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