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| Ploy |
Eh?
In an interview with TV host "Woody" Wootithorn Milintajinda, Ploy drops so many English words into her Thai that she ends up sounding affected and strange, says one viewer, who wrote about her concerns at the Pantip webboard.
Ploy is seeing Golf, of singer Golf and Mike fame. However, she is still fond of former boyfriend 'Dome' Pakorn Lum.
That's the background, dear reader - I am "contexting" you.
The Pantip poster is dismayed at the trend among Thai entertainers and the like to percolate their Thai with English, so they sound more educated.
For those who do have English, the need to impress the world feels less urgent, because they have "arrived".
The Pantip poster says she has noticed that look kreung (half breeds) who return to these shores rarely drop English into their Thai, perhaps because they are struggling so hard to remember all the Thai they forget (or never learned) while they were overseas.
But as for many all-Thai dara (stars) - they just can't help themselves. They are so busy dropping in English words to sound clever they forget that 1. Viewers may feel put off, and 2. Some might actually know more English than they do.
The Pantip poster says she can understand why English words might appear sometimes, as Thai language may be too slow to coin new words.
In other cases, the English equivalent of a Thai word which does exist might be more succinct. Confirm?
But - let's face it - most of the fancy set drop English words so they can sound more 'inter'.
I can't stand listening to Thais who lace their Thai with heavy doses of English. It's upsetting and jarring.
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| Woody |
The person conducting the interview should abruptly switch to English (if he has any - and Woody does). Then we would get to see whether they are really as smart as they would have us believe.
Oops...what was that? - fang mai get [I don't understand]?
For those who love puncturing bubbles of pomposity, it's fun to catch out a celebrity using English affectedly, when she obviously has no idea what she's talking about.
Anyone who has English knows that we don't use the word "relationship" in such a blunt fashion. We decorate it with frilly words such as "have" and "a" beforehand. That's because it's a noun, not a verb.
"พลอยก็ Relationship กับทุกคน (Ploy gor relationship kab took khon - I can relationship with anyone)."
Dear me. It's back to the English primers for you, missy.
Confused, Ploy? Please feel free to drop me a line. Then I can "communicate" you what I mean.
10 comments:
ReplyDeleteTahmnong13 January 2009 at 21:33
That's one of my biggest pet peeves, when any Thai, dara or otherwise, (or honestly any non-native-english-speaker in general) tries to show off or whatever by using as many random english words as possible to the point where it's ridiculously impossible to understand. Especially when, like you mentioned, they aren't really as fluent as they think and end up using words wrong and whatnot. It doesn't make you look smarter. It doesn't make you look "inter" or well-travelled. It makes you look silly, Ploy. :P
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Lino13 January 2009 at 21:44
You can not ignore the trend toward English as a second language thought the world.
Bangkok being an international city is full of English signage and most people under 35 have at least some proficiency.
Since I like Thai Pop, I find English somewhat intrusive, especially given Asian accents.
Here is one by Bird Thongchai that I think works well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LpYhQPN8oQ
Its Bird's version of Leo Sayer's "More Than I Can Say".
This one by Sek Loso stopped me in my tracks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeSsg-B83Tg
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matt14 January 2009 at 00:16
interesting post. i've noticed the trend, too. what did she mean when she said that? there may be more besides golf? it's a strange thing to say unless she's being defensive.
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Bkkdreamer14 January 2009 at 17:52
I didn't see the interview, but I suspect the point she is making is that both men in her life are now friends, as she does not want a boyfriend at present.
So, any man she meets, as long as she feels that way, will be a friend. As such, she can 'relationship' (be friends) with anyone.
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Anonymous14 January 2009 at 19:13
My Filipino BF from long ago used to be extremely angry with other Filipinos who were visiting Manila from their homes in the US and refused to speak their own language. Even to the extent of him speaking to them in tagalog and they replying in English. Some of them he said, were little more than caribou boys. - Ian
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BODYholic16 January 2009 at 05:44
'พลอยก็ Relationship กับทุกคน (Ploy kor relationship kab took khon - I can relationship with anyone).'
Does the 'kor' here means 'to request' (ขอ)?
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Bkkdreamer16 January 2009 at 06:20
No...it is the word ก็ , a particle or conjunction which Thais use to introduce a new part of a sentence, or suggest an element of uncertainty, among other things.
Whole books could be written about the use of that tiny word.
Ploy is not asking for the right to 'relationship' with anyone. She says she is so easy-going she can form friendly ties with anyone, including Golfy and her former boyfriend, Dome.
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BODYholic16 January 2009 at 08:49
I think I get it now. Thanks. :)
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Bkkdreamer16 January 2009 at 20:35
I have now changed the spelling of the word to 'gor', to minimise confusion with the word you mentioned, kor, which as you say, means to ask for something.
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"The Latin One Tavel Guy"18 January 2009 at 10:12
Thanks for all your blogs and post. I am from America and i truly enjoy your page. Keep up the good work.
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