GETTING IT SO WRONG
When I first came to Thailand I became incredibly frustrated with the poor way that English is used. Those frustrations gradually disappeared but in recent months they've returned again.
I've noticed an increasing trend for Thai broadcasters to drop the last 's' when mentioning English names. Two examples from the past few days include Blackburn Rover and British Airway. On Saturday night I saw, as part of a huge neon display, the words 'Japaness Club' and today I saw a Thai couple with identical t-shirts - one saying 'I'm his' and the other saying 'I'm her'. That just made me laugh.
Am I right to be frustrated or should I just go back to accepting that this is Thailand and it shouldn't matter?
2 comments:
// START RANT
I have been regular tourist to Thailand and have become used to see stuff written in English the wrong way. Ok, no biggie, these are normally small business who do not probably employ any proofreaders etc.
BUT what I do not expect to see, and not even stand or accept is when these mistakes are found in very official places where surely there should have been qualified proof reading used if no otherwise persons with normal fluent English talent have been available...I am meaning airports. And I am meaning tourist attractions. Even more when these are handled by the government and which are on royal grounds. It is amazing to see in this kind of very "respected" and high class tourist attractions totally wrongly spelled instructions etc.
Gosh, this goes to any nation in the world if you have official tourist attraction, surely you have guys to proof read your stuff. This is something I expect regardless of nationality or country. There just ain't no free pass for Thais. (Examples I could add here if that was relevant...)
// END RANT
:)
-kv
ps. Thanks for the blog, interesting stuff, yet another angle to living in SE Asia.
I would say just try to relax and ignore it. Is it really that big a deal? Probably not. I'm sure you understand what they're trying to communicate and isn't that the ultimate goal of language...to communicate?
Oh btw, it's not just English that they get wrong. My (Thai) wife got an email yesterday with pictures of like 25 Thai's signs with wrong wording, grammar, spelling, etc. Most interesting is one of Suvarnabhumi Airport which should say (in Thai) "Welcome to Suvarnabhumi Airport", but instead says something like "the Airport Suvarnabhumi Airport". They did get the English part of the sign right though :)
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