On the serious side, if we are really taking the Thais to task, we might need a little background to the Thai language and its central components. Let’s not forget, most of us can’t even start to learn Thai properly so don’t be so ready to laugh at those trying to learn English, often without any help at all.

The Thai Language, or Phasa Thai, basically consists of monosyllable words, whose meanings are complete by themselves. Its alphabet was created by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great in 1283 by modeling it on the ancient Indian alphabets of Sanskrit and Pali through the medium of the old Khmer characters. After a history of over 700 years, the Thai alphabet today comprises 44 letters, representing 20 consonant phonemes, and 15 vowel signs, denoting 22 vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs.

As Thai is a tonal language with five different tones, if often confuses foreigners who are unused to this kind of language. For example, they have difficulty in distinguishing these three words from each other -

* Suea (with rising tone) which means tiger in english
* Suea (with low tone) which means mat in English
* Suea (with falling tone) which means clothes in English

Like most languages of the world, the Thai language is a complicated mixture of several sources. Many Thai words used today were derived from Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer, Malay, English and Chinese.

One of the most frequent causes of misunderstanding is the Thai habit of never properly pronouncing consonants and losing the connecting vowel. Sometimes, a consonant gets lost which can cause confusion!

"I can't go" and "I can go" mean different things, but 90 per cent of Thais will pronounce both as "I can go".

If you are wondering why your Thai friend tells you all the time "I am Thai", the chances are high that she is trying to let you know that she is tired!

Further, "twenty" becomes "tawenty", "stamp" becomes "satamp" and since v and w are constantly confused in Thai, "twenty" often sounds much like "seventy". Keep that in mind when bargaining!

So before you laugh at their English…give Thai a bash!

Meanwhile, it can not be avoided but efforts to learn English are often very funny. Let’s face it, we need a laugh right?
I have been in Asia and Thailand for more than twenty years and here are more of my favorite cock ups heard on Thai ‘English’ news reports and elsewhere.

At a local brewery:

"Our brewmaster personally passes all our water himself"

TV news item on a city meeting:

"Councillors say that if the sewage problem gets much worse they'll step right in."

Newspaper report on an outdoor political meeting:

"The wind picked up rather suddenly, sending the Minister's notes for his speech and other rubbish flying across the grass"

And here is a list of the Most Romantic Lines From English Language Students:

10. I fell in love with her the first time I sawed her.

9. He had such a worm heart.

8. We were two sheeps passing in the night.

7. We have hated each other for so long. I want to borrow the hatchet.

6. My dentist makes me blush twice a day.

5. I don't know if he will propose, but I am expecting.

4. I have something exciting to tell you. My girlfriend and I got enraged last night!

3. The groom was wearing a very nice croissant.

2. He lifted the veal off her face and gave her a big kiss.

1. I think she is really glad she got marinated.

Other innocent mistakes I found perusing brochures, menus and elesewhere:

Recipes: Next, chop all the vegetarians into little pieces.

Health: It is dangerous to smoke while you are becoming pregnant.

Sports: It was so exciting to watch! The cheerleaders threw up high into the air.

Politics: The President got off the plane and gave a big kiss to the first ladder.

Grammar: Should I have a coma in the middle of this sentence?

Music: When he was through singing he had a standing ovulation.

Food: Do you like this food? I made it from scratching!

Parents: My bed has three blankets and a large guilt my parents gave me.

Weather: Rain makes old cars lust. So be careful about that. Once a car starts lusting, there's no way to stop it!

Travel: You can't sleep with me because it is too crowded. But you can probably sleep with my sister. That's what most of my friends do when they visit.

Thinglish is fun!