WOW! - Polyglot UK Ambassador Thai Fluency after 1 Year | Mark Gooding Language Analysis

Mark Gooding is the UK Ambassador to Thailand and impressed everyone this week as the UK Embassy posted an address entirely in Thai after just 1 year of learning Thai. I do a deep dive on his clip to examine how fluent he has become and make some fascinating discoveries regarding his Thai and the unique result of the combination of influences from his Mandarin and Native English. Mark is Fluent in Mandarin, speaks French and a smattering of Lithuanian - and now Thai.

This clip is for anyone who speaks Thai or is learning Thai, as well as any Chinese speakers / learners and actually just anyone looking to learn a 3rd language - you'll see the benefits and pitfalls that a 3rd language can bring.

NOTE - This was the 2nd time I recorded this analysis (first one way too long). I missed some critical points. One in particular is hearing the Mandarin word 样 yàng replace the Thai word อย่าง yàang - almost the same meaning, but in Thai it's a long vowel, low tone. Mandarin doesn't distinguish between long and short, so it's 'generic length' (short) vowel with a falling tone - see timestamp 03:10.

At 2:58 There's a huge one I didn't get into this one (had it in the original) - the term หลายครั้ง 'lǎai kráng meaning 'many times' - the 'k' ค was missing and the tone had a falling tone making it sound like ร่าง meaning 'body' like in ร่างกาย, or also could mean to 'write' or 'draft' an essay, letter, email etc. I think maybe the transliteration Mark was using may have missed a 'k' - I don't think it would have happened if it were written in the Thai script.

At 02:51 you hear the word ภูมิภาค 'phumiphâak' 'region' - there is an aspirated 'k' at the end that shouldn't happen. Glottis should have closed and not released any air.

At 3:05 the word ช่วง 'chûang' us used - I suspect he has written it as 'chuang' and pronounced it as we would pronounce the word 床 'chuang - bed' (but different tone) in Mandarin.

At 3:39 - the word ต่อสู้ - should be unaspirated 't' (Paiboon dt) but is pronounced as ท 'th' - aspirated 't' which makes it a totally different word.

#ukembassy #multilingual #thailanguage

00:00 Introduction - UK Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Mark Gooding
01:20 Spectrogram and Thai / Lao / Chinese Tone Chart Explained
02:21 Mark Gooding Full Thai Presentation Run-through
04:05 Prep for Thai Language Analysis - What to Look Out For
04:28 UK Glottalisation - Be careful speaking Thai
06:05 Mandarin LACK of Glottalisation - Also be careful speaking Thai (No Dead Syllables in Mandarin)
06:21 No Short / Long Vowel distinction in Mandarin - Can cause issues in Thai
07:05 Begin Run Through with Analysis
07:12 English 'HELLO' sound envelope
07:30 Short long vowels lacking distinction
08:06 Pakse Lao / Ubon Isan Tone paradigms resemble Mark's tone framework
10:08 Thai vowel แอ realised as เอ - แล้ว laéw - Common shift in Isan
11:02 Velar 'k' ค ข in Thai is actually 'x' - Voiceless velar fricative like ch in Scottish 'loch' or Arabic خ
11:40 Correct pronunciation of 'Language' ภาษา Phasa
11:51 Difference between Unsaspirated ป and บ
12:39 MISSED IN CLIP - Mandarin 樣 yàng influencing Thai อย่าง 'yàang' - Vowel too short and not falling tone - rather long, low tone
14:20 Pronunciation of ก็ gkɔ̂ - Khmer influence
16:30 Correct way to say 'Thank you' in Thai ขอบคุณครับ kɔ̀ɔp kun kráp
18:50 Recap of Key Learning Points

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[ChrisBird]

I miss your regular Thai Videos, you set me up with my Thai language learning journey several years ago .I bought your Book and online course a few years back and I credit you for the inspiration and Media to Learn to speak and read Thai ..I know your busy with lots of projects nowadays .Hope all is well and a BIG thank you Stuart for putting out all this content and been an inspiration in many ways .

[PaulA-krnl]

If I closed my eyes and listen to Mark Gooding speak, I would have thought that a Chinese person was speaking Thai. He has the tonal quality of a Chinese drama actor. I don't speak Chinese but I do enjoy Chinese action flick and it comes through when Mark speaks. I would give him 8 out of 10. Kudos UK for sending such a smart and accomplished expert on Asia.

[KellyS]

As a fellow Brit, I completely resonate with this.. I've been learning Mandarin for a little while and now learning Thai (learning the script first) I struggle with the tones the most, the fact that there's other factors too, makes me want to run for the hills 😂.. I think it's my want of speaking very fast that is causing the tones to go all over the place.. This was a really helpful video, thanks 👍🏻

[little_engine_goes_to_Thailand]

This was fantastic !! Nice to learn about the long and short vowels and their importance and to really try to separate them, and make them more distinct. Also as a native English speaker that can speak Chinese Mandarin - learning about the pitfalls from the crossover( overlay of languages) of English/Chinese will save a lot of time, help me pinpoint errors and confusion in the future.

[SpeakingFluently]

It’d be interesting to know where his teacher was from. I wonder if that has influenced his tones. He’d have had training in London before going out to Thailand, so it’s not guaranteed the teacher would have been from Bangkok.

[lalitasinghasri]

Wow, great breakdown, Stu! I was better able to grasp how the color-coding on your tone comparisons chart works through this reiteration. This was an enlightening explication of the ambassador's pronunciation, and nice clear advice for corrections.

[ThaiWithSarah]

Such a great, informative video! Thank you for sharing ❤️

[soodlorr]

I'm enjoying this too much. Subscribed

[maximilienlerat]

Wonderful breakdown Stuart!!! It's definitely a good opportunity for Thai learners to practice this speech and apply your corrections to improve our own speech. As a beginner in Thai myself, it'd also be interesting to comment on the grammar used in Mark's speech, like you did with Paddy's video. Does it sound like a native speaker would talk in formal Thai?

[klausg]

Very very interesting. Thank you for this.

[davegraham]

Nice use of the Fourier transform....spectrograms.

[andrewdunbar]

My first impression: I can hear his upper class English accent but I can't detect any Mandarin it. He sounds quite elegant. This reminds me of someone else in need of a breakdown here: 陆克文.

Second impression: Wow I really learned a lot, as usual from these videos!

I wonder if any foreign country has an ambassador in Lao who can speak Lao good enough for a breakdown? I'd also love to see breakdowns from learners whose native language is not English or not even a western language. I'd love to see how Chinese, Khmers, and Vietnamese speak Thai for instance.

[Paljk]

Very interesting thanks! his spoken Thai is way better than mine and I've been learning for 2 years. I wonder what he's like in free-flowing speech, maybe this is a written speech for him?

[andykimoochi]

You are brilliant, like a native speaker even know some relation to other languages.

[disciplinefreedom]

Wonderful video. Thank you for the analysis. I am wondering what his approach was to learning? I realize he has I imagine the time and the finances provided by his work but did he use a traditional method of learning? Comprehensible input? Just lots of speaking every day? Fantastic achievement.

[BusinessSolutions]

Stu Kruu...you are my polyglot mentor!!! Your a mix between a mad language scientist and pure genius!!! So much respect for your language abilities!!! Thank you! Wow...what an insightful and fascinating video concept. I loved the Paddy video as well! I am a farm boy from Minnesota but have lived and worked overseas since 1996. I speak Mandarin and am now 7-months into my Thai studies. I was and am still shocked how anyone can learn Thai without learning to read and write Thai script. The Mandarin Pinyin equivalent in Thai is shockingly bad and not even close! One last point...I never ever saw the correlation between Mandarin - Putonghua long and short vowesl compared to Thai till this video! So surprising! Anyway...sorry to ramble but your videos get my language juices flowing! lol Take care and please keep up the amazing work. I am of course a full member and its the best money I have ever spent!

[andyr]

Hi Stu Jay, how much expertise do you have in Vietnamese? I just saw your analysis video of Paddy's Thai and I think this sort of thing is amazing. I'm a fresh off the boat foreigner in Vietnam (or that should be fresh out of the quarantine hotel!) If I shoot a lot of videos in Vietnamese and gather a lot of footage, would you be able to give my Vietnamese the Paddy treatment 6 months / 12 months down the line?

[kittenastrophy]

สำเนียงท่านทูต หรือลาวใต้ น่าจะบังเอิญพ้องกัน ผมก็เคยได้ยินฝรั่งพูดเพี้ยน โทนชิฟท์ประมาณนี้ทั้งนั้น แล้วก็เวลาจ้างครูมาสอนภาษาไทย ไม่ใช่เรียนเองตามมีตามเกิด ไทยภาคกลางมาตรฐาน

[Evangeline-V]

I was impressed by his มือ and the ร่วม issue was missed

[miniemouse]

Hi i’m here because Thai BL series and all drama Thailand.😍😍😍