In Malaysia, English were thought from preschool until high school & most lecture notes/PowerPoint in college is in English. Malaysians perhaps wouldn’t able to have long English conversations, but they mostly able to response simple question from tourists in term of tastes, numbers, directions, colours, public facilities, price, foods & weather.
Actually it's the same throughout most parts of the world. English is taught from a very young age. But I do think being a former British colony helps emphasize the importance of English. Even to get jobs at a large company, you have to be able to speak at least decent English. So ever since primary school we were taught a much more advanced level of English compared to other countries.
Thick accent is just a stereophical view for Filipino accent, in fact Filipinos are flexible when it comes accent we can mimic both American and British accent
Not all Filipinos are good in English but we can understand and express ourselves using that language. American English language is present in every corners of the country in street signs, educational materials, mall signs, transpo, etc. so yeah foreigners from English speaking countries who comes to our country can easily manuever w/o hassles just stsy out from scammers 😊
English is not fluently spoken by many Filipino's, while they may understand and read English, and while they intermix English in their everyday spoken language, they don't use it enough in some places to be fluent and understandable. I am not saying it is difficult to travel or live in the Philippines speaking English, I am just saying it's not all a bed of roses language wise. They absolutely won't get that joke you are telling and may be offended so don't try it.
Great theory about the tones. Cantonese also have trouble speaking English - they have lots of tones too. Even in Malaysia or Singapore, you can easily spot a Cantonese person because their English will have that clipped sound.
One of the issues in China is that before Mandarin and Cantonese were the primary languages many villages had their own distinct languages.. it took many years to meld them into one(two) languages.
It is very easy to figure out based on the tonality of languages. Tonal languages like Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Burmese requires a precise sing songy way of pronouncing every syllable with a TONE, a concept so different from speaking English. Second is that there is no random stress/ no-stress on any syllable in a sentence. Third is they are staccato languages - no linking of words or syllables when talking; it has to choppy and rhythmic. Last but not least, there is no ending consonants/ sound for each syllable (which is linked to the flowy, linking nature of English), which is why normally these speakers tend to leave out the final sounds when speaking English. For Burmese, it is no suprise because they were once Anglo colonised like some other countries better at English here.
would the opposite also not be true then too? non tonal speakers should have trouble speaking tonal languages? how come it is easy for cambodians to learn how to speak thai a tonal language? i have relatives that learnt how to speak thai in two years. many cambodians can also learn how to speak chinese quickly
Ah, but, the device does not translate Khmer per their website. Microsoft Translator also is a no go. Yet Google Translate does with 100 languages supported.
I speak Cantonese which has six tones as well and I would like to think I am pretty proficient in English, haha. I reckon they just need to speak it more often. Practice makes perfect.😃
The way i see it in the Philippines, English conversational (not reading, not writing) fluency is sort of proportional to a/the person's financial status. The more/ higher affluent a family (elite down to people below), then more likely they have a higher degree of English conversational fluency and they tend to speak/ comingle to those of similar level. In a poor family's house or faraway from the city, locals speaking in English to each other is very highly unlikely. I think you guys what Im trying to say.
Tonal language speakers speak English language in monotone because, in their languages, changing tone will change the meaning of the words. They usually don't know what tones or accents should apply to words in an English sentence so they stick to basic monotone.
English is one of the two official languages of the Philippines and almost every Filipinos speak fluet English. Only handful or few percent of more than 110 million Filipinos don't speak English.
japanese is non tonal and japanese people are famous for struggling to learn english even when they move to a western country. i would say that the chinese speak better english than the japanese
I'm from the Philippines and I think majority of people here are not exactly fluent in English. Locals would at least be able to point you directions (with their lips LOL). Those in the hospitality industry would at least have above average English skills since that's part of their job.
I beg your pardon, but the majority of Filipinos have high level of English proficiency. It depends what standard of English language you want to relate into. If you think everyone should be grammatically correct when speaking in English, then you’re wrong. Not all Filipinos are academically qualified, but the standard of English when spoken is potentially communicable. There’s no standardised English when spoken as most Filipinos fall into that category. Even English speaking countries have ways of communicating, but not the same way that you have to expect when a Filipino speaks in English.
English is still compulsory in every public school since kindergarten in Malaysia. Almost everyone can understand English but most of us speak Manglish...which is similar to Singlish. xD.
I went in 2017, it's rough if you don't have Wechat/Alipay. Even the beggars on the street don't accept cash and they have a QR code for you to scan and donate money. Many shops also don't really have much physical cash on hand. They've gone cashless already.
I can back this up. Easy place to travel for Chinese, but a bit difficult for westerners. I lived there when I travelled across the country twice, so I had WeChat, Didi dianping, etc but it was still more challenging than most other countries I've traveled.
Well....... what language do you think people from Korea, Japan, India, etc places (that you decided to exclude from comparing against Chinese numbers) use when they go to a foreign country? They all use English. So its very odd that you compare people only from native English countries versus Chinese people (who are the obscene bunch who dont even try to speak an international language when they are not even in China). Cambodians use English not because of native English speakers, but because all sensible foreigners from everywhere just use English. This is coming from a Korean expat in Cambodia. Its funny, there is a significant amount of Koreans here but we dont go around screaming Korean to random Cambodians and expect them to understand (unlike people from some other particular neighboring country).
G,Day Mate , Yep speaking a little of the lingo does helps heaps , I too have a translator , different to yours but works real good here ! called a wifey lol , Catchya...
You probably don’t know that English is Sarawak’s (one of Malaysia’s Bornean States) official language along side the standard Malay as the national language. 😆 Anyway… if you visit Malaysia, stay in the peninsula.
I started travelling through Asia in 2005, my first trip was Viet Nam.. its was super easy, most spoke English.. I then travelled a few years later I went to China which was totally different.. few spoke English and our only companion was the lonely planet book guide.. absolutely no help in a tonal language country. Lhasa in Tibet again was easy, Cambodia , easy, Japan.... easier.. although a tour at the Kirin beer factory did not have an English speaking guide or even a pamphlet to help. I don't expect English speakers, as I am in their country.. but its nice. I am travelling to Europe next year an am going to learn a little French and my son is covering the German portion.. Talking about restaurants.. went to Kunming on the way to Tibet, zero English speaking, ate at the hotel restaurant by pointing at food pics from my room and the grace of the waitress!!
This is a tough one for me, since I speak fluent Khmer, quite good Thai and Lao, and passable Vietnamese (so I never need to speak English in those countries). Still, I hear English spoken...so I would rank Cambodia at #1, Thailand at #2, Laos at #3, Vietnam at #4, and the Philippines at "I would rather have bamboo stakes driven under my fingernails than listen to them butcher English with that atrocious accent."
Australia🇦🇺 is known as a country of English speakers as their official language is English. But majority here have no proficiency of the language and grammar isn’t necessary either. As long as they communicate each other, that’s all what matters. 😂
"Bahasa Indonesia" has become an official language at UNESCO, soon "Bahasa Indonesia" will become the 7th Official Language at the UN, thus "Indonesian" will become an international language on a par / equal with English.
The education level doesn't identify the English proficiency. Like Thailand, they are educated at least Grade 9 and they study English not later than Grade 5. Means that most of the Thai people know English. But in term of communication, particularly speaking, they may not do well. So, you can find many gradated people still can't communicate English well. While nowadays 2nd language option is not only English. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc., are more crucial. So, you can't use English as the education indicator. Thailand has the most visitors this year, you know?, it's not about English skill. Visitors can find any products or services that they want without language limitation. And they feel satisfy and want to come back to Thailand again and again, it's not also about speaking English. On the other hand, many foreigners want the learn Thai more instead. So, English now doesn't dominate the world.
WOW, actually just came to notice this. I have been to visit Thai many years ago, but this place become so popular these days? I want to visit again haha.
Link is in the description and the pinned comment. 🤷🏻♂️ www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BG2HQ6KG?maas=maas_adg_AE73967176DF2A7E11C9B3E3186BC0CC_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas
Errr... Not trying to put Filipino down... Not a lot of them speak or can understand English once you go outside the major cities... My Wife, who is Filipino... Her parents hardly under or speak English beside the usual Hello or Good Evening/Morning... Her sibling could understand simple everyday English... but hardly able to speak back... But being people from a smaller, more rural city in Northern Samur... the availability of a good English education and the amount of chance they could practice speaking English with another native speaker is very limited...
Most of the comments ranking is not accurate and not qualified largely because none of them has travel every single country in southeast asia and just bias
Thai is understood in Cambodia and Lao. yay! So I am pretty good at speaking basic Lao and can communicate with Thai and Khmer in Lao to a limited extent. Because Lao and Thai share lots of words. But so do Thai and Khmer so if someone wants a language to speak in those 3 countries, learn Thai😂.
not very accurate. If you speak Khmer, it is easier for you to understand Thai and Laos. I met a lot of Thais that cannot understand basic Khmer but Khmers can understand basic Thai words. Most likely because Thais and Laos are tonal while Khmer aint. Some word in Thai seems to be draggy & extended from the word in Khmer. And Khmer are the parent languages of Thai and Laos.
@@moonieeee_ I speak from experience. It is my accurate experience. 😂 my Khmer friends understand some Lao because of shared vocab. My experience is that Thai and Lao people understand what I say even if the tones are not correct because the conversation is context based. For example we don’t get the Lao word for 20 and morning mixed up because they are used in different ways.
For English speaking countries visiting the Philippines, English isn’t a problem in communicating with us. But what’s pathetic is when fellow SE Asians when visiting us, most are quick to criticise us because for them we Filipinos can’t speak English at all. My answer for those that criticised us: “Please speak in English so that we Filipinos can understand you!” 😊
"English is behind Mandarin and Spanish." No 👎 Update. 1 India 🇮🇳 is a member of the British 🇬🇧 Commonwealth. Thus, English is an official language. This, English is taught there. India is Number 2 in population by nation. Add its population to the native speakers. Thus, English has more native speakers than Mandarin. 2 Update. Hindi has more native speakers than Spanish. Hints. 1 Vietnamese 🇻🇳 has Cantonese cognate words. 2 Tagalog and other Philippine languages have Indonesian cognate words, although the percentage in each Philippine language is small.
@@TimekettleTech You are welcome 😊. I travel mostly to Asia 🌏, mostly The Philippines 🇵🇭. I speak Spanish, French, German and Tagalog in addition to English.
The police strip search? You know why don’t you? They wanted to see if the rumors were true about Western men compared to Asian men. I hope you didn’t let us down.
Why are you surprised about Myanmar? IT WAS A BRITISH COLONY LMAO. EVERY COUNTRY THAT WAS A BRITISH COLONIES HAVE ENGLISH AS THEIR COMPULSORY SUBJECT IN THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. MANY PEOPLE FORGET THAT MYANMAR WAS A BRITISH COLONY SAME LIKE MALAYSIA, BRUNEI AND SINGAPORE IDK WHY. :P
About the Philippines its more like Malaysia from what you're describing. Most people here merge the 2 official languages together (Filipino or de-facto Tagalog + English) when speaking with people who dont know the other's native language (there are 180+ languages and ethnic groups here). This lingua franca is called "Taglish" and has even been officialized by banks which all offer "taglish" as a language option in ATMs. Taglish has a base in Tagalog (the language of Manila) but with US English words and sometimes conjunctions. Its more similar to how English is used in India with their "Hindlish" (Hindi+English). Socially, over the last decade but especially from the time of the last president, there has been a type of antagonism to using English. this is coupled with a somewhat anti-Westernization pro-reindigenizing popular mentality due to increasing nationalism among the masses here, especially those in the working classes. This antagonism to English is most palpable in Metro Manila and the orimarily Tagalog speaking provinces in south and central Luzon. There were even calls by the last president to rename the country "Maharlika" as part of this govt backed reindigenization effort. It had a lot of support, but fell short due to the logistics. It has hence been parked by the senate until the economy reaches fhe upper-mid level (about 8-10 years away). Noting all of this, expats who live here now use Tagalog (or Bisaya if they're based in the Visayas and Mindanao) over English day-to-day, and are expected to know it. My uni friend who is also a returnee diasporic Filipino runs a well-known company, and even he said that in his team, Taglish is the primary medium both in and out of office meetings and client engagements. He's been increasingly speaking in pure Tagalog with his staff so as not to seem "boastful". Noting this, foreign expats and travelers will find it is getting increasingly harder to be understood when asking questions in English. Quite a few travel vloggers captured these awkward moments when going around working-class and sometimes upper middle class reas of Metro Manila. You'd find its the older Filipinos (aged 50+) who almost unanimously speak better English than younger Filipinos (40 years and below). This is a bit of a generalization, but women tend to speak much better English than men in general. Big tip if you're lost here: just ask older "auntie" or "grandma" aged lady for help. If you ask younger guys here (saying this as a guy too) you'd find they'd either laugh at you for being a foreigner, trivialize your conversation as a way to joke around, ask you flatout if you can speak Tagalog, or most likely laugh nervously and refuse to answer the question due to being frankly unable to accommodate your fluent English. This phenomenon is called "nosebleed" here (= not being able to understand or reply to an English speaker, despite everyone having to learn basic English in Elementary). Mass media, education, and govt communications have pretty much all switched over from English to Tagalog via the official language: Wikang Filipino. Even Hollywood movies on TV and in theaters are now fully dubbed into Filipino, and speaking English in public by Filipinos is seen as a "try-hard"/unsavory thing. This drives most young Filipinos, and even us diasporics living here, to avoid using it altogether in order not to be maligned by peers. The govt here has gone further to revive Baybayin script (the precolonial Philippine script loosely related to Thai and Khmer scripts, used commonly up until the mid 1800s) as the de-jure "national script". I doubt anyone will take up the transition soon, but Google's Android already have a "Filipino (baybayin)" keyboard option (ᜁᜆᜓ ᜌᜓᜈ᜔). GenZ Filipinos are all into it; while Millennials and older Filipinos largely reject the script's increased usage. The only people who are expected to know English here are teachers, people in the BPO industry, those in hospitality and customer service staff in larger malls, people in senste and upper government, Filipinos who wish to emigrate for work, and diasporic returnees like myself. Everyone else (the majority) doesn't use it as they really don't see the need to. Its akin to learning Spanish in the US, or learning French in the UK. These languages are forced on students to learn in schools, but are soon forgotten the moment kids graduate high school and start working. Noting the incoming tourist numbers for the PH are far lower than surrounding SE Asian countries, your chances of having to use English with foreigners as a Filipino are pretty low unless youre in one of the few tourist sites in the country (7600+ islands here, so a handful of places isn't that many). Hope this gives you insight into how English is sorta dying a slow death here, as it is in Malaysia.
Thanks for all the info. I'm actually in the Philippines right now - spending my Christmas holidays here. I actually went to a store yesterday and was surprised when the young guys working had to go get an older woman when I requested something in English. I don't really understand the want to preserve your culture, but I'm from Canada and we don't really have much of a history to preserve.
I remember as kid in the 90s that all foreign movies and cartoons are in English (I don't remember whether they dub Chinese movies into Filipino tho). Then they started dubbing everything into Tagalog. I remember elders in the family saying it's gonna dumb down people's English skills and they were right.
adding to that majority of filipino working on the outsource industry (BPO) normally prefer to speak on our native language when we are outside of work because 10 hrs of speaking english and listening to different accent is already tiring so sometimes we rather pretend that we are not good in english or don't speak the language at all 😂 when speaking to a random native english speaker in person.
About 70 countries speak English Singapore was rated best in asia Ive met many filipinos who speak very little English And many who speak english but dont understand what you say
Yes, Singapore is the #2 country when it comes to English proficiency in a country where English isn't the official language. Only the Netherlands beats it.
It depend in your accent, if it is British accent probably many Filipinos will not understand it... But majority of Filipinos can speak and understand 2 or more languages... Like me I can speak and understand 4 languages.....Capiznon (local), Tagalog, Hiligaynon, English and small Spanish (my local language composed of more than 40 percent Spanish loan words.......
@@javenbautista5678 I didn't say all I said many I have met I speak clear and slow In fishing villages I've been to its 50 50 but it's OK I speak cebuano tagalog chavacsno and German and Spanish
🤪English language has no tones, but why are English speakers so terrible at speaking other European languages, which also have no tones? During the Indochine-era, one would have heard many Vietnamese of all social strata eloquently articulate in educated “français orthoépique.” American advisers and journalists must often resort to their broken French to communicate with Vietnamese officials, many of whom spoke idiom-free RP proper English. My theory about the fluency of a spoken second language lies in the method of teaching and the relevance of the linguistic context. Moral judgement aside, the French language was innate to the culture of colonized Vietnam, having been for centuries the European language of diplomacy, the indicator of prestige and class, and the progenitor of today’s English language. What exactly does English deserve in the international world stage, for being nothing more than a commodity with an economic exchange value?
1. Spore 90% good English fluency 2. Malaysia 70% good English fluency 3. Philippines 60% good English fluency. 4. Thailand. 60% speaks very basic English, few speak it fluently. 5. Every where else, aming the youth & college grad, 25% speaks some basic English. Very few speak it fluently..
Timekettle T1 Mini
Amazon: amz.run/6jen
Official website: bityl.co/N6Th
Until the Fluentalk T1 add Khmer to the languages, it’s a big pass for me!
In the Philippines, even uneducated street vendors can communicate basic English.
I'm there now. It's really nice to be able to communicate with all the locals, no matter the socio-economic background.
Thank you very much for the tip on the electronic translator. It probably will save your life when a local is holding you up.
In Malaysia, English were thought from preschool until high school & most lecture notes/PowerPoint in college is in English. Malaysians perhaps wouldn’t able to have long English conversations, but they mostly able to response simple question from tourists in term of tastes, numbers, directions, colours, public facilities, price, foods & weather.
Actually it's the same throughout most parts of the world. English is taught from a very young age. But I do think being a former British colony helps emphasize the importance of English. Even to get jobs at a large company, you have to be able to speak at least decent English. So ever since primary school we were taught a much more advanced level of English compared to other countries.
That's like Philippines
Most only basic English
Few I would say are fluent like British or usa
Well in sea country Singapore Philippines the only good English country Malaysia is only 3rd .
@@Troy25473do not rank your lowlife philippines with SG…🤮🤮🤮
@@Troy25473 But still very fluent compared to global standards. ☺️
Thick accent is just a stereophical view for Filipino accent, in fact Filipinos are flexible when it comes accent we can mimic both American and British accent
I think he was talking about the "thick" accent in different parts of the UK.
@@HelenFlotildesexactly, he even followed it up with the funny uk tv skit.
Great topic, well done! Thanks for sharing with us. 😎✌
Excellent video with a bit of comedy ands tons of info.
Not all Filipinos are good in English but we can understand and express ourselves using that language.
American English language is present in every corners of the country in street signs, educational materials, mall signs, transpo, etc. so yeah foreigners from English speaking countries who comes to our country can easily manuever w/o hassles just stsy out from scammers 😊
English is not fluently spoken by many Filipino's, while they may understand and read English, and while they intermix English in their everyday spoken language, they don't use it enough in some places to be fluent and understandable. I am not saying it is difficult to travel or live in the Philippines speaking English, I am just saying it's not all a bed of roses language wise. They absolutely won't get that joke you are telling and may be offended so don't try it.
I am glad you had Ivan Musto on your channel. He is a downright good guy.
Another good video. Good job Ryan!
1:58 'Kami'. Sara, please teach him.
Great theory about the tones. Cantonese also have trouble speaking English - they have lots of tones too. Even in Malaysia or Singapore, you can easily spot a Cantonese person because their English will have that clipped sound.
One of the issues in China is that before Mandarin and Cantonese were the primary languages many villages had their own distinct languages.. it took many years to meld them into one(two) languages.
Yeah, but Hokkien speakers seem to speak much better English than Cantonese.
many cambodians can also speak thai,viet and chinese.
It is very easy to figure out based on the tonality of languages. Tonal languages like Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Burmese requires a precise sing songy way of pronouncing every syllable with a TONE, a concept so different from speaking English. Second is that there is no random stress/ no-stress on any syllable in a sentence. Third is they are staccato languages - no linking of words or syllables when talking; it has to choppy and rhythmic. Last but not least, there is no ending consonants/ sound for each syllable (which is linked to the flowy, linking nature of English), which is why normally these speakers tend to leave out the final sounds when speaking English. For Burmese, it is no suprise because they were once Anglo colonised like some other countries better at English here.
That's a great point that I failed to mention - colonized by the Brits probably helps with the English.
would the opposite also not be true then too? non tonal speakers should have trouble speaking tonal languages? how come it is easy for cambodians to learn how to speak thai a tonal language? i have relatives that learnt how to speak thai in two years. many cambodians can also learn how to speak chinese quickly
@@cambodianpleasuresquad1753 similar languages due to close proximity I guess
@@QuangNguyen-nf6ue thai belongs to the tai kradai language family and is different from khmer
@@cambodianpleasuresquad1753 I never said they are in the same language family
Ah, but, the device does not translate Khmer per their website. Microsoft Translator also is a no go. Yet Google Translate does with 100 languages supported.
I speak Cantonese which has six tones as well and I would like to think I am pretty proficient in English, haha. I reckon they just need to speak it more often. Practice makes perfect.😃
are you from hong kong? don't they still learn english over there?
@@cambodianpleasuresquad1753 not from HK but I am from Asia
Totally Agree👍👍! Great video👍👍! Very Educational indeed👍👍!!!
The way i see it in the Philippines, English conversational (not reading, not writing) fluency is sort of proportional to a/the person's financial status. The more/ higher affluent a family (elite down to people below), then more likely they have a higher degree of English conversational fluency and they tend to speak/ comingle to those of similar level. In a poor family's house or faraway from the city, locals speaking in English to each other is very highly unlikely. I think you guys what Im trying to say.
Thank you so much for saying it was average brained. I have not had a compliment like that in years. You made my day. Thank you. Haha
Hmmm, it's the shaking hand gesture with the protein shake a bit misleading....together with the finger pointing you and me....🤣
1) Singapore
2) Philippines
3) Malaysia
agree !
Tonal language speakers speak English language in monotone because, in their languages, changing tone will change the meaning of the words. They usually don't know what tones or accents should apply to words in an English sentence so they stick to basic monotone.
Very cool device
A lot of the older Khmer generation speaks fluent French, because Cambodia was a French colony until 1953.
English is one of the two official languages of the Philippines and almost every Filipinos speak fluet English. Only handful or few percent of more than 110 million Filipinos don't speak English.
Not fluent, but rather able to communicate coherent English.
@@blazingfire_0712 i agree... not fluent
True
@@blazingfire_0712 maybe in speaking terms but Filipinos are very particular in correct grammar.
@@melquiadespabillare5437 its because filipinos have no culture
Amazing as always. Keep them coming fellow Ryan.
Thanks Ryan
Another excellent video. Thank you. I can see now, why I don’t get anywhere near as many views as you.
I went to film school, so I started my channel with a lot of skills that usually take a UA-camr years to develop.
My fiancé speaks ok English but it’s way better than my Khmer and we get by . This would be great if it could translate khmer
I know. They have a new one coming out, so 🤞🏼 that it supports Khmer.
Thanks
Mr. Rayn : I need you to get me a protein shake...
Her be like : I'm ganna shake your WHAT...!!?? 💀
Agreed with your tonal theory…
japanese is non tonal and japanese people are famous for struggling to learn english even when they move to a western country. i would say that the chinese speak better english than the japanese
The Google translate voiceover got me lol 😂😂
I have been to Thailand and I had a very hard time communicating to locals there...
Good video, pretty interesting stuff!
I'm from the Philippines and I think majority of people here are not exactly fluent in English. Locals would at least be able to point you directions (with their lips LOL). Those in the hospitality industry would at least have above average English skills since that's part of their job.
I beg your pardon, but the majority of Filipinos have high level of English proficiency. It depends what standard of English language you want to relate into.
If you think everyone should be grammatically correct when speaking in English, then you’re wrong.
Not all Filipinos are academically qualified, but the standard of English when spoken is potentially communicable.
There’s no standardised English when spoken as most Filipinos fall into that category.
Even English speaking countries have ways of communicating, but not the same way that you have to expect when a Filipino speaks in English.
You are so good haha
The Philipines. The end.
English is still compulsory in every public school since kindergarten in Malaysia. Almost everyone can understand English but most of us speak Manglish...which is similar to Singlish. xD.
Are the iPhone apps that bad at translating? I’d rather not have to carry another device with me while travelling
Talking about SEA, but you totally abandoning Brunei and Timor Leste.
I know. My apologies to those places. I need to visit them.
I haven’t visited there but I know some people speak English and the rest don’t
No one seem to remember those 2.
Nobody cares about those countries. No tourist attractions there.
Brunei is boring while Timor Leste and Papua new Guinea is unsafe
China was the roughest travel country for me, but that was 20 years ago. I wonder how it is now...
I went in 2017, it's rough if you don't have Wechat/Alipay. Even the beggars on the street don't accept cash and they have a QR code for you to scan and donate money. Many shops also don't really have much physical cash on hand. They've gone cashless already.
I can back this up. Easy place to travel for Chinese, but a bit difficult for westerners. I lived there when I travelled across the country twice, so I had WeChat, Didi dianping, etc but it was still more challenging than most other countries I've traveled.
Great info! Thanks!
Well....... what language do you think people from Korea, Japan, India, etc places (that you decided to exclude from comparing against Chinese numbers) use when they go to a foreign country? They all use English. So its very odd that you compare people only from native English countries versus Chinese people (who are the obscene bunch who dont even try to speak an international language when they are not even in China). Cambodians use English not because of native English speakers, but because all sensible foreigners from everywhere just use English. This is coming from a Korean expat in Cambodia. Its funny, there is a significant amount of Koreans here but we dont go around screaming Korean to random Cambodians and expect them to understand (unlike people from some other particular neighboring country).
7:50 actually it's the opposite. People who speak a tonal language have an easier time to imitate sound of foreign languages.
"Feel free to p**p on that theory" oh for funny 😂
G,Day Mate , Yep speaking a little of the lingo does helps heaps , I too have a translator , different to yours but works real good here ! called a wifey lol , Catchya...
You probably don’t know that English is Sarawak’s (one of Malaysia’s Bornean States) official language along side the standard Malay as the national language. 😆 Anyway… if you visit Malaysia, stay in the peninsula.
I started travelling through Asia in 2005, my first trip was Viet Nam.. its was super easy, most spoke English.. I then travelled a few years later I went to China which was totally different.. few spoke English and our only companion was the lonely planet book guide.. absolutely no help in a tonal language country. Lhasa in Tibet again was easy, Cambodia , easy, Japan.... easier.. although a tour at the Kirin beer factory did not have an English speaking guide or even a pamphlet to help. I don't expect English speakers, as I am in their country.. but its nice. I am travelling to Europe next year an am going to learn a little French and my son is covering the German portion.. Talking about restaurants.. went to Kunming on the way to Tibet, zero English speaking, ate at the hotel restaurant by pointing at food pics from my room and the grace of the waitress!!
Its because colonisation spread english to those countries hence why SEA countries tend to speak better english than east asia
@@user-zu1pe1di4r most south east asia was not colonised by the english. also korea and japan was colonised by the americans
Also, China has a large enough population that it doesn't need to rely on international travel.
This is a tough one for me, since I speak fluent Khmer, quite good Thai and Lao, and passable Vietnamese (so I never need to speak English in those countries). Still, I hear English spoken...so I would rank Cambodia at #1, Thailand at #2, Laos at #3, Vietnam at #4, and the Philippines at "I would rather have bamboo stakes driven under my fingernails than listen to them butcher English with that atrocious accent."
I find the Filipino accent kind of endearing. Sir, ma'am.
Doesn't Eric remind you of Lloyd Robertson!! suave and deboner
Timor Leste you should visit there
I'd like to, but it's difficult to find flights there.
@@itchyfeetonthecheap as far as i know, it's only available from bali indonesia and darwin australia
Australia🇦🇺 is known as a country of English speakers as their official language is English.
But majority here have no proficiency of the language and grammar isn’t necessary either.
As long as they communicate each other, that’s all what matters. 😂
"Bahasa Indonesia" has become an official language at UNESCO, soon "Bahasa Indonesia" will become the 7th Official Language at the UN, thus "Indonesian" will become an international language on a par / equal with English.
Dream on lar. 😂😂😂.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🎉😂😂😂😂😂
😂😂😂
The education level doesn't identify the English proficiency. Like Thailand, they are educated at least Grade 9 and they study English not later than Grade 5. Means that most of the Thai people know English. But in term of communication, particularly speaking, they may not do well. So, you can find many gradated people still can't communicate English well. While nowadays 2nd language option is not only English. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc., are more crucial. So, you can't use English as the education indicator. Thailand has the most visitors this year, you know?, it's not about English skill. Visitors can find any products or services that they want without language limitation. And they feel satisfy and want to come back to Thailand again and again, it's not also about speaking English. On the other hand, many foreigners want the learn Thai more instead. So, English now doesn't dominate the world.
WOW, actually just came to notice this. I have been to visit Thai many years ago, but this place become so popular these days? I want to visit again haha.
@@lynnfromChina
Sure. You can come to see by yourself.
it has to be SIngapore , Malaysia and the Phils
So what's that translator can't see a link 😬!
Link is in the description and the pinned comment. 🤷🏻♂️ www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BG2HQ6KG?maas=maas_adg_AE73967176DF2A7E11C9B3E3186BC0CC_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas
Try to visit Philippines
The metric system again?.... 🤔🙃
Just ask for the protein powder. Shake it yourself later. You might get the "shake" without the protein.
Errr... Not trying to put Filipino down... Not a lot of them speak or can understand English once you go outside the major cities...
My Wife, who is Filipino... Her parents hardly under or speak English beside the usual Hello or Good Evening/Morning... Her sibling could understand simple everyday English... but hardly able to speak back...
But being people from a smaller, more rural city in Northern Samur... the availability of a good English education and the amount of chance they could practice speaking English with another native speaker is very limited...
Most of the comments ranking is not accurate and not qualified largely because none of them has travel every single country in southeast asia and just bias
Thai is understood in Cambodia and Lao. yay! So I am pretty good at speaking basic Lao and can communicate with Thai and Khmer in Lao to a limited extent. Because Lao and Thai share lots of words. But so do Thai and Khmer so if someone wants a language to speak in those 3 countries, learn Thai😂.
not very accurate. If you speak Khmer, it is easier for you to understand Thai and Laos. I met a lot of Thais that cannot understand basic Khmer but Khmers can understand basic Thai words. Most likely because Thais and Laos are tonal while Khmer aint. Some word in Thai seems to be draggy & extended from the word in Khmer. And Khmer are the parent languages of Thai and Laos.
@@moonieeee_ I speak from experience. It is my accurate experience. 😂 my Khmer friends understand some Lao because of shared vocab. My experience is that Thai and Lao people understand what I say even if the tones are not correct because the conversation is context based. For example we don’t get the Lao word for 20 and morning mixed up because they are used in different ways.
Khmer language is the mother of Thai and Laos language. You can search on the internet, so if you want to understand 3 language should learn Khmer 😁
@@SuccessReveal Khmer language is a mother fucker of what?
Any Thai people I talked to, said they cannot understand kmer language. They only understand Lao language.
Philippines is a conquered nation. So everyone speaks English.
For English speaking countries visiting the Philippines, English isn’t a problem in communicating with us.
But what’s pathetic is when fellow SE Asians when visiting us, most are quick to criticise us because for them we Filipinos can’t speak English at all.
My answer for those that criticised us:
“Please speak in English so that we Filipinos can understand you!” 😊
"English is behind Mandarin and Spanish." No 👎 Update. 1 India 🇮🇳 is a member of the British 🇬🇧 Commonwealth. Thus, English is an official language. This, English is taught there. India is Number 2 in population by nation. Add its population to the native speakers. Thus, English has more native speakers than Mandarin. 2 Update. Hindi has more native speakers than Spanish.
Hints. 1 Vietnamese 🇻🇳 has Cantonese cognate words. 2 Tagalog and other Philippine languages have Indonesian cognate words, although the percentage in each Philippine language is small.
Thank you for sharing the knowledge. That is absolutely an upgrade to our vision.
@@TimekettleTech You are welcome 😊. I travel mostly to Asia 🌏, mostly The Philippines 🇵🇭. I speak Spanish, French, German and Tagalog in addition to English.
Very Itchy style of analogy
The police strip search? You know why don’t you? They wanted to see if the rumors were true about Western men compared to Asian men. I hope you didn’t let us down.
Arabic is the native language in England.
And some polish.
Why are you surprised about Myanmar? IT WAS A BRITISH COLONY LMAO. EVERY COUNTRY THAT WAS A BRITISH COLONIES HAVE ENGLISH AS THEIR COMPULSORY SUBJECT IN THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. MANY PEOPLE FORGET THAT MYANMAR WAS A BRITISH COLONY SAME LIKE MALAYSIA, BRUNEI AND SINGAPORE IDK WHY. :P
You're right. I totally forgot they were colonized by the British.
Chill bro no one gives a damn XD
You're right
About the Philippines its more like Malaysia from what you're describing. Most people here merge the 2 official languages together (Filipino or de-facto Tagalog + English) when speaking with people who dont know the other's native language (there are 180+ languages and ethnic groups here). This lingua franca is called "Taglish" and has even been officialized by banks which all offer "taglish" as a language option in ATMs. Taglish has a base in Tagalog (the language of Manila) but with US English words and sometimes conjunctions. Its more similar to how English is used in India with their "Hindlish" (Hindi+English).
Socially, over the last decade but especially from the time of the last president, there has been a type of antagonism to using English. this is coupled with a somewhat anti-Westernization pro-reindigenizing popular mentality due to increasing nationalism among the masses here, especially those in the working classes. This antagonism to English is most palpable in Metro Manila and the orimarily Tagalog speaking provinces in south and central Luzon. There were even calls by the last president to rename the country "Maharlika" as part of this govt backed reindigenization effort. It had a lot of support, but fell short due to the logistics. It has hence been parked by the senate until the economy reaches fhe upper-mid level (about 8-10 years away).
Noting all of this, expats who live here now use Tagalog (or Bisaya if they're based in the Visayas and Mindanao) over English day-to-day, and are expected to know it.
My uni friend who is also a returnee diasporic Filipino runs a well-known company, and even he said that in his team, Taglish is the primary medium both in and out of office meetings and client engagements. He's been increasingly speaking in pure Tagalog with his staff so as not to seem "boastful".
Noting this, foreign expats and travelers will find it is getting increasingly harder to be understood when asking questions in English. Quite a few travel vloggers captured these awkward moments when going around working-class and sometimes upper middle class reas of Metro Manila. You'd find its the older Filipinos (aged 50+) who almost unanimously speak better English than younger Filipinos (40 years and below).
This is a bit of a generalization, but women tend to speak much better English than men in general. Big tip if you're lost here: just ask older "auntie" or "grandma" aged lady for help. If you ask younger guys here (saying this as a guy too) you'd find they'd either laugh at you for being a foreigner, trivialize your conversation as a way to joke around, ask you flatout if you can speak Tagalog, or most likely laugh nervously and refuse to answer the question due to being frankly unable to accommodate your fluent English. This phenomenon is called "nosebleed" here (= not being able to understand or reply to an English speaker, despite everyone having to learn basic English in Elementary).
Mass media, education, and govt communications have pretty much all switched over from English to Tagalog via the official language: Wikang Filipino.
Even Hollywood movies on TV and in theaters are now fully dubbed into Filipino, and speaking English in public by Filipinos is seen as a "try-hard"/unsavory thing. This drives most young Filipinos, and even us diasporics living here, to avoid using it altogether in order not to be maligned by peers.
The govt here has gone further to revive Baybayin script (the precolonial Philippine script loosely related to Thai and Khmer scripts, used commonly up until the mid 1800s) as the de-jure "national script". I doubt anyone will take up the transition soon, but Google's Android already have a "Filipino (baybayin)" keyboard option (ᜁᜆᜓ ᜌᜓᜈ᜔). GenZ Filipinos are all into it; while Millennials and older Filipinos largely reject the script's increased usage.
The only people who are expected to know English here are teachers, people in the BPO industry, those in hospitality and customer service staff in larger malls, people in senste and upper government, Filipinos who wish to emigrate for work, and diasporic returnees like myself. Everyone else (the majority) doesn't use it as they really don't see the need to. Its akin to learning Spanish in the US, or learning French in the UK. These languages are forced on students to learn in schools, but are soon forgotten the moment kids graduate high school and start working.
Noting the incoming tourist numbers for the PH are far lower than surrounding SE Asian countries, your chances of having to use English with foreigners as a Filipino are pretty low unless youre in one of the few tourist sites in the country (7600+ islands here, so a handful of places isn't that many).
Hope this gives you insight into how English is sorta dying a slow death here, as it is in Malaysia.
Thanks for all the info. I'm actually in the Philippines right now - spending my Christmas holidays here. I actually went to a store yesterday and was surprised when the young guys working had to go get an older woman when I requested something in English.
I don't really understand the want to preserve your culture, but I'm from Canada and we don't really have much of a history to preserve.
It is the most comprehensive opinion I have ever seen this year, appreciate the knowledge you share.
I remember as kid in the 90s that all foreign movies and cartoons are in English (I don't remember whether they dub Chinese movies into Filipino tho). Then they started dubbing everything into Tagalog. I remember elders in the family saying it's gonna dumb down people's English skills and they were right.
adding to that majority of filipino working on the outsource industry (BPO) normally prefer to speak on our native language when we are outside of work because 10 hrs of speaking english and listening to different accent is already tiring so sometimes we rather pretend that we are not good in english or don't speak the language at all 😂 when speaking to a random native english speaker in person.
About 70 countries speak English
Singapore was rated best in asia
Ive met many filipinos who speak very little English
And many who speak english but dont understand what you say
Yes, Singapore is the #2 country when it comes to English proficiency in a country where English isn't the official language. Only the Netherlands beats it.
@@itchyfeetonthecheap yes true
I read same
English is the language of business and day to day society in Singapore.
It depend in your accent, if it is British accent probably many Filipinos will not understand it... But majority of Filipinos can speak and understand 2 or more languages... Like me I can speak and understand 4 languages.....Capiznon (local), Tagalog, Hiligaynon, English and small Spanish (my local language composed of more than 40 percent Spanish loan words.......
@@javenbautista5678 I didn't say all
I said many I have met
I speak clear and slow
In fishing villages I've been to its
50 50 but it's OK I speak cebuano tagalog chavacsno and German and Spanish
🤪English language has no tones, but why are English speakers so terrible at speaking other European languages, which also have no tones? During the Indochine-era, one would have heard many Vietnamese of all social strata eloquently articulate in educated “français orthoépique.” American advisers and journalists must often resort to their broken French to communicate with Vietnamese officials, many of whom spoke idiom-free RP proper English. My theory about the fluency of a spoken second language lies in the method of teaching and the relevance of the linguistic context. Moral judgement aside, the French language was innate to the culture of colonized Vietnam, having been for centuries the European language of diplomacy, the indicator of prestige and class, and the progenitor of today’s English language. What exactly does English deserve in the international world stage, for being nothing more than a commodity with an economic exchange value?
Good point, culture is the crystallization of human wisdom, and language helps us save for centuries.
“What’s the best way to beat the Language Barrier”?
By LEARNING THE LANGUAGE! 🤦🏾♂️
You gonna backpack SEA and learn 10 languages for your month-long trip?
Pilipinos accent uk😅😂😮
No .I think u don't understand 😅😅
What your problem with Filipino accent dear,every country has an accent as long as you understand well there’s nothing wrong with it.
I love the Filipino accent. It's warm and sweet.
South Korea and China less English.
less english is an overstatement 😅
@@tanjongmalim6869 My job is driver plus guide, mostly my client from China and south Korea.
@@lyricscover9279 nice that you have a great job
@@tanjongmalim6869 Thank you so much bro. U re so kind 🙏
@@lyricscover9279 Thanks for sharing .. may you have a good holiday.
1. Spore 90% good English fluency
2. Malaysia 70% good English fluency
3. Philippines 60% good English fluency.
4. Thailand. 60% speaks very basic English, few speak it fluently.
5. Every where else, aming the youth & college grad, 25% speaks some basic English. Very few speak it fluently..
Wrong info 🤣 Research first
This is wrong.😂😂😂
Erratum of your statement SG ,Phil,and Malaysia.
Source: trust me bro
😂😂😂
Hey Ryan
Fun video as always
Does it have khmer language ???
Unfortunately it doesn't