Thailand Downgrades South African and Irish from Premiere League of Native Speakers?

**LDMA** · 29th July 2012 15:07

I have been recently hearing from Facebook, that South African and Irish English teachers are on the verge of being downgraded as eligible for native speaker status and thus pay in Thailand. Apparently it has been deemed acceptable to put both in the same pay category as Filipinos. The guy on FB is sounding pretty militant and is trying to arrange marches on the Thai embassy in Pretoria, and has a petition going...I thought that it could do with some support from us.

Say NO to Xenophobic, Racist Supremacist Thailand Downgrading South Africa & The Republic of Ireland to NON Native Engli

More to the point has anyone else heard about this change and if so has it impacted you or anyone you know?

Facebook users will find the guys page here...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/No-to...16429331742569

**Thaitanium** · 29th July 2012 15:16

Well in all honesty Canadians are the only speakers of English with a clear accentless pronunciation of the English language...so in theory we should be the only Country with NS status...

Of course to be fair we would need to exclude the Maritimes, Quebec and New Brunswick...

**exprat** · 29th July 2012 15:21

I'm all for this. These scumbags didn't want to be part of the Commonwealth and bit the hand that feeds them. What goes around comes around.

They've got no claims on the Queen's English. Cast them aside.

**Thaitanium** · 29th July 2012 15:26

The UFC uses subtitles when they interview British fighters

...

**LDMA** · 29th July 2012 15:32

If the Irish are being considered for downgrading, surely, the Scottish will be next...

**tomcat** · 29th July 2012 15:41

Originally Posted by LDMA

surely, the Scottish will be next

...the Scottish should have been first...if those folks insist on speaking their own dialect, so be it: what I can't understand is the attitude that the world should strain to comprehend such mumbling...

**aridion** · 29th July 2012 16:08

This is surprizing. I am Irish, from the North-west of the country. My accent is very slight to be fair. However, I know that accents further down south can be quite a mouthful.

---Update---

Originally Posted by exprat

I'm all for this. These scumbags didn't want to be part of the Commonwealth and bit the hand that feeds them. What goes around comes around.

They've got no claims on the Queen's English. Cast them aside.

I suppose we should make the USA non-native as well, should we?

**Tungsten** · 29th July 2012 16:23

After Scotland, how about the other variants of British English such as Jordie, Brummie, Black Country, etc.? I've found Jordie speakers harder to understand than South Africans that I've met. And I'd hate to see anyone downgraded just because they came from Newcastle. If I were studying Thai, I'd prefer to learn from various dialects of Thailand especially Isaan.

**aridion** · 29th July 2012 17:13

^ Surely, you mean Geordie, no?

**exprat** · 29th July 2012 17:20

The Yanks are OK by me. After all, they're the ones with all the nuclear weapons.

**tomcat** · 29th July 2012 17:23

...exactly: nukes rule...

**johnNI3241** · 29th July 2012 18:59

That's not good haha I'm Irish! It would break my heart to have to apply for a British passport!

**aridion** · 29th July 2012 19:23

^ Hear ya

**ttompatz** · 29th July 2012 19:26

Back to the original post... They already have been downgraded.

All nationalities EXCEPT the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are now required to present a TOEIC/TOFEL/IELTS score as part of the visa/WP application.

Happened last October.

.