I put a browser in incognito mode (so there would be no cookies / history to tailor results with) and tried it. Should be pretty much on par with average Thai results since I have Thai ISP and went through google.co.th. Also, I changed the search term to "Hitler" in Thai language script: "ฮิตเลอร์".

I'm pretty functionally fluent in listening to Thai and semi decent at speaking it (I can get along in daily life fine although I'll never be mistaken for a native speaker since I didn't grow up with a tonal language). I'm not completely illiterate when it comes to reading it, but I'm quite slow. Sort of "Dick and Jane" level. Anyway, it would take forever for me to interpret the results of that search reading everything in Thai, but here's a quick once-over:

#1 result is https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/อดอล์ฟ_ฮิตเลอร์
The Thai wikipedia article on Hitler is a bit shorter than the English one, but seems to cover everything in a similar way. I didn't try to read much to confirm but it does talk about the holocaust and Jews.

#2 result is http://teen.mthai.com/variety/57766.html
Seems to be a blog-type article on Hitler, written by a (high school?) student. I used the Chrome translate feature (which generally produces nonsense with Thai to English, but can get you broad strokes) to save time. This one does mention that Hitler hated Jews and talks about the holocaust being "cruel", although it seems to present a sort of positive take on Hitler in general. At least, more than we'd generally be comfortable with in the West.

#3 result is https://pantip.com/topic/31569039
This is a web forum. The article/post is called "(เรื่องน่ารู้) 10 อันดับเหตุผลที่ทำไมฮิ
605;เลอร์ถึงเกลียดชาวยิว", which google translate converts to "(I know) 10 reasons why Hitler hated the Jews". My stab at a better translation would be "(Things you Should Know) 10 reasons why Hitler hated the Jews". Thai doesn't really have pronouns, so that bit in parenthesis is semi ambiguous, but น่ารู้ means "should know" or "worth knowing".

This one is interesting. The list it presents is:
* Jewish influence in communism.
* Jewish causes lost World War 1.
* Jews make Depression
* Hitler knot lodged since childhood.
* Hitler was influenced by the idea against genocide.
* Hitler's brain has been affected as a soldier.
* Master Race theory
* Hitler believed in conspiracy theories about Jews.
* Political nationalism
* Hitler envious of wealthy Jews.

It explains those in brief terms (a few sentences each) and then there is a poll where readers can vote on which one was the main reason that Hitler hated Jews. There's some anti-semitic implications mixed in there, but it is also blunt about the evil stuff that Hitler did and doesn't present him as a person to be emulated / respected.


I wish I read Thai better so I could get a better read on those. Your question is quite interesting, along with (my potentially incorrect take on) those first few search results.

I had to re-listen to USA English; I've always wondered what it sounds "like" to non-native speakers

Hey, if he sucks in six languages he gets a suck-A for wrote-memorization effort and the jurys' still out on pronunciation, inflection, time-and-meter....It'd take a panel of 6 native speakers to decide this, otherwise music always speaks for itself-

Now: Dare we listen??

This is hilarious. I often wonder how English sounds to non-native speakers.

"the average suicide rate on the mapo bridge fell by 77%". Maybe that's because I'm not a native speaker, but that sounds like a poor choice of word.

I studied Cantonese for a bit in college. I'm sure it's very difficult for a non-native speaker to really start conversing with the fluency of a native, but it's not really all that hard to kind of get an academic sense of how to hear and pronounce the different tones.

It takes longer, obviously, but it's still entirely doable by an adult.

My pet peeve: should of

Gaaah! Hurts my brain every time I see it. I just can't believe native speakers use those two words in this manner and think they make perfect sense together.

Why does anyone would have any angst at all? So what if he doesn't care to learn the language? He's an American citizen, and can do as he pleases. There is no reason whatsoever for anyone to suggest that he should speak English. He could be a tenth generation American, and a native speaker of English, and he could choose to give his testimony in broken high school Spanish. That's his prerogative.>> ^smooman:

in either case, my overall angst is this: anyone who spends over 2 decades in a foreign nation and still cannot speak the language tells me one of three things:

1) that he has, in over 20 years, never left a community that speaks only his language and has thus had zero interaction with anyone outside the community.

2) that he really doesnt care to learn the language

3) or he is one in the probably tens of thousands that has some sort of innate inability to learn a foreign language

i find 1 and 2 to be far more probable, so much so, that number 3 is all but dismissed. furthermore i find number 1 to be quite rare in itself (itd have to be a small, entirely self sufficient community of which very few exist and would mostly be found in the desert and mountain regions)

therefor option 2 becomes the most likely explanation by orders of magnitude
I've been a teacher of English as a second language for seven years, and from this clip, I'd say he's probably proficient, but he's not native.
>> ^smooman:

NOW HAVING SAID THAT, after my second viewing of the video, it is my speculation that this particular man does, in fact, speak english, and probably quite well. It is also my speculation that he is choosing spanish primarily so those who he is representing can understand what he is saying, although i suspect it would be more effective the other way around: if he spoke english to the board or whatever and his interpreter translated what he and the board were saying to the non english speakers. As far as i could tell the interpreter was only translating what the rep was saying, he didnt translate anything anyone else was saying so its kind of like listening to one persons phone conversation; you know what one person is saying but cant understand anything the other is
Do you have any comment on the senator saying, "It's insulting to us"?

^messenger:

It's not a rule. It's him. That on guy. If he (that on guy) is still that weak in English after he (that one guy) has spent 25 odd years in America, he (that one guy) will never be a native speaker.
You say you don't care, but then you fly in full of piss and vinegar and "fucking bullshit" and "...cannot or will not speak ... it's telling.... 20 damn years..." and so on. It's no impartial. You clearly feel strongly that he should speak English, that he was wrong to speak Spanish. I disagree. I think it was fine. He has no duty nor obligation, legal nor social to speak anything but the language of his choice.
@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/smooman" title="member since October 28th, 2008" class="profilelink">smooman said:
> > sigh i mentioned it as an exception to your rule: "No matter how long he spends in the country (with no official language), he will never achieve native speaker level. Never." thus disproving the rule.
you are suggesting that he has some obligation to me. I couldnt care less that this particular man cannot or will not speak the de facto language of the nation he's been a citizen of for over two decades. I think its telling quite a bit about any person who could live in a foreign nation for over 20 damn years and not pick up the language but beyond that, i really dont care what language they speak



meh, i took "he" as the infinitive plural i guess. however at best all you could do is speculate that he cannot speak the language no matter what (any absolute statement such as yours is a bold one)

in either case, my overall angst is this: anyone who spends over 2 decades in a foreign nation and still cannot speak the language tells me one of three things:

1) that he has, in over 20 years, never left a community that speaks only his language and has thus had zero interaction with anyone outside the community.

2) that he really doesnt care to learn the language

3) or he is one in the probably tens of thousands that has some sort of innate inability to learn a foreign language

i find 1 and 2 to be far more probable, so much so, that number 3 is all but dismissed. furthermore i find number 1 to be quite rare in itself (itd have to be a small, entirely self sufficient community of which very few exist and would mostly be found in the desert and mountain regions)

therefor option 2 becomes the most likely explanation by orders of magnitude



NOW HAVING SAID THAT, after my second viewing of the video, it is my speculation that this particular man does, in fact, speak english, and probably quite well. It is also my speculation that he is choosing spanish primarily so those who he is representing can understand what he is saying, although i suspect it would be more effective the other way around: if he spoke english to the board or whatever and his interpreter translated what he and the board were saying to the non english speakers. As far as i could tell the interpreter was only translating what the rep was saying, he didnt translate anything anyone else was saying so its kind of like listening to one persons phone conversation; you know what one person is saying but cant understand anything the other is

It's not a rule. It's him. That on guy. If he (that on guy) is still that weak in English after he (that one guy) has spent 25 odd years in America, he (that one guy) will never be a native speaker.

You say you don't care, but then you fly in full of piss and vinegar and "fucking bullshit" and "...cannot or will not speak ... it's telling.... 20 damn years..." and so on. It's no impartial. You clearly feel strongly that he should speak English, that he was wrong to speak Spanish. I disagree. I think it was fine. He has no duty nor obligation, legal nor social to speak anything but the language of his choice.

@smooman said:
> > *sigh* i mentioned it as an exception to your rule: "No matter how long he spends in the country (with no official language), he will never achieve native speaker level. Never." thus disproving the rule.

you are suggesting that he has some obligation to me. I couldnt care less that this particular man cannot or will not speak the de facto language of the nation he's been a citizen of for over two decades. I think its telling quite a bit about any person who could live in a foreign nation for over 20 damn years and not pick up the language but beyond that, i really dont care what language they speak

>> ^messenger:

@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/smooman" title="member since October 28th, 2008" class="profilelink">smooman
Your anecdotes show that some people can learn the language to near native speaker level, and you seem to infer from that that everyone should be able to (otherwise, why mention it?). You're also indirectly suggesting that the guy in this vid has some obligation to be that good (otherwise why mention it?). I disagree on both points.
My anecdote shows that some people really can't learn the language, and infers that this guy may be one of them.
Also, being able to hold up a fluent conversation is not the same as displaying language mastery. My Mexican students in particular speak fluently, but are mostly unconcerned with accuracy as long as their point is conveyed. In a deposition, there's no way to ensure that your point is conveyed because it's not a conversation. So, bring an interpreter.


*sigh* i mentioned it as an exception to your rule: "No matter how long he spends in the country (with no official language), he will never achieve native speaker level. Never." thus disproving the rule.

you are suggesting that he has some obligation to me. I couldnt care less that this particular man cannot or will not speak the de facto language of the nation he's been a citizen of for over two decades. I think its telling quite a bit about any person who could live in a foreign nation for over 20 damn years and not pick up the language but beyond that, i really dont care what language they speak

@smooman
Your anecdotes show that some people can learn the language to near native speaker level, and you seem to infer from that that everyone should be able to (otherwise, why mention it?). You're also indirectly suggesting that the guy in this vid has some obligation to be that good (otherwise why mention it?). I disagree on both points.

My anecdote shows that some people really can't learn the language, and infers that this guy may be one of them.

Also, being able to hold up a fluent conversation is not the same as displaying language mastery. My Mexican students in particular speak fluently, but are mostly unconcerned with accuracy as long as their point is conveyed. In a deposition, there's no way to ensure that your point is conveyed because it's not a conversation. So, bring an interpreter.

>> ^messenger:

You met one guy once who was brilliant at languages, and somehow that proves... what?
Why are you so angry anyway? >> ^smooman:
>> ^messenger:
He is an American citizen, and not an English native speaker. No matter how long he spends in the country (with no official language), he will never achieve native speaker level. Never.
bull fucking shit. My interpreter in afghanistan who has never left the country spoke fluently 6 languages and when he spoke english with us, he spoke it like an american (slang, etc). There was literally nothing that we could say to him that he wouldnt understand or not be able to interpret. he learned pashtu from growing up, he learned dari, english, oordu, and arabic from school, he learned to be fluent in those languages from speaking with native speakers of those languages.



that was just my interpreter. almost all of our interpreters were that apt for language. I also knew two mexican immigrants who joined the army to gain citizenship that were in my squad who didnt speak a word of english when they joined. 2 years later they were fluent. and what it proves is that your stance that one could never achieve native speaker level is bullshit.

furthermore in what way is my annecdote different from yours? (what, so you know one guy who has taken 3000 hours of english and just cant learn it so therefor almost every immigrant must find speaking english "natively" impossible?)


PS: im always angry =(

You met one guy once who was brilliant at languages, and somehow that proves... what?

Why are you so angry anyway? >> ^smooman:

>> ^messenger:
He is an American citizen, and not an English native speaker. No matter how long he spends in the country (with no official language), he will never achieve native speaker level. Never.
bull fucking shit. My interpreter in afghanistan who has never left the country spoke fluently 6 languages and when he spoke english with us, he spoke it like an american (slang, etc). There was literally nothing that we could say to him that he wouldnt understand or not be able to interpret. he learned pashtu from growing up, he learned dari, english, oordu, and arabic from school, he learned to be fluent in those languages from speaking with native speakers of those languages.

>> ^messenger:

He is an American citizen, and not an English native speaker. No matter how long he spends in the country (with no official language), he will never achieve native speaker level. Never.

bull fucking shit. My interpreter in afghanistan who has never left the country spoke fluently 6 languages and when he spoke english with us, he spoke it like an american (slang, etc). There was literally nothing that we could say to him that he wouldnt understand or not be able to interpret. he learned pashtu from growing up, he learned dari, english, oordu, and arabic from school, he learned to be fluent in those languages from speaking with native speakers of those languages.