Your English is Good TCK Comic | TCKID 2.0

For New Version Of TCKID 2.0 Please go to http://www.tckid.com and sign up. But feel free to browse this site for the huge archive of valuable information. Read the Latest news

Your English is Good TCK Comic

Here’s another Third culture kid comic I made earlier. I’m sure some of us have gotten that question before.

tckcomic-englishisgood.jpg

Popularity: 5% [?]

Posted by Brice at 5:06 am on November 17th, 2007. Comments
Categories: General Forum.

  • Pookie
    People generally judge your English competency by your accent. Would this be the case with you Flora? I have friends from Singapore and India with English superior than many English speakers with perfect accent.

    I am Thai, grew up in the States, worked in a few countries, and are now back in Thailand. When people commented on my good English, I gave all the credits to my American husband. Then I don't have to really tell my whole life story.
  • I am Nigerian-Russian and I completely understand this predicament.
    However, I get the opposite - whichever country I am in - quite often people naturally start to talk to me in their native tongue as if I am a local. Which on one had is cool - on the other hand - not so cool especially when people think u r a sell out for not knowing the language! I am not even from that country - like Kazakhstan or Malaysia!!!

    In Russia - people CONSTANTLY tell me "you speak English with no accent" or "your English is good" and I say "No my RUSSIAN is good but thanks"

    What I hate is when people have heard me speak English and Russian but if I say "oh Russian is my second language" then they ask me "which is your first?" And then they are surprised when I say English.

    Could my English be THAT bad?! Lolz!
  • kristine
    LOL i used to just say thanks when someone says that, or something similar.

    Nowadays, however, I just stare - or glare, depends on my mood - and nod.
  • Robin
    This is funny. I was born in the United States,but I am often asked, especially by internationals, "Where are you from?" My favorites are when someone asks, "How do you speak Spanish?(in English)" or tells me that I have a "very good" French accent, then proceeds to stare at me for fifteen minutes.
  • warona
    ah, the mental block...in fact, i think i am going to start a thread on that
  • Nika
    Hey, another comics person! I still haven't managed to incorporate my background into my comics. I want to, but I have this huge mental block about discussing it with people who don't already understand.

    I worked at a Thai restaurant in Austin, TX for four years. I loved it there. The family who owned the place never thought I was strange for having grown up overseas. I felt out of place at school, but I felt at home at work. The sound of voices speaking in a language I didn't understand was so comforting, and we all related to each other as strangers in a strange land. I learned a few words, but mostly they wanted to practice their English with me. If someone asks me in English if I speak Thai I can say, "Nit noi!" ("A little", probably misspelled), but if they asked me in Thai I wouldn't understand.

    At least my English is very good.
  • Cynthia
    Sabbaidee mai? ;)

    I wish I knew my Thai fluently, unfortunately now I can understand spoken. I never knew how to speak it properly though...although asking "Where is the toilet?" sometimes gets me "Your Thai is good!" by the Thai people LOL

    I get this all the time. When I tell them I'm from Taiwan, Americans (usually) will ask "But you have an American accent!" Yea, thanks to the Americans, it's really hard to get rid of!

    I forgot who it was that posted on the FB community board but he said something about a lady at a grocery store telling him in English that he speaks English very well in a really slow way. I told him he should've just ask her what language she spoke LOL
  • Angelic
    I got it all the time in Thailand by foreigners..cuz i look more on the oriental side..although thai's all think i'm a falang (foreigner) and i always use that line "thanks! so do u!"
  • Angelic
    well Brice, it's cuz thais are very shy. I think also cuz perhaps they've said something in thai to their friend about u that wasn't very nice and now they're embarrased! lol
    i had that happen to a friend..she was australian but spoke pretty good thai. we went out once and these two thai ladies were talking about her and how her nose was ugly. so she turns around and tells them in perfect thai that her nose wasn't ugly! haha they were sooo embarrased!! XD
  • Brice
    LOL Warona, that's hilarious! haha, maybe that's another comic... part 2. :)

    Sky: "They ask me if I know Thai and I say yes in Thai and they are so amazed and don't talk to me anymore because they know I speak Thai".

    Can anyone see the irony in that or is it just me? lol

    If I say "yes" to that question, people usually want to talk to me in their language! So I just say "no, but I speak a little". And we find a compromise hehe
  • warona
    hey brice. you should make another comic where the one guy says "so, you're from thailand? you speak english so good." and the other guy goes; "thanks. you don't."

    :o)

    i lived in the south in the states so i got that ALL the time!
  • USAFinn
    No, I'm 100% Finn, but I have a dual citizenship now between Finland and America :)
  • sky
    USAFinn .. are you half finn and half USA like me?? that would be cool.
    Brice have you lived in Thailand? I live in Thailand right now. I have never heard that but it is pretty believable. I have only got it the other way.. they ask me if i know Thai and I say yes in Thai and they are so amazed and don't talk to me anymore because they know I speak Thai. I always wonder why one short word can be so .... i don't know the word. heh.
  • warona
    i have a friend also form botswana who grew up in the states then came back to bots then went back to the states for college. she still had (has) a strong american accent and folks would always ask where she learned english once they found out she wasn't american. once she was fed up and told a guy she learned it at the airport. he was dumbfounded.
  • USAFinn
    I used to get that a lot when people first find out that I'm from Finland, but I usually get it the other way around. People often say "You're Finnish is so good!" (even from my family!) and I think "Well, my family's Finnish, so why is that weird?" lol
  • charm
    Lol I'm from the UK, I have a British-ish accent with a hint of American. I use British words, and yet even if I've known the people for a few days they still always ask "How come you speak English so well?" or "Where did you learn to speak English?" and I'm always like "I'm British? My family is British" lol
  • MikeJ
    lol, I haven't had this happened to me when I moved back to north America, because I look like I'm from there... but friends from Yemen who've lived in the states all their lives (with English much better than mine), get those all the time!
  • Oh yes.. I like this one :-) Your comic strips are great.. keep makine them !!
  • charm
    Lol! Next time someone compliments me on my English I am gonna say something like that. It happens often enough lol.
  • IngridGiles
    That's funny. I have often been complimented on my English! I usually just say, "Thank you," and smile to myself.
blog comments powered by Disqus