The Linguistics Journal September 2009 Special Edition Language

The Linguistics Journal – September 2009
99. possibility to do that I will want to do that because like I like I told you earlier that about like the
100. teaching writing … there is some spaces between the foreign teachers and the students and yeah
101. and I think as I have had some experience with those problems and I should be able to you know
102. to delete the gaps between yeah and solve the problem some of them
In example nineteen Oy sees her role as being someone who can help others adapt to Thai culture
through her experience of both cultures.
Example 19
103. OY: … I’m telling people from the other part of the world as well that is wrong and what
104. way the Thai culture is like basically teaching them at the same time so they can adapt
105. themselves to be able live in the society in Thailand
Finally, Nami also sees herself as an ‘interpreter’ between cultures. In example twenty she believes that
to communicate successfully between two cultures it is necessary to understand the cultures of the
participants and interpret or mediate between them.
Example 20
106. NAMI: … one day you will use what you learn like English or German with the people
107. who is the native speakers so I think it’s quite important when you communicate with
108. them but then you speak something or you behave something badly in their point of view
109. you know people don’t like you at all what’s the matter why do you use it why you
110. should be interpreter between two two countries and then you speak something and then
111. you you know you need to know the culture
Interesting, both Yim and Nami in these examples discuss the idea of mediating between native
speakers and Thai users of English (or German). However, neither feels that the Thai speakers should
change their English to match native speaker norms but rather mediation, adaptation and interpretation is
needed. Moreover, all three of these participants are discussing communicating within Thailand rather
than in inner circle native speaking countries; demonstrating that for them the most relevant context of
English use is the expanding circle. Once again this reveals a somewhat ambiguous or contradictory
attitude to native speaker English and ELF. On the one hand for Yim and Nami in these examples the
NES is still a presence, but on the other hand the participants also express a role for themselves in
The Linguistics Journal – Special Edition Page 28