All your base are belong to us

I freely admit that my language skills are limited to English; and some would say that my English language skills are also somewhat limited. But at least I recognise that; and if I were attempting to communicate with a group of people who spoke another language, I would engage the services of a native speaker to ensure that a properly worded message was crafted.

This is not the approach applied in Thailand, where grammatical disasters can be found in marketing messages for housing projects, domestic products, tourism; any product where they are trying to attract foreigners and think that stringing a random selection of words together will be sufficient.

Now Pattaya City has joined the club. Over the past week, banners have been strung across main roads:

Closer inspection reveals a catchy slogan “Relax to extreme city”.

Given the billions of baht in the city budget, you would think they could throw a few baht at a passing farang to check the grammatical accuracy of their slogans. In fact I think I will pop down and see the major and offer my services for a nominal sum. Sufficient retainer a million baht would be.

Comments 🔗

2009-03-21 | todd says

i too have laughed at that, noticed it straight away, there’s a large banner somewhere near beach road that has that pattaya city - relax to extreme part large on its own. hilarious.

how they don’t have just 1 westerner on contract to look at these public displays is beyond me, but doesn’t surprise me.

speaking of stupid shit, i took a wrong turn last night, ended up on the motorway going in the wrong direction, didn’t worry too much, most countries have exits, on ramps and off ramps so you can go places and turn around etc…

so anyway, 40km later i’m having to do a u-turn at the airport’s arrivals area… in and out just to come back to pattaya.

not a single exit or way of u-turning, 40k drive to the airport, then all the way back to pattaya :|

i really understand why there’s so many crazy people here, all the stupidity really is enough to send people crazy and into suicide, i’m defiantly not here for the long term.

2009-03-21 | Spike says

The idiosyncrasies of this delightful country are part of the charm. If they are annoying you rather than bewildering and amusing you; then indeed it is time to move on.

If you want real frustration, try taking the wrong turning in Bangkok. I managed to add three hours to my journey one evening; and I really, really needed to pee.

2009-03-21 | Joe says

First: I am not an native english speaker, i am from Sweden…

But i still think you natives read it wrong, isn’t it supposed to be like this? “Pattaya City” is grouped together and “Relax to Extreme” is supposed to stand on its own?? When you make logos you often do like this, you sort of mix the sentences together… So i think the grammer is ok?? But what do i know, hehe ;-) (I dont even know if i could explain clear enough, but i think the sign is ok…)

/ Joe

2009-03-22 | Spike says

Hi Joe from Sweden (fine country by the way, although your alcohol prices are prohibitive).

Being a native I have no idea of the rules of grammar, I just know what sounds right; and even “Relax to extreme” without “city” does not work. You would have to make it “Relax to the extreme”. But then if you stuck “city” on the end you would be in a mess again and would probably end up with “The relax to the extreme city”, which is hopeless.

I give up. I think we need a German to sort this out.