It depends who I'm talking to so I'll sometimes simplify things but never do that moronic baby/ bar girl English. I might as well speak in Khmer if I'm talking to someone who knows very little English.

Neverending_Story wrote: ↑Mon Aug 29, 2022 3:41 pm I was at a phone shop yesterday and the (Australian?) guy in front of my did his entire transaction in baby talk. Not a verb conjugated.

Currently sitting in a popular expat bar next to a guy who is talking to the staff exclusively in baby talk.

What would ever possess a native English speaker to say “Tomorrow I go Vietnam” or “She have”?

How are Cambodians ever going to learn to conjugate a verb when the native English speakers they encounter are saying “My friend drink beer too much last night” ?

As a native English speaker, I’m thankful that locals have a basic/sufficient level of English with which to get some two way communication going. Ordering food, drinks, etc. Best to keep it simple.
If the bar person* is dealing with British, Irish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Nigerian and US/Aus/Kiwi, in which of these languages should we expect her** to be proficient, but which won’t attract her to a lucrative job with the UN as a translator?

As a former French colonial region, I’m a little surprised that more French isn’t spoken. One of my favourite Pharmacies has a little old couple whose English is nil, but who speak French, and I get to use my baby talk French, badly conjugated.




*inclusive, non binary, non discriminatory term, apparently
**decidedly specific gender recognition

Speaking in English just like speaking in Khmer gets the point across, especially if they aren’t fluent in English and understand basic words and phrases, not necessarily the correct conjugation or verb tense. Why confuse them? Especially in Cambodia. Depending on the level of English of the speaker.

Those are my thoughts.

There's a big difference between choosing more commonly understood words and simplifying your sentences to speaking like some moron caveman who spent too long in Pattaya.