Well that's a dumb question, right? I can already hear some of the answers now. "They're Thai. They speak Thai. We're in Thailand. Duh" Alright let me rephrase the question then. Considering that English has been the international language of tourism and commerce for I don't know how many decades now, and there are I don't know how many thousands of English teachers all over the country, why is the general level of English so poor? Why can't even young, supposedly educated college students speak English? Why can't the Pratom (primary) teachers at my school, who are supposed to teach every subject, including English, speak English? Ok two of them can, but most can't, so we have a situation here where Thai English teachers can't speak English.