About

Nggak Bisa Bahasa Enggres, translated as Can't Speak English, is a phrase used in a video by a Thai boy who got pranked by a white person asking him questions in Thai. The boy instinctively told the person he "can't speak English," becoming a catchphrase meme for non-English speakers online.

Origin

On November 26th, 2017, YouTube^[1] user Ridsu6690 uploaded a video titled "PRANK ANAK SMP PAKAI BAHASA THAILAND" (Eng. Pranking Junior High Boys with Thai). In the video, a man in a car pulls up next to a junior high boy and begins speaking to him in Thai. The boy instinctively replied that he can't speak English, not realizing the man was speaking to him in Thai. The video received more than 2.1 million views in four years (shown below).

Spread

In late 2020, the boy's instinctive cry of "can't speak English" grew popular in reaction memes used when someone can't read or speak English. For example on December 30th, 2020, Twitter^[2] user @memefess reposted an object labeling meme using a screenshot from Tom and Jerry, combining it with the Polish Jerry meme. The tweet received more than 2,800 likes and 336 retweets in over a year (shown below, left). On January 9th, 2021, Twitter^[3] user @shitegoblin uploaded various images of signs written in poor English with the caption, "gabisa basa enggres" (Eng. Can't speak English). The tweet received more than 11,100 likes and 2,700 retweets (shown below, right).

The catchphrase has been used as spam in some English streamers' chats. For example, on June 13th, 2021, YouTube^[4] user Aikollie ch. uploaded a clip of Hololive Virtual YouTuber Kureiji Ollie that had "gak bisa bahasa Enggres" spammed in her streaming chat. The video received more than 211,000 views in over a year (shown below, left). On June 21st, 2021, Nijisanji Virtual YouTuber Miyu Ottavia uploaded a post captioned "Tuhan menutupi aibmu, tapi kamu malah ngespam 'ngga bisa bahasa enggres'" (Eng. God has covered your disgrace, but instead you keep spamming "can't speak English") to her Facebook.^[5] The post received more than 2,100 reactions and 1,900 shares (shown below, right).

Search For The Boy

Due to the video's popularity, some English speakers began searching for the boy in the video, with some saying they were willing to fund a gift of an English scholarship. On January 20th, 2021, Twitter^[6] user @Withenglish_id uploaded a tweet about trying to find the boy, receiving more than 60,700 likes and 17,600 retweets (shown below, left). On January 24th, Indonesian media outlet Infosumbar uploaded video^[7] about how they found "Ade," the boy from Ridsu6690's video. The video received more than 2.1 million views (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References