Language of love

Ice stars in a fine film

By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb
and courtesy of GTH

The prospect of speaking in English can terrify a lot of Thai people. The new comedy movie, I Fine, Thank You, Love You, explores that issue with a story about a guy named Gym (Sunny Suwanmethanon) who wants to overcome his poor English abilities so that he can try to win back his Japanese ex-girlfriend.

Actress Preechaya Pongthananikorn (Ice), who starred in the 2012 blockbuster ATM: Er Rak Error, plays English tutor Pleng in I Fine, Thank You, Love You. Pleng helps Gym to improve his basic English skills. She is also dating a great guy named Pluek (Two Popetorn), but things get complicated when she starts to grow closer to Gym.

Student Weekly recently met up with the 24-year-old Ice at the GTH office. The attractive actress told us about how she became good at speaking English and about the making of I Fine, Thank You, Love You, which is due to hit cinemas on December 10.

Student Weekly: How did you learn to speak English so well?

Ice: I studied at Saint John’s International School since nursery school. I learned how to pronounce each word accurately, and I was used to having conversations in English with my international friends. My dad wanted me to be good at English, so we also spoke it at home.

Student Weekly: Is there much difference between English classes at international schools and Thai schools?

Ice: They’re a lot different. I had to move to a small town in Phetchabun during elementary school because of my father’s work. During English class there, I was teased by my classmates when I pronounced words like a native speaker. It was embarrassing. I didn’t want to be a black sheep, so I adjusted my pronunciation until I sounded like the other students.

Student Weekly: Do you have any advice for our readers who want to improve their English speaking skills?

Ice: You have to shake off your fear of speaking. Figure out what interests you the most. For example, I learned English from songs, movies and books. Singing along with songs can improve your pronunciation. You should also watch movies with English subtitles. You can learn basic conversation from that.

For books, I recommend fairy tales because they’re fun and easy to read, with lots of pictures. Don’t read anything too difficult if you aren’t ready because it could make you feel discouraged.

Student Weekly: How did you feel when the director Mez Tharatorn said that the tutor character in I Fine, Thank You, Love You was written specifically for you?

Ice: I was touched. Mez Tharatorn told me that he heard me speak English and thought I sounded fine. I wasn’t so confident about my abilities because a tutor should be very good at English. But since the director believed in me, I worked hard at it. I also had extra training in English speaking before filming.

Student Weekly: Was it fun working on the set of a comedy movie?

Ice: The movie set was full of laughs. Everybody was hilarious and easy to work with. But they were all professional, too. Whenever the director said “action,” we stopped making jokes and got into character.

Student Weekly: What was it like taking a course in boxing?

Ice: I had to learn boxing because there are boxing scenes in the movie. But I had a car accident a while ago and my doctor advised me to not do too much exercise. I practised slowly and gradually found that I was getting stronger. Boxing was fun. I enjoyed learning how to punch and kick!

Student Weekly: Why should everybody check out I Fine, Thank You, Love You?

Ice: The plot about learning English in the movie is new and interesting. There are lots of jokes too. The movie is hilarious, but there are also some touching scenes.

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