Newport toddler's Thai talk is Youtube hit (From South Wales Argus)

Newport toddler's Thai talk is Youtube hit

9:15am Friday 8th February 2013 in News

A NEWPORT toddler has become a Thai celebrity after a video of him reciting the nation’s alphabet has racked up almost 2.5 million hits on YouTube in just two weeks.

Three-year-old Dylan Hall, of Caerleon, was born in Thailand and moved to Newport two years ago.

Keen for him to remain true to his roots, his mum, Passamon, 35, speaks to him in her native tongue, while his father, Peter, 33, talks to him in English – which is said to make it easier for bilingual children to pick up languages.

Since his birth the couple have kept relatives across the world up to date with his development by posting more than 200 videos on YouTube.

But one particular clip of him reciting the Thai alphabet, known as Korkai, became a surprise hit after a family friend’s colleagues saw it in their office and shared it with others.

Within days it had attracted thousands of views and was featured on dozens of Thai news programmes.

The unsuspecting youngster, who “loves” the camera, has become the talk of Thailand, attracting more than 2,476,000 YouTube hits and 7,700 comments. His Facebook page has also attracted more than 119,700 ‘likes’.

Mr Hall, a lecturer at Coleg Gwent teaching English as a foreign language, said the family were overwhelmed by the response.

He said: “It’s surprising and shocking, but we feel as long as the feedback is good it’s OK.

“All the comments are in Thai, they all say things like it’s great that a Thai child abroad is learning Thai, and they say it’s good to see something happy and fun instead of doom and gloom.

“Dylan is making millions of people feel better.

“He has no idea, which is good, it will all blow over by the time he’s in high school.”

In the past few days people in Thailand have made posters of him and have knitted scarves dedicated to him.

Even Mr Hall’s uncle, who is currently in the country on business, has been given the red-carpet treatment everywhere he goes because he is related to Dylan.