Ex-pats, do you speak Thai?

DermotC wrote:Ive done Pattaya alot, too much also Pete! I think Ive been there about 12 or 13 times. That was of course before I discovered Udon and the different way of life up there! Having said that Pattaya can be fun especially for a holiday once a year if your coming from Europe or the states etc. I can only do about 3 or 4 days there now Pete. Im usually burned out after that!

I dont know weather its the Irish in me or not but i just think its my responsibility to learn if Im going to live there1

Must be mate, nobody else seems to care.

I believe learning to speak thai is hard.I know about 100 words and thats about it.I'm thinking about going to school in bangkok or udon.I'm trying to make up my mind.

petemcc wrote:

DermotC wrote:Ive done Pattaya alot, too much also Pete! I think Ive been there about 12 or 13 times. That was of course before I discovered Udon and the different way of life up there! Having said that Pattaya can be fun especially for a holiday once a year if your coming from Europe or the states etc. I can only do about 3 or 4 days there now Pete. Im usually burned out after that!

I dont know weather its the Irish in me or not but i just think its my responsibility to learn if Im going to live there1

Must be mate, nobody else seems to care.

Maybe you will be different,but many of us find very little need to have conversations of length with Thais after being here for awhile.Some choose to assimilate,join the culture,religion etc.,for them learning relative fluent Thai speech,being able to read and write Thai,would be and is a great help!

Either groups path doesn't make the other wrong,just different.I think those that show outward disdain towards Thai and their instituitions,to Thais,are wrong.To express yourself to falangs and true friends is not,unless you are putting them in a ''losing face''position!

I break the Thai laws occassionally and knowingly,especially anonymous ''money stops'',but I try to never show disrepect to Thai individuals whether I really feel it or not!Afterall I realize my money is a welcome ''guest'' and it is their country!

DermotC wrote:I will be learning Thai when i move. I can speak a little already and want to have conversational thai within 1 year after the move...

At 39 Dermot, you probably will be successful. You will be able to hear, understand, and speak, the subtle different tones of certain words in the Thai language much easier than say for example, someone 20 years your senior. IMO.

Cheers Jingjai,

I did pick up some thai along the way and when i spoke it to my girlfriend she went nuts. She told me it wasnt 'Formal' Thai and to forget most of what Id learnt already. Then she asked me where I'd learnt it. I told her the truth, bar girls! Then i explained I didnt know any better when i came the first few times to Thailand. She was ok with that.

Id like to learn as Id like to converse with her mother and father in thai and their respective families. They are such nice people and I think it would be a nice thing to do. Most of the time they do speak issan but they can all speak thai9 and the tgf told me its would be more beneficial to lear thai for obvious reasons. I can get by in about 2 other languages besides English but I know its alot different becasue its not a european language derived from Latin

One reason why many of us find learning Thai hard is because it is a tonal language and we are old. As you get older the range of frequencies we can hear declines (varies from person to person). This was brought home to me when my daughter said the grass hoppers were makin g a lot of noise a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't hear a thing. This is one reason why getting the tones right is so hard, let alone the short term memory loss of our rusty brains..

rick wrote:One reason why many of us find learning Thai is because it is a tonal language and we are old. As you get older the range of frequencies we can hear declines (varies from person to person). This was brought home to me when my daughter said the grass hoppers were makin g a lot of noise a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't hear a thing. This is one reason why getting the tones right is so hard, let alone the short term memory loss of our rusty brains..

I think there might be some truth in those reasons.Also,iy is one of the most irrelevant languages in the World,except to Thais!

I convinced myself that my age, tinnitus, and hearing loss (from the Air Force) were roadblocks to my ever learning Thai. I'm convinced now that the limitation was finding the right teacher to help break the code. A classroom environment didn't work (I sat in the front of the class yet could hardly hear the teacher....plus she was tending to the needs/learning desires of 12 other students). My break came with a neighbor who exchanged 2 hours of English lessons for 2 of Thai. She wasn't a teacher....but her mom was....and as a result, she knew the language rules/grammar and was able to explain them to me in English.

I know I'll probably never achieve the fluency of someone like Andrew Biggs......but today I can read road signs, menus, labels on medicines/food/etc, and with a little work, can usually break out the daily political cartoon in Thai Rath newspaper. One of
the biggest benefits is....I can ask my wife what a word in Thai means, and she understands what I'm saying.

Don't fool yourselves into thinking you're too old, too deaf or that there's little to gain by learning the language. As with most all languages, it takes time and effort.

A downside of learning to understand Thai is that you realize 95 percent of rural Thais' conversation revolve around food, money-making schemes and gossip about neighbors.

You can fit in easily with a vocabulary of about 200 words and a clever knack for copying grunts, hisses and Ewwww~wiii~!

Farangs are not allowed to make the urgh~ sound for yes. It's very, very bad.
I've never understood why. The only time I ever hear the proper chai-khrap is on Thai soaps -- just before the mansion owner slaps the living sh!t out of ii-Aep, the Isaan slave.

[quote="parrot"]I convinced myself that my age, tinnitus, quote]

OT got that nasty little infection once, a course of amoxcillin cleared it up.

Dr. OT........

Right, so it appears as though most ex-pats don't think it is important to be able to speak Thai. I just wonder what those people thought about immigrants to their home country how could not speak their home language (presumably English) despite living there for years, and lived in their own little enclaves.

It seems also that many people again wanted to turn this into a thread about me. Yes, I was somewhat reeled in and expressed my opinion, but that was only after some goading.

Anyway, now I know the answer to my question.

Well based on your response you don't really care what people think of you So why should we care about what you think sir.

It would appear that you have not lived here yet, it will be interesting when you find out what Thai's think of you.

I believe your perfect for WBU

Does Your Language Shape How You Think?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magaz ... ted=1&_r=1

A little off topic, but a very informative article. IMO.

I always thought that if you could understand too much Thai,the Thais do not like it, as they like their gossip to themselves and if you do know a lot,do the Thais then decide to speak Issan?

Currently, I am learning to speak some Khorat language, and have had friends point out some regional differences so that in Udonthani one might hear: 'sawasdee kha der kha der', in Rayong province you would hear, 'sawasdee kha heap' with the last word pronounced in a short, soprano voice that is quite humourous (well, to me, anyway).

I have try to learn Thai language, never finish due to hear problem. Thai language is a tone language, and i don,t wont to upsed people with a word that i pronouncing in a diverend way as i mean! Age cane play a role aswell, brains don,t work so good anymore