lemoncake

I have travelled all around the world and make an effort with languages everywhere I go. The thai language is difficult to learn- there is no doubt about it. Go to Indonesia and you can learn very easily and quickly. In LOS its a lot harder to get the pronunciation correct. As for being able to write thai.... forget it

Write Thai ...Why forget it? Certainly not, more more easy than the tones, I do know all the letters by heart now, when I say easy of course you have to learn, a question of motivation thats all, I learn most of the time 3 hours a day, simply because I love it, kind of a challenge for me not a bore at all. But of course as have said David48 (an ever wise man )

"and if they choose not to do ... fine by me also" for no proselytism at all on my behalf

reading helps speaking, as you know the correct pronunciation.

however reading but not understanding what you read, does become boring and painful

however reading but not understanding what you read, does become boring and painful

Yes indeed very hard to contradict my dear lemoncake, on the other hand before one learns anything one is not supposed to know it so it's a prerequisite

I am not a native English speaker but in our computer world if I do not understand a word on TV I click on it an I have the translation even the synonyms AND the pronunciation in a millisecond. It was not so easy only a few years ago, same for learning Thai many many more tools all with sounds, pictorial dictionary with native Thai voice, flash cards, games, CD, portable translation with tablet , smart phone, learning a foreign language nowadays has nothing to do with 20 years ago or more. I can tell you for I have learnt English on my own with the BBC World Service sometimes hardly audible with the fading or parasites. Conclusion learning Thai to day is 100 times more easy than a few years ago ... sorry sorry 100 times less difficult

I came here over 10 years ago and have not seen any difference in learning now or 10 years ago.

Language is a language, 4 tones still remained the same, so did the vowels.

There are easy languages and there are hard languages, Thai is a hard language to learn and master, even Thai themselves do not know it very well.

Because 90 percent of Thai conversations are about food, and I don't care what they ate, when they ate it, was it good, when will they eat next etc....

Total rubbish.

Also, I can't understand the people who say they don't want to talk to Thais.

I can speak, read and write due to simple hard work learning.

Was it a waste of time? Of course not. I just bought a house and it would have been extremely difficult if I couldn't have read the mortgage details or been able to tell the builders what to do.

I just built a shed and to go around shops asking for advice on what material to use etc would have been impossible if I was linguistically challenged. I read newspapers to see what's going on.

If you are a long-term tourist I guess there's no need to learn. If you're happy to be chained to your wife, fair enough. I could think of nothing worse than having to take my wife to the mechanic, bank, barber, etc. Learning the language gives so much freedom. I'd be totally embarrassed if after a few years I was still using sign language.

I spoke to the local 'head man' at eh weekend regarding security of my house and noise levels.

Last week I had had a drink with my neighbour and I learned a lot about Thai history.

Today, I went to the bank and discussed my mortgage. Yesterday, I had a meeting with one of my kid's teachers to discuss her getting off school for travelling to Bangkok. I could go on but basically, I live a normal life and to say the use of the language is a waste of time is ridiculous.

There are no excuses - only laziness and lack of motivation. Age is irrelevant. I'm no youngster and I'm learning Chinese at the moment. I know old guys, one in his 70s, who have learned to speak Thai fluently.

-some people pay cash for their homes instead of borrowing money,

-some people use a builder who is able to speak acceptable English,

-some people did not marry Thai ladies,

-some people don't live in the wilderness where "headmen" exist,

-some people have studied Thai history without using a neighbour's knowledge,

-some people do not have school age children,

-for some people learning Thai is a waste of precious time.

period!

come on naam, i thought you were a finance guy... don't you know if you spoke thai you could get advanced notice about any central bank base rate decisions from one of the local fortune tellers...?

or if that doesn't work you might be able to negotiate a 5 baht discount at some noodle shops...

How do you think he makes his money? He listens to them, misunderstands most of it, picks what he thought they said and its correct

Sometimes I notice that the quality of a poster's posts deteriorate over the years he posts here. I have always put it down to their advancing age and the onset of Alkeimers....or was that Alcoholism.

There are people who try to help and stay on the subject and there are people, well, i believe jing described best and hope he does not mind me quoting it

I guess if the protestors were not trying to illegally occupy government property then perhaps there would not have been any deaths?

Not saying they should not protest, but in the right way.Not condoning the cause of their deaths by shooting, simply pointing out they put themselves at risk.

Ultimately if the protestors had not been incited in to their actions by Suthep and entourage then they may be here today.

My sympathies to the families of the deceased.

Well actually students at university is not illegal

All well and good, but the order authorizing the police to use live rounds against the peaceful protesters came from the PM, and that is where the responsibility ultimately lies.

I don't believe this has ever happened before in Thai history, the PM authorizing authorities to shoot with live rounds at peaceful protesters? Only 24 hours until retribution for her brutality is served.

Do you have evidence that the PM ordered it?

No doubt Tarit does

But i guess if PM says i did not know, then it does mean she did not know

And if that happens, bye bye civilized Thailand, Hello again 3rd world country

Or forgot to mention, bankrupted government

I think the more posts you have, the more you are confused about Thailand.

None of us have been, seen and done just about everything there is to be, see and do in LOS.

On this forum, everyone seems to have different opinions, perspectives and attitudes about all things Thai. The longer you have been around on here, and the more you read, the more you get confused about the place.

Just sayin

The longer i live in Thailand the less i understand and when i think i figured it out, i find out i was wrong.

100% agree with the OP, it's very painful at times.

Not half as painful in Pattaya and other places listening to some of the old crooning farts telling storys to some of the newcomers about how knowledgable they are about all things Thai...

"Now pull up a sand bag sonny and let me tell you a story..

When I was in Bagdad, you was in your dads bag"..

Even more painful are the ones living in the remote villages in Isaan and think its the real Thailand, not even realising language spoken there is not even Thai, but Isaan, ie Thai-Lao mix

Perhaps CAT should file a law suit against the police for failing to protect it, or do anything at all.

CAT supposedly lost 300 million, what about all other business who suffered as a result? what can the rest do, since tax write off is not an option

What about the review and possible adjustment of the minimum wages? Something which used to be done with effective date 1st of January.

What about compensating businesses for loss of trade for a month now and more to come?

The age thing is definitely a factor. Also the Thai language is just a difficult language that is in conflict with the languages we already use. I speak enough Chinese and Japanese to stay out of trouble but it seems Thai is impossible for me to learn. It makes me crazy!

My wife is Thai and still I have problems learning. It just won't stick.

I was enrolling one of the family children in an English school and two other English speaking foreigners came in at the same time. One from Australia and one from the Netherlands. When the lady asked me what I wanted to enroll the little girl in I said "conversational" but she said they did not do it. The two foreigners both piped in and said that was what they wanted to learn as well but was not available.

I don't know what the key to learning Thai is, but a lot of us have the same problem.

I think what makes it hard is that learning Thai is like learning 2-4 languages at the same time.

First you need to learn the word, then the 4 tones, so its like 4 different words, ie 4 different languages.

Problem for Western speaking people is keeping the tones, we are simply not use to it.

You then also have this NgoNoo, which personally i can not pronounce without holding my nose and speaking through the nose and still the sound is wrong

The Sara uu's oo's etc, is another pain as again the short and long sounds

For many many words, in Thai, its a combination of words, ie to describe a simple event which can be said in 1 word in English, it takes 3 words in Thai

Next big problem is classifiers, there seems to be no rule and if there is one, i have not met a teacher yet who can explain

So in a nutshell, when one is learning 2-4 different languages at the same time, it does make it hard to remember it all and if you just learned the words without the tones, then you have a smartass like OP who i seriously doubt can string more than a few words, criticizing you for getting the tones wrong.

Who is the supreme commander ? Is it the king ? As I am politically naive here in Thailand I am interested to know .

I believe this is the name you are looking for :Supreme Commander General Tanasak Patimapragorn.

army.jpg

The man on the left is gen Prayuth Chan-Ocha.

Why is general holding hand of commander as if they were a married couple?

I have travelled all around the world and make an effort with languages everywhere I go. The thai language is difficult to learn- there is no doubt about it. Go to Indonesia and you can learn very easily and quickly. In LOS its a lot harder to get the pronunciation correct. As for being able to write thai.... forget it

Write Thai ...Why forget it? Certainly not, more more easy than the tones, I do know all the letters by heart now, when I say easy of course you have to learn, a question of motivation thats all, I learn most of the time 3 hours a day, simply because I love it, kind of a challenge for me not a bore at all. But of course as have said David48 (an ever wise man )

"and if they choose not to do ... fine by me also" for no proselytism at all on my behalf

reading helps speaking, as you know the correct pronunciation.

however reading but not understanding what you read, does become boring and painful

Where is Tarit btw .... has he taken his Iago act on tour?

working undecover in Phuket to catch illegal taxi mafia

How can someone with an arrest warrant be able to file such charges?

This place is honestly amazing.

Same way as someone who is convicted and on the run can get a new passport

I am with True on post paid and it is unlimited. and if there is a limit, i never reached it.

I am on 599 plan

I must say , this stealing epidemic has started in the past year and does not seem to stop.

I can honestly say, in the past year i have had around 7-8 staff stealing.

All caught red handed, amounts ranging from 60 baht to 150 000 baht and wait for it , wait for it, wait for it......

Police did absolutely nothing, NOTHING........

Really unsure what the heck is going on, but its getting worse.

The only explanation for thieft i can think of is police inaction and thieves can go from business to business stealing until they get caught or steal enough to move on.

I have even had one steal my buddha, which is the worst sin, and yet no one cared.

If he paid a decent wage and treated his staff well, probably would have no problems.

If they worked hard and long enough without stealing, he would have paid them more

Because 90 percent of Thai conversations are about food, and I don't care what they ate, when they ate it, was it good, when will they eat next etc....

Total rubbish.

Also, I can't understand the people who say they don't want to talk to Thais.

I can speak, read and write due to simple hard work learning.

Was it a waste of time? Of course not. I just bought a house and it would have been extremely difficult if I couldn't have read the mortgage details or been able to tell the builders what to do.

I just built a shed and to go around shops asking for advice on what material to use etc would have been impossible if I was linguistically challenged. I read newspapers to see what's going on.

If you are a long-term tourist I guess there's no need to learn. If you're happy to be chained to your wife, fair enough. I could think of nothing worse than having to take my wife to the mechanic, bank, barber, etc. Learning the language gives so much freedom. I'd be totally embarrassed if after a few years I was still using sign language.

I spoke to the local 'head man' at eh weekend regarding security of my house and noise levels.

Last week I had had a drink with my neighbour and I learned a lot about Thai history.

Today, I went to the bank and discussed my mortgage. Yesterday, I had a meeting with one of my kid's teachers to discuss her getting off school for travelling to Bangkok. I could go on but basically, I live a normal life and to say the use of the language is a waste of time is ridiculous.

There are no excuses - only laziness and lack of motivation. Age is irrelevant. I'm no youngster and I'm learning Chinese at the moment. I know old guys, one in his 70s, who have learned to speak Thai fluently.

I hardly speak a word of Thai, maybe 10 little phrases, but I have managed to do nearly everything from getting bank accounts, and having the satellite tv installed, even went to the ToT shop and arranged for iptv, and no-one there could speak a word of English, ( mind you, they fitted it 3 doors away!) nah, just kidding. Took my Thai driving 'test' at Chok Chai, no-one spoke English there either, it's easy to do anything, even if you cannot speak Thai. I always find my way home at the end of the day, no probs. I really don't see why I should spend hours every day getting stressed out, when I could be on the golf course enjoying retirement.

Don't get me wrong, if it floats your boat, go for it, but it's not for me thanks. I get by.

When I went to renew my license, the women asked in pidgin English where my wife was.

Learning a couple of words a day is hardly stressful.

Was it because your Thai was so fluent? or did she just want to have a chit chat?

Just had the missus fastly babble at in what was a language un-known to me.

Asked her to settle down and as it turns out she wanted money to buy a box of beer before the shop closes as you cannot buy any tomorrow.

Sometimes it saves money NOT to understand

Like telling a Thai how to take care of a house while the owner is away.

Have you done it? or just felt like trolling once again?

Looks like a sweetheart.

Best of luck, sorry can not help, but can only bump the thread

Just had the missus fastly babble at in what was a language un-known to me.

Asked her to settle down and as it turns out she wanted money to buy a box of beer before the shop closes as you cannot buy any tomorrow.

Sometimes it saves money NOT to understand

Best post of the thread. I openly admit I am just far too lazy to write Thai. That is what my staff is for Reading, however was simply too vital to ignore!

I am guessing that most of the people claiming age as the impediment to learning Thai are living in a farang ghetto like Pattaya. That has always boggled my mind, but I did not move here at 39 for what Pattaya has to offer.

The effort really is minimal and the rewards are vast.

To say age makes no difference is just silly, sorry.

There is a reason, why youngsters start to speak foreign language really fast and if moved to another country young enough, do not even have an accent.

Age makes a huge difference. Yes one can learn new language, however with age it is much much harder and accent is much much heavier.

Even more so when learning language which totally different to your mother tongue in more ways than one.

I am bilingual, picked up Russian to pretty much fluency in under 2 years, but i was also very young.

Thai, i started at much later age and i am far from fluency nor am i near the retirement age

Ummm go back in my post and look for anywhere I said "age makes no difference"----

very sorry for misinterpreting your "people claiming age as the impediment to learning Thai are living in a farang ghetto like Pattaya"

Would it be too much to learn "ow bia singh kuat neung"? The first words I learned were "bia Singh eek kuat" out of desperation rather than anything else.

It sounds pretty hard, i only learned "Sing krap"

Should it not be owe bia sing neung kuad? and should it not be ow bia sing neung kuat krap?

I thought you said you were fluent

Nope, Neer's karaoke was correct.

Ok, if you say so

It sounds pretty hard, i only learned "Sing krap"

Should it not be owe bia sing neung kuad? and should it not be ow bia sing neung kuat krap?

I thought you said you were fluent

I can understand you having difficulty learning the language. In your first line you say you only learned "Sing krap". When wwriting your secon line you forgot what you wrote in the first!

I suggest you take your 'krap' question to the language forum and you might learn something.

Yes, you right, in the villages they do not need to be polite

Krap is for hi-so's only