Activist urges foreign workers to learn Thai

The only difficulty in Thai language are the different tones. Many foreigners don't hear the difference between the tones and that can is a problem as same words with different tones have other meanings. As a kid it is easier to learn but as a n older from 40 it is much more difficult. Of course everything can be learned.. but not easy and will cost a lot, a lot of time. And writing and reading is even for Thai people very difficult. So doing a test for a job is not realistic. You need s few years education before people could apply for a job, if they have to make a test. In other countries it is easier to learn a foreign language as for Europe, thelanguages are written in Arabic and words can be recognized as words from other languages are often used in the native language

I can have a bit of fun speaking Thai with my girlfriend and her friends but I found Thai's generally aren't expecting foreigners to speak Thai.

Most times they won't consider our mispronunciation if trying to converse, often they won't even try to understand us, the Thai word must be perfectly pronounced or they will give up.

They can be a little lazy, not bothering to adjust.

Edited August 12Aug 12 by SAFETY FIRST

If he means that say a Cambodian waitress here, should know Thai, he has a point, certainly I've had language issues in that type of situation. But let us not forget, catering to tourist means speaking a language they understand, Not many foreign tourists will know Thai, and English has become the common language in many countries. Let us not deflect from the fact many Thais are poor in English.

2 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Conservation activist Siranudh "Psi" Samutt has called on foreign employees in Thailand to be able to speak Thai, arguing that workers should not rely solely on English while employed in the country.

Sure, the guy has a point. If you live and/or work in a foreign country you should learn the language. However, he could also question why so many Thai´s do care about learning English and why they are not able to speak a world language.

A brilliant idea.

All foreigners applying for a Thailand work permit should be given a Thai language test before the permit is issued. Add to the list, all foreigners working for foreign companies in Thailand, foreign diplomatic missions in Thailand, and of course, foreigners working for UN organisations in Thailand.

Then watch the Thai economy collapse.

1 hour ago, Gottfrid said:

If you live and/or work in a foreign country you should learn the language.

I've worked in Thailand and Indonesia. In both cases the official site language was English.

Eventually one does pick up a few words akin to "taxi-Thai. But learning the local language was not mandatory.

In Indonesia expats who learned the language and married locals were said to have "gone feral".

I would love to learn how to speak Thai but it doesn't matter how much I try. My hearing does not hear the difference between the high and low tones which means I'm stuffed from the start so I use gutter Thai to do the best I can

6 minutes ago, wombat said:

I would love to learn how to speak Thai but it doesn't matter how much I try. My hearing does not hear the difference between the high and low tones which means I'm stuffed from the start so I use gutter Thai to do the best I can

If you speak in full sentences, the tone has less relevance, and they will mostly understand anyway.

Another problem that I've noticed is a that if a person does not look Thai then any Thai spoken by that person is simply not heard by a native Thai.

I expect a few will comment on the poor quality of the Thai spoken but other Thai people, who hear what the non-Thai has said, understand perfectly.

4 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

Yes, I agree.

Some languages are more difficult than others to learn, Japanese, Arabic and Thai are particularly difficult, cos you can't read any of it.

Years ago I was offered a contract, I could choose to work in Taiwan or the Philippines....guess what I chose?😃

Yeah, many just stop at only speaking, but it´s also harder to learn that, if you don´t learn to write and read at the same time.

17 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Another problem that I've noticed is a that if a person does not look Thai then any Thai spoken by that person is simply not heard by a native Thai.

555

Many times in a BKK taxi I have given the name of my soi. Taxi driver struggles so I had to do street by street directions. Upon turning into my soi the taxi driver reads the sign or know the soi and says (in Thai) "Ah soi xyz" which sounds to me exactly what I said originally.

The other thing I notice is no lateral thinking. As an example but not limited to; we all know the Mah, Mah, Mah confusion but if the subject of the conversation is about a dog then regardless of tone or pronunciation we are not talking about a horse. If asking for a Singha they respond (in Thai) "Ok Sing". But if I ask for a "Sing" I get blank looks. I have to use the "ha" but they do not. Sing is not Leo or God forbit Chang.

Personally, I hear undertones of some xenophobia in his published comments.

11 minutes ago, GoodieAfterDark said:

Another Genius. Imagine moving to a foreign country and not speak a word in the local aboriginal dialect.

As a Dutch person, I speak reasonably good English, and as an international language, I can make myself understood almost anywhere. But in large parts of England and Australia, I had no idea what people were talking about.

15 minutes ago, Mr Janneman said:

As a Dutch person, I speak reasonably good English, and as an international language, I can make myself understood almost anywhere. But in large parts of England and Australia, I had no idea what people were talking about.

I stayed in Nha Trang at hotel for a month, became friends with desk manager... one time he said to me "I think I speak okay English, but when that man speaks I have no idea what he is talking about."

I said "Don't worry. I can't either." Man in question spoke a very strong Cockney

5 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Thailand's foreign workforce is substantial. A Department of Employment report released in November last year put the number of foreign employees at around 3.9 million to 4 million, including migrant workers employed under memorandums of understanding.

I think it is more likely that migrant workers doing dirty, dangerous, degrading work make up a large majority of that figure. They get paid a pittance. When would they find time or the means to learn Thai - other than very basic words. I do agree that foreigners holding professional and semi-professional jobs in Thailand should learn to speak Thai.

With the exception of Thai doctors, I try to speak Thai to most people. As for hotel and restaurant staff in resorts, they also get paid minimum wage and they are usually seasonally employed. Let's remember they MUST speak English (or also Mandarin or Russian) - that's why they were hired. Maybe the solution is not to depend on Filipinos, Indonesians or Vietnamese in the tourism sector but instead teach unemployed people in Isan how to speak English and then send them to hotels and restaurants in tourist areas. Then Psi will have more Thai people to take his orders.

Edited August 13Aug 13 by ronnie50