When Farangs Go Native

[billd766]

49 minutes ago, Jonah Tenner said:

Gurkha knife

 

And far more deadly than the snake in the right (wrong?) hands.

Edited February 5, 2018 by billd766
Added extra text

[Naam]

54 minutes ago, Jonah Tenner said:

Gurkha knife

 

waiting for the next question "what's a Gurkha?"  

 

[billd766]

6 minutes ago, Naam said:

waiting for the next question "what's a Gurkha?"  

 

 

One of these?

 

 

Sorry, my bad.

 

I really meant one of these.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by billd766

[baboon]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

And far more deadly than the snake in the right (wrong?) hands.

That? Mrs baboon would have that thing jumping out of even Rambo's hand and running for cover, while Rambo himself made feeble attempts to get a word in edgeways and extricate himself from the situation as delicately as possible.

Ahh, the delightful women of southern Thailand...

[OldSiamHand]

19 hours ago, Naam said:

yeah right! learning reading and writing helps to cure a hearing impairment. this gets better with every posting. no need to go through the cartoons today.

no, learning reading and writing helps you to communicate, not to cure a hearing impairment.  speaking is of course far more efficient, but not the only way to get your point across (as evident by this board).

[OldSiamHand]

17 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

 

close but no cigar.  you're off by a few decades.  we're talking 1911.  

[sanemax]

25 minutes ago, OldSiamHand said:

close but no cigar.  you're off by a few decades.  we're talking 1911.  

Are you suggesting that 50 % of the current Thai population are ethnic Laotians , whos first language is Laotion and that they are suppressed by the ethic Thai other 50 % ?

   That did seem to be Maejos original claim

[jerojero]

So what is a foreigner supposed to do when receiving a wai from a store clerk or some other "junior"?
Wai back, ignore them, or flip them the bird?

A nod of your head in acknowledgement is just fine. Can wai back, but not being the initiator in this case is the point.

[billd766]

12 hours ago, baboon said:

That? Mrs baboon would have that thing jumping out of even Rambo's hand and running for cover, while Rambo himself made feeble attempts to get a word in edgeways and extricate himself from the situation as delicately as possible.

Ahh, the delightful women of southern Thailand...

 

I don't know any from the deep south.

 

Mrs Bill is from BKK and for some reason completely unknown to me owned some land up here in rural Khampaeng Phet. So naturally 3 years after we married we built a house up her after buying the land next door.

 

She is relatively tame but now and then the complacent life is broken up with a good old argy bargy and shouting match. A while later all is peace once again.

[sanemax]

51 minutes ago, OldSiamHand said:

close but no cigar.  you're off by a few decades.  we're talking 1911.  

Lets get back on track , Maejo stated that only 30 % of Thais speak Thai as a first language (today) and to prove this , he provided a table from over 100 years ago that showed 50 % of Siamese spoke Laotian as their first language .

   The table provided did not state who was included in the survey , and when the survey was done , just that it was published in 1911 .

   Even if 50% of (Thais) Siamese did indeed speak Laotian as a first language  in 1911 , how is that relevant in 2017 .

   We are only talking about first languages , many Thais speak a few languages .Local dialect and Thai

[MaeJoMTB]

41 minutes ago, sanemax said:

The table provided did not state who was included in the survey , and when the survey was done , just that it was published in 1911 .

Table taken from 1911 Thai census. The last Thai census that included Lao as an ethnic option for race. Siam 46% Lao 45%.

2015 language study from the organization Ethnologue, which lists Thailand citizens 1st language, Lao 33%, Central Thai 33%, other languages 33%. Which suggests the population is ethnic Thai 33% Lao 33%.

 

This suggests (to me) that the original population of Thailand has been diluted by foreign immigrants in the last 100 years, the same as many other countries in the world. (or it could mean they didn't count hill tribe people in the 1911 census)

 

I'm sorry you can't understand simple tables and statistics.

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[sanemax]

1 minute ago, MaeJoMTB said:

Table take from 1911 Thai census. The last Thai census that included Lao as an ethnic option for race.

Yes, Thai and Laotians are of the same race .

I am getting rather confused now .

What point are you trying to make ?

[tittyripple]

On 1/31/2018 at 12:40 PM, isaanbanhou said:

i guess i look like a poser for enjoying somtam, especially corn somtam.

I like  a good spicy som tam sandwich . Tham Thai of course Tham phu guarantees I will be shiiiting all over the place for a week .

[sanemax]

5 minutes ago, tittyripple said:

I like  a good spicy som tam sandwich . Tham Thai of course Tham phu guarantees I will be shiiiting all over the place for a week .

Five posts .

New profile after a ban perchance ?

[OldSiamHand]

4 hours ago, sanemax said:

Are you suggesting that 50 % of the current Thai population are ethnic Laotians , whos first language is Laotion and that they are suppressed by the ethic Thai other 50 % ?

   That did seem to be Maejos original claim

Maejos can speak for himself, but I don't believe that his original claim was that ethnic Laos in Thailand have Lao as their first language.  The table makes no mention of first languages.  I'd say the table is correct (not only in 1911 but in 2018 too) about a large minority of Thailand consisting of people with Lao ethnicity, especially in Isan.  Whether or not they speak Lao as their first language I have no idea.  

[OldSiamHand]

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

Lets get back on track , Maejo stated that only 30 % of Thais speak Thai as a first language (today) and to prove this , he provided a table from over 100 years ago that showed 50 % of Siamese spoke Laotian as their first language .

 

Yes, getting back on track, now that's something I'm all in favor of.  The table provided by Maejo does not show taht 50% of Siamese spoke Lao as their first language.  It was a table showing the ethnic breakdown of Siam in 1911, nothing more.

 

Thailand is not nearly as homogeneous as Thais sometimes suggest.  The diversity shown in the 1911 table has likely only grown over the past 107 years, especially with large immigration from China thanks to Mao and co.

[sanemax]

2 hours ago, OldSiamHand said:

Yes, getting back on track, now that's something I'm all in favor of.  The table provided by Maejo does not show taht 50% of Siamese spoke Lao as their first language.  It was a table showing the ethnic breakdown of Siam in 1911, nothing more.

 

 

No it wsnt, thats the trouble when people post tables without giving any link or explantion .

  The table shows answers to the question "As to the question of what language those people speaking Thai as a second language are speaking as their first language, the answer is “Lao.” "

[wildewillie89]

On 2/5/2018 at 3:02 PM, JLCrab said:

Just in case you missed it before, this is the third mention this topic the wife scored high on her Thai national English exam. What this has to do with whether or not a farang should learn Thai in Thailand I'm not sure.

I think you mean Thai national THAI exam. Clearly I haven't said it enough times if you haven't been able to distinguish between English and Thai.

To understand the difficulties in learning a satisfying level of THAI (not English), one must actually need to know what that would involve. There was a big discussion on it a few pages back. I know talking about incredibly mundane things in Thai is satisfying for you and that's great as it is an interest of yours, but to many others...not so much. Not to mention judging from this thread, even I am 'fluent' in Thai so some realism really needs to be brought back into it. I would have thought these things were quite obvious, but seeing as you couldn't comprehend the topic sentence then I see why you got confused.

I thought you were known on this forum for being a stuck record ...maybe I learnt it off you. 

[JLCrab]

Well if I needed to say "I asked the Mrs. and she said ..." I could do it in Thai. But you are right: most of what I say in Thai on a daily basis is mundane. It's called "Life".

 

And if I got it wrong that Mrs. Willie scored 2nd highest on a Thai exam rather than an English exam just why in the course of one topic do you feel the need to mention it 3 times let alone all the other topics where you have mentioned it?

Edited February 7, 2018 by JLCrab

[wildewillie89]

Everyone lives a different life. 

If someone doesn't speak the language to an exceptional level and the conversation is about what it takes to get to that level then you must obviously point to where yo got your information. Seeing as that conversation is had with a few different people then obviously you must do that a few different times. Not to mention more formal based evidence, such as the countries comprehension results etc are usually not accepted by 'fluent' speakers and are amazingly replied with Thai people in general have greater vocabularies than farang.

Why do you feel the need to tell us that you do it for fun many times? Or the renting matter on the other thread that was completely irrelevant to the other topic, you just kept on repeating yourself as no one cared less what you were saying until they got annoyed and took a swipe. If you cannot comprehend, if you cannot validate a point, or if it is so boring/irrelevant no one cares to respond don't repeat it. If you are repeating to reinforce a point due to a lack of comprehension or to another then fair game I think. I also repeated the point about the cashier/wai scenario, more than 3 times, interestingly didn't pick me up on that one. I wonder why it always has to be about my Mrs with you lol

Edited February 7, 2018 by wildewillie89

[Ruffian Dick]

On 1/30/2018 at 11:25 PM, klauskunkel said:

I have yet to see a farang with ya dom dangling from one nostril...

Well, there's your challenge, then.

There's a line even I won't cross.

[Ruffian Dick]

On 2/5/2018 at 5:58 AM, billd766 said:

 

And far more deadly than the snake in the right (wrong?) hands.

(I think the Gurkhas call it a "kukri".)

[JLCrab]

6 minutes ago, wildewillie89 said:

 I think. I also repeated the point about the cashier/wai scenario, more than 3 times, interestingly didn't pick me up on that one. I wonder why it always has to be about my Mrs with you lol

Yes I maybe wan't interested in the wai thing but you have noted about a half dozen times that your Mrs. will be getting a 45K per month pension when she retires. I wonder why it always has to be about your Mrs. with you as living vicariously through someone else's life and accomplishments may be an indication of borderline personality disorder (BPD).

[wildewillie89]

Just now, JLCrab said:

Yes I maybe wan't interested in the wai thing but you have noted about a half dozen times that your Mrs. will be getting a 45K per month pension when she retires. I wonder why it always has to be about your Mrs. with you as living vicariously through someone else's life and accomplishments may be an indication of borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Which has always been relevant to the thread. Other people have found it incredibly useful or asked for further information. It is only the likes of you who have issues with it.

[wildewillie89]

You always claim relevance and are now bringing up something that is not relevant. Then you will tell me 'it is not my show' like you always do. Don't ask people questions that you want answered and then get annoyed when they have answers you don't like. I am not going to bother getting into a useless conversation with you as your life is so mundane. Enjoy.

[JLCrab]

To quote Bruce Springsteen:

 

I ain't here on business, baby.

I'm only here for fun.

 

Speaking Thai allows me to frolic with young Thai girls who don't speak English. And if that to you is mundane, we are on different planets.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 3:13 PM, JLCrab said:

How do you know?

Because I won't ever know and I'm not going to regret something I'll never know.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 3:26 PM, richard_smith237 said:

 

A Perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger effect... 

LOL

Seems to me Dunning and Kruger suffer from their own illusion of superiority!

"the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others."

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 3:48 PM, Neeranam said:

Unbelievable, really. 

I should care about your opinion because.................................

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 7:53 AM, wildewillie89 said:

Exactly. It is a decision that is completely up to the individual. So for other's to feel the need to constantly speak down to those who do not speak the language, claim to know everything about the country due to the fact they speak an incredibly basic level of the language, or even have the fanatical belief that you cant walk safely down the street without being fluent in Thai is ridiculous. 

 

On the most part, most people get by just fine even without any language ability. That suggests learning Thai is an interest, not a need. As it is an interest many people will obviously find even the most mundane subjects incredibly enjoyable. For many others who have absolutely no interest in language, it would take years of formal learning (assuming people's physical make/lifestyle allows for it), to get to that level of satisfaction. Both situations are completely okay. 

Serious disadvantage? Understanding the environment you learn from living in the environment. I, for instance, would have a better understanding and usually volunteer more of my time to local government/community and police services available to people than the actual locals themselves. Why? As I am surrounded by it everyday through family member's positions. There is no details one cannot find out speaking English if they speak to credible sources.

Just look at a common topic always posted here regarding nuisance cases. The people who have lived in Thai for years and speak Thai always say go and speak to the village head. Thai people who know the systems do not do that (they go to the public health official), as they know the village head has no power over the matter and calls the local health official anyway (wasting time). Or even the crazy stories of I spoke Thai to someone and they told me even if you pay the fine with receipt to a police officer they still keep all the money. It is absurd, police and municipalities both fall under the Ministry of Interior so a percentage of that money is spread out to benefit the community. Many of my wife's projects are funded by that money. So there is always the flip side of what you think is learning the environment, that is their Thai has resulted into speaking to sources that are not credible and get a completely wrong picture of the environment around them. I am of the belief people have an equal opportunity learning what they need to learn with English and Thai as it is not language, but the credibility of the people you communicate with. Anything else comes down to interest. Everyone has different interests but they should be kept close to the person, I don't try and force people to love dogs and think they are stupid or unbelievable for not for example. 

Exactly. It is a decision that is completely up to the individual. So for other's to feel the need to constantly speak down to those who do not speak the language, claim to know everything about the country due to the fact they speak an incredibly basic level of the language, or even have the fanatical belief that you cant walk safely down the street without being fluent in Thai is ridiculous. 

Agree 100%.

Personally, I think some of them, having spent hundreds/ thousands of hours of their life learning something, only to have those that never bothered show they are able to have perfectly happy lives in Thailand is incredibly annoying, to the extent they have to come on TVF ( an ENGLISH language forum helping people live in LOS ) and constantly promote the myth that speaking conversational Thai is ESSENTIAL to living here. Goodness me, I have no idea how I've managed to survive for more than 5 minutes without a high level of Thai language ability, let alone over 30 years.

 

On the most part, most people get by just fine even without any language ability. That suggests learning Thai is an interest, not a need. As it is an interest many people will obviously find even the most mundane subjects incredibly enjoyable. For many others who have absolutely no interest in language, it would take years of formal learning (assuming people's physical make/lifestyle allows for it), to get to that level of satisfaction. Both situations are completely okay. 

Again I agree 100%, but they are so invested in their own language ability that they can't accept anyone without actually being able to enjoy their life in LOS. I don't know what extra enjoyment I could have had. Perhaps conversing with my BIL as he became more drunk and violent, or learning what the village gossips thought about me as they talked behind my back.

Just look at a common topic always posted here regarding nuisance cases. The people who have lived in Thai for years and speak Thai always say go and speak to the village head. 

I learned long ago not to ask a Thai in the street for directions. If they do not know they always make up something. I look for an expat and ask them. Even a tourist that has been somewhere I want to go is more informative.

I have been on many tours in LOS where the "guide" didn't know any more than I could get from the brochure.

When I go to one of those huge home supply places, I learned the hard way the staff know sod all about the equipment in the store, and often don't even know where stuff is in the place they work in. Annoyingly they still trailed me around the place, till I asked them for some information, which usually resulted in them disappearing.

 

Anything else comes down to interest. Everyone has different interests but they should be kept close to the person, I don't try and force people to love dogs and think they are stupid or unbelievable for not for example. 

Sadly, the Thai language "experts" do try and force us to accept their view point, or supposedly feel "shamed", which I do not. If they could actually give a valid reason why I need to be a fluent Thai speaker I might agree, but so far, zero.