How good is your Thai?

[jackdd]

We currently have the other thread about english skills, so i thought one regarding the Thai language skills of the users here would also be interesting.

I think the questions and the answer that i chose are clear, if anything is not, just ask. (Let's consider Isaan to be a dialect of Thai)

[JLCrab]

Good enough to deal with Thais who don't speak English.

[lovelomsak]

Good enough to get the Thai's confused about what I am saying. And good enough to make me look stupid to Thai's

[vogie]

Is the ability to say 'sawadi krap' considered as nit noi?

And question 2 only has two options, read or write, I answered read as it would not accept my answer without giving an answer.

And to someone listening to me who doesn't speak Thai, I must sound impressive.

[robblok]

I speak good enough Thai to converse about every day things, but that is about it (good enough for many things). I can't go really deep, but if the topic is new for me or something I don't often talk about im lost. My Thai is still improving but slowly. I don't have the time to go to a language school. 

[jackdd]

19 minutes ago, vogie said:

And question 2 only has two options, read or write, I answered read as it would not accept my answer without giving an answer.

I wasn't aware of this, i thought multiple choice means selecting nothing is also valid. I can't edit this anymore, maybe a mod can.

[Ron19]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

I wasn't aware of this, i thought multiple choice means selecting nothing is also valid. I can't edit this anymore, maybe a mod can.

I have edited as per you request, voted and it has been recorded.

[Aforek]

As in every language, ( in my  opinion ), reading is much easier than writing, ( memory problems ), I think it's not the same part of the brain which is working, and Thai alphabet is huge

for reading it' s ok , for writing, I must check the spelling in the dictionary

[Rc2702]

I can get by and answer a few questions. Order pretty much anything from a shop or a restaurant and direct taxi drivers and make a point here and there when required.

[geronimo]

Fluency allows you to develop relationships with people, and without that, you are losing out to some degree.

[simon43]

I can have deep conversations (really!) in Thai. Also read and write to intermediate level (I studied at Chula University around 2008-10).

I don't have much use for Thai language nowadays (I live in Myanmar). One of my young students is Thai, and about the only chance I get to speak Thai is with her parents.

I can speak, read and write Lao language to lower intermediate level. My Burmese is still at basic level (sorry).

[jackdd]

32 minutes ago, geronimo said:

Fluency allows you to develop relationships with people, and without that, you are losing out to some degree.

I don't like the word "fluent" to describe the level of how good somebody speaks a language, so i didn't include it in the answers that i chose. For example myself, i speak Thai definitely fluently, but this is limited to the vocabulary that i have, which is not so big. So when a conversation about topics that are not every day stuff gets deeper and more specific i don't know the words anymore and i'm out.

[robblok]

36 minutes ago, geronimo said:

Fluency allows you to develop relationships with people, and without that, you are losing out to some degree.

I agree 100% with you, I am far from fluent still being able to speak a bit makes the relationship with neighbors much better.

 

Still if you got an idiot neighbor like I do there is not much you can improve on. Yesterday he blocked in again a car of (an other Thai) for parking in his spot (guy has 3 cars in the street). 

 

Its nice to talk with the other neighbors about this idiot.. my Thai is advanced enough for that 

[robblok]

Just now, jackdd said:

I don't like the word "fluent" to describe the level of how good somebody speaks a language, so i didn't include it in the answers that i chose. For example myself, i speak Thai definitely fluently, but this is limited to the vocabulary that i have, which is not so big. So when a conversation about topics that are not every day stuff gets deeper and more specific i don't know the words anymore and i'm out.

I am a non native English speaker I always thought that fluent also meant a reasonable vocabulary and was a reference to speaking almost as good as the locals. I did not think it applied to a limited vocabulary but pronounced well.

 

I could be wrong as I said not a native English speaker.

 

Anyway my vocabulary is also limited so that makes it hard still its fun talking with others.

[JLCrab]

'Fluent' to me would describe a non-Thai lawyer who is capable of drafting legal documents in Thai.

[jackdd]

9 minutes ago, robblok said:

I am a non native English speaker I always thought that fluent also meant a reasonable vocabulary and was a reference to speaking almost as good as the locals. I did not think it applied to a limited vocabulary but pronounced well.

 

I could be wrong as I said not a native English speaker.

 

Anyway my vocabulary is also limited so that makes it hard still its fun talking with others.

I think the word fluent is just somehow ambiguous. In general it means something like flowing. So in my opinion if you say you can speak fluent it means you can talk in the language without having to think.

That fluent also includes a bigger vocabulary does probably arise from the difference of how languages are taught at schools and how you learn it if you live in another country.

At school you learn a lot of vocabulary, but don't practice speaking so much. If you live in another country, like we do in Thailand, practice a lot, but maybe don't learn so much vocabulary.

So if you learn a language just at school at the point where you can speak fluently (like in speaking without thinking) you also have a big vocabulary. But if, like us, you learn the language from living in the country, the point of when you can speak without thinking comes usually way before you have a big vocabulary (unless you spend extensive time learning vocabulary)

I'm also not an english native speaker.

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I think the word fluent is just somehow ambiguous. In general it means something like flowing. So in my opinion if you say you can speak fluent it means you can talk in the language without having to think.

That fluent also includes a bigger vocabulary does probably arise from the difference of how languages are taught at schools and how you learn it if you live in another country.

At school you learn a lot of vocabulary, but don't practice speaking so much. If you live in another country, like we do in Thailand, practice a lot, but maybe don't learn so much vocabulary.

So if you learn a language just at school at the point where you can speak fluently (like in speaking without thinking) you also have a big vocabulary. But if, like us, you learn the language from living in the country, the point of when you can speak without thinking comes usually way before you have a big vocabulary (unless you spend extensive time learning vocabulary)

I'm also not an english native speaker.

I am like you i speak Thai without thinking about what i want to say.. and indeed my vocabulary is not big enough for everything. I always get compliments about how good my Thai is or looks of surprise when I open my mouth and speak Thai. But however nice these people are for complimenting me I know that my Thai is limited and sure its better then the average farang, but it could be much better (if I had the time and the will) to learn more. Now i learn more by asking people what things mean.. not learning new words all the time.

[Aforek]

4 hours ago, jackdd said:

I think the word fluent is just somehow ambiguous. In general it means something like flowing. So in my opinion if you say you can speak fluent it means you can talk in the language without having to think.

 

I speak Thai without having to think, but I am not fluent because I choose ( of course ) words that I know

when Thai people use words that I don't know, of course I don't understand

I have read here on this forum some people who say they are fluent ; but what does it mean ?

fluent, for me , means speak and understand every thing in a language ( movie, speech, news ) as well as the locals ; so, very, very few farangs are fluent