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The older I get, the more I am ignored here!


Neeranam

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3 hours ago, Briggsy said:

@Neeranam

 

I empathise.

 

Solutions

 

1. Prime your family to act in concert with your wishes and ability. It could be as simple as turning to you and saying to you in Thai, "what do you think". Or just an open hand gesture referring the question to you.

2. Upon being addressed in pidgin English, say in your best Thai, I'm sorry I don't understand, can you speak Slovak? Watch the wheels turn.

3. As above, but ask the pidgin speaker where he / she comes from and how long they have lived in Thailand. After receiving the reply, complement them on how good their Thai is.

4. Avoid mass tourism areas.

5. Be thankful you are not in China where people will just shout at you in Chinese for minutes irrespective of your language abilities. Think about it, Thailand could be a lot worse.

solution 6: ask (in Thai language ) the person if she can speak Thai... ( Khun Pood passa Thai dai mai ? )

 

fun part: if they see a "farang face" they can't understand Thai language anymore... Somehow the sound they hear does not fit the visual picture they create in their mind...

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12 minutes ago, Ratt Thai said:

solution 6: ask (in Thai language ) the person if she can speak Thai... ( Khun Pood passa Thai dai mai ? )

 

fun part: if they see a "farang face" they can't understand Thai language anymore... Somehow the sound they hear does not fit the visual picture they create in their mind...

Strange - whenever I speak Thai to people who do not know me they are both surprised and delighted. However, some 'farang' pr*ts work hard to discredit all westerners in the eyes of Thai people with their ignorant, rude, and boorish behavior. 

Edited by Christophers200
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I simply don't worry about it. I'll speak Thai. If that's not understood due to my lack of tone control, I'll restate in English or point to the item in question. Speaking in context usually gets the job done.

Thais have great respect for their elderly. I don't expect them to have respect for me, because I am a farang, and most Thai men my age are dodderers.

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4 hours ago, hyku1147 said:

Visit the Holy City of Pattaya, stock up on 1000 baht notes, go to soi Honey, and pretend that the only Thai you know is "tao rai?." Consequently, you will be transformed in to a very popular man.????

Forget about tao rai.

"Tequila" is the only word you need to know and I think it's the same in many languages. They will tell you tao rai at the end of the day, even if you don't ask ???? 

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I am delighted that the locals address me in  the English language as it ensures that a distance is established. I do not wish to converse with them anyway.  To be blunt, they mumble, and the ambient noise in the restaurant is so loud that I can't hear them clearly anyway. And no I am not hard of hearing as I must turn down the telly when we watch.

The worst part is that I often cannot read the menu. I have taken to using the light on my phone, if I cannot sit under a light. 

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On 2/16/2019 at 8:34 PM, Christophers200 said:

Strange - whenever I speak Thai to people who do not know me they are both surprised and delighted. However, some 'farang' pr*ts work hard to discredit all westerners in the eyes of Thai people with their ignorant, rude, and boorish behavior. 

Couldn't agree more, look around Pattaya you will find some pleasant, intelligent, polite, respectful and sincere farang and you'll also find the dregs of the earth, who have behaviors which are just awful and they do have some influence on how Thai folks think about farangs. 

 

 

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I speak Thai. When out with the wife people will often ask my wife about me. I aways say to them you can ask me that as I speak Thai. They then ask my wife something else about me. So again I repeat again that I speak thai and why wont they ask me direct. They then normally explain to the wife that they ate shy or are showing respect to me by not asking me directly. 

Its frustrating at times.. But I know they are not being rude in their view.

What is rude is when I hear the word "Farang" when I am out and I know they ate talking about me as Im the only farang around..lol

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<removed>

Constantly i try to engadge in thai and im not listened to. Even my family. Even my wife and kids act like im speaking another language. I have even recorded myself to figure out if im like a pathetic singer on american idol that think they can sing but clearly cant. But nope its fluent. So i play ignorant and barely bother to chitchat. Not a problem as i wouldn't learn nothing anyway and im not really much of a people person.

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On 2/16/2019 at 4:15 PM, mauGR1 said:

Nothing to do with Thai culture imo, but young people are not very interested in old people, everywhere.

Actually,  i find that to be one of the very few benefits of getting old .   At least it kind of falls in place with

my (lack of) desire to have interactions with most people.   No, i am not a bitter old man.....but do not ignore the fact that it is no fun getting old.   I am sure there are a few here that will now tell me how this is the

best time of their life.  Well, personally I enjoyed the health and vitality part a bit more !   Of course, I was not working a job for someone else and had the freedom to do it my way (with all its ups and downs).

 

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On 2/16/2019 at 4:53 PM, simon43 said:

The thing about speaking Thai is that maybe they don't expect you to be speaking Thai, and they try to figure out what English words you're saying.

 

Case in point today - I went to a new clinic to book an eye test.  The receptionist couldn't understand me at all!  I saw the optician, chatted in Thai to her and then went back to the receptionist who was now 'tuned in'  and was able to chat with me in fluent Thai ????

Spot on. If a soi dog suddenly started  talking to you in English, you probably wouldn’t remember what it said. You’d just think ‘f@@k me - a talking dog!’

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39 minutes ago, unamazedloso said:

<removed>

Constantly i try to engadge in thai and im not listened to. Even my family. Even my wife and kids act like im speaking another language. I have even recorded myself to figure out if im like a pathetic singer on american idol that think they can sing but clearly cant. But nope its fluent. So i play ignorant and barely bother to chitchat. Not a problem as i wouldn't learn nothing anyway and im not really much of a people person.

stop paying the bills and see if they start talking...............

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