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

[Ratt Thai]

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...

[Christophers200]

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 February 16, 2019 by Christophers200

[Lacessit]

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.

[Sprog71]

? GRUMPY OLD MAN AT 50. Wait until you are 80.

In general in the UK you start to be ignored/overlooked at 70 and it gets progressively worse.

In Thailand I have been overlooked /ignored since the age of 40 when I married my Thai wife.

[swissie]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Obviously I don't know the details of this situation. But I met lots of farangs who think their Thai is good but in reality their pronunciation is horrible. And obviously many Thais still tell them that their Thai language knowledge is wonderful so these guy never know that maybe their language skills are not as good as they think.

 

Recently I was on a table with one of those guys, a farang professor with horrible Thai pronunciation. We were in a 5-star hotel and he ordered something in Thai. The staff didn't understand him but they were too polite to tell him. So they asked in English. And he replied in Thai. The situation didn't get better. When the service girl walked away confused he complained that all Thais are stupid because they don't understand him...

 

Personally my Thai is 50/50 and I often end up talking with Thais in a mix of Thai and English. That works most of the time - at least for me and them.

 

Right on. Thai is a tonal language. Most words can be pronounced 4 different ways = 4 different meanings. One falsly pronounced word can screw up the whole sentence. The different pronounciation are hardly noticable by the Farang ear. That is what makes Thai so hard to learn for Farangs.
It can happen that the Farang enters a store, wanting to buy a shirt (sua). Likely he said "I want to buy a Tiger" (sua).
-The 2 week tourists need not to worry. In Tourist-Hub's, "f*cky f*cky, check-bin, tau rai short time/long time" is likely to be sufficient as far as language skills are concerned.????

[stud858]

I feel as though I'm getting poorer service when out and about. Less acknowledgement and desire by staff to help across the board.

Tougher times I guess and they can't get motivated plus possibly anti falang sentiment growing. I think started with bad guys out policy and increase of mixed nationalities.

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Sounds like your going through a mid life crisis. ????

Is that funny?

[Neeranam]

2 hours ago, Ratt Thai said:

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

Thanks for the Thai lesson!

[smutcakes]

16 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

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

And understandably so if TVF is any measure of it. No one wants to listen to constant whinging and poor me tales all day.

[transam]

15 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Happens to me when I don't wear a shirt.  However, normally they speak to me and hand me the menu and hand me the bill and hand me the change. 

I hope you're not a bird regarding the first bit....????

[BKKBike09]

15 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Happens to me when I don't wear a shirt.  However, normally they speak to me and hand me the menu and hand me the bill and hand me the change. 

Have they ever handed you a shirt as well? 

[Kwasaki]

12 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Is that funny?

Could be just an observation that came to mind reading your post about something I think is trivial.

[OneMoreFarang]

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 ???? 

[geriatrickid]

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. 

[mauGR1]

15 hours ago, Neeranam said:

20 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Sounds like your going through a mid life crisis. ????

Is that funny?

The funny thing is that when i was younger, i used to think there is only one mid life crisis.

I got a few already, and they keep coming.????

Edited February 17, 2019 by mauGR1

[transam]

I like being ignored, by Mrs.Trans, Thai or farang, farang mainly....My bit of heaven....I can drift off into my own thingy.....

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Happens to me when I don't wear a shirt.  However, normally they speak to me and hand me the menu and hand me the bill and hand me the change. 

You go into a restaurant without wearing a shirt? Any Farang who comes into a restaurant when I'm eating without wearing a shirt will soon know all about it.

[marcusarelus]

4 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

You go into a restaurant without wearing a shirt? Any Farang who comes into a restaurant when I'm eating without wearing a shirt will soon know all about it.

If you ever come to Thailand again let me know and I'll start wearing my shirt. 

[NoshowJones]

56 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

If you ever come to Thailand again let me know and I'll start wearing my shirt. 

I live in Thailand, what make you think I don't? So you would be wise to always wear your shirt.

[CharlieH]

Inflammatory remark and response to it removed.

 

Keep it civil please - see rule 7.

[BobbyL]

It does annoy me that a lot of Thai people COMPLETELY tune out whenever a white person starts speaking Thai, whereas if they are speaking to me in English I listen carefully and try to work out what they're saying.

[BritManToo]

34 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

It does annoy me that a lot of Thai people COMPLETELY tune out whenever a white person starts speaking Thai, whereas if they are speaking to me in English I listen carefully and try to work out what they're saying.

I don't bother, in fact I often pretend I can't understand a Thai that speaks reasonable English, just as they pretend they can't understand me speaking Thai.

[scorecard]

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. 

 

 

[Chicken George]

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

[unamazedloso]

<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.

[baansgr]

I remember  being in Greece with two Greek Ozzie's, they got annoyed  that even though their Greek was impeccable,  restaurant  staff etc would always  speak English  to them... 

[bkk6060]

Maybe consider looking at retirement communities where you will be treated like everyone else.

[rumak]

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).

 

[Mukdahanman]

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!’

[rumak]

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...............