What is Your Attitude to Learning Thai?

[BritManToo]

On 3/20/2019 at 3:25 PM, m Stender said:

If you live permanent in Thailand or has a serious relationship to a Thai girl, you owe toy yourself or other in your surroundings to be able to speak and understand THAI.

Only 1/3 of the Thai population speak 'Thai' as a first language.

 

Met plenty of Thais that speak Lanna, Laos, Khmer, Akha, Lisu and don't speak any/much (central) Thai with the other locals. Only thing all the foreigners who say 'you must learn Thai' have in common, they don't speak any, and so don't understand the locals around them aren't speaking any either.

 

So Mr. Stender, how much central Thai do you speak/read/write?

And what's your wife/gfs 1st language?

 

 

 

[JimmyTheMook]

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Only 1/3 of the Thai population speak 'Thai' as a first language.

 

 

No all Thai people learn ภาษา กลาง in school and often speak a local dialect amongst themselves if they are from a region away from what is called Central Thailand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, JimmyTheMook said:

No all Thai people learn Central Thai in school and often speak a local dialect amongst themselves if they are from a region away from what is called Central Thailand.

My Mil (former) doesn't speak any Central Thai, just some Laos variant.

Met a girl in a bar the other night, spoke to her in my best central Thai, she replied, 'sorry I only speak Akha and English'.

 

If I'm gonna speak to someone in their 2nd language, it might as well be English.

As for participating in local conversations, they don't happen in central Thai or English where I live.

[JimmyTheMook]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

My Mil (former) doesn't speak any Central Thai, just some Laos variant.

Met a girl in a bar the other night, spoke to her in my best central Thai, she replied, 'sorry I only speak Akha and English'.

 

If I'm gonna speak to someone in their 2nd language, it might as well be English.

 

You're absolutely brilliant !!!

 

  

[Neeranam]

On 3/16/2019 at 10:16 AM, villagefarang said:

I can't imagine a life here if one were unable to speak Thai.  I learned during a different time, however.

Some are quite happy living as an illiterate. Personally, I wouldn't be happy at all.

 

 

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

Some are quite happy living as an illiterate. Personally, I wouldn't be happy at all.

I though we were discussion speaking?

Illiterate means can't read or write.

[Neeranam]

15 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Only 1/3 of the Thai population speak 'Thai' as a first language.

 

Met plenty of Thais that speak Lanna, Laos, Khmer, Akha, Lisu and don't speak any/much (central) Thai with the other locals. Only thing all the foreigners who say 'you must learn Thai' have in common, they don't speak any, and so don't understand the locals around them aren't speaking any either.

 

So Mr. Stender, how much central Thai do you speak/read/write?

And what's your wife/gfs 1st language?

 

 

 

You sound identical to an old oyster thai13 ????

[GarryP]

21 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Hell would freeze over before I would ever consider becoming a Thai Citizen. 

Unless you are from a country that does not allow dual citizenship, I see no negatives about it. No more visa worries, own land in your own name, no bank troubles, etc., etc. 

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I though we were discussion speaking?

Illiterate means can't read or write.

What is the word for being unable to speak? 

Perhaps fear of speaking.

[Neeranam]

15 minutes ago, JimmyTheMook said:

No all Thai people learn ภาษา กลาง in school and often speak a local dialect amongst themselves if they are from a region away from what is called Central Thailand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think all Thai kids learn standard Thai.

Mine certainly did.

[Pilotman]

10 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Unless you are from a country that does not allow dual citizenship, I see no negatives about it. No more visa worries, own land in your own name, no bank troubles, etc., etc. 

I love my Thai family; i like living in Thailand, but I would not want to be so closely aligned with a people and culture for which I have little real, deep respect.  I am proud to be British,  I just don't want to live in the UK on a permanent basis,  but I would not be proud to be Thai. 

[direction BANGKOK]

I learned Spanish to a meaningful extent. I consider learning a languange work. It isn't fun, for me anyway, but you do it. When my Spanish was at its peak I flew to Thailand and have been here more or less ever since. Should I start all the "work" again? Who is to say I wont be needing Italian after I put in three years of studying Thai? Anything school-like is the last thing I want, and learning a new alphabet is certainly school-like/book work. By god who on earth wants to do that?! Don't get me wrong I respect those who learn it, I just can't imagine putting in the time necessary to really become competent. 

 

A few interesting points:

-I swear to you, when I go to immigration in BKK without my wife, things go smoother and faster. If I need to communicate, a Thai who speaks English is invariably called over, the conversation is always short and sweet. I have no idea what my wife's 15 minute conversations with them are about.

-The above point happens pretty much every time you are in need of help in a business in Bangkok, ie, an English speaker is called over and things are taken care of quickly and efficienty, without any goddam fluff, which I am not a fan of, but Thais seem to be when they are speaking Thai. 

-I have went through life and I can say without hesitation, I would give my right leg to not be able to understand what anyone is saying a good 50-60% of the time in my home country, or any country for that matter, including Thailand. Not knowing a language can be a dream come true, and many a frustration can simply have been washed away, never having had to exist in your conscience. 

-Human interactions when participants do not speak a word of eachother's language are quite unique! This may get old if you live here, but the point is "variety is the spice of life". Not knowing a language does not always have to be a bad thing as most surmise. 

 

Having said all that, I do realize knowing the language will open up doors, enable you to connect better, even keep you safer in my experience. But it is all just something to consider. I think too often people equate knowing a language as only good. Many bad aspects can arise with your langauge skills as well. If I am being 100% objective though, for sure I would recommend thise coming over here to learn as much Thai as they possibly can (have fun). 

[GinBoy2]

I find it a rather interesting question.

 

Speaking and read Thai, certainly made my life in Thailand easier on a day to day basis.

 

But I think it also on some level it contributed to my increasing frustration with the place, since I understood more of what was going on around me.

 

As @direction BANGKOK said I found out if I have the same conversation in Thai it's 15 mins, same conversation in English 2 mins.

Now it's maybe their lack of English, but at least it gets it over and done with.

 

Immigration is a great case, after a few trips, I just stopped speaking Thai, just to get to over and done with quicker

[jackdd]

On 3/22/2019 at 10:05 AM, BritManToo said:

My Mil (former) doesn't speak any Central Thai, just some Laos variant.

Met a girl in a bar the other night, spoke to her in my best central Thai, she replied, 'sorry I only speak Akha and English'. 

Does always depend on people's education and their language skills.

My GF's grandma who is nearly 80 years old, from Roi Et (so she definitely grew up speaking Isaan) and who does not hear very well anymore (and there is a high chance that i'm the first foreigner who she ever talked with) can have a conversation with me in Thai (i speak just a few words Isaan, so if she spoke Isaan i could not understand her).

On the other hand i've met people in their fourties who simply can't manage to speak Thai with me, no matter how many times i ask them to speak Thai, but they just continue talking Isaan which means a conversation with them is hardly possible for me.

 

I don't spend a lot of time learning Thai (imho i should spend more time, lazyness...), but my motivation is quite simple: I spend most of the year in Thailand, so i want to speak the language. Speaking the language makes life way easier and more fun. The biggest part of the population can hardly speak any english, so i would miss out many girls if i could not speak Thai ????

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, jackdd said:

so i would miss out many girls if i could not speak Thai ????

Was in Cambodia in January, met a nice looking girl who only spoke Khmer.

Typed $30 on my phone screen, held it up for her to see, then we went back to my room.

Didn't feel I missed out on anything by not speaking Khmer.

[sanemax]

Just now, BritManToo said:

Was in Cambodia in January, met a nice looking girl who only spoke Khmer.

Typed $30 on my phone screen, held it up for her to see, then we went back to my room.

Didn't feel I missed out on anything by not speaking Khmer.

You are your prostitutes .

Do you ever think about anything else ? 

[dreaming]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Was in Cambodia in January, met a nice looking girl who only spoke Khmer.

Typed $30 on my phone screen, held it up for her to see, then we went back to my room.

Didn't feel I missed out on anything by not speaking Khmer.

But if you spoke Khmer you could have talked to her grandmother ????

[GinBoy2]

On 3/21/2019 at 9:02 PM, JimmyTheMook said:

No all Thai people learn ภาษา กลาง in school and often speak a local dialect amongst themselves if they are from a region away from what is called Central Thailand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though I speak both Lao and Thai, my wifes 89 year old grandma will only speak to me in Thai since she thinks it's 'hiso' for a farang, even though she never speaks Thai to anyone else, not even my wife

I will speak to her in Lao, and she'll answer me in Thai

Weird racial linguistic cultural bias.

 

[Badrabbit]

I am too old, too distracted and have too many other things that occupy my time, to actually spend my time seriously trying to become fluent in Thai.  I also have no facility for learning languages. My wife of 22 years speaks Issan with her family and is no great teacher of Thai.  I get by in the language and I do make an effort to learn new words and phrases, but I am far from being able to have a conversation in the language.  I have resigned myself that this is the level I will probably stay at forever, but I do regret that I didn't make more effort when I was younger to become more fluent. However, had I the drive to learn a language many years ago, it would not have been Thai; more probably it would have been Mandarin.  

I'm the same as you and have given up especially when 7/11 stay looked bemused when I ask for a Latte hot, everyday I go to the same 7/11 and everyday they look confused when I try to say lawn!

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Thongkorn]

 I can speak a bit of Thai, learned myself before i met my Wife. Most Thais dont want you to speak Thai. The times  i speak Thai to them , they ignore me and speak to my wife,

[Martyp]

On 3/20/2019 at 8:41 AM, charliebadenhop said:

There is an excellent FREE learning platform for learning Thai. 

Lingopolo

 

It is based on a "spaced repetition system". 

If you don't know the word today, they present it again tomorrow. If you know it tomorrow, the word gets presented in two days again.... 

 

This platform is the first time in my life that I feel competent in learning a foreign language. You don't need to "try" and remember, just go along and see the word again in a short amount of time.  Give it a try!

 

Your pronunciation will improve over time.

 

I learned about Lingopolo a few weeks ago. I think it is a good learning tool for listening skills. For those who don't know about Lingopolo - the exercises are based on audio clips spoken by Thais. You get 5 multiple answer choices. If you close your eyes to the choices you can use this software to hone your hearing skills.

 

It's terrible for learning the alphabet. Choose a different resource for learning the alphabet.

[EricTh]

On 5/4/2019 at 2:29 PM, Thongkorn said:

 I can speak a bit of Thai, learned myself before i met my Wife. Most Thais dont want you to speak Thai. The times  i speak Thai to them , they ignore me and speak to my wife,

Here's a surprise.

 

If somebody were to speak horrible English with you, would you try to speak English with him when there's an alternative?

 

It's not that they don't want to speak Thai with you, it's just like most foreigners can't get the tones right.