After Age 60: Is it possible to learn to Read and Speak Thai? And, Is it Worth the Effort?

[Colabamumbai]

Most certainly. At 59 I came here and went to a Thai Language School for 3 months. I went on to manage a resort and then teach for 7 years. Do it. 

[pineapple01]

37 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Agree. Anyone can learn basic Thai to get by, but why anyone would want to converse about food or Thai tv soaps is beyond me.

Why learn to read it? Do you want to read Thai books? Might help when the divorce comes though, so one can know if the wife is screwing one in the divorce documents.

Some truth there. But You dont divorce here, just wander off  like her Ex Husband did.????

[BritManToo]

16 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Many do not like foreigners, in Bangkok at least.

I'm not that keen on foreigners either.

[grumpy 4680]

      Hope you have bionic hearing, with Thai being a tone language, your going to need it.

     learning some words to just get by, helps, but if you don't get the sound right, some Thais will just ignore you, even if they have a slight hint of what you may be trying to say.

[TKDfella]

Actually, no matter who you are, how you are built and what your inclination/preferences are there is one battle you ultimately can't win (well, at the moment anyway)...ageing. But you can slow it down a bit here and there.  Learning another language is good way way to keep the 'old grey matter' working. In fact many see Thai as being easier than English because of its definite grammar rules. The way English words can be turned around etc and still mean the same thing is often a stumbling block. Thai, like Chinese, is a static language which again is opposite to English which is not.

In fact learning a new topic whatever it might be when age starts to creep is a good thing. But unlike younger people who perhaps can take on multiple tasks, JohnBarleycorn find your limitations and organise yourself around that and you'll give yourself a chance to enjoy the experience too.

Best of luck to you.

[Saltire]

I am pretty sure age plays a big part in language abilities.

 

65 now but when I was at school in the UK I was an A student in French and Russian. I could get by today with a little French, but have forgotten most of the Russian, although I can still read/write the alphabet and sound words.

 

Other than holidays in France I never really got to use my languages, then in 2002 at about 50 years old, moved to Wuhan, China for a new job. I tried really hard to learn Mandarin but found the tones and some new sounds very difficult. Anyway I met my second wife there 2 weeks after arrival and she was an A student in English so I got lazy. We spent 7 years in Scotland after that so it was English all the way. I was disappointed in myself as I had thought it would be a piece of pi$$ to learn Chinese!

 

Moving on my next attempt at learning the local language was Khmer. After 5 years in SIem Reap I could get by, I found this non-tonal language a bit easier to learn. However even then at the OP age question of hitting 60, it was no way easy. My short term memory is shocking now and to learn anything I have to go down the repetition method.

 

Now 3 years in a small Thai village in rural Kanchanaburi and I would say while it is very slow, I have made good progress, helped by being the only farang in the village and the wife the only other English speaker. It is not helped by the fact thet, being close to the Myanmar border, the village is populated by 70% non-Thai. The wife switches from Thai, to Issan, to Laos and Myanmar with ease. Unless I can pick out a few Thai words I have no clue what they are saying.

 

Short term memory loss is a definite hindrance, even with the enforced immersion. For example I know numbers and days of the week well, but have given up trying to remember months of the year.

 

Even if I don't improve much I will continue to try to improve, even if it is only to try and keep my brain active.

 

I'd like to have a go at reading and writing one day but I fear it would be beyond me.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Saltire

[VocalNeal]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Having an IQ of 140+, it's fair to assume most people around me are stupid ........ comparatively speaking.

It's lonely at the top!

I don't understand but I know what you mensa.

[ChipButty]

In a bar one night and the girl said my Thai is s#it, listen when Im pi$$ed my English is s#it

[utalkin2me]

You should learn about 100 words and be done with it. Of course you will always be naturally learning and building on those first 100 phrases/words. 

[ChipButty]

Many years ago I did go to school and then I also worked what I used to do was write down 5 words a day would be to do with what I was doing everyday I found I picked up very quickly lots of sayings and started to expand on them and it all started to fall into place the only problem you have is Thais dont speak properly and cut words short

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, ChipButty said:

Many years ago I did go to school and then I also worked what I used to do was write down 5 words a day would be to do with what I was doing everyday I found I picked up very quickly lots of sayings and started to expand on them and it all started to fall into place the only problem you have is Thais dont speak properly and cut words short

Learn to read and write first, then that problem goes away.

[Dante99]

On 6/3/2020 at 5:03 AM, JohnBarleycorn said:

More importantly:  Your mother may not feel comfortable or qualified to teach Thai.  And, if this is the case, then please don't press the issue.  Instead, if you wish to learn Thai, then take advantage of the many resources on the internet.

Good point John.  She may have little or no skills in the Central Thai Language, instead she speaks one of the regional dialects.  Also even if she has the knowledge and does not feel like teaching, do not press the issue.  A lot of times somebody close is not the best teacher and trying a teacher-student relationship does not work.

[pineapple01]

You laughed at Ello Ello, Faulty Towers, and think Thais dont do the same with You.????

[DUNROAMIN]

For me no chance, at 67 have memory of a sieve and have problem with hearing certain tones, which is important in Thai language. Can remember the basics. 

[pineapple01]

Just now, DUNROAMIN said:

For me no chance, at 67 have memory of a sieve and have problem with hearing certain tones, which is important in Thai language. Can remember the basics. 

Honesty beets Ego.!

[Enzian]

I'm putting my daily effort into Italian. There is a little more art and culture in Italy (sarcasm warning), and that's where I would prefer to die (but not from Covid). However I do know enough Thai to tell the taxi driver to turn right or turn left.

[superal]

On 6/3/2020 at 5:25 AM, bkk6060 said:

No.

Waste of time especially if you travel around the country.  The dialects are different Thais lets say in the north, cannot understand everthing a Bangkok Thai says.

Soooo true . I have picked up some Thai and live in the north east of Thailand where there is a hybrid of Thai and Cambodian spoken . When I attempt to speak in my best Thai they often look at me with their mouths open and say mai kao-jai ( not understand ) and then giggle . Getting the words right is one thing but then there has to be the right tone as one word can have several meanings , kao-jai mai ????

[727Sky]

Go to youtube and find someone you like and understand; there are many free language courses there to experience. Then if you learn just one phrase a week within a short time you will be able to converse in everyday social language..  I would learn to speak conversational Thai first and then tackle the written word but that is just my opinion..

 

This group seems to do a good job and are funny to listen to

 

[AAArdvark]

Language learning is a talent.  Some people have it and some don't.  I have lived in foreign countries for more than 30 years and I suck at it.  My half Asian daughter can learn a new language well in an amazingly short time. Probably most people are somewhere in-between.  

 

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

6 hours ago, olfu said:

I speak universal language called money.

This actually is a totally fascinating subject... what people do with it, how they feel about it, savings vs spending, even being here and dealing w/exchange rates... is money for spending or for security? 

 

I was back in USA, maybe abt 2009 and a friend had been driving me around. I offered to fill his tank and was shocked when the bill came to $50... I guess I was expecting $20 from the last time I drove in USA many years prior... it was painful to pay this... 

 

Then I returned to Thailand and filled up my tank as usual w/no discomfort - then realized that at 1500 baht, it was the same $50... and no pain, no discomfort because I did it about once a week... 

[andre47]

https://www.learnwitholiver.com

This website helps me a lot to improve my Thai. It is also available for many other languages.

[teatime101]

1 hour ago, cyril sneer said:

I learned the numbers to lesson the chance of getting screwed over every time I pay for something

My experience has been that Thais are honest (and always polite). They tell me when I accidentally pay ha roi instead of ha sip. Maybe dishonesty is more likely in the big smoke?

[seancbk]

On 6/3/2020 at 5:39 AM, JohnBarleycorn said:

On 6/3/2020 at 5:25 AM, bkk6060 said:

No.

Waste of time especially if you travel around the country.  The dialects are different Thais lets say in the north, cannot understand everthing a Bangkok Thai says.

Traveling around Thammasat, how many dialects do you think you might hear.  And yet, most students at Thammasat are from Thailand.

 

I doubt he's spending much time talking to the type of person who goes to Thammasat.  

 

Well done on learning Thai, I've been here 12 years and just haven't put any time into trying to learn. 
I can get by when I need to use Thai which is basically just taxis.  I have 7 Thai staff, 4 of who don't speak any English.  I sit in an office with the 3 who do speak English so of course we just speak English together.  

[vogie]

1 hour ago, DUNROAMIN said:

For me no chance, at 67 have memory of a sieve and have problem with hearing certain tones, which is important in Thai language. Can remember the basics. 

Oh come on Dunroamin, you seem very intelligent, I sure if you really wanted to learn thai you could, many people say can't when they really mean 'don't want'

[robertson468]

On 6/3/2020 at 4:24 AM, JohnBarleycorn said:

If you are serious about learning the Thai language, then you should let your mother know.

If she is as wonderful as you say she is, then she will help you learn Thai.

There are very few people in Thailand who are not very willing to help others learn their language.

If you wish to let your mother know that you are serious about learning Thai, then please begin by learning 1000 basic Thai vocabulary words. If you can do this, then I guarantee that your mother will take your Thai-language learning project much more seriously.

When I first arrived in Thailand and was living with a lovely very well educated Thai Lady (whom I subsequently married), who speaks excellent English as well of course Thai.  One of her degrees is in Thai Language and Culture.  I felt that since we were going to make our life in Thailand, I should learn Thai, so that I could communicate with all her Family and Friends, many of who do not speak English.  I embarked on a couple of courses and was getting along quite well, and suggested to my Wife, to improve both my learning and retention skills of Thai, we should start speaking Thai at home.  No, no she says, I will forget my English.  Being the weak willed character I am, I stopped learning and now find that when my Wife is talking Thai to her Friends, I "tune out" because I can't follow the conversation.  I  keep telling myself to "buck up" and start learning again and to ignore my lovely Wife's advice about not speaking Thai at home, but something always seems to come up and disrups my plans........."hello Coronor Virus do you know you are distupting my desire to get back on the Thai learning Band Wagon again?'  And so it goes on.  I can speak a bit of Thai, but no where near as much as I should be able to speak, having lived in this lovey Country for 15 years.  So hopefully after isolation, I will pull up my socks and crack on with it...........I hope!

[CygnusX1]

I’ve been struggling with learning Thai for an embarrassingly long time. I can read simple Thai with the aid of a dictionary (I’m well into the Lemony Snickett children’s book series), and I can follow the plots and enjoy the books (as far as it’s possible to enjoy books written for children).

 

However, I find speaking and understanding spoken Thai to be hopelessly difficult. I don’t think it’s the tones, I can distinguish most of the individual words in a Thai news bulletin, it’s just that I find that the way the words are strung together is impossible to decode in real time, as Thai grammar’s so alien compared to English. Without exaggeration, I’d say that I’ve found Thai to be 20 times harder than French, which is the only other foreign language that I’ve attempted to learn.

 

I’m continuing to read Thai, as it’s an enjoyable mental challenge in my old age, but I’ve given up on any idea of being able to have anything other than the simplest of conversations.

[DJ54]

In the small town near here so expats from different countries would get together late afternoon sitting at table drinking a couple 

beers... when dusk everyone would home. 

 

There was elderly Thai lady that came and taught basic Thai to 

the Expats. Usually 3-6 people showed upon a regular basis. Her

English was good and really she wanted to sit around drink a beer

That someone buy for her... It was enjoyable for both.... 

 

One day she came by and said Locals told her not to Farang Thai...

unfortunate...  still see her around on bicycle for four years + now.

[GreasyFingers]

Have not read all of the posts so might be repeating someone else. There are advantages in NOT learning Thai:

The wife is a talker and would drive me crazy if I had to listen to her all day.

Do not have to listen to any of the family and village gossip.

Do not have to try to understand when 2 or 3 drunk Thais are talking to you at the same time.

[wwest5829]

^{arrived in retirement at age 64 1/2. Took the first e courses in Thai language at the YMCA befor hitting a wall. Met a Thai girl wanting to learn more English and ... that is about where I am after 8 years ....}

[phantomfiddler]

If I know that I am going to be in one place for a few months or longer I will make sure to learn the basics, ie How much is this ? how do I get to ? etc, but one very sad aspect of learning Thai (and I have not experienced this phenomenon in other languages) is that you will pick up many disparaging things they will say about you, thinking that you know not one word of Thai. Many Thais are taught at school from a very early age that they are the world,s superior race (honestly, not joking) and many of them actually believe it, even though the educational standard here is extremely poor. Yet an uneducated Thai will think nothing of calling you stupid because they can speak Thai and you cannot ! Also on many occasions a Farang will go into a shop and order something. The sales girl/waitress then calls the cashier and say "IT wants a cup of coffee" ! Using a term normally used for dogs ! Mun ow cafe ! Whenever this happens I just say change of mind and leave ???? I know many people who deliberately do not learn Thai because of this.