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Rooster’s Saturday sermon: On learning Thai and finally growing up in a bilingual household!


webfact

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I was talking today with a 51 yo massage lady, who complimented me on my Thai. Not that it is fluent, but adequate. She spoke quite reasonable English. She was lamenting the fact her English boyfriend ( 67 yo ) had mastered the Thai language to the extent of sawadee krap and kopkhun krap.

Which leads me to this question - is the willingness or reluctance to learn Thai correlated with nationality, age, or IQ?

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4 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Forgive my maths, but I think Rooster said it costs B75k to send each Scrabbler to a Thai school. Isn't Thai education free? Or do they go to a bilingual school or Thai school with English programme?

 

For most parents, this is not affordable!

My local government school charges 6kbht/term.

It's supposedly free but if you don't pay for the 'extras' they won't let your kid attend.

Some might consider it extortion. 

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19 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Forgive my maths, but I think Rooster said it costs B75k to send each Scrabbler to a Thai school. Isn't Thai education free? Or do they go to a bilingual school or Thai school with English programme?

 

For most parents, this is not affordable!

Thai school with quite a few good expatriate English teachers. Total fees for two kids per year with add ons about 150/160K. I don't consider that very much. 

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13 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I was talking today with a 51 yo massage lady, who complimented me on my Thai. Not that it is fluent, but adequate. She spoke quite reasonable English. She was lamenting the fact her English boyfriend ( 67 yo ) had mastered the Thai language to the extent of sawadee krap and kopkhun krap.

Which leads me to this question - is the willingness or reluctance to learn Thai correlated with nationality, age, or IQ?

As my wife explained to the girls at the Amphur, we don't learn Thai because we're here under sufferance, have no rights or security, and it's a subtle way of showing our contempt for the Thai bureaucracy!

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31 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Too much for most ordinary Thais who want their kids to do better than they, though.

our son did his junior years in school in Britain ,then here in Thailand at a private school ,they even got him to teach English classes in his final year ,he now runs a company ,every penny we spent on him was worth it 

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13 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

I didn't read to the end. 

Too boring.

Too much bragging.

????????

It always is, but interesting he got the sack from Patana, the best School in Bkk IMO and went to Harrow. Been to both, Harrow is like a championship team, Patana more like the top of the premiership. ????

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'And try your best with your Thai spouse - whether male or female - to instill a love of reading in two languages. This is not easy but worth persevering with.'

 

I sometimes wonder if the rather simple structure of written Thai hinders or enhances Thai literature.

 

For example, English literature is rich and vafied with a long history. Maybe Thai is too within the constraints of the smaller population speaking the language. 

 

Is English or Thai better for creating great literature, fiction or in disseminating new learnings. Maybe it just depends on the culture one is brought up on. For example, I've got no doubt Thai would be much better for Thai bilingual readers in story-telling, fiction based in Thailand or in telling Thai history, given the cultural nuances/meanings. 

 

Maybe it is the same for English literature. A Thai (bilingual) reader might miss many of the nuances that a native reader would appreciate.

 

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I've heard some exquisite Thai spoken around the Chonburi area. Only last night did I hear a gentleman enquire if a young lady would 'Boom boom toot mai'.

 

Just colourful and poetic vernacular.

 

Lovely.

 

Kudos to the expat community for making such an effort.

 

Sincerely 

 

MORRIS

Ex Bar Owner 

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6 hours ago, clivebaxter said:

It always is, but interesting he got the sack from Patana, the best School in Bkk IMO and went to Harrow. Been to both, Harrow is like a championship team, Patana more like the top of the premiership. ????

Both schools have their merits, though Harrow has a far superior Thai department. ????

 

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6 hours ago, MUSTYJACK said:

Rooster is an apt name for the author of this  strutting self congratulating cocksure piece of fluff.

 

Just wondering though, where did you obtain your teaching qualification? Was it in the UK before you moved to Thailand? 

 

 

Qualifications are overrated; children are far better off in the hands of inspirational teachers. 

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On 1/22/2022 at 11:42 AM, webfact said:

My own Thai language development is quite interesting. Spoken Thai has remained relatively static having plateaued in the early 1990s. But reading and writing is a very different 'kettle of fish' (เรื่องยุ่งเหยิง reuang yung yerng and not really หม้อปลา,mor plaa, as Google translate suggested!)

Interesting, my Thai hasn't improved much since 2000. I never read these days. 

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