Should Expats Be Able to Speak Thai

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

As for wai-ing, I'm more educated, older and richer than almost all Thai folk I encounter,

 

There's nothing like a superiority complex to endear the local population with whom you live amongst 

 

lord it over... 

 

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

wai me first and show me the respect your own 3rd world feudal society demands of you, or do one!

Given your comments it would be understandable why people do not wai you first.

 

It seems you don’t feel you need to show any degree of respect, so why would they show you any respect ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AsianAtHeart]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:29 PM, Sparktrader said:

I speak Shakespeare Thai

 

Thou Shall Sawadee Khrup Thou

You were likely just joking, and perhaps are already aware of this, but your Shakespearean grammar is incorrect.  The word "thou" is the informal pronoun form, and, on account of subject-verb agreement rules, the verb to match it with here is "shalt."  So, Shakespearean grammar will allow two forms: "you shall" (formal) and "thou shalt" (informal).

 

In Thai, there is no direct equivalent because, with the exception of royal language, using more formal pronouns will still match the same verb as before.

[Thunglom]

That I have great difficulty reading and writing Thai is a constant source of shame for me........... I do however speak conversational Thai and in the last few years it has improved exponentially. I have not had formal lessons, but I like to communicate with my neighbours.....

 

People's ability to learn a language varies. But I'm surprised at how many expats don't speak any Thai. The reasons are often very disturbing.

many don't because they just haven't got the skills and try to take some racist stance that it isn't worth learning because" nobody speaks it outside Thailand" - what a silly thing to stay - it's incorrect - :aos and Thai are very similar for a start - but they wouldn't know that would they? Secondly, never mind about anybody else THEY are in Thailand and everybody speaks it here!

 

There is an attitude too amongst expats that they are living here on the cheap but feel no need whatsoever to communicate with the local people.

"I get on fine with Thai" - and then sit in bars theorising about how stupid Thai people are. a pretty brazen attitude to take as they can't even speak a word themselves.

"I can't speak Thai ,but I can understand them" - no you can't, you just make it up and then wonder why they "keep getting things wrong"!!

 

I'm almost illiterate in Thai but every now and then I make an effort - it helps amazingly with speaking and speaking for an expat probably the most important thing

 

Time after time I'm regaled with tales of how "Thai people are rip-offs" they can't do this, they have no "spacial awareness" - basically they are just racist slurs from idiots who re too incompetent to learn even the basics of the language.

 

Then, irony upon irony, they are the first people to insist the immigrants to their own country should learn their language.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Thunglom

[Thunglom]

23 hours ago, AsianAtHeart said:

You were likely just joking, and perhaps are already aware of this, but your Shakespearean grammar is incorrect.  The word "thou" is the informal pronoun form, and, on account of subject-verb agreement rules, the verb to match it with here is "shalt."  So, Shakespearean grammar will allow two forms: "you shall" (formal) and "thou shalt" (informal).

 

In Thai, there is no direct equivalent because, with the exception of royal language, using more formal pronouns will still match the same verb as before.

It is a symptom of many expats that their grasp of their native tongue is pretty tenuous.

[Thunglom]

On 8/31/2022 at 9:54 AM, richard_smith237 said:

 

There's nothing like a superiority complex to endear the local population with whom you live amongst 

 

lord it over... 

 

Given your comments it would be understandable why people do not wai you first.

 

It seems you don’t feel you need to show any degree of respect, so why would they show you any respect ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

those comments you've quote appear to be examples of pure racism.

[GinBoy2]

think it helps if you are bilingual from birth.

I grew up with English and Spanish swirling in my head effortlessly and they could spew from my mouth in either language even if I was thinking in the other.

In later life I never found learning another language hard, and I've added Thai, Lao and Mandarin. There is a difference to my learned languages, I don't think in them. I know I translate them in my head before I speak very different to how I speak English or Spanish.

 

Now back to the OP. Should expats speak Thai well,  thats up to the individual. I've always found speaking the language of where I live very enriching, but I've know folks that have lived for decades in a country without the ability to say much more than Hello and Thank You without a problem

[daveAustin]

On 8/30/2022 at 10:30 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

Keep in mind, please, that, unless expats can READ Thai, then they will NEVER be able to SPEAK Thai.

 

So sad, yet true.

 

Passa Thai has such a simple vocabulary, with only a very few vowels and constanances.

 

One of the HUGEST mistakes Guavas make when coming to Thailand for nooky is not to first learn the Thai script before they leave their home country, which they have been dying to leave, for years.

 

Some expats don't even know where to find a vowel.  They look up and down, but they can't even recriminate between a vowel and an inconstenenance.

 

Who might have any sympathy for such expats who know nothing about Thai script?

 

Why are they here, in the first place, if they care so little about Thai script?

 

Why not just go to Mexico, instead, and learn a bit of Maya.

 

(Mayans are extremely proud people. Same as people here.  But, Maya script is easier.)

 

 

Please keep in mind that Thai script is an ALPHABET.

 

But, Maya script might not actually be an alphabet, as in the original, used years ago, but more of something you might encounter in Egypt, inside the pyramids.

 

I would be happy to learn the Maya language if I lived in Central America.

 

So, why are you not willing to learn Thai, while living here?

 

Makes no sense.

 

Maybe you think too much.

 

Very few vowels? Tongue in cheek for sure but just for the cheap seats: there are many vowels, some with awkward soundings totally unfamiliar to the western ear. Vowels are long and short versions, change tone depending on the consonant class, change tone again with the addition of a tone marker, change tone again with the prefix of a high class H consonant, change tone again with the prefix of the aw ang and consonant, change length with the addition of a certain character and can appear in front, behind, in the middle, above or below the word.

 

I agree to learn Thai it is best to learn the alphabet because all the info is there. It is not impossible to pick up with practise... the app Pocket Thai Master is very good. Neeranam's 'Let's learn one Thai word a day' thread is also worth a look.

 

As to should expats be able to speak Thai? Totally up to them and also depends if you live in a touristy place. I would, however, say you don't really know what's going on unless you can have a basic conversation with Thai friends or strangers. I'm way off fluent but make some sort of effort to converse with the locals of my adopted country. 

[GammaGlobulin]

1 minute ago, daveAustin said:

Very few vowels? Tongue in cheek for sure but just for the cheap seats: there are many vowels, some with awkward soundings totally unfamiliar to the western ear. Vowels are long and short versions, change tone depending on the consonant class, change tone again with the addition of a tone marker, change tone again with the prefix of a high class H consonant, change tone again with the prefix of the aw ang and consonant, change length with the addition of a certain character and can appear in front, behind, in the middle, above or below the word.

 

I agree to learn Thai it is best to learn the alphabet because all the info is there. It is not impossible to pick up with practise... the app Pocket Thai Master is very good. Neeranam's 'Let's learn one Thai word a day' thread is also worth a look.

 

As to should expats be able to speak Thai? Totally up to them and also depends if you live in a touristy place. I would, however, say you don't really know what's going on unless you can have a basic conversation with Thai friends or strangers. I'm way off fluent but make some sort of effort to converse with the locals of my adopted country. 

When you stated that you were way "off fluent", did you actually mean to say that your tones were way "off key"? 

[NickyLouie]