Do you ever get any negativity from the locals when you attempt to speak Thai?

[FritsSikkink]

1 minute ago, ozimoron said:

 

I get a positive reaction from bar girls when I speak Thai.

Greater percentage doesn't mean there are people who like it.

[Denim]

1 hour ago, bob smith said:

Has anyone else ever experienced this sort of negativity?

 

 

Nope. Thais always complement me on my Thai.  Post office employees asked for my phone number to help with ad hoc translations when dealing with English language problems. My mechanic also.

 

If you live in an area where absolutely nobody speaks English then the only language you use all day is Thai , which improves fluency.

[ozimoron]

15 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Greater percentage doesn't mean there are people who like it.

 

Basically all of them. I don't get girls tell me "I know too much".

[JimTripper]

Not really, I just bring my own menu to most places now 🤣.

[BritManToo]

39 minutes ago, Andre0720 said:

Gin cow liang.

I checked that word in translators, modified the writing, nothing gave me a result.

One day as I was getting a haircut, the lady cutting my hair said to someone in the shop:

Gin cow rue yang. I knew the word 'rue', and the word 'yang'. But 'liang'.

Wow, two words, two. But nobody here pronounces 2 words.

Which is odd as 'rue yang' was among the first words I learned.

[bob smith]

1 minute ago, ozimoron said:

Basically all of them. I don't get girls tell me "I know too much".

if i had a pound for everytime ive heard that phrase.. 

 

ive had girls actually get up out of their seats and move tables once they know i can speak thai,

 

the mercenary types, tattooed backs etc..

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Fair enough, however cheap housing and food i tend to agree, but cheap women? used to be 20 or so years ago,

not so much now though...

That is a relative topic. You can still get with a fine young woman here for $60. In the US it ranges from $200 to $800. With alot of attitude and likely not so fine and young. 

 

Thailand may no longer be cheap, but it is still quite reasonable. 

[Neeranam]

I'd say it's more annoying for Thais when foreigners speak bad Thai as they really can't be understood.

When you learn to speak clear Thai, they like it, mostly.

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, bob smith said:

if i had a pound for everytime ive heard that phrase.. 

 

ive had girls actually get up out of their seats and move tables once they know i can speak thai,

 

the mercenary types, tattooed backs etc..

I was once singing along to a Thai karaoke song, the girl with me said "you just learned the song, you aren't reading the words'

So I told her to pick a song, and I read the words, she said 'F$#k' got up and moved away.

Her mistake was thinking I could understand what I could read!

[Neeranam]

I once heard a foreigner speaking with a Heart specialist in Bamrungrad. He was speaking English but using the word 'leuad'(blood) but not pronounced properly. Silly.

[roo860]

55 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You won't be learning central Thai in that small town or village, cos the locals aren't speaking it.

If you watch the Thai news, rural people speaking are subtitled in central Thai.

When my mother in law was alive my daughter couldn't understand her grandmother who lived in Utteradit. 

[Neeranam]

Annoys me when I hear foreigners say 'tabian baan' instead of housebook.

[Neeranam]

9 minutes ago, bob smith said:

if i had a pound for everytime ive heard that phrase.. 

 

ive had girls actually get up out of their seats and move tables once they know i can speak thai,

 

the mercenary types, tattooed backs etc..

You wouldn't want to know that type.

[Andre0720]

42 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

 

It's good to hear Thais tell you that you speak "chut" (clearly).

It is clearly pronounced 'chat'.

[ozimoron]

Just now, Andre0720 said:

It is clearly pronounced 'chat'.

 

Only if you pronounce land like lund. I'm Australian, take that into consideration. It vowel is the short u sound.

Edited December 22, 2023 by ozimoron

[Neeranam]

I get negativity when I tell Thais I am Thai, especially from Chinese ones.

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, Andre0720 said:

It is clearly pronounced 'chat'.

chud

 

Actually, it's stupid as there is no correct transliteration.

Once, doing a course to be a teacher, we learned the phonetic alphabet and tried to spell 'farm' 4 of us were correct but had different spellings.

I say farim, the south English guy , faam, the Welsh guy something else and the Geordi something else.

 

Learn to write Thai.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Neeranam

[Bill97]

1 hour ago, bob smith said:

just listening to mrs. smith and her friends yap on endlessly is enough to send anoyone to sleep!

You think reading you yapping on endlessly here is really any better?

[Andre0720]

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

chud

No.

Tchat or chat.

No U in there...

How To Speak Thai

You'll know you're well on the way to getting it right if you start being told that you poot tai chat (speak Thai clearly) rather than simply geng (well).

 

And also: speak clearly

พูดอย่างชัดเจน

Phūd xỳāng chạdcen

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, Andre0720 said:

No.

Tchat or chat.

No U in there...

How To Speak Thai

You'll know you're well on the way to getting it right if you start being told that you poot tai chat (speak Thai clearly) rather than simply geng (well).

 

And also: speak clearly

พูดอย่างชัดเจน

Phūd xỳāng chạdcen

Actually it was when they started saying  'khlong' that I knew I had mastered it.

[bob smith]

12 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

You think reading you yapping on endlessly here is really any better?

I dont know..

 

why dont you tell me?

 

you are a serial reader of my posts after all, Bill...

Edited December 22, 2023 by bob smith

[Neeranam]

11 minutes ago, Andre0720 said:

And also: speak clearly

พูดอย่างชัดเจน

Phūd xỳāng chạdcen

That does not mean to speak clearly in the context we are talking about.. 

 

[Andre0720]

7 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Actually it was when they started saying  'khlong' that I knew I had mastered it.

Perhaps you are referring to:

'Khohm chat'.

Very clearly.

[FritsSikkink]

40 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

 

Basically all of them. I don't get girls tell me "I know too much".

You have used all hookers here?

[Neeranam]

4 minutes ago, Andre0720 said:

Perhaps you are referring to:

'Khohm chat'.

Very clearly.

No idea what you are trying to say here.

Speak very clearly is 'pood chud maak'.

 

I mean 'pood khlong' to speak fluently.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Neeranam

[stoner]

40 minutes ago, bob smith said:

if i had a pound for everytime ive heard that phrase.. 

 

ive had girls actually get up out of their seats and move tables once they know i can speak thai,

 

the mercenary types, tattooed backs etc..

 

flat shoes too. none of that young girl high heel garbage. 

[bob smith]

Just now, stoner said:

 

flat shoes too. none of that young girl high heel garbage. 

I love a girl in heels. 

[TravelerEastWest]

2 hours ago, bob smith said:

im thinking about taking a Thai course in the new year to perfect my speaking and possibly reading.

 

These days I dont like to show off that I can speak thai,

especially in tourist ghettos as I have had many thais tell me in the past that foreigners who can speak thai are no good.

 

Has anyone else ever experienced this sort of negativity?

 

these days I am very cautious about using thai in front of thais,

many of them dont like the fact that a foreigner can speak their lingo.

 

bob.

I assume that you are joking as in around 20 years in Thailand not once has my attempts to speak Thai met with a bad response.

 

The only problem is that they may then speak to fast to me...

[TICINO]

The only thing that interests me is asking in Thai "how much does it cost" and generally everything goes well,

[CharlieH]

Some Thais dont like it because they can no longer talk about you in front of you.