Does it annoy you when a Thai person doesn't understand your spoken Thai?

[Sjoerd]

On 8/4/2024 at 4:41 AM, simon43 said:

 

 

The point being, I'm pretty sure that she didn't understand my spoken Thai was because her brain didn't expect a western foreigner to speak Thai. The hotel had many Swedish tourists and I'm sure the poor lady was trying to decipher my utterances as some form of English spoken with a thick Swedish accent!

 

My experience over the years is that some Thai people in some area's don't expect a foreigner to speak Thai language. Sometimes the spoken Thai is good but it just doesn't reach their brain quicly, sometimes after some seconds or a minute they understand it...

 

[Scouse123]

3 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Thais don't even understand one another. Just listen to any Thai-Thai conversation and you'll mostly hear "huh?...arai?...arai na?"...🤣

That's a fact.

[Gecko123]

1 hour ago, WDSmart said:

Yes! I've lived in Thailand for over 20 years, and most of that time has been far away from other Farangs and primarily with Thais.

What surprises me is that most Thais seem to understand everything I say, but some just can't. I'll say something over and over again, and then some other Thai will come and say the very same thing (as it sounds to me), and then, of course, they understand it. I know it sometimes has to do with pronunciations, but I think it's more often the accent and whether a word is spoken with a falling, steady, or rising tone. I try to be aware of that, but as I say above, sometimes for some Thais it just doesn't work.

 

excellent example of why a non-native speaker can claim with confidence that comprehension difficulties on the part of the listener do not always deserve to be attributed to poor pronunciation on the part of the speaker.

[Scouse123]

1 minute ago, Sjoerd said:

 

it's true, absolutely.

[BangkokReady]

5 hours ago, chuang said:

Did she not understand Thai or did you spoke un-understandable thai...

 

Neither. There's a weird things Thais can do where because they're not expecting to hear Thai from a non-Thai person, they literally cannot understand it.

[teeyai]

On 8/4/2024 at 3:50 AM, simon43 said:

Perhaps 'annoy' is a tad too strong, but it does give me an opportunity to demonstrate my warped sense of British humour by slowly saying "Do you speak Thai?".  Perhaps I can rub it in next time by slowly saying "Are you from Burma"?  🙂

Are You form Burma ! 😂 love it , Never thought of that one. What gets me is when They absolutely Refuse to talk in Thai Even Though Your Thai is Better than there English and in some instances You've been speaking it before they where even born. Many are Blown away by it but some seem to despise it.

[fittobethaied]

This is the very reason that I gave up on trying to learn Thai after my first year in Thailand. Every time I tried to speak Thai to a waitress, I got that "deer in the headlights" stare and then had to revert to hand gestures mixed with English to get my point across. I once tried to order breakfast one morning, and I asked for a cup of hot water in Thai. I'm quite sure that I pronounced it correctly, but in the end, she brought me a dinner salad. Any person with half a brain would know that even if I didn't pronounce it correctly, I certainly wasn't asking for a dinner salad; and simply by process of elimination she could have figured out what I wanted if she had taken the time to "think". It's so frustrating for me that it just isn't worth the trouble to learn Thai. Others say that knowing the language will go a long way in learning to assimilate into the local culture, and I can make some meaningful relationships. Well....guess what? The last thing that I want is a relationship with any Thai outside that of my wife. I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for the whole lot, so I finally figured out that my life is so much more peaceful now that I try to insulate myself from the locals. Now I'm happier than ever!!!

[jingjai9]

Do you have any clue why your Thai is troublesome for native speakers?
You cannot simply assume it is due to pronunciation errors. It could be syntax or grammatical errors.
Ask yourself this:
Can I say:

I learn a new word in Thai every day.

  I learned a new word yesterday.

   I am learning Thai every day.

I should have learned more Thai when I was younger.

 

Can I express events in the past, present or future fluently in Thai language?
Can I express conditional situations in Thai, for example: If it rains tomorrow, I will use an umbrella. 

 

Do I know common prepositions of location  

such as:           up     down    next to     above     over     in back of     in front of

 

I would think if you do not know 80% of this, even with good pronunciation you would have communication issues.

 

 

Edited August 5 by jingjai9

[cdemundo]

On 8/4/2024 at 11:05 AM, grain said:

If I'm alone I don't have any problem speaking Thai with them, we can chat away and cover many subjects, and they'll tell me what a wonderful Thai speaker I am, and I'm now a Thai, no longer a farang, but if my Thai wife is with me all of a sudden they haven't a fkn clue what I'm saying and have to bring her in as a translator. 

I have heard it said about any second language acquisition that native speakers only praise your proficiency if you are not proficient, in order to encourage you.

After a person becomes proficient they don't feel the need to praise you anymore.

 

Taxi drivers all praise my Thai so I know I speak badly.

[radiochaser]

6 hours ago, simon43 said:

lol, could be a loop antenna (project # 123). Nope, I build my shortwave antennas using cheap wire that is taped to 10 metre telescopic fibreglass poles.  I need to build a halfwave antenna for 20 metres and 10 metre band, because I've just moved to a new location on Lanta Island.  There are 5 of these poles in my car just waiting to be used 🙂

Do you operate sideband, morse, data?   
I have a Novice license from the U.S. of A. but I'm not active.  When I was on active duty with Army I worked HFDF locating transmitters.  I was trained to use radio morse for comms.    Had almost 10 years with National Guard and Reserve with about 8 years in signal platoons ..  

[radiochaser]

Years ago, I used to get strange looks from Thais in Bangkok when I spoke my limited Thai with them.   

 

Later in the U.S. of A.  a Thai woman told me that it was because I was speaking Bangkok Thai with an Issan accent.   Sort of confirmed by another Thai asking me where I learned Thai, also because she said I spoke it with an Issan accent. 

 

Speaking of accents.   I used to work in a government call center.   One day I worked a call from a young lady that was a political refugee from Vietnam.   Her English had both a Vietnamese and southern drawl accent.   It is the first time I can recall hearing two different accents at the same time. 

Edited August 5 by radiochaser

[radiochaser]

9 hours ago, DualSportBiker said:

Was just chatting with my the ex of a recently deceased friend. She has lived in the US for 20 years now and recently returned for the first time. She is Thai, but multiple Thais failed to understand her throughout her trip. She was asked if she was Thai, or "Where are you from?" consistently.  Asking someone if they are Thai is a legitimate question. There are plenty of non-Thai Asians in Thailand. I ask waitresses all the time because some Burmese staff speak reasonable English.

 

I have moments of real clarity with my Thai - everyone understands everything I say. I also have moments when I am tired, stressed, bored/non-committal when I can't understand the loose approximation of Thai that comes out of my mouth, let alone the poor sod I am talking to. When that happens I flip to English, or better still French, just to stir up my head and help myself refocus. It does not annoy me, but it can be frustrating. That frustration is more due to being tired, stressed or bored, not failing to make myself understood. There is always room for improvement. What I never do is get visibly frustrated and repeat the same phrase louder hoping that will help. I try a different tack and use completely different phrasing.

French might work in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with the older people.   

From my days in the Army during the Vietnam war and intercepting communications between the governments or militaries, they used French as the lingua franca between them. 

[mogandave]

What annoys me is some moron holding up the line trying to speak Thai the staff at 7/11 rather than just pointing at the microwave. 

[radiochaser]

4 minutes ago, mogandave said:

What annoys me is some moron holding up the line trying to speak Thai the staff at 7/11 rather than just pointing at the microwave. 

Watch it budd!   I never point at the microwave.  It's rude!  🤪

[thecyclist]

There are many  Thais, often the ones whose English is pretty shaky, who absolutely refuse to speak Thai with a farang. They pretend to not understand you  , and even if they in the end can't keep up the pretense anymore, will keep answering in English, often broken English. It's their way to stick it to you, and prove to themselves and the world that their English is better than your Thai will ever be.

Don't forget that many of them think that "farang ngo /farang kwaii". Farang 555.

Thai ideology, farang are stupid and comical creatures Thailand no one. 

[Bundooman]

On 8/4/2024 at 10:34 AM, simon43 said:

I'm sure that there are many foreigners who think that their Thai language abilities are better than they really are.  However, I'm pretty sure that my Thai is very good, as demonstrated by the 99.99% of Thais who have no problem to understand me immediately when I speak Thai 🙂

 

What is also clear is that you do not understand my very dry, very British SoH!

Quote: "I'm not talking about 'pidgin' Thai.  This is a question for those of us who can speak Thai to a high level".

Where is the British dry sense of humour in this sentence?

Pretentious, yes, humorous, no. 

 

[mogandave]

17 hours ago, thecyclist said:

There are many  Thais, often the ones whose English is pretty shaky, who absolutely refuse to speak Thai with a farang. They pretend to not understand you  , and even if they in the end can't keep up the pretense anymore, will keep answering in English, often broken English. It's their way to stick it to you, and prove to themselves and the world that their English is better than your Thai will ever be.

Don't forget that many of them think that "farang ngo /farang kwaii". Farang 555.

Thai ideology, farang are stupid and comical creatures Thailand no one. 

This has never happened to me. They all seem delighted at any attempt at speaking Thai. 

[Luuk Chaai]

having grown up in a melting pot..  NYC  I find it easy to pull words out of peoples mouths and fill in the blanks to understnd what they are trying to say ..

 In reverse ,  that is not a common trait here ...  here in our village, I can walk into most shops or food stalls and get what I want with my basic Thai ..   

there's a lot of flip flop with the  L & R pronunciation ..  I here them speaking with each other  and the "Roi becomes Loi" ( as an example )

but when they address me it becomes very  "Rrrrrroi" you can tell they are making a concerted effort to rise to the occasion .... I hit them back with the 

 "Loi" version,  and it kind of breaks the ice   on the same hand, if i go anywhere with my wife, I get the deer in the headlights reaction and they go right to her for the " WTF did he say ?

I go to my local favorite coffee shop. and the owners speak perfect english, it's usually one of the daughters and another young lady at the counter/register

The daughter knows what to expect and the other young lady will go full panic and try to give me the price in english..  I give her the blank stare and the daughter will tell her to speak Thai.   .  instant pressure release ..  I then repeat her price in Thai and then in English follwed by a "very good" to boost her confidence..    it's a cat and mouse game most times.     

We won't even go into the Issan speaking ..  thet's when I look at my wife and giver her the WTF did she just say ?

[simon43]

On 8/5/2024 at 5:14 PM, radiochaser said:

Do you operate sideband, morse, data?   
I have a Novice license from the U.S. of A. but I'm not active.  When I was on active duty with Army I worked HFDF locating transmitters.  I was trained to use radio morse for comms.    Had almost 10 years with National Guard and Reserve with about 8 years in signal platoons ..  

Mostly data and SSTV. There is an SSTV contest all this month 🙂  I have an Advanced level Thai radio ham licence, allowed to use 1 KW, but 100 watts is fine.

 

Re French, I used a lot of French in Laos last year, but mainly with the many French tourists who can't (refuse more likely!) to speak English...

[retarius]

Annoy no; frustrate yes. Part of the issue was when studying I was taught 'Bangkok Thai' with Scottish 'rs'. Where I live hardly anyone speaks like this. Over the years my comprehension has gotten much better, such that my wife will often leave the room to take a phone call after a Quick Look at who is calling. But the only people who understand me are the family. A waste of money for the language lessons. Learning a new language at 54 was a challenge. 

[Gottfrid]

On 8/4/2024 at 9:50 AM, simon43 said:

Perhaps 'annoy' is a tad too strong, but it does give me an opportunity to demonstrate my warped sense of British humour by slowly saying "Do you speak Thai?".  Perhaps I can rub it in next time by slowly saying "Are you from Burma"?  🙂

I think that you maybe should show some respect, as Thailand have many dialects which makes it even a little bit hard for themselves to understand it all. Also, some people do not speak very clear, which many times have a connection with no schooling or very bad quality schooling. Your British humour, will only work for you, as they will see it as an insult at best which is bad behavior from you. I suggest that you tone it down and use English if Thai does not work for you, as that seemed to work fine.

As a side note, I also speak, read and write Thai fluently. Personally, I never had a problem you are describing.

[Expat68]

2 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

I think that you maybe should show some respect, as Thailand have many dialects which makes it even a little bit hard for themselves to understand it all. Also, some people do not speak very clear, which many times have a connection with no schooling or very bad quality schooling. Your British humour, will only work for you, as they will see it as an insult at best which is bad behavior from you. I suggest that you tone it down and use English if Thai does not work for you, as that seemed to work fine.

As a side note, I also speak, read and write Thai fluently. Personally, I never had a problem you are describing.

Many years ago, my wife and I visited Bangkok, she was talking to a Thai lady for a few minutes, after she had gone I asked what they were talking about, her reply was I couldn't understand what she was saying. The reason being it had been many years since she had visited Bangkok, staying NE Issaan was a different dialect

[n00dle]

depends on the context. 

What pisses me off most is being ignored or misunderstood when ordering food i have successful ordered and eaten hundreds and hundreds of times.

it usually happens in highly toursited areas outside Bangkok. The staff make no effort to listen

[ColeBOzbourne]

6 hours ago, retarius said:

A waste of money for the language lessons. Learning a new language at 54 was a challenge. 

On the other hand, it was great exercise for your brain. Maybe you pushed dementia back a few years.

[simon43]

13 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

I think that you maybe should show some respect, as Thailand have many dialects which makes it even a little bit hard for themselves to understand it all. Also, some people do not speak very clear, which many times have a connection with no schooling or very bad quality schooling. Your British humour, will only work for you, as they will see it as an insult at best which is bad behavior from you. I suggest that you tone it down and use English if Thai does not work for you, as that seemed to work fine.

As a side note, I also speak, read and write Thai fluently. Personally, I never had a problem you are describing.

Haha, you are so funny!  Are you from Germany by any chance?

[Upnotover]

10 hours ago, n00dle said:

it usually happens in highly toursited areas outside Bangkok. The staff make no effort to listen

In no way do I speak Thai proficiently.  However I make an effort.  But this has caused me to have to change my chosen brand of cigarettes as I am apparently incapable of saying the word Yellow *เหลือง".  I can tell them "buhri", no problem, I can tell them "Ca-Mel", no problem but the last part defeats me 90% of the time.  Of course I could just say "yellow" and probably that would work but would spoil the fun. I now smoke Marlboro.

[Gottfrid]

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

Haha, you are so funny!  Are you from Germany by any chance?

And again, a question of me being German??? Really? Do I have to start a thread and ask the mods to pin it to the top? I have stated I am Swedish several times.

Now, just tell me what was so fun?

[Bday Prang]

On 8/4/2024 at 4:40 AM, mfd101 said:

once I've finished improving my Cherman

You've bought a tank?   nice one

[Bday Prang]

11 hours ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

On the other hand, it was great exercise for your brain. Maybe you pushed dementia back a few years.

Nah, it was a brave attempt but  the dementia  was too far advanced for that 

[watthong]

On 8/5/2024 at 7:48 AM, BKKBike09 said:

 

Shades of “Quand je regarde mon derrière, je vois qu'il est divisé en deux parties égales”, perhaps?

 

ca de'pend de quel cote' (wih some squigly underneath the first "c" and a hat for the last "o".)

Edited August 7 by watthong