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Posted

I'm certain they don't do mental arithmetic or times table, even at my ripe old age Im still pretty good I can work it out faster in my head than they can with a calculator, we have a local mom and pop shop in the soi and she is useless she just cannot add up, 

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Posted
  On 12/13/2024 at 10:01 PM, spidermike007 said:

When I was in school, I remember being encouraged to use tricks and shortcuts (drop two zeros, add them at the end) and that made a huge difference for basic math. I taught my woman how to do that for currency conversion and she was shocked at how easy it was. She told me that kind of thing was not only not taught, but it was discouraged in school. 

 

Very dull and conventional teachers is perhaps one of the issues here. 

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Not at the school my niece went to... like most things, it's individual. 

Posted

Many shops keep running out of 5 + 1 baht coins.. wonder why

 

You go buy something for 62 baht, give the cashier 102 baht = calculator = they leave the 2 baht on the counter and give you 38 baht change

 

They don't appear to notice that the 8 baht they just put on the counter + the 2 baht left on counter = 10 baht

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Posted
  On 12/13/2024 at 5:21 AM, marin said:

Its not just Thai's it is a generational thing. Back home in California last summer a lot of times the sellers had to use a calculator on something that is just wired into boomers heads. 

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You are right. My mother was born in 1920 and died in 2004. When she went to a supermarket, she calculated the cost of items faster than the cashier and she had the exact amount of money in her hand when the cashier told her the total. It was normal with people of her generation. And she complained about younger people's failure to do the same.

Posted

While there must be some good maths teachers here, the education level in some schools is severely lacking. Our twelve year old has had extra curricular maths lessons since she was six. Below is an example of what she is currently learning:

 

 

IMG_6277.jpg

Posted

As many have said, it is not only Thais, but they do seem to be more common in the 'lack of arithmetic' skills.

My Thai manager- lovely girl, intelligent but uneducated. (Left school at 14 - pregnant.)

We have to calculate electricity charges for guests. Simple maths.

Subtract meter reading one from meter reading two and multiply by unit cost.

 

12470 - 12119 =  351 x 10 = ???    and my manager went for the calculator.

I showed her how to add a zero.

 

When we do the calculation for customers, 95% foreigners, I have usually worked out the answer before they have found the calculator buttons on their phones.

They look at me in disbelief when they have found that my answer is correct.

 

It is most certainly a generational thing.

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Posted
  On 12/13/2024 at 5:35 AM, Negita43 said:

Alternate basic arithmatic for some

When charging 2+2 = 5

When giving change 2+2 = 3

😄

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exact opposite of my experience of over 25 years around thailand.  I have found over and over at 7/11 etc when they make a mistake it is nearly always they give me too much change...and then when i point it out they seem confused as they don't know what to do or how to adust it on computer etc

 

....overcharge i am sure happens in some bars and a few places but as said not my experience.

Posted
  On 12/14/2024 at 12:27 AM, ChipButty said:

I'm certain they don't do mental arithmetic or times table, even at my ripe old age Im still pretty good I can work it out faster in my head than they can with a calculator, we have a local mom and pop shop in the soi and she is useless she just cannot add up, 

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The owner of a usa company where I worked had an accounting degree from USA university.  We would often be in meetings where something math related would come up...he would always punch it into a calculator but i could normally figure it out as it was simple math in my head and give him the answer...he always seemed amazed and asked me how i did it?  an ACCOUNTING major....i used to think WOW are you kidding me?  And he went to school back when we all had to learn add subtract multipy divide without using a computer. 

 

Today i sort of get it that they seem to think why should i learn all that stuff when i can just let siri give me the answer.  Sad i think as i sort of enjoyed figuring suff out in my head.  Are computers making people more aware/smarter or dumber?

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Posted
  On 12/14/2024 at 2:44 AM, pomchop said:

Today i sort of get it that they seem to think why should i learn all that stuff when i can just let siri give me the answer.  Sad i think as i sort of enjoyed figuring suff out in my head.  Are computers making people more aware/smarter or dumber?

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Totally agree. Mental arithmetic was my favourite subject at school.

And as you say, figuring stuff out in my head is fun, a challenge, and hopefully helps to slow down the dementia.

I do a lot of work on spreadsheets, and as my spreadsheet skills are only average, I check that I have done them correct by totalling in my head.

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Posted
  On 12/13/2024 at 5:12 AM, Lacessit said:

Today, I paid my green fees at a golf course. The cost was 350 baht for 9 holes.

 

I gave the manager a 1000 baht note, and a 50 baht note. He looked confused, and tried to give me the 50 baht note back

 

He was using a calculator. He has said before he has a university degree.

 

It's not the first time I have encountered this. Some staff in 7/11 get it, some do not.

 

Is it the education system?

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I have done the big note + small note cash payment method dozens of times in Big C, Makro, 7-eleven, car wash, the local market... many, many places. Despite this being a largely western habit, I have never yet had a confused cashier, or the handing back of the small note or any misunderstanding what I am trying to achieve by doing this.

 

Therefore, based on the OP's recent experience at the gold club, I somehow feel that I have been cheated out of a life-enriching, Thai monetary transactional experience.

 

Who should I complain to?

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Posted

According to western European standards:

- not being able to understand the language of the majority of the people around you.

- being alcoholic

- being sexist

- being racist

- being in relationship with prostitutes or low educated women you rent

- not being able to have a point of view based on facts but just details

- arguing like retards on forums

- trusting and manipulating groups (gurus, politicians, hate spreaders...)

These and many more symptoms are showing TOTAL EDUCATIONAL FAILURE from school, family, society...

 

The educational system here is not a failure, it's a choice for reasons that anybody not seen as a failure in his own country can understand.

Only those of us who can speak thai can have a point of view on how locals think or speak (it can get surrealist very often).

Spending some time inside local schools to observe how things work is very easy to do for anybody "white" and can also help to understand the situation.

Not being able to count, to plan tomorrow or... to believe in magical crap or low level scams like those you see in many western documentaries where very young women say they go to pattaya to "help their old parents" (who are 35) or not reacting to the hilarious crap you all laugh about in the news is obviously the "positive" consequences of choices...

Nothing secret or hidden, the thai government has no problem publishing information about the level of english going down for example.

Just pay a bunch of  real teachers and app developers and in 2 months you will have the whole country playing a game that will make them fluent in English within 3 years... Put up a similar game pushing people to think by themselves and...

Everything would change at every levels. It would be that easy.

Filipina teachers here had obviously more choices than the local  poor women with similar rural background and their level of education is just a little better but already made a huge difference.

Very poor mathematics is only 1 symptom.

 

image.jpeg.a1c65c67e7579fc2fd57ea87b3f23faf.jpeg

Posted
  On 12/13/2024 at 12:52 PM, sidjameson said:

I've heard there are foreigners in Thailand who after many years can't speak Thai either!!!! 

 

Was there no second language learning in their education system?

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 If it wasn't for tones I would have been proficient in Thai language years ago. Second language?? If Thai was like a normal language, ie French, Spanish, German etc, etc, most farangs living in Thailand would probably be half decent at the language.

Posted
  On 12/14/2024 at 4:00 AM, NoshowJones said:

 If it wasn't for tones I would have been proficient in Thai language years ago. Second language?? If Thai was like a normal language, ie French, Spanish, German etc, etc, most farangs living in Thailand would probably be half decent at the language.

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EXCUSES ARE MADE TO BE USED...

I am tone deaf like most european people, it's not a problem at all to learn thai language, speak, understand and be understood in most situations. (sadly some people like some doctors are not often able to understand the need to adapt to a non native but in such case i use pedagogy and everything goes well).

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Posted
  On 12/13/2024 at 11:56 PM, Victor Laszlo said:

Perhaps make sure you have the correct amount next time, save all that rigmarole. 

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Thats an outstanding idea...  Carry around the change for every eventuality - standby gormlessly counting it out perfectly..   then watch as the cashier does exactly the same - You do this right ?... carry perfect amounts of change to cover any and multiple purchases ?

 

The Ops situation is very normal: He attempted to made things simpler, but made it more confusing for the cashier who may not have had the strongest of educations - They are of course fearful of making a mistake so have it drummed into them to 'double check' everything with a calculator. 

 

One of the reasons paying by promptpay is just simpler and quicker for me.

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Posted
  On 12/14/2024 at 4:07 AM, totsakan said:

EXCUSES ARE MADE TO BE USED...

I am tone deaf like most european people, it's not a problem at all to learn thai language, speak, understand and be understood in most situations. (sadly some people like some doctors are not often able to understand the need to adapt to a non native but in such case i use pedagogy and everything goes well).

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When I first came to live in Thailand I went on a Thai language course in Bangkok for a month, I was learning the language, but my big drawback was understanding Thai people talking to me, it put me right off.

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Posted
  On 12/14/2024 at 4:00 AM, NoshowJones said:

If it wasn't for tones I would have been proficient in Thai language years ago. Second language?? If Thai was like a normal language, ie French, Spanish, German etc, etc, most farangs living in Thailand would probably be half decent at the language.

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  On 12/14/2024 at 4:40 AM, NoshowJones said:

When I first came to live in Thailand I went on a Thai language course in Bangkok for a month, I was learning the language, but my big drawback was understanding Thai people talking to me, it put me right off.

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You have got to be kidding me. Or maybe you are joking. Pure silliness. 

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Posted

How much time do you suppose the average farang who lives in thailand full time or say six months a year spends in actually studying thai vocabulary or attempting to learn at least a few hundred words?  It never ceases to amaze me how many farangs have been here for decades and would have trouble with counting to a hundred or knowing a few basic phrases like ...i understand, i do not understand, do you understand?  Yes it is  tough language but a very basic knowledge is really not that hard to learn but you do have to actually study it at least a bit.  And i have found the Thais to be very kind in trying their best to understand my Thai as much as i may mangle the tones etc.  It is actually fun for me to joke with them a bit about it all.

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Posted
  On 12/13/2024 at 7:41 AM, phetphet said:

Thais having calculators handy seems to be one of those things, but it does seem to also show a lack of ability in Maths.

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Actually, they are very useful for communicating with and avoiding arguments w/ farang and other tourists.

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Posted
  On 12/14/2024 at 4:00 AM, NoshowJones said:

 If it wasn't for tones I would have been proficient in Thai language years ago. Second language?? If Thai was like a normal language, ie French, Spanish, German etc, etc, most farangs living in Thailand would probably be half decent at the language.

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Bear in mind all the Western languages are just as tough for Thais, because their language does not have combined consonants.

 

Another factor is the Thai alphabet, which is much more difficult to learn than the Greco-Roman.

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