19 hours ago, DaddyWarbucks said:

If you can't - or won't - assimilate in a few basic ways, then bag-out... the sooner the better.

Not speaking the language is a sensory impairment akin to being deaf and dumb. You don't know what's going on around you.

Living long-term in the expat bubble results in the kind of chronic irritation that is on full display in the forums day after day.

Constant complaining and the nasty denigration of Thais become a familiar refrain.

It isn't confined to Thailand alone.

Wherever large numbers of people go for a "better life" is where you can see this disillusioned bitterness show itself among them.

 

Good points that would be hard to contradict.

My own experience with them has been that the majority of expats here seem rather more intelligent than the average Faranglander.

One of the earlier posts on this thread described the disinclination to learn Thai as "willful ignorance."

I think that nails it.

 

On 1/27/2025 at 2:24 PM, simon43 said:

Yes, most expats are non-immigrants, but they maybe stay here for 5, 10, 20 years or more, renewing their non-immigrant visa each year 🙂

 

I think once you're on your 5th annual renewal, you should be required to take a spoken Thai language test.  That shouldn't be too difficult now, should it?

And on maybe on your 5th annual renewal you should get more benefits for passing a spoken Thai language test...like do bi-annual renewals and not annual, na

On 1/26/2025 at 10:41 PM, Presnock said:

...  I also find myself occasionally filling in a word of the same meaning as the Thai word, ...

Same thing happened to me on a vacation trip to Mexico. When my high school Spanish failed, a Thai word or two would pop right in there.  I got some puzzled looks ...

1 minute ago, Damrongsak said:

Same thing happened to me on a vacation trip to Mexico. When my high school Spanish failed, a Thai word or two would pop right in there.  I got some puzzled looks ...

I woke up a couple of nights ago speaking Thai in my sleep my misses didn't even have a clue what I was going on about, that's how good at Thai I am!

Well, i have been here for 15 years and my Thai is abysmal. But i have my excuses.

 

1. A hearing problem. Not the volume, just a very narrow range of pitch. It makes a Tonal language like Thai a struggle. On the phone, even English words are misheard to often.

 

2. Also maybe slightly dyslexic. Dyslexia was not really recognised when i was young. I can read English OK but writing was always a bit harder. Do not start me on Thai characters!

 

3. Not for want of trying. I have, at various times, tried to learn French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Slovak, Cantonese, Arabic and a couple of West African languages as well as Thai. After a month i hit a wall, know a few words but mainly, they just do not 'stick'.

 

4. In Thailand, rarely had any problems. in shops and Offices, between my Thai, their English, a phone translation app and my wife, get a result. Thais all learn some English at school, just most do not care about it and never try to learn it properly. Thai casual conversations? For me, forget it.

 

Am i stupid? No, i have 2 science degrees and can do basic maths in my head (something my wife couldn't understand). Music, languages not easy.