His Majesty The King Wants Thai Language To Be Promoted

[thaigene2]

thaigene2

no one is too late to see whats going on

my previous post was merely a sarcastic attempt to indirectly speak on this subject which affords itself so much stigma, it was an attempt to highlight the farcical propaganda being pursued by certain elements of thai society.

if you know anything of sales techniques, then surely you will know how to plant seeds into people's minds by using words on multiple occasions, as was the case in the use of sufficient and sufficiency being spoken of 8 times in 3 paragraphs.

Hampstead - my post that followed yours was coincidental - not a 'reply' to yours. Actually, I agree with most of what you said. TG2 (But hey for the record, why doesn't Hampstead have a decent bloody tube line for such a rich area..hmm? Could never figure that out..But That's London in a nutshell I guess..)

[Hampstead]

thaigene2

no one is too late to see whats going on

my previous post was merely a sarcastic attempt to indirectly speak on this subject which affords itself so much stigma, it was an attempt to highlight the farcical propaganda being pursued by certain elements of thai society.

if you know anything of sales techniques, then surely you will know how to plant seeds into people's minds by using words on multiple occasions, as was the case in the use of sufficient and sufficiency being spoken of 8 times in 3 paragraphs.

Hampstead - my post that followed yours was coincidental - not a 'reply' to yours. Actually, I agree with most of what you said. TG2 (But hey for the record, why doesn't Hampstead have a decent bloody tube line for such a rich area..hmm? Could never figure that out..But That's London in a nutshell I guess..)

my mistake, i read your post in the wrong way

theres a few stations in the area, kilburn and west hampstead, but still hampstead trys to keep a village atmosphere

[marshbags]

I note that the last goverment were guilty big time of failing to use their own language when writting up official contracts

ect. and for some reason did everything in English. ????????

This would be have been a good start to set an example and demonstrate who they are and more to the point, who the represent.............................THAILAND and it,s citizens

Yet another wise observation from the King, if i,m allowed to say it.

marshbags

Edited September 2, 2007 by marshbags

[dominique355]

it's impossible that people will forget how to speak their own language!!

no matter how long you've been away from home.

i beleive you will not forget your mother tongue.

ok, sometimes you can't think quick enough in your language but..

to say you forget how to speak..its very unlikely

It is possible. I grew up speaking German, but at the age of 11 I moved to the French speaking part of my country and went to a local school until the age of 19. I spoke 100% French and German only in German classes, from which I was mostly dispensed. I lived in a boarding school, so no contact with the family.

I actually forgot German and when I returned to the German speaking part of my country I struggled crafting a half way intelligible sentence. It took me about 6 months to be fluent in German again.

/Edit: Link to off-topic material deleted.

Edited September 2, 2007 by Maestro

[Tony Clifton]

I note that the last goverment were guilty big time of failing to use their own language when writting up official contracts

ect. and for some reason did everything in English. ????????

This would be have been a good start to set an example and demonstrate who they are and more to the point, who the represent.............................THAILAND and it,s citizens

Yet another wise observation from the King, if i,m allowed to say it.

marshbags

There were also very few recordings of most meetings from that same government be it in Thai or English.

[asiaexpat]

My wife left Thailand over thirty years ago to follow me arund the world. She uses Engilsh as a common language regardless the country we reside in and when we are in Thailand, she finds communcation a bit hard. Her family gets frustrated because she has forgotten, or is slow to remember, Thai. Now that we are about to return to Thailand for good, we wish we would have used Thai more often. Forget your native language? You sure can loose proficiency.

[321niti123]

I think the concern is because thai's are forgeting how to speak thai, but thais in thailand especially bangkok are starting to mix in english with their thai, and some words in the thai language are already being forgotted and english words are used instead. An excelent example is the air-conditioner which thais called

"Air" but the proper thai word is "Krueang prap akart" [literal meaning: machine change/condition air]

[dumball]

I do not doubt people can practicaly lose their native language skills in a different country , I learned to read , write and converse in German in Germany so well I was asked at one time by a german what was a German doing in the British army . Some 15 years later I was working in a factory in Canada as a machine attendant with various nationalities as operators , a lady on one of my machines was German , I made a joke with her in German I had remembered , she told me she was sorry but did not comprehend what I had said . After some conversation she told me she was a little ashamed when relatives came to visit as she could barely hold a conversation with them even in the simplest form . All of her friends were Canadian whilst I had a german friend with whom I had kept German limping along , here we are some 50 years later and I guess you could say my German has become very minimal .

[Scott]

This must be dig up old threads week.

[allexx]

From "yee sip" to "yip" :

"Yip baaaaht"

"20 baht?"

"Heuuu!"

That usage has been around for a very long time and may be regional. Heard it used regularly by all ages when I was here over 35 years ago in the Sattihip/Rayong area. Also expanding it, the term 'yip et' meaning 21, etc. So not really a new change in language usage.

Widely practiced in the upper and middle south and, AFAIK, considered Southern dialect.

I'v practiced that since mid 80th,nothing new, southern dialect?? Nah...think not.

[bkkbound04]

lol i had to rattle my brain for a minute there to remeber some thai phrases with the yee sip lol but the nung, song rhoy bits etc are still floating about lol, they just take longer to find, i had an ok level of thai linguistics when i was last over but i can see that if/when i return to thailand that it will take a wee while to get back to the level i was at, never mind adding to it lol i'll be foe-dee-foe-dee-foe-dee- fining it for a while

[animatic]

Use it or lose it, certainly applies to most things in life including languages.

I spent the better half of 10 years getting fluent enough in French, before moving away,

and now am glad I regularly meet French speakers, so I can still use it and not lose it.

Even a month of not reading English daily and my abilities can go down significantly.

One month in the woods, without any reading matter, in 1973 trippled my time needed

to read the newspaper, for at least another month or more after.

Since then I read daily without fail.

But weirdly my Thai and later learned French

are mixing themselves up in my 'foreign language' brain section...

I start talking in one and the other comes out instead... rather un-nerving.

Edited October 16, 2009 by animatic

[tominbkk]

From "yee sip" to "yip" :

"Yip baaaaht"

"20 baht?"

"Heuuu!"

I heard my students and others using 'yip' up to 15 years ago......I use it with shopkeepers and such, but leave it that.

[ronz28]

My Thai wife has lived with me in the USA for the last 40 years and has no problem speaking Thai. Our daughters tried to learn Thai here but it never took and they now just speak English. There are plenty of resources on the internet in the USA now to keep up with the Thai language such as this excellent website:

http://www.thaichicagoland.com/2009/09/api...n-new-york.html

However, I think its best to live in Thailand awhile to become fluent in Thai and then I think you won’t forget it. A learning Thai language Visa might be a good thing.

[Meridian007]

I don't think this is meant to be a slap in the face to those who are living on 500 baht/month, nor is it even directed at them. It's meant to be a wake-up to those who make 500,000 baht/month, to remind them that Thailand is supposed to be "caring and sharing". These big boys need to learn to live in a sufficient manner, and spread out the extra to the rest of Thailand. I think that is what he was trying to imply.

---------------------------------

Animatic: The same thing happened to me! I grew up learning English and French (Canada is supposed to be bilingual), and I actually was bilingual 15 years ago when I was living in Ottawa, but I haven't used my French since then. Since I've been learning Thai, my French has become thai-ified in that half the sentence is in French, half in Thai! When I was in Paris last year it was embarrassing to realise that I couldn't be understood anymore.

Maybe there is some lingual connection between French and Thai? Or it shows that language learning pushes out one language when learning another? (at least for those of us that aren't linguaphiles! )

[sbk]

Posts and their responses have been deleted.

This must also be the "oh I failed to recall one of the most important rules of this forum" thread as well. Any further posts in contravention of this rulewill result in immediate suspension. I do hope this is quite clear.

2) Not to express disrespect of the King of Thailand or anyone else in the Thai royal family, whether living or deceased, nor to criticize the monarchy as an institution. Speculation, comments and discussion of either a political or personal nature are not allowed when discussing HM The King or the Royal family. Discussion of the lese majeste law or lese majeste cases is permitted on the forum, providing no comment or speculation is made referencing the royal family. To breach this rule will result in immediate ban.

[steveromagnino]

From "yee sip" to "yip" :

"Yip baaaaht"

"20 baht?"

"Heuuu!"

I heard my students and others using 'yip' up to 15 years ago......I use it with shopkeepers and such, but leave it that.

also now getting abbreviated further...commonplace to hear sorng roi yee

which is or course 220b so shorter than sorng roi yee sip baht

[sbk]

sounds like everyone is turning southern, steveromagnino. Southerners have been using roi yee and yip as long as I have lived here.,

[cloudhopper]

Well I'm heartened to see that it took HM so long to learn to read Thai because I'm finding it insanely difficult too. 32 vowels before, after, above, below, surrounding the consonant, or quite frequently omitted altogether. All those little swirls; now I understand why it takes my wife (who at first vehemently denied that anyone ever said yip, despite having a uni degree in communications) so long to read a road sign as we rumble past. A cute puzzle to work out if you live here but it's never going to get any international traction.

[gonzobrains]

dude, even English-speaking people say "air" or "A/C".  You go around everywhere asking people to adjust their "air conditioning unit"?  Didn't think so.

Jeff

I think the concern is because thai's are forgeting how to speak thai, but thais in thailand especially bangkok are starting to mix in english with their thai, and some words in the thai language are already being forgotted and english words are used instead. An excelent example is the air-conditioner which thais called

"Air" but the proper thai word is "Krueang prap akart" [literal meaning: machine change/condition air]

[gonzobrains]

My reading skills have never suffered from a one month hiatus, but I must say I have mixed up my foreign languages a few times!  They must be all stored in the same section in my brain.

To make matters worse, I have a Thai friend with family in Germany.  So she speaks German more than my native English.  So we end up speaking a blend of English, German, and Thai which is absolutely horrible.  Helps me remember my  German though.  But as if learning Thai weren't enough!

Jeff

Use it or lose it, certainly applies to most things in life including languages.

I spent the better half of 10 years getting fluent enough in French, before moving away,

and now am glad I regularly meet French speakers, so I can still use it and not lose it.

Even a month of not reading English daily and my abilities can go down significantly.

One month in the woods, without any reading matter, in 1973 trippled my time needed

to read the newspaper, for at least another month or more after.

Since then I read daily without fail.

But weirdly my Thai and later learned French

are mixing themselves up in my 'foreign language' brain section...

I start talking in one and the other comes out instead... rather un-nerving.

[gonzobrains]

Have you ever lived off 500 baht a month?  Have you ever lived off 500,000 baht/month?  It's easy to criticize but until you've actually lived that life yourself...

I don't think this is meant to be a slap in the face to those who are living on 500 baht/month, nor is it even directed at them. It's meant to be a wake-up to those who make 500,000 baht/month, to remind them that Thailand is supposed to be "caring and sharing". These big boys need to learn to live in a sufficient manner, and spread out the extra to the rest of Thailand. I think that is what he was trying to imply.

---------------------------------

Animatic: The same thing happened to me! I grew up learning English and French (Canada is supposed to be bilingual), and I actually was bilingual 15 years ago when I was living in Ottawa, but I haven't used my French since then. Since I've been learning Thai, my French has become thai-ified in that half the sentence is in French, half in Thai! When I was in Paris last year it was embarrassing to realise that I couldn't be understood anymore.

Maybe there is some lingual connection between French and Thai? Or it shows that language learning pushes out one language when learning another? (at least for those of us that aren't linguaphiles! )

[kriswillems]

Remarking on how people should live a happy life on the occasion of his 80th birthday this year, the King said the key to their happiness is sufficiency. "Suffici-ency is happiness. When you feel sufficient, you feel happy. When you do not feel you have enough, you can't be happy. But sometimes sufficiency for different people is differently defined."

If you have not enough to pay for the healthcare of your family and the education of your children, like many people in Thailand, talking about sufficiency economy is not going to help.

The real problem is the huge difference between rich and poor.

I think the whole idea of the sufficiency economy is only useful for those that have more than sufficient.

[tomloughney]

I have helped Thais with Thai words that they do not know. Much of the problem is the poor education where they just don't have enough vocabulary out side of the Village. I know many Thais that know the English word but not the Thai word because they only use that word or subject with Falangs in English, their friends just don't talk about the subject.

Another problem is that ALL Thais can speak and read Thai. Well so can I however..... just like many Thais, I don't understand what I read. I can make all the tones and sounds but I don't have the vocabulary or background info. This is real problem in trying to read a newspaper (same in any other language/country) where I don't have enough background/understanding to "get" the slang of the paper.

Sequential information is also a problem for Thais (I have done some process control in Thai companies and have been horrified and the lack of understanding/concern for A to B to C therefore D) they tend to be Right Brain dominant and are creative, fun, interesting but if the building materials for the Roof arrive before the Foundation they will attempt to assemble the roof first. So reading/speaking in a sequential fashion will lose most Thais quickly, it is like they all have ADD.

I also lose many western people when I talk also...

This is not bad, it just is.....