Thai Language Skills

[GuestHouse]

I'm fluent in Thai, I studied the language at a Thai university for two years and made quite an effort to learn the language at every oportunity I have had.

I have met very few foreigners who speak good Thai, hence the survey.

[Tornado]

Im not as good as I once thought, although I have enough behind me to live here and converse ok. I should go to school, but am to ###### hypo to sit in a class or study from home.

Pom Phut Thai Tamada, mai chaat, mai keng - poddy poddy!

[thaiflyer1]

My spoken/written are average to good.........but strangely enough reading Thai i/m fluent

[Insight]

Voted "I speak pretty good Thai but not good enough to use the phone to talk to strangers".

I can read (and write, I guess) Thai, but I don't understand what I'm reading - vocab far too small...

[simon43]

I'm still learning! (2 hours every day...) My spoken Thai is 'conversational'. My written/reading Thai is coming on leaps and bounds (but still give me a few years before I can claim to be halfway decent!)

[samran]

I am wary of using "fluent". I didn't grow up here, and will never consider myself fluent.

[Narachon]

I voted "I speak enough to get by "....... ได้นิดหน่อย,แต่ไม่เก่ง!

I can read and write better than I can speak. I've been studying Thai on and off on my own for five years now, two years before I actually set foot in Thailand.

During the brief times while I was there, I tried to speak to Thais, but they just could not understand me, so I gave up and used English. . I was told by my friend that It is ok to use English if one is only in Thailand for a week or two, but any longer than that, it is advisable to learn Thai!

Only this year have I actually seriously started to take Thai language classes. I'm sure if I lived in Thailand, my language ability would much better by now.

There really aren't that many Thais here in NYC, except in the Thai resturants ( and I try to use my Thai there...sometimes they understand me, sometime they don't understand me, either because my tones are way off, or they are non Thai speaking Thai Americans... )

Thai Homework is a pain though...

[astral]

In my family we speak Thai, and I get picked up on my tonal pronunciation.

I will talk on the phone, but a lot depends on how helpful I want to be.

If I am the customer paying the bill, I will speak English and make them do the work.

Very few come up to standard.

So I relent and speak Thai just to get the job done.

Edited July 27, 2004 by astral