What Language Do You Speak?

[jaideeguy]

Not sure exactly how to set up a proper poll, so if a mod wanted to restructure this post into a proper poll, then feel free to do so.

But, i'm just wondering what the norm is among us here in a relationship with a thai woman [or thai man] regarding language.

My experience is that we speak 90% english.....before i met her, i used to speak 'survival thai' but since she speaks english, it is our primary language and i've now forgotten what little thai that i once knew. she admits that she likes it that way as it makes me more dependant on her and it keeps me on a short leash.

other's experiences please post....

Edited November 9, 2007 by Tywais

[hiromj]

My wife is Japanese. Although I can speak conversational Japanese, we only speak English at home as it seems to be the only English my son get exposed to.

[garro]

Now that my son is born I speak English in to him and Thai to my wife.

My wife now only speaks Thai when around him; although sometimes she forgets.

I have been told that this is the best way to help a child become bilingual.

Before my son was born we tended to mostly speak Thai.

When I am annoyed about something I only speak English.

[my friend I]

We live in the north of Thailand so naturally we speak issarn - the wife is Lao, the cook is Issarn

[britmaveric]

English and Thai.

[garro]

We live in the north of Thailand so naturally we speak issarn - the wife is Lao, the cook is Issarn

I wasn't aware that it was natural for people in the north of Thailand to speak issan?

[soundman]

50% Thai 50% English.

[tuky]

30% English, 30% Thai and 40% crap.

I am trying to get to the point of not speaking at all, that would be best IMHO.

[mattias33]

Now that my son is born I speak English in to him and Thai to my wife.

My wife now only speaks Thai when around him; although sometimes she forgets.

I have been told that this is the best way to help a child become bilingual.

Before my son was born we tended to mostly speak Thai.

When I am annoyed about something I only speak English.

I beleive your a right about the child thing, and this is where i have my consern with my child coming in a month. Im Swedich. My wife is Thai. We are both trying to learn our languages even though i speak more Thai than she speak Swedich. For natural reasons since we live in Thailand. Thing being that her Englich is not so good and we have "developed" some kind of language between ourselves where a normal sentence contains 2 englich words, 2 swedich words and 2 thaiwords. We kind of learned how to say to make the partner understand as quick as possible. Now here my consern:

Im going to speek only Swedich to my child, thats the only way "it" will learn Swedich. So Far so good

My wife is going to speak only thai to the child. Also very good.

I heard that a child with two languages being spoken to him/her automaticly learn both and also to generalize between the two languages.

The problem is when me and my wife starts to speak to eachother. I think that can confuse the child completely to put in a third language and might even make him/her afraid and unsecure in talking? So my conclusion is, my wife (as she already claims) learn swedich and i learn thai together with the child, we simply stop the englich for a while, at least in the house. Or (kind of my own idea) my wife and i dont speak to eachother, hahaha. At least not infront of the child. I dont know, i just dont want to confuse the kid. Anyone with a child in a similar situation care to comment. If your are englich or amerikan this problem dont come. But "3 language speaking" familys, i would be interessted in what you say.

Cheers.

[simon43]

I speak Thai and English with my wife, English with my 1.5 year old son and Thai with our hotel staff.

My wife speaks Thai and English with me, my son speaks ga-ga baby talk and the hotel staff speak Lao to me...

Simon

[garro]

Now that my son is born I speak English in to him and Thai to my wife.

My wife now only speaks Thai when around him; although sometimes she forgets.

I have been told that this is the best way to help a child become bilingual.

Before my son was born we tended to mostly speak Thai.

When I am annoyed about something I only speak English.

I beleive your a right about the child thing, and this is where i have my consern with my child coming in a month. Im Swedich. My wife is Thai. We are both trying to learn our languages even though i speak more Thai than she speak Swedich. For natural reasons since we live in Thailand. Thing being that her Englich is not so good and we have "developed" some kind of language between ourselves where a normal sentence contains 2 englich words, 2 swedich words and 2 thaiwords. We kind of learned how to say to make the partner understand as quick as possible. Now here my consern:

Im going to speek only Swedich to my child, thats the only way "it" will learn Swedich. So Far so good

My wife is going to speak only thai to the child. Also very good.

I heard that a child with two languages being spoken to him/her automaticly learn both and also to generalize between the two languages.

The problem is when me and my wife starts to speak to eachother. I think that can confuse the child completely to put in a third language and might even make him/her afraid and unsecure in talking? So my conclusion is, my wife (as she already claims) learn swedich and i learn thai together with the child, we simply stop the englich for a while, at least in the house. Or (kind of my own idea) my wife and i dont speak to eachother, hahaha. At least not infront of the child. I dont know, i just dont want to confuse the kid. Anyone with a child in a similar situation care to comment. If your are englich or amerikan this problem dont come. But "3 language speaking" familys, i would be interessted in what you say.

Cheers.

I have heard that the best thing to do would be for you to only speak Thai to your wife.

Even if your Thai is heavily accented it is better because your child will have plenty of other people to correct his Thai.

If you speak to your wife in Swedish it apparently confuses the child.

It would probably also be a mistake to let your wife speak Sweedish to your child as you will be the only good example of your language.

[TheEmperorOfTheNorth]

Thaiglish.

Also the baby is picking up Thaiglish really well.

It's fun flipping through a book of farm animals with her. It goes something like:

What's this? : PIG!

What's this? : Kai!

What's this? : Maaaaa+ ?

What's this? : Cow

What's this? : Plaaa

What's this? : Duck!

Except of course for the words she knows in my native language.

Typically she opts for whatever language has the shortest word for something, which of course is mostly Thai.. She can't say words that have more than one syllable, so she'd prefer 'Chair' over 'Gow-Ee'. (sounds like 'oo - ee' when she tries), and 'Deur' over 'Pratoo'. (The Teletubbies episode that deals with 'doors' happens to be in Dutch.

Edited November 9, 2007 by TheEmperorOfTheNorth

[withnail]

Only Thai. My girlfriend studies English at uni but it isn't her major and she doesn't seem interested in it at all. I actually presumed her English was probably passable but was surprised when my parents came to visit and I only heard about 3 words out of her the whole time. I quite enjoyed the job of interpreter as it meant I could discuss whatever I wanted with my girlfriend and had a filter on my mother.

I had been studying Thai for quite a while and am still continuing to do so fairly seriously. If my girlfriend ever showed an interest in learning English I would happily teach her, but she hasn't so far.

[Xangsamhua]

A good question. I haven't read all the responses, but there must be many variations and a simple 4 choice poll isn't going to catch them. Mrs XSH and I met in Vientiane 38 years ago and began communicating in Lao. This was our primary language for many years, including 25 years in Australia and having raised 3 English-speaking children. In the last few years we've used as much English as Lao, probably, and often use both languages at once, i.e she speaks in Lao and I speak in English. I don't think we know what language we're speaking some of the time. Because we live in Bangkok we use some Thai vocabulary, but do not actually speak to each other in Thai, though we could if we wanted. (She went to teachers college in Bangkok in the early 70s).

I expect there's a lot of language mixing and code-switching with mixed-language couples.

[mauiguy90]

I used to speak mainly thai with my GF but now speak English 80% of the time.

[cdnvic]

30% English, 30% Thai and 40% crap.

The third one is always the easiest to learn.

Edited November 9, 2007 by cdnvic

[kiakaha]

English..my thai wife can't really speak thai..hahaha (born/raised in west)

[keemao]

I speak thai to everyone except my wife. She still likes to think I am the farang that can't speak thai. Funny how I'll be having a conversation with her mother, sister or another and she will then translate mid conversation......golden. gets a few laughs from the family.

[mrbojangles]

Thaiglish,

She talks to me mainly in English, if she doesn't know the word, the dictionary comes out. I try to respond in Thai but my vocabulary is limited, so a single sentence is a mixture between the 2

[villagefarang]

English and Thai. Early on my Thai was much better than her English so we spoke Thai only. Now, it seems like I speak English with her, but Thai with everyone else. She jumps around between Central, Northern and English depending on who she is talking to. Guess that is the relevant point with us. (Who are we talking to?)

[Naam]

I expect there's a lot of language mixing and code-switching with mixed-language couples.

true! when my wife is angry she curses me in german and not in her english mother tongue and of course i pretend that i don't understand

[Acquiesce]

My wife is Japanese. Although I can speak conversational Japanese, we only speak English at home as it seems to be the only English my son get exposed to.

As it seems that all Thais have nick names, when speaking with your Thai significant other (GF/Wife), which name do you use? I know with my TGF, if I use her birth name I get a bit of a sideways look so I usually call her by her nick name. Just curious.

So what language do you speak to your Thai girlfriend?

[meemiathai]

Cantonese.

[helitool]

All I ask is that we pick a language, any language, and stick to it. I have the devils own time switching from one language to another. We use northern Thai when here in LOS and English when in the US.

[JetsetBkk]

English, Thai & Cambodian.

[Mosha]

Her"Bai Wat Mai?"

Me "What?"

That is or little joke. We do mix our language in mid sentence. If she sends me shopping I get a list, but I ask what I ask for and try that first. When the chat fails its Mai Kow Chai and pass the list.

Edited November 9, 2007 by Mosha

[a2396]

I prefer English, because it seems to me to be a much more precise and exact language than Thai. I find most Thai to be a muddled bunch of vague generalities and non-specifics, but maybe that's the "Thai culture" coming out. I think English is not so easy to hide behind.

[Sing_Sling]

None of us speak Thai . . . so, English it is.

[meemiathai]

I prefer English, because it seems to me to be a much more precise and exact language than Thai. I find most Thai to be a muddled bunch of vague generalities and non-specifics, but maybe that's the "Thai culture" coming out. I think English is not so easy to hide behind.

You don't know a lot of thai then.

[Smithson]

I prefer English, because it seems to me to be a much more precise and exact language than Thai. I find most Thai to be a muddled bunch of vague generalities and non-specifics, but maybe that's the "Thai culture" coming out. I think English is not so easy to hide behind.

You don't know a lot of thai then.

I'd say Thai is a bit of vague language or at vague answers are the norm,

Speaking Thai at home would have to be the best way to learn, it's the same as a child learns, lots of repetition of basic sentences all of which relate to things which are going on at the time, much better than a classroom.