A leading information web site (Not the Nation), just published a very insightful report on who does and who doesn't speak Thai in Thailand.

Excerpt:

Researchers have published the results of the first-ever study of the Thai-speaking habits of foreign expatriates in Thailand, which confirms the long-held belief that the more Thai a farang speaks, the less likely he is to have any money

"It confirms our original suspicions that with most expats, Thai fluency is a both a time-consuming hobby as well as a socially compensatory skill," explained Weng-min Huang, a sociologist who co-authored the report. "Low-paid expats have both the time to devote to Thai studies as well as the motivation. They can't afford to eat in nice restaurants, party in upscale nightclubs, or shop for tasteful furniture and quality electronics in their spare time. Additionally, their poverty of lifestyle and material possessions makes them unable to attract mates, so they have the motivation to adapt a non-material mating skill – speaking Thai."

Reaction to the study was generally positive. Brendan Freedman, a securities analyst at Citibank, admitted he spoke almost no Thai and had no intention of learning. "Why bother," he said, "when everything in this town is in English? And anyway, why waste a weekend studying Thai when I can be kite-surfing in Hua Hin?"

However, several English teachers interviewed took issue with the suggestion that their Thai was any kind of compensatory skill. "I love Thailand, the real Thailand, not the Q-Bar fantasy world of those corporate <deleted>," insisted Ted Callendar, a freelance teacher. "I eat real Thai food, and I date real Thai women, and I couldn't be prouder. Money isn't freedom, it's--" he said before being cut off by a call from his monolingual Thai girlfriend on his 6-year old Nokia 3310 phone.

For me it's clear, from now on the answer will be : "Phut may day, I'm not a loser !"

http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=533

so its the ones with little or no money, that have all the time in the world to do absolutely nothing... Hmm..

wow.. that must mean that the greatest & most fluent Thai speaking farang are the ones locked up in Bang Kwang..

mai dee

Last time I checked Bill Heineke(farang, naturalised thai, fluent thai speaker/reader/writer) had a few bucks to his name.

This would be the same topic already covered in this thread I believe:

Scientists Discover Inverse Relationship Between Expats’ Income And Thai Fluency

(Article from the Not The Nation Sunday 13th July 2008)

This would be the same topic already covered in this thread I believe:

Duplicate topic closed.