I have been learning Thai for 5 years and am quite fluent. I was chatting to some Thai colleagues in the office today and one of the guys poked fun at me when I said the word มาก. He said that my tone was way too long and that I sounded very feminine. It's not as if I extended the มาก for 5 seconds or anything!! I have never considered my spoken Thai to be feminine, but it got me thinking. My teacher is a female. Have I picked up female speaking habits without knowing it? Do I come across to most Thai men as feminine. I am afraid to open my mouth in front of any of my Thai male colleagues for fear of being ridiculed even further!!!

Any thoughts? - other than the fact that I am being a big sissy

Bob

I have been learning Thai for 5 years and am quite fluent.  I was chatting to some Thai colleagues in the office today and one of the guys poked fun at me when I said the word มาก.  He said that my tone was way too long and that I sounded very feminine.  It's not as if I extended the มาก  for 5 seconds or anything!!  I have never considered my spoken Thai to be feminine, but it got me thinking.  My teacher is a female.  Have I picked up female speaking habits without knowing it?  Do I come across to most Thai men as feminine.  I am afraid to open my mouth in front of any of my Thai male colleagues for fear of being ridiculed even further!!! 

Any thoughts?  - other than the fact that I am being a big sissy

Bob

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I wouldn't worry about: there are many ladyboys in Thailand !!

It very easily happens I think, and I too worry a bit about catching the female bug as well, since most of my Thai acquaintances are female. Generally speaking, women tend to be more careful with their speech then men, tidiness being perceived a "feminine" trait, so it is easier to emulate women than men. They also tend to use particular slang words, some of which I picked up but had to discard again because I was told it sounded very ladyboyish to speak like that.

Many non-homosexual Thai men still sound feminine, especially younger men from the Bangkok region. I find it helps to quickly switch to mimicking the ridiculous accents they give to farang male actors when dubbing movies. Takes the edge off their claim. :-)

Don't worry, my voice is fairly high pitched when I speak Thai. It helps me hit the lower tones when I need to. Thai friends have told me (after they had known me for a while) that they initially though I 'batted for the other side' so to speak, given that my voice is softer and more feminine in Thai than it is in English.

May also have something to do with the fact that I grew up surrounded my Thai mum, grandmother, female cousins and aunts.

I had a friend say the same thing to me. ... "Dude, you talk like a girl." Crap ... that means that I speak like a 2 year old girl. Now I'm deliberatly trying to use a lower octave.

That's right guys, most of you guys use too high of voice level for every words.

Just try to make it lower then try to remember the high one.

Don't worry. I have many more troubles in US...so bad.

Thai student IN US.

the thought has just occured to me: over the last week or so I've been looking for a Thai teacher here in Pattaya. I've been to several schools and a couple of teachers that just work from home - yours or theirs. But reading this thread, I realized: they were all women!

Has anyone here ever met a male [Thai] teacher?

btw if anyone here has had any experience with any of the local schools in Pattaya, good or bad, I'd appreciate any tips...

TIA

I had a male Thai teacher. They are a lot less common though.