New To Thailand Living In The Bangkok Area

[Genericnic]

สวัวกีครับ

Learn to speak Thai. You can get by without it but your life will be easier if you do it. You don't have to be fluent but basic Thai will keep you from looking like just another clueless farang tourist.

David

SO let me get this straight. You think that tourists who come to Thailand for a two week holiday are clueless because they dont learn to speak Thai? What an odd thing to say. I would have thought that most people who can afford to fly half way round the world and stay in nice hotels are somewhat successful in their life and careers and are anything but clueless. What if tourists visit Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and India on a trip. Are they supposed to be able to speak all those languages for the 2 weeks they are there? Whats wrong with looking like a tourist anyway? Have you never been on holiday?

Very odd.

Kananga,

Based on my reading of the OP's post, they are living here now rather than just visiting for a couple of weeks. I could be wrong but that is what my response was based on.

As you might notice, I didn't say you had to become a fluent speaker. Basic Thai will get you a long way. ห้องน้ำอยูที่ไหนครับ (A helpful phrase in any language)

As for going on holiday, yes, I do quite often. I leave for Bangkok in the morning to catch a plane for Istanbul for four days and then on to Barcelona. Turkish is easier than Thai and harder than Spanish but that is no excuse for not learning a bit of the language even for four days. As I noted, you don't have to be fluent. A few years ago, the ex and I planned a 3-week trip to Japan. We spent the better part of 8 months learning Japanese. Were we fluent? Of course not but it made the trip a lot more interesting and travel around the country a lot easier. I'll be heading to Bali next February and I am already beginning to learn some Bahasa Indonesia.

As the joke goes, "what do you call a person that speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone that speaks one language? Bilingual. What do you call a person that speaks one language? An American."

Best to you.

David

Edited October 13, 2011 by Genericnic

[Kananga]

สวัวกีครับ

Learn to speak Thai. You can get by without it but your life will be easier if you do it. You don't have to be fluent but basic Thai will keep you from looking like just another clueless farang tourist.

David

SO let me get this straight. You think that tourists who come to Thailand for a two week holiday are clueless because they dont learn to speak Thai? What an odd thing to say. I would have thought that most people who can afford to fly half way round the world and stay in nice hotels are somewhat successful in their life and careers and are anything but clueless. What if tourists visit Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and India on a trip. Are they supposed to be able to speak all those languages for the 2 weeks they are there? Whats wrong with looking like a tourist anyway? Have you never been on holiday?

Very odd.

Kananga,

Based on my reading of the OP's post, they are living here now rather than just visiting for a couple of weeks. I could be wrong but that is what my response was based on.

As you might notice, I didn't say you had to become a fluent speaker. Basic Thai will get you a long way. ห้องน้ำอยูที่ไหนครับ (A helpful phrase in any language)

As for going on holiday, yes, I do quite often. I leave for Bangkok in the morning to catch a plane for Istanbul for four days and then on to Barcelona. Turkish is easier than Thai and harder than Spanish but that is no excuse for not learning a bit of the language even for four days. As I noted, you don't have to be fluent. A few years ago, the ex and I planned a 3-week trip to Japan. We spent the better part of 8 months learning Japanese. Were we fluent? Of course not but it made the trip a lot more interesting and travel around the country a lot easier. I'll be heading to Bali next February and I am already beginning to learn some Bahasa Indonesia.

As the joke goes, "what do you call a person that speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone that speaks one language? Bilingual. What do you call a person that speaks one language? An American."

Best to you.

David

Thats all great. The main gist of my comment is why you would call tourists clueless just because they havent learnt the languages of all the countries they visit. Seems rather disrespectful to me.

All the best.