What Language Do You Use With Your Thai Partner?

[isanbirder]

I don't need to run a poll to find out that the vast majority of Thai/farang couples use English as their common language (maybe a few use French, German etc, but very few).

My question is, Why? Structurally Thai is a much easier language to learn... and it's the language of the country you live in. The only problem is the tonal system, but I'm sure this is easier than English's cumbersome grammar.

This is not a "holier than thou" thread; I use English too.

[poanoi]

Cause i'm lazy and avoid hassle/struggle at all cost ?

It gets tiresome in an hour messing around with thai

[thenervoussurgeon]

English ,especially as we lived in the uk for 7 years previously

[brit1984]

... maybe because all Thais learn English in school and no Farangs (outside Thailand) learn Thai in school

... why make life difficult?

Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules

[dantilley]

English, mainly because my other half's English is vastly superior to my Thai. Also I expect in the long run it's probably more advantageous for her to improve her English than it is for me to improve my Thai. We do occasionally converse in Thai though.

[villagefarang]

Early on my Thai was much better than her English so we spoke Thai almost exclusively but as her English improved we drifted into an interesting communication style where more often than not we do English/Thai, I speak English and she answers in Thai. We are talking about a 15 year time span and our communication style is still evolving. We also do English/English or Thai/Thai depending on the situation.

I’m a believer in bilingual relationships. Both parties should be fluent in both languages. Whatever the excuses I don't think it is fair for one person to make all the effort and do all the heavy lifting.

[robblok]

I use english but now my Thai is getting better and we try to speak Thai for an hour. But her English is great so no problems there. So when things need to be real clear English is the language. She does speak some Dutch too.

[MJCM]

We mainly speak Thai. Not because her English is that bad, it's just that I want to improve my Thai. Maybe I am being selfish.

[edwinclapham]

My wife speaks English fluently but we both speak English and Thai to the children.

[Semper]

... maybe because all Thais learn English in school and no Farangs (outside Thailand) learn Thai in school

... why make life difficult?

Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules

Maybe they do nowadays, but some 40 years ago, don't think so. I use some sort of combo Eng-Thai.

[villagefarang]

... maybe because all Thais learn English in school and no Farangs (outside Thailand) learn Thai in school

... why make life difficult?

Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules

Maybe they do nowadays, but some 40 years ago, don't think so. I use some sort of combo Eng-Thai.

I studied Thai at university more than 35 years ago. I wasn’t a very good classroom student but things changed after I moved here. Hormones are a great motivator.

[PattayaParent]

When I had a Thai partner we always spoke only in Thai.

[Rsquared]

Thanglish with more emphasis on the english side until i improve my Thai, as i live in the sticks i really do need to learn Thai so hopefully if i can stick with it, in the future we will probably mainly speak Thai.

[GarryP]

Thai only. My wife and I have never spoken to each other in English.

[DrTuner]

With the wifey I grunt in guttural tones and use the evil eye. No comm problems whatsoever. As for the kids, english/thai mixed, whatever seems appropriate at the moment.

[dean999]

to be honest, i have come to the conclusion that i have come from another planet. When my own mum say's sometimes she doesn't understand what i have said. I feel sorry for my wife.

I work with people that live all over England and i have worked in a lot of different countries too. I think that my dialect has got messed up on the way and now i have just invented my own way of talking. On the plus side, i am working in Belgium at present and they love the way i try to speak French (Well the way i sound).

My best mate understands every word i say, so i think i have found a fellow alien.

[sirineou]

We spend part of the year here, and part of the year in the US, so for us it is English,

When here I mostly spend time with my wife's family, and they don't speak much English,so I am making an effort to learn the language.

The problem I have is which language? Here in Isaan the speak a mixture of Thai and Laos, and is confusing the heck out of me.

[loong]

When I first knew my missus, my Thai was much better than her English and so we spoke in Thai.

She wanted to improve her English and so we started to speak English more often.

Since then, her English improved in leaps and bounds, at the same time my Thai stagnated.

Now it's predominately English, with occasional Thai.

[zzaa09]

Surin Khmer and Thai.

[harrry]

Thai because I believe it is only right to speak as much as possible the language of the country I have chosen to live.

[Khutan]

Mostly English as we live in Australia now - there is a bit of Thai, as I encourage the children to make sure they are fluent and in touch with an important element of their culture.

[jamescollister]

Mostly English, wife studied English in OZ and I want the kids to speak English [both born in OZ] and everyboby here speacks Lao. Jim

[kerryk]

Surin Khmer and Thai.

No Suay/Guay? But anyway you are a man after my own heart.

[soundman]

Surin Khmer and Thai.

Surin is a funny one. Last time me and wife were there both of us had real troubles understanding Surin dialect.

To answer OP, about 80/20 Thai/English.

[Khutan]

Surin Khmer and Thai.

No Suay/Guay? But anyway you are a man after my own heart.

Funny my mother-in-law speaks that and my wife doesn't; she decided to keep going with the Surin Khmer. Does anyone know if there is a written form of Suay?

[thequietman]

I use the language of luuuuuuuvvv. (love)

[LucidLucifer]

We speak pretty much exclusively in English. The only real exception is when talking about food. It creates far less confusion (and is infinitely easier) to say what I want to eat in Thai.

We also speak only in English to our daughter. The reason for this is she will be going to an English medium school, and we want to establish that as her first language. When she has that embedded, we will introduce Thai to her.

[Travel2003]

English.

Took me 20 years to learn English almost fluently. I belong to the 1% group here on TV who have problems learning languages.

Took my wife 2 years to speak and write very good English. Amazing.

I work outside Thailand 6-7 months a year, and can not practice the little Thai I have learned, and keep forgetting it instead.

[kerryk]

I use the language of luuuuuuuvvv. (love)

Poot pasa Lao. Don't we all?

[villagefarang]

I speak proper Bangkok Thai, no farmer dialects for me. I don’t speak pidgin English in Hawaii either.