My Wife'S Friends

[harryfrompattaya]

Me and my hi-so Chinese wife and her friends always converse in Mandarin. No wait, I'm not married.

Same with my wife and I. We have to met for Tea soon and converse in Mandarin. Does your hi-so Chinese wife and family count their money in Yiddish? Now that is very rich

Edited June 2, 2012 by harryfrompattaya

[Puccini]

dam_n right, Farangs should understand as little as possible of what's going on in THL.

THL?

[Livinginexile]

Urmm....is that your wife in your avatar?

[cooked]

My Isaan wife (two years school, speaks Thai, Lao and very good English) thinks that I should learn Thai just for the pleasure of understanding the remarks made when I go near a group of village ladies (market or what ever). One lady made, with some emphasis, a remark that I repeated, much to the amusement of the ladies present and my wife. Walking past her home the next day I made the remark again, not understanding it, and the jovial ambiance in that house cooled dramatically. Very rude indeed. That is motivation enough for me to learn Thai and not let people know that I understand, coming along nicely.

I definitely won't repeat a family story about a rich great aunt of mine that was rich and deaf until she got her ears cleaned out. Over the next month or two, not having let on that she could hear, she made several changes to her will.

[bina]

most issan dialect speakers can speak and understand thai, many thais that speak only central thai can understand some of the dialects but speak very little... mutually intelligable languages/dialects.... hubby speaks korat thai, central thai with me and bits and pieces of the laoissan brand of tha i that only half (the not korat originals)the villagers speak. many central and the arious issan thai speakers are hard pressed to understand the chiang mai sets of dialects... and almost all make fun of the khmer dialects of surin ...

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Thanks bina, you actually agreed with everything I said, just not the how I said it. As for extreme, maybe not to someone living in Israel in a commune, but to everyone else ..........

As for Buddhist rules, Thais don't really follow those rules as the Thai version of Buddhism is a bit (some would claim totally) twisted.

Not to any Jew, and certainly not to a New Yorker, goyim as I may be.

[pattayadingo]

I too have been encouraged to learn Thai - though I fail miserably due to hearing difficulties.

To be honest I also am of the belief that the Thai people who do not want you to learn or understand Thai are wont to be deceitful and to be able to discuss you even in front of you with others.

In families and in the villages the Thai people used to delight in hearing me speak ( attempt to speak) Thai. That often raised a laugh or two but it was all in good fun

[MikeThaison]

The most delicious dish.......

Don't declare you can speak Thai, you will learn a lot more in 5 minutes than you will in 5 years otherwise.

The Thais that want to talk negatively think they have an advantage over you, let them hang themselves with their stupidity and slamdunk them when it suits you.

Then enjoy the look of dread when they realize what they have done. Timing, dear boy, timing.

By the way it's not just a Thai thing, every country does it.

1st lesson for me was going into a Karaoke/lady bar and speaking Thai, man did I get shit service.

From that point on I just walk in and do the usual, it's my 1st time in Thailand, I am going to go to Fh-cket and Fhi Fhi island.

They other day an English chap (late 20's i think) walks into the shopping mall where my girlfriend owns a couple shops, He is getting a Tat done and his new Thai wife is getting her hair done. His wife asks my girl in Thai to tell him that it costs 3,000THB to get the hair done (when it was really 1,500). Then she goes on about how she just married him for the money and the tattoo of his name on her wrist, she is just going to get it covered up with a dragon tattoo. Holy shit was it hard for me to keep a straight face talking to this guy while his girl was saying all this shit in front of him.

Not to mention he said the police did him up in BKK for Drunk Driving on the motorbike for 80,000THB. surely his girl got a cut of that.

[transam]

The most delicious dish.......

Don't declare you can speak Thai, you will learn a lot more in 5 minutes than you will in 5 years otherwise.

The Thais that want to talk negatively think they have an advantage over you, let them hang themselves with their stupidity and slamdunk them when it suits you.

Then enjoy the look of dread when they realize what they have done. Timing, dear boy, timing.

By the way it's not just a Thai thing, every country does it.

1st lesson for me was going into a Karaoke/lady bar and speaking Thai, man did I get shit service.

From that point on I just walk in and do the usual, it's my 1st time in Thailand, I am going to go to Fh-cket and Fhi Fhi island.

They other day an English chap (late 20's i think) walks into the shopping mall where my girlfriend owns a couple shops, He is getting a Tat done and his new Thai wife is getting her hair done. His wife asks my girl in Thai to tell him that it costs 3,000THB to get the hair done (when it was really 1,500). Then she goes on about how she just married him for the money and the tattoo of his name on her wrist, she is just going to get it covered up with a dragon tattoo. Holy shit was it hard for me to keep a straight face talking to this guy while his girl was saying all this shit in front of him.

Not to mention he said the police did him up in BKK for Drunk Driving on the motorbike for 80,000THB. surely his girl got a cut of that.

Your tale is VERY common. The biggy is when buying land, good earner for the extended family.

[ripstanley]

Since I've been here, every Thai around me is encouraging and very supportive of me learning their language. And they are honest enough to drill me till I pronounced it properly, I'm very thankful for this.

This is the same for me. My GF is always encouraging me to learn new words.

[how241]

My wife has never objected to me learning Thai (although i've been lazy to), and we have both witnessed Thai women say they don't want their husbands to learn the lingo.

For me, and the missus, we regard that as a sure sign the lady is trying to hide something. Very bad indeed.

+1

[how241]

We all like to keep our secrets.

[Baerboxer]

It's sweet that the OP doesn't trust his wife or her friends.

Nice one.

I really don't understand this. It seems perfectly obvious to me that most farang marry Thai women who are not trustworthy.

No aspersions cast on Thais in general, obviously most farang look for love in all the wrong places.

But are you trying to claim that these guys **should** be trusting of these women and their friends? Either you're rooting for the Thai scammers or very naive. . .

I'm glad you said "most" Big J! In the UK it seemed about 80% had married ex-bargirls or "massage therapists". It was noticeable that this group did not encourage their husbands to learn Thai and were very suspicious of the husband's married to the othe 20% who were always being encouraged to learn Thai by their wives. Your comment is right - but it's amazing how many husbands I saw in the UK being well scammed.

[transam]

It's sweet that the OP doesn't trust his wife or her friends.

Nice one.

I really don't understand this. It seems perfectly obvious to me that most farang marry Thai women who are not trustworthy.

No aspersions cast on Thais in general, obviously most farang look for love in all the wrong places.

But are you trying to claim that these guys **should** be trusting of these women and their friends? Either you're rooting for the Thai scammers or very naive. . .

I'm glad you said "most" Big J! In the UK it seemed about 80% had married ex-bargirls or "massage therapists". It was noticeable that this group did not encourage their husbands to learn Thai and were very suspicious of the husband's married to the othe 20% who were always being encouraged to learn Thai by their wives. Your comment is right - but it's amazing how many husbands I saw in the UK being well scammed.

How right you are BUT most will not believe.

[StreetCowboy]

My wife has never encouraged me to learn Thai, and she has made very little effort to do so herself

SC

[transam]

My wife has never encouraged me to learn Thai, and she has made very little effort to do so herself

SC

Same here.

[StreetCowboy]

We all like to keep our secrets.

How did you know?

[transam]

We all like to keep our secrets.

Hmmmmmmm, your a bit kinky eh, yep, keep it secret.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

They other day an English chap (late 20's i think) walks into the shopping mall where my girlfriend owns a couple shops, He is getting a Tat done and his new Thai wife is getting her hair done. His wife asks my girl in Thai to tell him that it costs 3,000THB to get the hair done (when it was really 1,500). Then she goes on about how she just married him for the money and the tattoo of his name on her wrist, she is just going to get it covered up with a dragon tattoo. Holy shit was it hard for me to keep a straight face talking to this guy while his girl was saying all this shit in front of him.

Not to mention he said the police did him up in BKK for Drunk Driving on the motorbike for 80,000THB. surely his girl got a cut of that.

Why on earth wouldn't you help the poor guy out and enlighten him about his situation?

If not then and there, at least get his phone number and then have chat with him later on?

Basically makes you an accessory to fraud otherwise. . .

[transam]

They other day an English chap (late 20's i think) walks into the shopping mall where my girlfriend owns a couple shops, He is getting a Tat done and his new Thai wife is getting her hair done. His wife asks my girl in Thai to tell him that it costs 3,000THB to get the hair done (when it was really 1,500). Then she goes on about how she just married him for the money and the tattoo of his name on her wrist, she is just going to get it covered up with a dragon tattoo. Holy shit was it hard for me to keep a straight face talking to this guy while his girl was saying all this shit in front of him.

Not to mention he said the police did him up in BKK for Drunk Driving on the motorbike for 80,000THB. surely his girl got a cut of that.

Why on earth wouldn't you help the poor guy out and enlighten him about his situation?

If not then and there, at least get his phone number and then have chat with him later on?

Basically makes you an accessory to fraud otherwise. . .

They other day an English chap (late 20's i think) walks into the shopping mall where my girlfriend owns a couple shops, He is getting a Tat done and his new Thai wife is getting her hair done. His wife asks my girl in Thai to tell him that it costs 3,000THB to get the hair done (when it was really 1,500). Then she goes on about how she just married him for the money and the tattoo of his name on her wrist, she is just going to get it covered up with a dragon tattoo. Holy shit was it hard for me to keep a straight face talking to this guy while his girl was saying all this shit in front of him.

Not to mention he said the police did him up in BKK for Drunk Driving on the motorbike for 80,000THB. surely his girl got a cut of that.

Why on earth wouldn't you help the poor guy out and enlighten him about his situation?

If not then and there, at least get his phone number and then have chat with him later on?

Basically makes you an accessory to fraud otherwise. . .

Nooooooooooooo, do not get involved. It backfires. Been there.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Why on earth wouldn't you help the poor guy out and enlighten him about his situation?

If not then and there, at least get his phone number and then have chat with him later on?

Basically makes you an accessory to fraud otherwise. . .

Nooooooooooooo, do not get involved. It backfires. Been there.

I would try to be resourceful enough that it wouldn't come back on me, but still let me sleep at night that at least I've tried to do the right thing.

And even if it did cost me, I'd still rather be part of the solution than the alternative.

[YipYipYa123]

Why on earth wouldn't you help the poor guy out and enlighten him about his situation?

If not then and there, at least get his phone number and then have chat with him later on?

Basically makes you an accessory to fraud otherwise. . .

Nooooooooooooo, do not get involved. It backfires. Been there.

I would try to be resourceful enough that it wouldn't come back on me, but still let me sleep at night that at least I've tried to do the right thing.

And even if it did cost me, I'd still rather be part of the solution than the alternative.

i was selling a large motorbike recently and a thai girl called to buy on behalf of her BF ,

she asked me to put a 20k higher price on the reciept so she could get a comission so it

probably happens a lot more than people realise or even want to realise.......

[BigJohnnyBKK]

i was selling a large motorbike recently and a thai girl called to buy on behalf of her BF ,

she asked me to put a 20k higher price on the reciept so she could get a comission so it

probably happens a lot more than people realise or even want to realise.......

I hope you didn't.

Or here's an alternative - agree to do so but split it with her.

Figure out how to make contact with him without her knowing and give him the 10K as evidence of your sincerity, after swearing him to secrecy as to why he's dumping her.

[YipYipYa123]

i was selling a large motorbike recently and a thai girl called to buy on behalf of her BF ,

she asked me to put a 20k higher price on the reciept so she could get a comission so it

probably happens a lot more than people realise or even want to realise.......

I hope you didn't.

Or here's an alternative - agree to do so but split it with her.

Figure out how to make contact with him without her knowing and give him the 10K as evidence of your sincerity, after swearing him to secrecy as to why he's dumping her.

i didnt even know what the deal was at first ,the phone rang and the wife came to me with some proposition

girl buyer wanted a discount of 20k

we get paid 320k as a direct bank transfer but refund 20k of it (in cash ) to the sales agent after the transfer

it sounded like a good deal on our end so i gave them the green light to sell it

whoever was funding the deal was overseas and i didnt get to meet them

didnt even know he was her BF / Husband until later on but im sure it happens a lot more than we ever hear about

[ebmzlm]

I believe it's best to speak your native language with your Thai wife, but you need to be able to talk and understand Thai in order to get around easier, ie for ordering food, having a joke with a policeman.

I admit occasionally me and my wife talk Thai, but most of the time it's English.

My wife knows I can speak Thai, and our son is learning both languages, the benefit for my wife is, she doesn't have to translate everything for me ie speaking to the landlord, going to the shops.

If your going to live in any country, you have to learn the language otherwise you will always get f€%

[bangkokbruce]

The most delicious dish.......

Don't declare you can speak Thai, you will learn a lot more in 5 minutes than you will in 5 years otherwise.

The Thais that want to talk negatively think they have an advantage over you, let them hang themselves with their stupidity and slamdunk them when it suits you.

Then enjoy the look of dread when they realize what they have done. Timing, dear boy, timing.

By the way it's not just a Thai thing, every country does it.

Amen Brother! I rarely let Thai's know I can speak Thai. In shops or the mall I speak English first and listen to what they say in case they say something rude or talk bad about me. If they do I ask for they're supervisor and tell them what the clerk said in Thai. Then I watch them get fired. We have a friend in Pattaya that owns a internet shop where bar girls go to extort money from foreigners and after they leave I send the guy a instant message telling him he is getting scammed and what they said in Thai after they log off. I get many Thank you emails for letting them know about her and the truth. It's sad how much they say they loved her and how much money they sent. But she has 3-8 boyfriends already, a thai bf, and already built a home for her and her parents with that money. So sad. Learn Thai and don't let others know you know Thai, you will learn alot about the nature of "real" Thai's, trust me. 95% suck, the other 5% are good and honest. Welcome to Thailand....and remember...NEVER EVER send money to a bar girl...remember what I said. If you want to live here, learn Thai, it will save you from getting scammed and being dis-respected so much. Most Thai's are only interested in your money, and they will do ANYTHING to get it.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Amen Brother! I rarely let Thai's know I can speak Thai. In shops or the mall I speak English first and listen to what they say in case they say something rude or talk bad about me. If they do I ask for they're supervisor and tell them what the clerk said in Thai. Then I watch them get fired.

You need to find another hobby. Poor fellow didn't know he was being rude if he didn't know you couldn't understand, he probably was just telling the truth, or maybe overgeneralizing about farang just as we do about Thais right here.

We have a friend in Pattaya that owns a internet shop where bar girls go to extort money from foreigners

Look up the meaning of the word extortion. I think you meant fraud.

NEVER EVER send money to a bar girl

Although the bar girls started this practice it has now spread far beyond, now a popular activity among the normal population of pretty young girls with some English.

However outside of the context of the bar and online dating/chat services, the below is a gross exaggeration:

Most Thai's are only interested in your money, and they will do ANYTHING to get it.

I would try to make this more fair but still functional as a warning by saying beware of those who put themselves in your way. Just like you should flag down a taxi that's moving out in the street rather than deal with the drivers sitting around waiting for tourists, you should actively hunt for a mate out in the normal population where the girls **aren't** looking/waiting for farang, don't take the ones in areas where there are many farang hanging out.

Of course your main point - that you should learn Thai - still holds.

[richard_smith237]

Without wishing to sound harsh, it is apparent that the friends of the Ops wife are from the lower echelons of society.

The only reason they could not want a westerner to speak Thai is to take advantage of them and / or gossip about them.

While on a recent trip to the UK my wife and I met up with a friend from Uni and his Thai wife, my wife was polite enough to accommodate his wife (who was open with my wife about being an ex-bar girl). My friends wife was pleasant enough, polite and friendly. By the end of the evening my wife knew ‘too much’ about her and their relationship, their sexual positions, the money he spent on her etc etc… my friends wife was clearly happy and proud with the way her life had improved and was happy to talk about it. My wife appeared to spend most of the evening nodding and listening! (I understand Thai enough and trust my wife enough to know such matters between ourselves are highly private).

The point here; My friends wife was a right old gossip and might not have been entirely comfortable if he could understand what she was saying.

When in Thailand and mixing with the folk I mix with, they all seem to want me to speak more Thai. These are the regular every day, real life people who want nothing of me other than friendship and genuine respect. Pretty much the same type of person I would hang around with and make daily contact with in the UK.

Edited June 4, 2012 by richard_smith237

[Berkshire]

We have a friend in Pattaya that owns a internet shop where bar girls go to extort money from foreigners and after they leave I send the guy a instant message telling him he is getting scammed and what they said in Thai after they log off. I get many Thank you emails for letting them know about her and the truth. It's sad how much they say they loved her and how much money they sent. But she has 3-8 boyfriends already, a thai bf, and already built a home for her and her parents with that money.

Let me get this straight. If you're for real, you're saying that you...what, are looking over the shoulders of these women to see what they're writing to other men (gross invasion of privacy), and then writing to said men to "warn" them that they're being scammed? And of course, you're positive that you know the entire situation just by eavesdropping? Is this a hobby of yours, to sit around in internet cafes and hover over BG's to see what they're up to? A little creepy, don't you think?

Unless of course, you're making all this up.

[TheWalkingMan]

1st lesson for me was going into a Karaoke/lady bar and speaking Thai, man did I get shit service.

From that point on I just walk in and do the usual, it's my 1st time in Thailand, I am going to go to Fh-cket and Fhi Fhi island.

They other day an English chap (late 20's i think) walks into the shopping mall where my girlfriend owns a couple shops, He is getting a Tat done and his new Thai wife is getting her hair done. His wife asks my girl in Thai to tell him that it costs 3,000THB to get the hair done (when it was really 1,500). Then she goes on about how she just married him for the money and the tattoo of his name on her wrist, she is just going to get it covered up with a dragon tattoo. Holy shit was it hard for me to keep a straight face talking to this guy while his girl was saying all this shit in front of him.

Not to mention he said the police did him up in BKK for Drunk Driving on the motorbike for 80,000THB. surely his girl got a cut of that.

The crap part of this is that some Thais have no problem with asking a stranger to help them cheat their partner and I guess the strangers go along with it. The perfidy (A new word I learned recently Thank you Edgar Rice Burroughs), runs very, very deep with some segments of society.