Calling All Dads With Half Thai Kids.

[klubex99]

Hi.

I have been here for 2 years and have a very small smattering of the Thai language and zero grasp of Thai reading or writing. I am far too busy to take up education and i intend to pick it all up as I go. I am not so bad at the language I can get by OK, buy things ask price, ask where certain things are etc...

Anyway... I got married to a lovely Thai lady last month and we plan to start a family next year sometime. Probably just 2 kids. I already have 3 in the UK. But that's not the reason for my post.

I am very curious as to know what other dads of half Thai kids do to enable their children to be multi-lingual.

I mean... Is it a natural thing, as children are like sponges soaking up information and have a remarkable ability to learn at an early age. For instance, I would like to know if you had to sit down daily and teach your children your own mother tongue?

I am assuming they learn Thai by default as they are surrounded mainly by that language. Is it difficult to teach them?

It would be interesting to hear from dads who have had many differing experiences of this multi-lingual absorption. maybe most of your kids can't speak a word of say English, or German or Russian or whatever your own language is. I really want my kids to speak adequate English, because I may wish for them to spend their education years over in the UK, but of course fluent Thai is essential as well.

Just really interested because I am yet to meet another farang who has kids of early age.

thanks in advance.

Edited June 4, 2012 by klubex99

[SteveLynch]

Hi there,

I think children absorb a lot when young but it depends on what language is getting spoken around them ,if your in a rural area the chances of aunts uncles friends speaking in English is quite slim,I really think for you to serve your children best you learning Thai would be a best answer

Just so you know ,I have been living here 8 years and my Thai is poor extremely poor ,but for 7 of those years I was a party animal ,were speaking the language was about as important to me as a kick in the nuts ,I was more interested in the next bottle of whiskey and who was gonna help me smash it

I have been lucky my gf English is extremely good so my need to learn was further diminished but

Since having a child and my gf son moving in my mind has been changed ,that coupled with a couple of posters on here lashing me silly one time when I admitted my THai isn't there .

I don't as am sure you don't want to be an alien to your child ,or to want them having to be a translater for their dad who was too busy to learn a skill of speaking to them

I have since started with some reading and practicing ,and will very soon start some lessons,I doubt I will ever be able to read a newspaper or listen to the news but I'll be able to help her with her homework at some stage ,and I'm looking forward to it .

I'm sure my daughters English will be perfect as will her brothers ,but I don't want to miss out on a minute of their lives because I didn't make an effort to learn Thai ,having a child completely changes your out look on life ,and it's the only time I found anything of use from this site ,one older poster who completely slammed me about learning Thai ,so thanks to him

Best of luck with your family

Steve

The stepson on the other hand has started some English lesson and we bond together with that ,we both are enjoying it ,

[SteveLynch]

Please excuse the text at the bottom of my post ,iPad completely blows monkeys balls

[beano2274]

I have two kids from a previous marriage to a German, she spoke German to the kids and I spoke English, my daughter was billingual before she was 3

[transam]

Us oldies tend to forget what the young brain can do. Amazing really. My friends 4 year old speaks Thai/Lao and English because mum talks English to dad all the time but Thai/Lao at all other times.

[nocturn]

be around, be a parent and make an effort. the rest happens by itself.

[klubex99]

Thanks guys.

So it sounds like a natural to absorb both languages without really them having too think about it. that's great,

@ Steve_lynch.

I will do whatever it takes to have a fully communicative relationship with my kids. If my ability to speak and understand Thai to a much more advanced level, then something extra is going to come out of it.

[Johnniey]

Simple really - I speak and ALWAYS have spoken ONLY English to my kids. My wife speaks only Thai to them. This is the way to have totally bilingual kids.

Also it trains their brains to learn other languages easier. One kid now speaks Thai, English, Korean, Japanese, Loatian and Chinese.

[ebmzlm]

Mu son is nearly 2 and a half. At present he speaks only English, as he will be educated there.

He is always with his mum and her friends and picks up a few Thai words.

I am unsure about yours plans, as for me I'd rather my son to be educated in England.

Once we are in England, obviously he will be in an English school and speaking English. When he comes home my wife will speak Thai with our son, which will also help with my Thai.

I hope this helps.

[brit1984]

I think children can naturally learn any languages that they are exposed to. It is however important to monitor their progress.

Our approach is that adults speak their native language to our daughter (so she doesn't pick up any mis-pronunciations).

From me and my wife she will naturally learn English and Thai, and later we will find a way to teach her mandarin (probably from my Chinese sister-in-law).

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

[ebmzlm]

Just to add, me and my wife generally talk English together.

And

Although our son doesn't speak much Thai, he has a very good understanding if the language

Ie "ba" which is to go.

[dingerbel]

We have also been here two+ years, my son is half Thai, but we lived in the uk until he was nine so his English is as perfect as a Yorkshire men's can be. After two years of being here his Thai is fluent now (never really spoke Thai in the UK) where as I am still struggling! Kids are just great at picking this stuff up, you shouldn't worry, just make sure you speak English to him/her and your wife does the Thai, and they will be fine.

[onionluke]

Posting from Hong Kong . English ( heavily accented and vovabulated with ra vernacular) ,Pasa Isan , Thai and Cantonese are all used around my family . My son mastered the art of listening and imitation very early on , we relocated 3 times in as many years , and he got by on improving these skills . Now at age 6 he is learning the importance of the written word . The school he now attends has an English and Chinese language system , but I will get him back on track with the Thai language by the end of this year . He loves the Chinese characters although he still struggles with the English written word . Crickey it's not easy being a youngster these days .

[Chivas]

be around, be a parent and make an effort. the rest happens by itself.

In an ideal world perhaps...!!

[rodentwarrior]

Hmmm...l two kids in the UK which you appear to have abandoned. Or are you also supporting them?

[rodentwarrior]

Posting from Hong Kong . English ( heavily accented and vovabulated with ra vernacular) ,Pasa Isan , Thai and Cantonese are all used around my family . My son mastered the art of listening and imitation very early on , we relocated 3 times in as many years , and he got by on improving these skills . Now at age 6 he is learning the importance of the written word . The school he now attends has an English and Chinese language system , but I will get him back on track with the Thai language by the end of this year . He loves the Chinese characters although he still struggles with the English written word . Crickey it's not easy being a youngster these days .

Get him to stick with a language that will be useful. Unless he will live in Thailand Thai is useless!

[klubex99]

Hmmm...l two kids in the UK which you appear to have abandoned. Or are you also supporting them?

Yes i do support them, and I travel back to the UK very frequently just to see them. i am ok for money. i have some very very good investments that i built up over the years and to be quite honest, i need not worry about work or anything like that. i own over 200 websites and that provides a very nice lifestyle on autopilot.

BTW, I said i have 3 kids there, i also speak with them almost daily on skype webcam, its just like we are living together. Unfortunately their mum and me just were unable to live together. We tried 3 times to get back together but each time was worst than the last, and that is not fair to have the kids grow up in an atmosphere of discontent and tension.

They are getting into their teens now and they love the idea of having siblings on the way from the other side of the world, and they really like my Thai wife too, as she accompanies me to the UK.

Its all good. but like I said. I will almost certainly look to giving them (my Thai kids) a UK education. they will have 3 big sisters and brother to look after them.

Edited June 4, 2012 by klubex99

[MAJIC]

It does seem worrying and daunting to begin with,....so get some nice childrens picture books,full of animals and strange creatures,the importance is to get the child to repeat words,and recognise the animals,and being able to repeat the animal names correctly,rather than the content,(which could be fish, flowers,etc.....)

Move on from there with other words,and point out the names,of other objects to them,and get them to repeat them,and at their young age,learning is fun,

Leave the Thai,language to your Thai Spouse,at 5 years old,my Thai English Daughter is now a fluent dual linguist,and in the beginning I also agonised of the best approach,and now realise my worries were unfounded.

Of course one must never forget the importance of professional Teachers involvement,they will not get an all round education from village life,but then we are: at present, talking about : Pre School,which any Teacher will be delighted to be able to communicate with your child from day one.and always ask them plenty of questions,of everything,picture,stories,colours,etc.

And don't forget the daily Daily Bedtime Story Time!

And finally,of course your intention of having your child,educated in England, will result in a far better Education than those that have been educated in Thailand. That's why Ex PM Abhisit was educated in England.

Edited June 4, 2012 by MAJIC

[onionluke]

Posting from Hong Kong . English ( heavily accented and vovabulated with ra vernacular) ,Pasa Isan , Thai and Cantonese are all used around my family . My son mastered the art of listening and imitation very early on , we relocated 3 times in as many years , and he got by on improving these skills . Now at age 6 he is learning the importance of the written word . The school he now attends has an English and Chinese language system , but I will get him back on track with the Thai language by the end of this year . He loves the Chinese characters although he still struggles with the English written word . Crickey it's not easy being a youngster these days .

Get him to stick with a language that will be useful. Unless he will live in Thailand Thai is useless!

And I believe he will . Well he can . Thai as a fluent and written language will provide him with many opportunities in his life . I hope he will be sticking with at least three languages . I think he's going to need them .

[brit1984]

Just to put children's natural ability to absorb languages into context, my 18-month daughter can understand more Thai than me (and more English than our maid).

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

[TommoPhysicist]

Ie "ba" which is to go.

'Ba' is Lanna and means 'let's go'

'By' is Central Thai and means 'to go'

Edited June 4, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[BigJohnnyBKK]

My kids are now 4 and 5.

I speak English to them (and they to me) 95% of the time, and I make sure 95% of their media consumption (TV/DVD/computer) is English language and at least somewhat educational. I also give them drawing and writing sheets, flash cards etc - basically home schooling them at this point.

My Thai dependants are asked to speak only Thai to them, but those that are actively learning English from me will also work with my kids' flash cards and writing sheets.

The Thais are mostly Isaan and so some Lao gets added to the mix.

When they go visit their mother's family they get Khmer as well as Thai and Lao from others in the village.

Dora teaches them some Spanish 8-)

Absolutely no confusion on their part, at this point they can produce a given meaning on demand in English or Thai, and understand what's spoken to them in Lao and Khmer as well.

There has been a bit of a delay in the boy's total vocabulary and full-sentence formation, but he's catching up now. Their English pronunciation isn't completely clear yet on the difficult (non-common) dipthongs like "L" and "TH", and I'm afraid my poor Thai pron has rubbed off on them, as Thais comment that they speak Thai with a farang accent, but IMO no problem.

I am confident that they'll have no problems at all if/when we make the move stateside.

[Seismic]

I spoke only english to my daughter, from playing songs when she was still in the womb, to playing songs when she was a baby. I bought English books and english music. You really need to do this from the start, the Thai will come naturally as most of your child's interaction will be in Thai. Just keep hitting them with your own language and they will pick it up.

[brit1984]

One thing I did read when I was an over-stressing / over-worried / super-excited parent-to-be, was that children whose parents speak different languages are generally slower to start talking (due to nervousness / shyness caused by confusion over which word is the right one for any given object / situation) but later they become better / faster language learners than their single-language household peers.

[nocturn]

Just to add, me and my wife generally talk English together.

And

Although our son doesn't speak much Thai, he has a very good understanding if the language

Ie "ba" which is to go.

no it is not

[David48]

I don't have kids in Thailand, but I do have a story to relate.

When I was in the Airport a few years ago, I met, in the transit lounge and nice German Lady and her daughter.

We got chatting as you do.

When she spoke to her daughter the Mother spoke in German.

The daughter dutifully replied in (almost) English every time.

Curious, I asked her why.

She explained that Father was English, Mother German and the child got exposed to a little more English then German but importantly ... she watched English Children's TV.

So I'm not advocating letting the TV teach her English but sort of endorsing what MAJIC and a few others were indirectly saying.

Your future children will easily grasp most languages that are spoken around them, how ever, they will develop most quickly in the language that appeals to them.

So, if it bedtime stories in Thai and Thai children’s TV then most likely Thai will be learnt faster then English ... and visa-versa.

So maybe best to have the early learning in English ... the fun stuff. Then, as your children grow and start to play with other children who naturally speak Thai, your child will focus more there.

[mike123ca]

When I was teaching English in South Korea. I had a 6 year old Korean who was able to speak to me. The Korean teacher told me the boy didn't have a father and the mother only spoke Korean.

I was told the mother would play language tapes every night since the boy was born.

I have two children and they are surrounded all day in Thai from all their relatives, friends and school. The only time they will speak English is when I'm around. Everynight I will set up the big T.V. and put on a cartoon or a movie cartoon. Enen thought they can speak it, they will ask why their cousins don't have to learn English.

[hotandhumid]

No chance I am taking my kids to the UK for education and to live. I couldn't think of anything worse to be honest, they will be staying here.

[klubex99]

Thanks for all the stories guys.

It seems that the general consensus is that the child is going to soak it up anyway and should be totally bilingual before school age. I think there is going to be a good balance between having the majority of people round them speaking Thai, so that is where they will learn Thai by default, and then with me speaking only English to them, and making sure that myself and my wife communicate in only English in front of them, and then add in some English TV and a nightly bedtime story in English, that should be enough.

I think with all that said. i can give them lessons in the English language structure once every few days should be enough... The alphabet, grammar, verbs, nouns, pronouns, conjugation etc etc...I want them to start on the internet from an early age. I think it is very important that they see the internet as more of an 'opportunity' to develop a backup income rather than a gossip board. My 10 year old son in the UK has a great future ahead of him. He has been trading XBox and PS3 games online now for 2 years, and on some days he can make $30 profit. he is also learning to build his own websites.

It is important that children understand from an early age that they need to develop skills to see them through life. But I need to pass on my e-commerce knowledge to my new kids too, that is why I think it is critical that they are 100% fluent in English.

[nocturn]

be around, be a parent and make an effort. the rest happens by itself.

In an ideal world perhaps...!!

in my experience, i have a 5 year old with a huge vocabulary in english who is reading in both thai and english.

all i have done is made my best effort.

but then i work from home, so perhaps my best effort is better than most.