Settle Down In Isaan

[TommoPhysicist]

i live in a village and have done for several years and i go into town for a beer when i want to meet up with mates etc village life suits me

another plus is by living in a village and not a town is you don't meet so many negative people like some of the posters on here

You may be meeting many such people, only you don't understand their language well enough to realize that.

[metisdead]

A post using Thai script has been removed. This is an English language forum, English is the only accepted language, except within the Thai language forum, where the use of Thai is allowed.

[SIamYank]

After all the 30+ years I have lived in Thailand I really admire these Thai ladies marrying Western men. Many of these ladies come from a humble background, usually rural. At most they have a primary school education. Yet, they seem to learn their husband's language. I have seen these ladies speaking German, English. French, Italian, yet their poor old husbands can't even string a sentence together in Thai. Even after living here for years with all the time in the world to learn Thai, especially if they are retired. I for one think these Thai ladies deserve a medal for putting up with all the crap they get from their "kii nok" husbands. I will duck from the bullets coming my way.

Many of these ladies do everything in their power to stop the husbands learning Thai, very hard for the husband to combat.

Ching Ching!?!?!? Farang Ting Tong Mak Mak! That is a totally silly statement. I have never met a Thai person that hasnt encouraged me to speak Thai. And I have never met one that isnt pleased as heck when I can and/or try. That goes for Khmer and Lao too! If you live in this country and cant speak any Thai you are the problem, not them!

And if you really do have a Thai wife who doesnt want you to speak Thai then you should never have gotten married. A marriage is about partnership and sharing. There is no cultural divide to that concept.

[tom21]

there is a lot of advice in this thread but one is missing and that is never put yourself in a position that you can not afford to walk away. the marriage can fail for many reasons not just the wife but the man not able or willing to stay in issan. or the wife dying and the family telling the man to go as he will have no say in what happens to the house. at least you can have the car and bike in your name

[TommoPhysicist]

And if you really do have a Thai wife who doesnt want you to speak Thai then you should never have gotten married. A marriage is about partnership and sharing. There is no cultural divide to that concept.

Do you really believe that BS?

[cardholder]

After all the 30+ years I have lived in Thailand I really admire these Thai ladies marrying Western men. Many of these ladies come from a humble background, usually rural. At most they have a primary school education. Yet, they seem to learn their husband's language. I have seen these ladies speaking German, English. French, Italian, yet their poor old husbands can't even string a sentence together in Thai. Even after living here for years with all the time in the world to learn Thai, especially if they are retired. I for one think these Thai ladies deserve a medal for putting up with all the crap they get from their "kii nok" husbands. I will duck from the bullets coming my way.

Many of these ladies do everything in their power to stop the husbands learning Thai, very hard for the husband to combat.

And if you really do have a Thai wife who doesnt want you to speak Thai then you should never have gotten married. A marriage is about partnership and sharing. There is no cultural divide to that concept.

T. I. T.

[KunMatt]

Hi.

Sorry, I couldn't be bothered to read the 4 pages of replies or to see if this is actually a troll from the OP, but here's my experience about living in Isaan;

I am in my early 30s. I've been with my gf for 3 years, we have a 1 year old son. I first visited my gf's family in a village outside of Ubon 2 years ago and stayed with them for about 2 months. After 2 weeks of being here I thought it would be a good idea to build a cheap house here as somewhere more comfortable for us to stay as I enjoyed being in the village so much, I wanted a house which had aircon, a decent entertainment system and a hot shower, that was basically my check list. Previously we just travelled around Thailand all the time and didn't have a base or any people to hang out with. In the village i really liked how sociable it was, everyone is very friendly, they are always outside all day, everyone knows everyone and they talk to every person who walks by and then they all eat and drink together every night. I grew up in a village in the UK and in a weird way this took me back to that small community feeling I had growing up which is why I guess I liked it so much.

We started to develop the land here for our house during my first visit, when we found out we were pregnant I decided to build a more expensive house than originally planned which we could live in for a few years until our son is ready to go to school either back in the UK or somewhere in Thailand with a decent private school, we have now been living here full time for about 5 months. My social life basically consists of my gf and son, we hang out with lots of people every day but basically I have no friends at all. I have zero common interests with anyone my own age here apart from my gf, the highlight of my week is usually playing some video games online with my mates in the UK every weekend. We have parties all the time and I enjoy drinking with everyone everyday but I am a total outsider, people are wonderful to me but I cannot understand them. I can understand Thai at a good basic level and I know maybe 40 words in Isaan, however when people talk to each other it is very fast and mumbled and I understand about 3% of what they are saying which is really depressing and frustrating (that wasn't a typo, yes THREE percent!). Everyone talks to me in Thai but even then sometimes their accents completely throw me and I feel like everything I know is worthless. I am totally isolated living here which is very stressful for me, I love and respect my gf's parents as if they were my own and they come to our place every day to help out with our son who they totally adore and worship. I look up to my gf's dad more than anyone in the world and I know we wouldn't be where we are now without him and his hard work, however at the end of the day I am a Westerner and I have no Western friends or activities to do here. I seem to be trying to Westernise our house more and more by setting up a UK VPN to get UK TV on demand and UK radio etc. Incidently I have lived in remote places all over Asia for the last 12 years so it's not like being away from home is a new thing for me, however here it feels more prevalent.

It's not like my life is terrible, the people here could not be any nicer to me and i get much more than I give out, whenever I need to do anything like build a driveway or a wall my gf's extended family are here in force and all I give them is a couple of bottles of Lao Khao and that's it, I've tried to pay some of them for their work but they won't accept it, when they need something likewise in return I am there for them which is great. So, all in all my life is very good and enjoyable here to a certain extent, but I am just missing some basic necessities, like real friends and an expat type of social life! My gf and son are very happy which was the whole point of us moving here for a few years, and I am more than happy to sacrifice a few years of my life for my son to be as happy and loved as he is here. We have a very nice house and I have all the mod cons I wanted and much more, in fact looking back I have actually forgotten how basic it used to be when we stayed with my gf's family compared to the relative luxury we live in now, our house here is much nicer and more comfortable than my house in the UK and at a fraction of the cost.

You can draw your own advice from my experience. I'm guessing from your username that you are in your 50s or 60s which means you will probably be around the same age as your gf's parents. Whether this is a pro or con for you I don't know, my gf's parents treat me like their son, if i was the same age as them I'm sure I would be much more detached. Also, from experience of living here it is obvious why Isaan girls try to find an expat partner who is much older than them, I'm sure this would have been covered in the last 4 pages of replies but in not here's a spoiler for you; there are several girls in this village with older farang partners and not a single one of them are honest or decent to him. Some have been screwed over for a house and a bunch of money and the rest are still in the process of this, every one of them is being treated like a complete mug and he doesn't seem to know or believe it.

You said you have only met with this girl 4 times. If you want to stay with her to the extent of living in her village then come and stay with her parents for a while. It's what a Thai couple would do. If you get to the point you want to live there full time then start to build a house here within your budget and, as always, that means money you can afford to lose, my gf's dad's house cost 200k, a guy in the DIY forum built a very nice Thai style house for 350k. Don't buy land, my gf's family already owned the land which our house is build upon and they contributed towards the cost of developing the land and wall without being asked. Keep an eye on how everyone treats you and helps you out, if you feel like you are being treated like mug then you are probably being one. Gossip from strangers is normal, rise above it and ignore it no matter how ridiculous and hurtful it is, it is high school mentality here and everyone will be jealous no matter what you do so the way to win is just to care and focus on your own business. Gossip from close family members is another thing and should not be tolerated.

[David Peters]

Hi.

Sorry, I couldn't be bothered to read the 4 pages of replies or to see if this is actually a troll from the OP, but here's my experience about living in Isaan;

I am in my early 30s. I've been with my gf for 3 years, we have a 1 year old son. I first visited my gf's family in a village outside of Ubon 2 years ago and stayed with them for about 2 months. After 2 weeks of being here I thought it would be a good idea to build a cheap house here as somewhere more comfortable for us to stay as I enjoyed being in the village so much, I wanted a house which had aircon, a decent entertainment system and a hot shower, that was basically my check list. Previously we just travelled around Thailand all the time and didn't have a base or any people to hang out with. In the village i really liked how sociable it was, everyone is very friendly, they are always outside all day, everyone knows everyone and they talk to every person who walks by and then they all eat and drink together every night. I grew up in a village in the UK and in a weird way this took me back to that small community feeling I had growing up which is why I guess I liked it so much.

We started to develop the land here for our house during my first visit, when we found out we were pregnant I decided to build a more expensive house than originally planned which we could live in for a few years until our son is ready to go to school either back in the UK or somewhere in Thailand with a decent private school, we have now been living here full time for about 5 months. My social life basically consists of my gf and son, we hang out with lots of people every day but basically I have no friends at all. I have zero common interests with anyone my own age here apart from my gf, the highlight of my week is usually playing some video games online with my mates in the UK every weekend. We have parties all the time and I enjoy drinking with everyone everyday but I am a total outsider, people are wonderful to me but I cannot understand them. I can understand Thai at a good basic level and I know maybe 40 words in Isaan, however when people talk to each other it is very fast and mumbled and I understand about 3% of what they are saying which is really depressing and frustrating (that wasn't a typo, yes THREE percent!). Everyone talks to me in Thai but even then sometimes their accents completely throw me and I feel like everything I know is worthless. I am totally isolated living here which is very stressful for me, I love and respect my gf's parents as if they were my own and they come to our place every day to help out with our son who they totally adore and worship. I look up to my gf's dad more than anyone in the world and I know we wouldn't be where we are now without him and his hard work, however at the end of the day I am a Westerner and I have no Western friends or activities to do here. I seem to be trying to Westernise our house more and more by setting up a UK VPN to get UK TV on demand and UK radio etc. Incidently I have lived in remote places all over Asia for the last 12 years so it's not like being away from home is a new thing for me, however here it feels more prevalent.

It's not like my life is terrible, the people here could not be any nicer to me and i get much more than I give out, whenever I need to do anything like build a driveway or a wall my gf's extended family are here in force and all I give them is a couple of bottles of Lao Khao and that's it, I've tried to pay some of them for their work but they won't accept it, when they need something likewise in return I am there for them which is great. So, all in all my life is very good and enjoyable here to a certain extent, but I am just missing some basic necessities, like real friends and an expat type of social life! My gf and son are very happy which was the whole point of us moving here for a few years, and I am more than happy to sacrifice a few years of my life for my son to be as happy and loved as he is here. We have a very nice house and I have all the mod cons I wanted and much more, in fact looking back I have actually forgotten how basic it used to be when we stayed with my gf's family compared to the relative luxury we live in now, our house here is much nicer and more comfortable than my house in the UK and at a fraction of the cost.

You can draw your own advice from my experience. I'm guessing from your username that you are in your 50s or 60s which means you will probably be around the same age as your gf's parents. Whether this is a pro or con for you I don't know, my gf's parents treat me like their son, if i was the same age as them I'm sure I would be much more detached. Also, from experience of living here it is obvious why Isaan girls try to find an expat partner who is much older than them, I'm sure this would have been covered in the last 4 pages of replies but in not here's a spoiler for you; there are several girls in this village with older farang partners and not a single one of them are honest or decent to him. Some have been screwed over for a house and a bunch of money and the rest are still in the process of this, every one of them is being treated like a complete mug and he doesn't seem to know or believe it.

You said you have only met with this girl 4 times. If you want to stay with her to the extent of living in her village then come and stay with her parents for a while. It's what a Thai couple would do. If you get to the point you want to live there full time then start to build a house here within your budget and, as always, that means money you can afford to lose, my gf's dad's house cost 200k, a guy in the DIY forum built a very nice Thai style house for 350k. Don't buy land, my gf's family already owned the land which our house is build upon and they contributed towards the cost of developing the land and wall without being asked. Keep an eye on how everyone treats you and helps you out, if you feel like you are being treated like mug then you are probably being one. Gossip from strangers is normal, rise above it and ignore it no matter how ridiculous and hurtful it is, it is high school mentality here and everyone will be jealous no matter what you do so the way to win is just to care and focus on your own business. Gossip from close family members is another thing and should not be tolerated.

Very nice story. But what do you every day? Farming? Keeping fit? Cooking? Learning more Thai? One has to keep the brain ticking over and the body in good shape. What about setting up a business in the village? Shop? Pickup hire service?

[MobileContent]

Hi.

Sorry, I couldn't be bothered to read the 4 pages of replies or to see if this is actually a troll from the OP, but here's my experience about living in Isaan;

I am in my early 30s. I've been with my gf for 3 years, we have a 1 year old son. I first visited my gf's family in a village outside of Ubon 2 years ago and stayed with them for about 2 months. After 2 weeks of being here I thought it would be a good idea to build a cheap house here as somewhere more comfortable for us to stay as I enjoyed being in the village so much, I wanted a house which had aircon, a decent entertainment system and a hot shower, that was basically my check list. Previously we just travelled around Thailand all the time and didn't have a base or any people to hang out with. In the village i really liked how sociable it was, everyone is very friendly, they are always outside all day, everyone knows everyone and they talk to every person who walks by and then they all eat and drink together every night. I grew up in a village in the UK and in a weird way this took me back to that small community feeling I had growing up which is why I guess I liked it so much.

We started to develop the land here for our house during my first visit, when we found out we were pregnant I decided to build a more expensive house than originally planned which we could live in for a few years until our son is ready to go to school either back in the UK or somewhere in Thailand with a decent private school, we have now been living here full time for about 5 months. My social life basically consists of my gf and son, we hang out with lots of people every day but basically I have no friends at all. I have zero common interests with anyone my own age here apart from my gf, the highlight of my week is usually playing some video games online with my mates in the UK every weekend. We have parties all the time and I enjoy drinking with everyone everyday but I am a total outsider, people are wonderful to me but I cannot understand them. I can understand Thai at a good basic level and I know maybe 40 words in Isaan, however when people talk to each other it is very fast and mumbled and I understand about 3% of what they are saying which is really depressing and frustrating (that wasn't a typo, yes THREE percent!). Everyone talks to me in Thai but even then sometimes their accents completely throw me and I feel like everything I know is worthless. I am totally isolated living here which is very stressful for me, I love and respect my gf's parents as if they were my own and they come to our place every day to help out with our son who they totally adore and worship. I look up to my gf's dad more than anyone in the world and I know we wouldn't be where we are now without him and his hard work, however at the end of the day I am a Westerner and I have no Western friends or activities to do here. I seem to be trying to Westernise our house more and more by setting up a UK VPN to get UK TV on demand and UK radio etc. Incidently I have lived in remote places all over Asia for the last 12 years so it's not like being away from home is a new thing for me, however here it feels more prevalent.

It's not like my life is terrible, the people here could not be any nicer to me and i get much more than I give out, whenever I need to do anything like build a driveway or a wall my gf's extended family are here in force and all I give them is a couple of bottles of Lao Khao and that's it, I've tried to pay some of them for their work but they won't accept it, when they need something likewise in return I am there for them which is great. So, all in all my life is very good and enjoyable here to a certain extent, but I am just missing some basic necessities, like real friends and an expat type of social life! My gf and son are very happy which was the whole point of us moving here for a few years, and I am more than happy to sacrifice a few years of my life for my son to be as happy and loved as he is here. We have a very nice house and I have all the mod cons I wanted and much more, in fact looking back I have actually forgotten how basic it used to be when we stayed with my gf's family compared to the relative luxury we live in now, our house here is much nicer and more comfortable than my house in the UK and at a fraction of the cost.

You can draw your own advice from my experience. I'm guessing from your username that you are in your 50s or 60s which means you will probably be around the same age as your gf's parents. Whether this is a pro or con for you I don't know, my gf's parents treat me like their son, if i was the same age as them I'm sure I would be much more detached. Also, from experience of living here it is obvious why Isaan girls try to find an expat partner who is much older than them, I'm sure this would have been covered in the last 4 pages of replies but in not here's a spoiler for you; there are several girls in this village with older farang partners and not a single one of them are honest or decent to him. Some have been screwed over for a house and a bunch of money and the rest are still in the process of this, every one of them is being treated like a complete mug and he doesn't seem to know or believe it.

You said you have only met with this girl 4 times. If you want to stay with her to the extent of living in her village then come and stay with her parents for a while. It's what a Thai couple would do. If you get to the point you want to live there full time then start to build a house here within your budget and, as always, that means money you can afford to lose, my gf's dad's house cost 200k, a guy in the DIY forum built a very nice Thai style house for 350k. Don't buy land, my gf's family already owned the land which our house is build upon and they contributed towards the cost of developing the land and wall without being asked. Keep an eye on how everyone treats you and helps you out, if you feel like you are being treated like mug then you are probably being one. Gossip from strangers is normal, rise above it and ignore it no matter how ridiculous and hurtful it is, it is high school mentality here and everyone will be jealous no matter what you do so the way to win is just to care and focus on your own business. Gossip from close family members is another thing and should not be tolerated.

When I was 22 years (I am now 47), I moved to Southeast Asia and mingled with the cultures of Thailand, Malaysia and as well Indonesia and I felt at times very much the same as you Khun Matt but the key is learn the language at the place you live.

Als my Thai isn't that good compared to my Malay but most Thai's understand me.

I haven living now almost 2 years in Isaan and after having worked in Bangkok for almost 20 years, I found the village life fits perfectly. I do have a lot of luck that the family of my Mrs isn't really after money and I build our house on their land next to them which can be very handy. I mix around a lot in the village with the villages and for me it is most of the time fun and I take it easy all the time.

Gossip has been all the time around but for me I don't get involved but at times it is funny and refreshing.

Khun Matt, ask your GF to teach you Thai and you will not be an outsider in your village.

[KunMatt]

When I was 22 years (I am now 47), I moved to Southeast Asia and mingled with the cultures of Thailand, Malaysia and as well Indonesia and I felt at times very much the same as you Khun Matt but the key is learn the language at the place you live.

Als my Thai isn't that good compared to my Malay but most Thai's understand me.

I haven living now almost 2 years in Isaan and after having worked in Bangkok for almost 20 years, I found the village life fits perfectly. I do have a lot of luck that the family of my Mrs isn't really after money and I build our house on their land next to them which can be very handy. I mix around a lot in the village with the villages and for me it is most of the time fun and I take it easy all the time.

Gossip has been all the time around but for me I don't get involved but at times it is funny and refreshing.

Khun Matt, ask your GF to teach you Thai and you will not be an outsider in your village.

Like I said, if Thai people talk to me in Thai then I can usually understand them, it's a different story with Isaan people talking to me in Isaan or Thai though. I don't plan to live in Isaan forever and I certainly won't let my son go to school here so I have the choice to either start to try and learn Isaan properly, and given that here are far less resources to do this it is much more difficult, or continue to improve my Thai as we will probably move somewhere else in Thailand in a few years. Since that's my reasoning, and like I also said, most of the reason for me being an outsider is that nbody here shares any of my interests.

The daily village gossip is usually pretty funny but it can also be very vicious depending on the reason for it.

[MobileContent]

good point KunMatt, Wish you all the best then.....

[David Peters]

When I was 22 years (I am now 47), I moved to Southeast Asia and mingled with the cultures of Thailand, Malaysia and as well Indonesia and I felt at times very much the same as you Khun Matt but the key is learn the language at the place you live.

Als my Thai isn't that good compared to my Malay but most Thai's understand me.

I haven living now almost 2 years in Isaan and after having worked in Bangkok for almost 20 years, I found the village life fits perfectly. I do have a lot of luck that the family of my Mrs isn't really after money and I build our house on their land next to them which can be very handy. I mix around a lot in the village with the villages and for me it is most of the time fun and I take it easy all the time.

Gossip has been all the time around but for me I don't get involved but at times it is funny and refreshing.

Khun Matt, ask your GF to teach you Thai and you will not be an outsider in your village.

Like I said, if Thai people talk to me in Thai then I can usually understand them, it's a different story with Isaan people talking to me in Isaan or Thai though. I don't plan to live in Isaan forever and I certainly won't let my son go to school here so I have the choice to either start to try and learn Isaan properly, and given that here are far less resources to do this it is much more difficult, or continue to improve my Thai as we will probably move somewhere else in Thailand in a few years. Since that's my reasoning, and like I also said, most of the reason for me being an outsider is that nbody here shares any of my interests.

The daily village gossip is usually pretty funny but it can also be very vicious depending on the reason for it.

But what do you do every day? Have you got a business, farming etc?

[KunMatt]

When I was 22 years (I am now 47), I moved to Southeast Asia and mingled with the cultures of Thailand, Malaysia and as well Indonesia and I felt at times very much the same as you Khun Matt but the key is learn the language at the place you live.

Als my Thai isn't that good compared to my Malay but most Thai's understand me.

I haven living now almost 2 years in Isaan and after having worked in Bangkok for almost 20 years, I found the village life fits perfectly. I do have a lot of luck that the family of my Mrs isn't really after money and I build our house on their land next to them which can be very handy. I mix around a lot in the village with the villages and for me it is most of the time fun and I take it easy all the time.

Gossip has been all the time around but for me I don't get involved but at times it is funny and refreshing.

Khun Matt, ask your GF to teach you Thai and you will not be an outsider in your village.

Like I said, if Thai people talk to me in Thai then I can usually understand them, it's a different story with Isaan people talking to me in Isaan or Thai though. I don't plan to live in Isaan forever and I certainly won't let my son go to school here so I have the choice to either start to try and learn Isaan properly, and given that here are far less resources to do this it is much more difficult, or continue to improve my Thai as we will probably move somewhere else in Thailand in a few years. Since that's my reasoning, and like I also said, most of the reason for me being an outsider is that nbody here shares any of my interests.

The daily village gossip is usually pretty funny but it can also be very vicious depending on the reason for it.

But what do you do every day? Have you got a business, farming etc?

No, I don't have any business in Thailand. I work outside of Thailand for a little while and then come back for a few months.

[MobileContent]

When I was 22 years (I am now 47), I moved to Southeast Asia and mingled with the cultures of Thailand, Malaysia and as well Indonesia and I felt at times very much the same as you Khun Matt but the key is learn the language at the place you live.

Als my Thai isn't that good compared to my Malay but most Thai's understand me.

I haven living now almost 2 years in Isaan and after having worked in Bangkok for almost 20 years, I found the village life fits perfectly. I do have a lot of luck that the family of my Mrs isn't really after money and I build our house on their land next to them which can be very handy. I mix around a lot in the village with the villages and for me it is most of the time fun and I take it easy all the time.

Gossip has been all the time around but for me I don't get involved but at times it is funny and refreshing.

Khun Matt, ask your GF to teach you Thai and you will not be an outsider in your village.

Like I said, if Thai people talk to me in Thai then I can usually understand them, it's a different story with Isaan people talking to me in Isaan or Thai though. I don't plan to live in Isaan forever and I certainly won't let my son go to school here so I have the choice to either start to try and learn Isaan properly, and given that here are far less resources to do this it is much more difficult, or continue to improve my Thai as we will probably move somewhere else in Thailand in a few years. Since that's my reasoning, and like I also said, most of the reason for me being an outsider is that nbody here shares any of my interests.

The daily village gossip is usually pretty funny but it can also be very vicious depending on the reason for it.

But what do you do every day? Have you got a business, farming etc?

For me, I work in the IT sector in Bangkok for 1 week per month and the other 3 weeks I am permitted to work from my home in Sakon.

[David Peters]

When I was 22 years (I am now 47), I moved to Southeast Asia and mingled with the cultures of Thailand, Malaysia and as well Indonesia and I felt at times very much the same as you Khun Matt but the key is learn the language at the place you live.

Als my Thai isn't that good compared to my Malay but most Thai's understand me.

I haven living now almost 2 years in Isaan and after having worked in Bangkok for almost 20 years, I found the village life fits perfectly. I do have a lot of luck that the family of my Mrs isn't really after money and I build our house on their land next to them which can be very handy. I mix around a lot in the village with the villages and for me it is most of the time fun and I take it easy all the time.

Gossip has been all the time around but for me I don't get involved but at times it is funny and refreshing.

Khun Matt, ask your GF to teach you Thai and you will not be an outsider in your village.

Like I said, if Thai people talk to me in Thai then I can usually understand them, it's a different story with Isaan people talking to me in Isaan or Thai though. I don't plan to live in Isaan forever and I certainly won't let my son go to school here so I have the choice to either start to try and learn Isaan properly, and given that here are far less resources to do this it is much more difficult, or continue to improve my Thai as we will probably move somewhere else in Thailand in a few years. Since that's my reasoning, and like I also said, most of the reason for me being an outsider is that nbody here shares any of my interests.

The daily village gossip is usually pretty funny but it can also be very vicious depending on the reason for it.

But what do you do every day? Have you got a business, farming etc?

For me, I work in the IT sector in Bangkok for 1 week per month and the other 3 weeks I am permitted to work from my home in Sakon.

Thank you both for that update. Now I know you are not living permanently in a village like many of the other people that contribute to this forum.

[KunMatt]

Thank you both for that update. Now I know you are not living permanently in a village like many of the other people that contribute to this forum.

Well it is the only place I live and I consider it living in this village full time.

[MobileContent]

Thank you both for that update. Now I know you are not living permanently in a village like many of the other people that contribute to this forum.

To be exact I have to be four working days a month to be located in Bangkok. (Normally I fly on a Monday morning and return on Thursday evening if my Mrs follows me or I fly every Monday morning out and return late Monday afternoon). For me that sounds full-time and I am sure you too leave once in a whole your province, be it for a visa run, family matters overseas, embassy matters or just for a holiday out of your village.

Edited July 24, 2012 by MobileContent

[rct99q]

just a point about learning Thai, it is easy and usually only costs about 200฿ (sorry for using a thai character). Go to a local thai bookstore or Tesco and in the children's section there are coloring books with a symbol of a rooster on it. At the top right hand of the page is a sign that reads 3 +. Inside are all the tools you will need to learn thai. How the characters look, sound and are pronounced. If you are lucky it should take no more than 3 months to be stringing words together and 6 months to fully understand the basic language structure.

Goh Gai, Koh Khai, Koh Kwah etc...

[Thaiwine]

I too am in a similar position to the op and have found the advice in this thread very helpful

Thanks guys

[kalasin]

Be careful not to believe everything that you read on the internet - especially if you are desperate.

In my experience only one thing seems to be 100% sure: you will experience a large increasing numbers of visitors in your Isaan home compared to your small flat in farangland wherever you do live now.

The rest is up to you and your girlfriend. Some become a walking ATM, some don't, some get bored, some don't etc. There is really only one way to find out: try it. You don't have to build an expensive house. Rent a house and see what life brings you. If you don't, you will never know, and you will be thinking about it to the end of your days.

That is if you really are in doubt and not just want to start a debate. Where is your girlfriend's hometown?

Edited August 13, 2012 by kalasin

[KunMatt]

just a point about learning Thai, it is easy and usually only costs about 200฿ (sorry for using a thai character). Go to a local thai bookstore or Tesco and in the children's section there are coloring books with a symbol of a rooster on it. At the top right hand of the page is a sign that reads 3 +. Inside are all the tools you will need to learn thai. How the characters look, sound and are pronounced. If you are lucky it should take no more than 3 months to be stringing words together and 6 months to fully understand the basic language structure.

Goh Gai, Koh Khai, Koh Kwah etc...

Was that sarcasm or are you just categorising reading Thai with everything else to do with learning the language?

Learning Thai is not easy. It's the hardest language I've ever tried to learn. Most people in the Thai Language forum will concur. Learning Isaan (or Laos) which would be more beneficial to the OP seeing as he is talking about moving to Isaan is far more difficult.

Learning the Thai alphabet and the phonetic names for each letter, the classes, the tone rules, and basically getting to the point of being able to read and say a Thai word or sentence from Thai script is easy (albeit slow at first). But actually listening and speaking Thai to a local and being understood fluently is probably the hardest thing I've ever done, and I have a degree in Engineering!!

[Surin steve]

You think learning Thai is hard try living in my village the only Thai you hear is on the telly everyone speaks Lao Khmer or Sui it really puts the average farang to shame when you see 8 year old kids fluent in 4 languages

[KunMatt]

You think learning Thai is hard try living in my village the only Thai you hear is on the telly everyone speaks Lao Khmer or Sui it really puts the average farang to shame when you see 8 year old kids fluent in 4 languages

What's your point??

Does that make learning Thai any easier for the OP? How many of these 4 languages do you speak fluently?

My 1 year old son says words from 3 different languages right now, is that supposed to "shame" any 1 year old that is not exposed to three languages?

[Surin steve]

In answer to your question I speak Thai,Khmer and Lao fluently and I understand most things said to me in Sui . I read and write Thai better than most Thais of my age group (50s) most in my village are not well educated

My point is farang who live here for any length of time have no excuses for not learning the language most in my village do not know Thai and because of this are not and never wil be fully exepted into the day to day village life

When I first came to Thailand 34 years ago I struggled also with the language and soon came to the conclusion that trying to learn Thai in Bangkok pataya or anywhere else with lots of tourists was difficult because most people wanted to speak English all the time , so I made the move right out into the sticks rented a small room and lived like a Thai for 2 years I don't think I even saw a farang never mind spoke to one my Thai came on in leaps and bounds because I had to speak it

I do take the point however of a number of op who say that they get no help from there wife's G F in learning alot of wife's like there husbands living like mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed on $hit) and I hear it all the time when ever I'm in pataya or Bangkok "farang mai dii ru Thai mark ru Mark kun pai" ( he knows how to speak Thai he knows too much ) or in other words it's going to be hard ripping this farang off but I just think suits me I don't want to know these kind of people any way So my point is don't let them win get wise

[rct99q]

In this case my post was sincere. As another has posted learning Thai is no harder (or easier) than learning to speak English correctly, IF you want to. Like quitting smoking, until the day comes you really want to do it, it will always be difficult.

The books, I mentioned, are all about learning the sound the character makes, which in turn makes you pronounce each syllable (or character) in it's correct form. Then you are able to spell out and pronounce small words.

The following are two small letters in Thai to help make a point, please keep if possible:

ก = Goh Gai (midtone)- everyone knows this character it is very recognizable

า = Vowel aa (midtone)- also very common used a lot and you may recognize.

Together they spell กา Gaa (teapot). This is the same way you learned English using C for Cat , A as in Apple.

It is not as difficult as you are making it out to be. KISS keep it simple silly....As for living in Isan, I always suggest learning Royal Thai (or Thai) is the best. Once you have the basics of Thai, learning or picking up the Isan dialect is easier.

As a side point if you are really wanting to talk with your girlfriend/s here in Isan do what I did and learn Laos. It was easier than Thai and for the most part they have no problem in understanding you. It does however make learning Royal Thai a bit more confusing.

[puchooay]

In this case my post was sincere. As another has posted learning Thai is no harder (or easier) than learning to speak English correctly, IF you want to. Like quitting smoking, until the day comes you really want to do it, it will always be difficult.

The books, I mentioned, are all about learning the sound the character makes, which in turn makes you pronounce each syllable (or character) in it's correct form. Then you are able to spell out and pronounce small words.

The following are two small letters in Thai to help make a point, please keep if possible:

ก = Goh Gai (midtone)- everyone knows this character it is very recognizable

า = Vowel aa (midtone)- also very common used a lot and you may recognize.

Together they spell กา Gaa (teapot). This is the same way you learned English using C for Cat , A as in Apple.

It is not as difficult as you are making it out to be. KISS keep it simple silly....As for living in Isan, I always suggest learning Royal Thai (or Thai) is the best. Once you have the basics of Thai, learning or picking up the Isan dialect is easier.

As a side point if you are really wanting to talk with your girlfriend/s here in Isan do what I did and learn Laos. It was easier than Thai and for the most part they have no problem in understanding you. It does however make learning Royal Thai a bit more confusing.

Why would I want to learn Laos when my wife speaks Thai and Khmer?

[rct99q]

Hey puchooay,

Mentioned that learning Thai is the first and best option (then pick up the Isan dialect). However some people are unable to learn Thai (for what ever reason) so I sometimes suggest learning Lao. It is very similar to Thai (about 70%) but it is generally a little easier to pick up. Simple sentence structure is similar to English and cuts out a lot of the singy - songy parts of Thai that some people have a problem with.

As the initial thread I believe, forgot now what it says, talks about the Isan region, most people here are familiar with Lao as it makes up a part of the Isan Dialect.

Again as a side note....if you are looking to come to the Isan region and particularly near a border town with Laos then try a little Lao on some of the locals you will get a smile and a chuckle. They do not expect you to know Thai let alone "Isan".

[puchooay]

Hey puchooay,

Mentioned that learning Thai is the first and best option (then pick up the Isan dialect). However some people are unable to learn Thai (for what ever reason) so I sometimes suggest learning Lao. It is very similar to Thai (about 70%) but it is generally a little easier to pick up. Simple sentence structure is similar to English and cuts out a lot of the singy - songy parts of Thai that some people have a problem with.

As the initial thread I believe, forgot now what it says, talks about the Isan region, most people here are familiar with Lao as it makes up a part of the Isan Dialect.

Again as a side note....if you are looking to come to the Isan region and particularly near a border town with Laos then try a little Lao on some of the locals you will get a smile and a chuckle. They do not expect you to know Thai let alone "Isan".

I think you missed my point. I am fluent in Thai and speak some Khmer. I live in a Khmer village. I have been living in Issan for over 14 years. Although I am fully aware of the structure of the Laos language; I can understand some of it, as it is indeed very close to Thai, it would be pointless learning it.

Let's not forget that Khmer and Suay are also "Issan" dialects.

[SantiSuk]

Huh?

Khmer is the language of the Cambodian people. Maybe it has morphed a bit over the last 40 years as the refugee Khmers intermarried with longer-standing Isaan dwellers but to call it a dialect of Issaan is like calling Urdu a dialect of English.

[jamescollister]

Have to say you are all better then me, my Thai is bad, my Lao is worse and though this is an alleged Lao area they don't speak the same Lao as the people further north on the Mekong. It may well be that the area has been cut off from the world for a long time, but the old people speak a different language from the younger Thai/Lao speakers. Then they mix it all up, all gibberish to me. Get more understanding when I speak English. Have to remember that electricity is still new and most villagers still haven't bothered with it. TV is around, but I bought the first about 8 years ago.

Think I will never get to the point where I can sit and talk, took 2 weeks to find the word for a pickaxe. They had never seen one so didn't know the name. Jim