Learn Thai?

[Neeranam]

Jumping to the end of this thread without reading much, my Thai wife has said she doesn't want to teach me Thai.

Why? ...because she has heard our falang friends speak fluent Thai with a female style/accent. They have been taught by a female and sound <deleted> stupid (my wifes words!). 

If you are male and want to learn Thai, get taught from a male teacher. 

Cheers BaanOz

It could well be that your wife has not a good understanding of the Thai language. I used to have a girlfriend who wouldn't teach me Thai saying a similar thing. I found out that she hadn't learned past 14 years.

Your wife probably feels threatened that you will ask her questions that she doesn't know the answer to. Maybe she has difficulty reading.

Nothing wrong with a female teacher.

I learned a lot of my Thai "on the street", and when I did have a teacher for a couple of hours, I got pissed off with her as she ried to teach me things that are never said. When I hear the guy who has learned his Thai at school, I sometimes self-righteously laugh, or tell others that he sounds "<deleted> stupid". Especially in Eesaaan, these guys sound stupid. While people say that it is better to be polite, I liken it to the English speaking nobs from Oxford or somewhere speaking to the farmer in Scotland. We all laugh and call them "######s" with a plum in their mooth.

One thing that I find funny is the way some male friends here that in Thai it is OK to say one's name in the first person(I). When I point out to them that only girls do this they quickly change. It is funny to hear the gatoeys or gays doing it though.

To learn a language you must be prepared to make manty mistakes and make a fool of yourself.

[Boon Mee]

When i am in a converstaion with a Thai and ask them to speak slowly and use short words they only do so for a short time and then babble at full speed with obtuse words.

So So true.

I find it strange the more Thai I learn the more "esoteric" the conversation between Thais becomes in the office. I tried some of the words I heard at home with my wife only to be laughed at... Where did you hear that.... Those words are very old and people don't say them any more.... You will sound stupid talking like that.

The more I learn the more that's happening to me as well.

Bought Higbee's "Thai "Reference Grammer" at the Chula Bookstore recently and was practicing the phrases with my wife and her friends and got the same "people don't speak like that anymore" thing. And this is from middle-class Thais who have had a University education? Mai kao jai.

What it may boil down to is the old jealousy factor. Don't let the Farang get too proficient with our language thing?

Edited March 13, 2005 by Boon Mee

[INTJ]

I am selling the Linguaphone Thai course, any interested parties see the ad in classifieds.

Cheers,

INTJ.

[aletta]

You certainly need a sharp mind to learn thai.I'm afraid mine is a little too blunt.

[Boon Mee]

I am selling the Linguaphone Thai course, any interested parties see the ad in classifieds.

Cheers,

INTJ.

Nice avatar, dude...

[Steve2UK]

Having just read through this thread from the beginning, I'm struck by a couple of things.......... about those who either don't want to try and learn at least some Thai if they're living here:

1) What kind of message do they think that sends to Thais they meet who discover that the farang has lived here x years and still doesn't speak any Thai worth the mention? Tick the one that applies - he's: lazy? stupid? arrogant? other?

2) How much of what Thailand can offer are they cutting themselves off from - and why?

OK - not for me to judge. If others are content with a year-in year-out all-inclusive holiday package type of arrangement with close to zero connection to the country they're in - so be it. For myself, once I'm living here permanently, I find it just inconceivable that I won't do my best to work at my Thai speaking, reading and writing - however limited the results prove to be, given that I'm 54 and definitely more prone to laziness than before.

[BaanOz]

It could well be that your wife has not a good understanding of the Thai language. I used to have a girlfriend who wouldn't teach me Thai saying a similar thing. I found out that she hadn't learned past 14 years.

Your wife probably feels threatened that you will ask her questions that she doesn't know the answer to. Maybe she has difficulty reading.

Hi Neeranam,

Good post, but if you knew her "Your wife probably feels threatened" ...this would make you laugh!

No she has a very good understanding of the Thai language. She has a very quick wit and others feel threatened, not her!

As you say there is nothing wrong with a female teacher. Maybe it is just the falangs we know but they seem to "pick-up" on some of the female teachers manners.

Cheers, BaanOz

[Neeranam]

Hi Neeranam,

Good post, but if you knew her "Your wife probably feels threatened" ...this would make you laugh! 

No she has a very good understanding of the Thai language. She has a very quick wit and others feel threatened, not her!

As you say there is nothing wrong with a female teacher. Maybe it is just the falangs we know but they seem to "pick-up" on some of the female teachers manners.

Cheers, BaanOz

Baan Oz

It was maybe wrong of me to say "probably" as this was just a theory as to why your wife may not want to teach you.

Another theory, maybe your friends are gay?

[BaanOz]

It was maybe wrong of me to say "probably" as this was just a theory as to why your wife may not want to teach you.

Another theory, maybe your friends are gay?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Neeranam,

LOL!!

Yep, that's it their "propably" the only gays in the village

Cheers BaanOz

[Puwa]

It's hard to think of many good reasons to not learn Thai, or at least not give it a try.

Don't worry about looking silly. Our antics as farang manage to entertain our Thai hosts whether or not we open our mouths to speak. We sweat, we stumble, we clomp around; we eat funny, we smile crooked, we smell terrible; our clothes are rumpled and our ears and noses sprout hair. When groups of us meet we forget ourselves, talk too loud, and eventually someone knocks something over. But our hosts are gracious, generally tolerate our shortcomings, and afford us respect. So it seems that we can show a measure of respect by learning how to hold a simple conversation in their language.

But ultimately it is the respect that counts, not the language it is expressed in. It's certainly better to be polite in English than rude in Thai. For years I was so proud that I could speak Thai that I went out of my way to avoid English conversation with Thais. But I grew out of that immaturity to realize that the people I was talking to wanted to enjoy the same opportunity to use their foreign language skill--imperfect though it may have been--when they had the chance. Now I follow a simple rule: I answer in the language that I am addressed in. What is there to prove, anyway?

Learning any particular new language teaches one a lot about language in general. This whole problem of picking up a phrase somewhere, then trying it out only to be told that it is wrong or obsolete is just the problem of language, all language, any language. If you speak classroom Thai you will be respected by some, derided by others. If you take your only lessons on a barstool, you might be the toast of the bar but mocked by your dentist, real estate broker, or polite neighbor. If you learn to throw in a word or more of kam muang to feel more at home in Chiang Mai, that hard-earned phrase will fall on deaf ears in Bangkok. If so-called Central Thai has any advantage it is that it is the language of television and most schooling, so people are at least familiar with it and will understand why you are speaking it. And the written and spoken forms more or less correspond.

In some cases, though, the books are just poorly written, poorly translated, or poorly presented. I've seen 40-year old reprints of Thai textbooks in use for foreign language study, so it's probably true that no one talks like that anymore. On the other hand, the more highly educated someone is, the broader the vocabulary, and the more likely that he will know and use words "old" words because he understands the finer connotations that express his meaning. Native speakers automatically (or with effort) choose their words to fit the situation and the audience. Students have to learn the words, the finely shaded differences between them, and the social implications and cultural allusions of using a word in context. Jesus, maybe that's the reason not to learn Thai.