Speaking Thai in Thailand is Useless

[cooked]

This village has a good percentage of older Thais that can't speak or read Thai. They speak Lao. I am still making the effort though.

[gerry1011]

I did not read any of the replies.
Just wanted to drop by and say that I do not agree (at all) with the title of this thread.
Speaking (fluent and correctly pronounced) Thai is veeeeeeeeeery useful to live comfortably and happy in Thailand.
Of course, it requires a bit of effort.
It has probably been said in some of the replies, ... the "secret" of speaking correct and understandable Thai is in the writing.
Learn the writing first, then the rest will follow much easier.
When you speak fluent Thai you understand the people better, you avoid lots of misunderstanding, you mix better with the society, you make better friends, you can have proper conversations, you get more respect, it's much more fun, you don't need to rely on other farangs or a "wife", you can finally get information from other sources than The Nation, ... and you much better understand what's really happening in the society around you.

There are so many grumpy guys complaining all the time on this forum. I believe that if more people would make the effort to learn to speak (fluent and correct) Thai, there would be less grumpy expats... Except if they were born grumpy, of course

[transam]

I tried, said ''no'' in a chat in Thai, my Mrs.Trans told me I called the lady a dog......

[Ace of Pop]

I tried, said ''no'' in a chat in Thai, my Mrs.Trans told me I called the lady a dog......

Why are We Not Supprised..... .

[zeichen]

"I did not read any of the replies."

This was the point, where I stopped reading your response.

You are acting like a person, who walks up to a group having a conversation and interjects something that may or may not be directly related to the conversation and then walks away.

[NaiGreg]

So this penguin and a fox walk into a bar in Thailand and the penguin says "ภาษามนุษย์น่าเบื่อมาก!"

This thread is more hilarious than the penguin joke. People actually take the op seriously?

[InsideOut]

There are sometimes small differences that we are unable to hear, same thing with some Thais speaking English.

They say something that to them sounds exactly like we say it in English, but some small difference makes it almost impossible for us to understand. And vice versa

[gerry1011]

"I did not read any of the replies."

This was the point, where I stopped reading your response.

You are acting like a person, who walks up to a group having a conversation and interjects something that may or may not be directly related to the conversation and then walks away.

I am pretty sure you read the last phrases

Anyway, my reply was related to the title of the op, so I guess it has at least a little bit to do with the conversation.

Sent from my iPhone...

[chubby]

it's a "rant" , so he can say things like "useless" , when He probably just means "frustrating", I empathize perfectly, I have found, some taxi drivers, and girlfriends, don't want me to even try to speak Thai, and can't seem to even understand 1 word of my Pasa BKK Thai.

Then, there are others, with whom, I can have a conversation.

for sure, without diligent tone use, if you can't get in enough context, it won't work, trouble is, in the world there, you more often, aren't going to meet folks who have the time and inclination, patience, or intelligence, to suss out just what you want, then again, if you speak even a few words of Thai, you will get back fast Thai, and no attempt at English, so you either try to get better, or your forced to live a simple life it seems...

[infinity11]

to OP

speaking thai may be useless until you come across someone who speaks zero english

man what a diff!

they light right up!!!!

[DavidMavec]

One thing I will never grasp is why many, many Thai people feel like they "should" speak English... this is Thailand. Foreigners should speak Thai, not the other way around.

If you live in Latin America or other developing countries outside of Asia, you will not encounter this phenomenon at all, it's quite perplexing.

[infinity11]

The more and better i speak thai the more doors open, but that is just me.

[infinity11]

I have done so much in thailand, i feel there is nothing i can not do should i ever perfect my thai, but once again, that is just me.

[Tomtomtom69]

To the OP, I feel sorry for your "predicament" being that you claim not to be understood and are thus not taken seriously when it comes to speaking the language that should be spoken by everyone in Thailand, since no other languages are official languages other than Thai and few people here speak English or other languages well.

However, like other posters have stated I am under the impression that your Thai may not be as crash hot as you make it out to be (sorry to say this) and it may not be related merely to things like pronunciation and tones, which you claim is good, but rather, your accent, grammar, ways in which you construct your sentences etc. Thai is not a language that is commonly spoken with a foreign accent - the only way you will be accepted is to speak more or less like a native speaker - drop your native accent, whatever it may be and mimic the way a Thai speaks. I know this may be harder said than done, given that many immigrants to western countries, for example, Albanian or Greek immigrants to Australia still retain their heavy native accents and can never master the broad Aussie accent, even after 20+ years, although their kids can. Similarly for Chinese immigrants to Australia or the USA or wherever, they still can't speak in plurals and sometimes still have confusion with he/she even after living in Australia/USA/Canada etc. for half their lives.

Therefore it will take a big effort on your part to better understand the way Thais speak. However, I can't say for sure without hearing you speak - that is important for being able to determine how good your Thai really is. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. As someone from a mixed family (not Thai BTW) who grew up speaking Bangla (the language of Bangladesh) and no, I'm not in any way Bengali, I merely lived there for 3 years with my family soon after I was born and then learning my mother's native tongue of German (well Swiss German really) then French, which I spoke with my father (and now I speak English with him, while continuing to speak Swiss German with my mother), learning another language like Thai wasn't as hard as it is for most monolingual expats from predominantly English speaking countries who don't have my background. My dad speaks 8 languages fluently and he sounds pretty much like a local when he speaks each of them - only his English is a bit accented, but not too strongly. This is perhaps because he learnt English much later in life compared to languages such as German, French and Spanish. He speaks a bit of Thai, but not much.

However I have managed to master Thai including reading and writing. I don't understand why some people who claim to speak good, even fluent Thai don't read or write much (or at all). The only way to claim fluency and be really good at Thai is to be able to read and write flawlessly, as I am able to do. It's not that hard with a bit of practice, certainly much easier than remembering hundreds upon hundreds, even thousands of characters as in Chinese, which I am also able to converse in (though I am still far from fluent).

Also, just a little bit of arrogance goes a long way. I have, for the past 5 years insisted on speaking only Thai with Thai people. The only exceptions are in situations where there are non-Thai speakers with me and/or where a mutual level of respect is shown and a good reason is given for speaking another language such as English in a specific context. I mostly do this with people I already know, however and this wouldn't apply to your average street vendor, shop assistant, airline rep, government officer or whoever I don't already know. With people I have just met, and whom I won't see again and most likely am just dealing with one time, Thai is the only language I speak and there's absolutely no reason for me to use English with such people. It's very rare for anyone not to speak Thai to me anymore and very few people even switch to English anymore once I start speaking Thai. Yes, without boasting I'm that good. I've been told by some people my Thai is better than that of Andrew Biggs, though I would rather remain modest and state that I am no linguist and merely want to be able to use the language of a country that I have spent so much time in properly and that is something I have been able to achieve. The only things I've noticed with a very small number of people is that they may at first reply in Thai, followed by a muddled English/Thai response, but I am referring only to people I've just met and perhaps weren't expecting Thai to be spoken. However, after only a few more words it becomes abundantly clear that I won't budge on language use.

Very, very few people would still insist on speaking English with me outright after knowing how good I speak Thai but for those few that still do, I refuse to talk with them. I will then pretend not to understand their English (in many cases I really can't); I may ask others with me to communicate with them instead (even my Sri Lankan friend who speaks very little English and can't understand most Thais when they speak with him...btw we communicate with each other in Chinese) or walk away from them, anything to move away from a conversation I don't want to have with them - although I do it in the most subtle way possible. To me it's very rude, racist and condescending to speak to me in a language that I may not even speak [English] in a non-English speaking country based on some biased pre-conception that I can't speak Thai or can only speak English. In particular, such actions are often made by people who don't even speak English well. I won't take any part in it. Note that I in no way would ever return the rudeness by saying something like: "speak to me in Thai!" only that I may say something like "mai khao jai" or just give them a confused look and refuse to listen to what they are saying, thus they would turn to my friend, dad or whoever else is with me, even if they are not Thai. However, if my friend/dad whoever is not with me I would just walk away, or deal with someone else. BTW of all the times this has ever happened, it's almost always been when I'm with a non-Thai friend/family member or even by myself. When I'm with a Thai person I would almost never be spoken to in English nor have waitstaff etc. ask my Thai friends/accompanying people to explain what I said. Maybe years ago when my Thai wasn't that great, but not in the last 5 years or so.

Of course, sometimes you have to recognize that not everyone whom you meet is trying to undermine your efforts and in most cases, I've found that of the few people who at first were speaking English, or more likely a combination of Thai/English were really trying to judge my fluency and thus would be more than happy to speak Thai with me thereafter. While it should be apparent right from the beginning, I'll give genuine people the benefit of the doubt; I have met enough people here to know what people are like here. I can also easily determine who is genuine and who is just trying to be an ass and who thinks the Thai language is only for Thais. Fortunately, I have met so few people like that, it's not worst wasting my time thinking about how to deal with them - I already know what to do if I meet them - I ignore them as there's no point wasting time with ignorant people with an unknown agenda.

I think the most important factor that determines how well people receive your Thai is if educated people who can often speak very good English speak Thai with you. If a university professor, politician, doctor, engineer, successful businessman, etc. who often have studied abroad and have kids who are/went to school abroad are willing to speak Thai with you, then you have stepped over a boundary and there's no turning back. There's no way I'm going to have some server, government employee, airline check-in staff member, whoever speak to me in English when I'm discussing high-level politics or the construction of a bridge in Thai with acquaintances that are university researchers, professors or otherwise highly accomplished officials. I think you get my point.

End of rant.

[Tomtomtom69]

One thing I will never grasp is why many, many Thai people feel like they "should" speak English... this is Thailand. Foreigners should speak Thai, not the other way around.

If you live in Latin America or other developing countries outside of Asia, you will not encounter this phenomenon at all, it's quite perplexing.

You are exactly right.

There have been a number of incidents of late in Australia, where Australians were getting upset about foreigners speaking other languages on public transport for example, although it's obviously not as simple as that. The first incident I am describing involved a group of French people louding speaking and singing in French, much to the chagrin of a disgruntled local woman who told them to "speak English as we are in Australia". Obviously that was very rude, even condescending but growing up in Australia I know very well that while most Aussies are perfectly fine with people speaking other languages, at the end of the day the one language that unites all of us, irrespective of cultural background is our common use of the English language.

In France, the locals still generally prefer to speak with you in French if possible and refuse to accept the growing phenomenon of anglicisms appearing in their language.

I have also repeatedly been told that in Mexico and other South American countries, it is almost impossible for an expat to get by without speaking Spanish (or French in French Guinea or Portuguese/Brazilian in Brazil) and have almost never heard of any expats that don't speak these languages in the respective country they are living in. The reality is that you will probably encounter a great many people that can speak English in those countries, but that's only because many of their residents used to live in such countries as the USA and/or English is learned in school and due to a common writing system and some common origins/similarities of the respective languages (e.g. Spanish/English) making learning English a lot easier than it is for a Thai who uses a completely unrelated script and tones that denote changes in meaning to boot.

However, the real reasons that foreign residents in Latin America, Europe and many other countries need to learn the local languages is because in those countries one language unites all people and isn't used as a "weapon" to divide foreigners and locals as is often the case in Thailand and to some extent in other SE Asian countries. However, the multicultural dynamic of many of the countries in the regions mentioned is quite unlike the rather homogeneous make-up of the Thai population or that of other nearby countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China and others. That homogeneity alone speaks volumes about how locals react to foreigners and thus how they treat their own languages in interactions with foreigners. Clearly South America, which largely speaks "foreign" languages (i.e. mainly Spanish but also French and Portuguese) doesn't have that problem, nor does most of Europe.

[Tomtomtom69]

I have found that speaking Thai beyond a basic level isn't worth the extra time it would take to achieve a higher level of fluency. While daily interactions require some Thai, how many of us have really benefited in any tangible way from being able to speak Thai well? Did speaking Thai make the bureaucrats at immigration any easier to deal with? Did the shopkeepers give you a discount because you were able to converse with them in their native language? Did the guards at Wat Po let you in for free because you could read the Thai signs? How many of those conversations with taxi drivers, security guards, or street vendors were actually insightful?

I have found that most businessmen in Thailand were educated abroad and speak English very well. So, unless you are dealing with "mom and pop" types (why would you?) or your Thai is nearing native level fluency, chances are English will be used in and around the office. Unless you are working in certain industries (political analysis?), your Thai will not take you very far professionally. From my limited experience, Thai language skills seem to carry almost no worth professionally once the Thai border is crossed. I highly doubt Thai language fluency will be viewed by employers as anything other than a novelty; barring certain specific industries, of course. If you wish to study language for professional reasons, pick up Chinese.

I assume we all can agree that the literary scene in Thailand is, uh, wanting. Walk into any Thai bookstore and chances are the majority of the books there are translations. Sadly, print journalism is no better. I certainly believe it is possible to keep abreast of business and political developments through English language sources only.

Keep in mind, though, that all of this is my experience as a Bangkokian. If I lived upcountry perhaps I would worry more about social isolation, but here in Bangkok that is not an issue.

You are right about Thai not getting you far outside of it's borders (except in Laos, western Cambodia, parts of Sipsongbanna in Yunnan province of China and parts of eastern Myanmar) but I beg to differ about your "analysis" of the importance of Thai in Thailand. Clearly in your case you don't speak much Thai hence you will never benefit from the insights you would gain by being able to speak it more fluently. Consequently, there will always be a barrier at lunchtime when your work colleagues are off eating their lunch in one room and you either eat by yourself or only with other more fluent English speakers.

And yes, many times I have been given discounts for speaking Thai, but generally speaking that is not to say that English speakers would be ripped off, it's just what I have experienced. I have also had insightful conservations with taxi drivers and security guards, so it's not fair for you to "look down" on these people as you have claimed that what "insightful conversations you could have with these people?" I also have to beg to differ about local professionals in Thailand and their English language skills. Dig a bit further and you'll find that it's not as fluent as it should be - speaking at least a bit of Thai, even with them goes a long way I think. Otherwise, they will always treat you as a bit of an outsider, a friend that they meet only when they feel like speaking English or when other foreigners are around, but not someone they would invite to an all-Thai gathering. And as for the bureaucrats at immigration? You bet speaking Thai will make them easier to deal with, 100% in that case. Indeed very few of them even speak good English to begin with.

I have also found there is a strong interest in learning Thai by Chinese, particularly those from Yunnan province. Even though they may speak Thai with a bad accent and everything, their determination should be something that motivates other foreigners to do the same.

Oh and BTW I'm in Bangkok too - it's just that my attitudes and experience with Thai are way different from yours. For me, 99% of my world here is in Thai, even in downtown Bangkok and amongst Thai professionals. But of course I am fluent in the language, but you do have to start somewhere. You don't start out being fluent.

[Mole]

Did it perhaps occur to you that those people are merely trying to use the opportunity to practice their English exactly the same way you try to use Thai as often and as many people as you can?

You should not be so narrow minded and just let them communicate in whatever language they'd like with you.

You say feel that THEY are rude for not speaking Thai to you. But You on the other hand are quite arrogant in that you chose not to even make the effort to respond to them at all because of their inferior English.

Just think back when your Thai wasn't really that good yet and what if you got the same attitude from somebody else.

I hope in a few years time, you may speak with this person again and his English may have improved considerably. But his feelings about you and how you shunned him in the past, this may not have improved...

I also disagree that in order to speak fluently in a language you should also be able to read and write. Actually, there mere fact that there exist illiterate people in the world, but still be able to speak their language(s) fluently refutes your statement.

[FiftyTwo]

One thing I will never grasp is why many, many Thai people feel like they "should" speak English... this is Thailand. Foreigners should speak Thai, not the other way around.

If you live in Latin America or other developing countries outside of Asia, you will not encounter this phenomenon at all, it's quite perplexing.

Spanish is used all over the world.

Thai is used nowhere but Thailand, and even then there are many different Thai languages.

Should be really waste our time learning a minority language? when there are so many more useful languages to learn.

[Mole]

Well, if you are already "wasting your time" by living in this country, it helps immensely to be able to speak the local tongue.

This really applies to anywhere in the world.

Having your local language to be a "world language" if of course a plus. But if you really never ever travel anywhere, then the most importing thing is to be able to communicate in the language of your locals, no matter if it's just a minority language, but spoken my a majority of people around you.

[DavidMavec]

Did it perhaps occur to you that those people are merely trying to use the opportunity to practice their English exactly the same way you try to use Thai as often and as many people as you can?

You should not be so narrow minded and just let them communicate in whatever language they'd like with you.

You say feel that THEY are rude for not speaking Thai to you. But You on the other hand are quite arrogant in that you chose not to even make the effort to respond to them at all because of their inferior English.

Just think back when your Thai wasn't really that good yet and what if you got the same attitude from somebody else.

I hope in a few years time, you may speak with this person again and his English may have improved considerably. But his feelings about you and how you shunned him in the past, this may not have improved...

I also disagree that in order to speak fluently in a language you should also be able to read and write. Actually, there mere fact that there exist illiterate people in the world, but still be able to speak their language(s) fluently refutes your statement.

Based on your post, I am guessing your attempts to learn Thai have been half-hearted, if any. I have spent about a year learning Thai and can read the newspaper and write (short) notes, can understand about 70% of what I hear on the radio at this point, I talk only Thai to my girlfriend for example, and I practice reading aloud most evenings to improve my accent. My Thai is not great yet by any means but I have a solid intermediate level and I can relate to TomTom69's post quite a bit.

In terms of Thai proficiency, learning to read is almost essential for a westerner if you want to be understood and speak well. This is because it is a phonetic language and the long/short vowels and tones are found in the reading. I am not saying it cannot be done with transliteration but in my opinion the cases of European language native speakers learning Thai to a highly proficient level without learning to read are very very few and far between... you would need to have a musical ear or have highly exceptional mimicry skills.

On your other point, You say Tomtom69 should think back to when his Thai wasn't really that good yet and if he got the same attitude from others. First of all, this is Thailand and Thai is the national language. Second of all, English is not the native language of many westerners any more than it is for Thai people. Just imagine if Thai people travel to a western country and we refused to answer in our native language to them but rather answered in Chinese! How absurdly rude and ridiculous would that be? Well the analogy is often the case here, even when the Thai person speaks all of 10 words in English! Or will just say "no" or "yes" as a response to a question you asked in Thai because it is the only English word they know. Actually, there are a fair number of Thais who laugh in your face if you speak Thai to them... it's not a polite or welcoming laugh, it's like you are a monkey in the zoo or something. Then they will simply walk away or answer back with the few words of English they know. Many Thai people are really not interested in having foreigners speak Thai. This is not the case with all Thais by any means, some encourage you, sure. But it is quite shocking after living in Latin America and feeling like bridging the language divide was the key to bridging the cultural divide. In Thailand, it is not always the case.

[FiftyTwo]

Well, if you are already "wasting your time" by living in this country, it helps immensely to be able to speak the local tongue.

This really applies to anywhere in the world.

Having your local language to be a "world language" if of course a plus. But if you really never ever travel anywhere, then the most importing thing is to be able to communicate in the language of your locals, no matter if it's just a minority language, but spoken my a majority of people around you.

I live in CM, central Thai only language speaking people are in the minority, and most of them aren't worth speaking to anyway. Loads of English and Chinese speakers around, who IMHO are far more interesting to speak with.

I guess you are right, if you are stranded living way out in the boonies, where everyone only speaks some local dialect.

PS

Nearly all the people living around me are Burmese, they live and work here, but don't speak Thai.

And the guys in the local petrol station, Burmese ......

Then yesterday out in the forest, all HMong villagers, they speak Chinese and Arabic, hardly any Thai speakers (of any flavour) .... so many decisions!!

[gerry1011]

Well, if you are already "wasting your time" by living in this country, it helps immensely to be able to speak the local tongue.

This really applies to anywhere in the world.

Having your local language to be a "world language" if of course a plus. But if you really never ever travel anywhere, then the most importing thing is to be able to communicate in the language of your locals, no matter if it's just a minority language, but spoken my a majority of people around you.

I live in CM, central Thai only language speaking people are in the minority, and most of them aren't worth speaking to anyway. Loads of English and Chinese speakers around, who IMHO are far more interesting to speak with.

I guess you are right, if you are stranded living way out in the boonies, where everyone only speaks some local dialect.

PS

Nearly all the people living around me are Burmese, they live and work here, but don't speak Thai.

And the guys in the local petrol station, Burmese ......

Then yesterday out in the forest, all HMong villagers, they speak Chinese and Arabic, hardly any Thai speakers (of any flavour) .... so many decisions!!

I wonder where you ended up living in Chiangmai. It does not seem to be the city I know...

Are you living next to a Burmese refugee camp?

Are you sure you do not put all the hill tribes and the Burmese in the same linguistic group?

Hill tribe people go to school in Thai (even the schools in the mountains).

Apart from the old people who might only speak their own language, all the younger people from the hills do also speak Thai like everyone else.

You might hear them speak another language between themselves, but they all speak Thai.

In the city I would find it difficult to find people who do not speak Thai (apart from the unilingual farangs, of course).

The people of Chiangmai who you can speak to cannot be reduced to the "Burmese boy of the fuel station"...who for sure is not Burmese but from one of the hill tribes.

I go often to Chiangmai and all my friends are Thais or from the hills, but they all speak Thai.

You might also ask yourself if, on their side, the Thai people find you worth speaking to or not. If you can't understand them, they also probably think that you're hardly an interesting person to be with.

Life is great in Thailand if you speak, read and write Thai. Just put a bit of effort in it and you will see what a change it makes!

A year of effort for years of happiness in the real Thai society. It's really worth it!

Sent from my iPhone...

[FiftyTwo]

Life is great in Thailand if you speak, read and write Thai. Just put a bit of effort in it and you will see what a change it makes!

A year of effort for years of happiness in the real Thai society. It's really worth it!

I disagree, I wasted a lot of time Learning central Thai.

I no longer make any attempt to chat, tell em what I want and that's it.

Thais are generally a dull and poorly educated bunch.

But I guess some foreigners are happy to fit in with that.

[Lancelot]

I'm not sure that some Thais make much of an effort to understand foreigners trying to speak Thai. I think some automatically think we are speaking english, even when we do our best to use the correct tones and grammer. Some of the locals need a reset button.

Foreigner to Thai "Hi, do you speak Thai? I do too!"

Thai to Foreigner- Looks dumb struck

[Mole]

I am a native Thai. But I grew up in Norway since I was 6. Moved back to Thailand on my own when I was 19.

When I moved back, I was more or less illiterate in Thai. Still took me less than 1 year to speak it fluently as in people wouldn't be able to tell on the phone that I wasn't a Thai.

Back in Norway, I really didn't speak Thai at home, but the Chiang Mai dialect, since that's where my mother is from. She spoke Bangkok dialect back to me though, so I kinda maintained understanding in both.

But now I am able to read and type Thai. Although typing is a bit of a struggle since I need help in spelling many words correctly. But reading is straight forward. But I was already fluent in Thai before I seriously started to learn typing and reading.

Also, I seriously hardly write anything anymore, except for the occasional signature, so I can safely say that I can only type Thai, but not write.

As I said, the mere fact that there are illiterate people in the world should refute any notion that to be able to speak a language fluently, one should also be able to read and write.

[gerry1011]

Life is great in Thailand if you speak, read and write Thai. Just put a bit of effort in it and you will see what a change it makes!

A year of effort for years of happiness in the real Thai society. It's really worth it!

I disagree, I wasted a lot of time Learning central Thai.

I no longer make any attempt to chat, tell em what I want and that's it.

Thais are generally a dull and poorly educated bunch.

But I guess some foreigners are happy to fit in with that.

Uhm... I am afraid that even with a perfect knowledge of the Thai language you probably could not be happy in the Thai society.

Sent from my iPhone...

[glassdude007]

Always better to understand and speak Thai if possible.

I think I understand and speak Thai very well.

but, every day I live in Thailand that theory goes to crap as i find

Myself totally confused almost daily

Case in point..

Was at Kata beach other day and from beach boy beach vendor I ordered "Cha Yen" what I thought was Ice tea.....

Ho opened a Chang beer??? I said i ordered ice tea chaaa yen not chang beer....

The guy proceeded to get all bull squat at me and said why u try speak Thai you falong speak English..

I say sawadee and left back to my chair...

Tell my telak of my troubles and she AGREE WITH THAI GUY

She say..HE RIGHT you falang supposed to say ICE TEA..

Got me pissed off and I backed my beach bag and towel on my bike home I went

Maybe better to speak English all the time I guess TIT for sure... Grrrrrrr

[zeichen]

"Thais are generally a dull and poorly educated bunch.
But I guess some foreigners are happy to fit in with that."

This type of ignorance just makes me sad. Please don't have children that are Thai. You really shouldn't pass your ignorance on to any future generations.

There are many mono lingual Thai speakers that are educated, interesting and offer a lot if you give them a chance. Yes, many younger generations are bi lingual or attempt to be, but learning the language of the country you live in cannot hurt you.

the argument about it not being used anywhere else is the dumbest of arguments as you are not living in those other places. Spanish isn't going to help you much in asia and neither is chinese unless you are in China. The worst part of that argument is that learning 1 additional or 6 additional languages doesn't take any more effort. It is not like you lose the 2nd language when you learn a 3rd or 4th.

Just be honest. You don't learn the local language because you think that you are better and believe that you are superior to those of this third world nation.

I just don't understand why people leave their home country if they don't care about the other countries in which they currently reside in.

[Mole]

Depends on what you really wanted. If you wanted a can of Lipton Ice Tea, you should have said "ice tea" man, because that's what a Thai also would have said.

This is because "cha yen" in Thai means a particular kind of tea mixed with milk.

Just google ชาย็น and you'll see pics of what it looks like.

But if you really wanted that kind of milk tea, then you were right to use that word. But I doubt so because a vendor who sells these kinds of tea would normally not have beer.

[Briggsy]

One thing I will never grasp is why many, many Thai people feel like they "should" speak English... this is Thailand. Foreigners should speak Thai, not the other way around.

If you live in Latin America or other developing countries outside of Asia, you will not encounter this phenomenon at all, it's quite perplexing.

The reason is Thais are obsessed with social status. Speaking English is a status indicator, thus not being able to is a negative indicator hence the embarrassment. There are many more examples of irrational behaviour in order to appear higher on the social scale, nose jobs for Isaan whores, designer clothing even if it is fake, pointless higher education qualifications that cost a fortune and qualify you for nothing, skin whitening that scars you for life, buying a car but having no money for petrol, etc.