Why can't foreigners in Thailand read and speak Thai?

[anon210]

In my opinion that happens for two reasons.

First, learning Thai in Thailand is not particularly necessary. It's not like going to South America without speaking Spanish. That would be a problem and you wouldn't be able to do anything. Speaking the local language there is a must. However here it's different as more and more Thais speak English.

Second, a lot of foreigners start to learn to speak/read/write at some point but often they get discouraged by the locals' behavior towards them. As a foreigner you are never going to be able to fully integrate into the society. You won't ever be fully accepted. No matter what you do, here you are just a foreigner. That attitude understandably makes people feel that they don't want to put in effort as they are never going to be rewarded.

Exactly my point. A Thai friend of mine used to laugh at me whenever I made any attempt to speak any Thai. That and the general stupidity of the people who think they can talk in my back in Thai and think I will not understand just took away any desire of learning the language. Furthermore, I am an expat, and I will be leaving Thailand one day. So, no reason for continuing. Tonal languages, I just cannot make it.

Finally, I have much more interest, both culturally and in my work, for learning Japanese, considering I already have a good basis.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[brewsterbudgen]

What a very strange thing to be "appalled" about!

[mcfish]

This type of post , out of the blue wagging the finger at the lazy bastards who cant speak Thai fluently needs a reason to be posted.

I guarantee 1000% that reason would be the OP just finished the first stage of a basic Thai course

[LaraC]

Its up to others if they want to learn or not, and i can understand the retired guys not wanting to bother with it.
Personally i love being able to speak and read (abliet a slow reader). My goal is to speak clear, read faster, and learn to write. I get a real kick out of wide eyed expressions and being asked how is it i can speak so clear. I was once asked if i was born in Thailand! That was the biggest compliment to how i was speaking Thai i have ever had. I really try to get the way i speak Thai to sound clear, its important to me, and im constantly working on it..but dont expect the same of others. However, i do think it really does change your world when you can speak the language of the country you are living in. Depends what you want to do and who you want to interact with i guess. For some, they are happy to have their own expat style world or easy going retired world..with little Thai language interaction. I dont judge that. As they say "Up to you!".

[Tmymaimee]

I attend the Chulalogkorn Intensive Thai program plus an extra hour of conversational Thai lessons 5 days a week. Add an extra 2 - 3 hours review daily and the course is 1 year in total of reading, writing and speaking.

A dog can learn basic Thai commands. A Thai retarded kid who can't use a toilet or tie his own shoes can learn Thai. What it does take is time and unless you can afford to drop out of work for a year and go full time like me, it will only become a long, drawn-out frustrating affair for mastering the reading and writing. You are trying to condense 10 years of Thai a local would learn at a normal school into 1 year.

I intend to master Thai as this country is where I have chosen to make my home. If I planned to leave, then why bother? In terms of time away from work and expenses, I am giving up $150,000. That is my opportunity cost in becoming fluent however I do not enjoy residing in a country where I am ignorant or dependent on others.

Some pretty stupid people in Thailand can speak Thai. It says nothing about intelligence, integrity or character to be able to speak a foreign language.

[namdocmai]

I can speak basic Thai, just enough to shop/travel around.

Why the Thai don't learn english? Is that too hard for them? I was in Singapore yesterday and they (almost) all can speak english, what a relief! Also they have an organised country there which is much safer and easyier to travel around.

As long as the Thai can't speak english they can not travel abroad and will never learn from other cultures. They want to look like white Asians/europeans but don't understand anything from their cultures. They should spend less money in the "look at me so rich" culture and see more of the world.

Even Thai that have been to university's in USA for 4 years can't communicate with me, they can only write english. Go figure how they survived that period abroad.

I speak/write 4 languages and nit noy Thai, i think it is enough. Money talks and if they can't speak with me it's fine, i will go to another salesman. If i could speak fluent Thai then i would understand how they gossip about me all the time, now i just react like "krabhom" and then their mouths fall open and the eyes almost pop out. That's fun enough for me.

Even Thai that (think they can) speak english are not understandable to me, in the airplanes i have no idea what they announce in English. I feel like a foreigner in Thailand and will always stay that foreigner. I don't go to places where nobody speaks english, i travel for fun only and always bring my wife if i need a translator.

Also when i speak Thai to Thai they still don't understand me at all. They think i 'm speaking english to them and get nervous and immediatly look at their friends for support. They should get over that fear of farang speaking to them because the farang got the money that they like to get.

[David48]

I intend to master Thai as this country is where I have chosen to make my home.

It's a positive attitude and if it floats your boat ... that's great ...

But what the OP is implying that his choice in learning the language, by inference, should be universally applied.

He's "always appalled at the vast majority of foreigners living permanently or quasi-permanently in Thailand and yet being completely illiterate."

I don't particularly like being talked down to because my lifestyle choices don't match his.

Would speaking conversational or fluent Thai be advantageous? ... in most case the answer is yes.

But to chastise us like school children because we haven't done our Thai homework ...

BTW ... my Thai gf's Thai Mother can not read Thai ... but I can assure you, she's led a full and productive life in Thailand, runs her own small Farming business, still married to the man she met and fell in love with 30+ years ago and produced 3 beautiful children.

.

[Naam]

So why can't foreigners in Thailand learn to read and speak?

because some of them (like me) are not interested have no counterparts to talk to. neither my wife nor my Thai born dogs speak Thai and our staff speaks English.

[mgjackson69]

"appalled"? Such drama...

This topic cycles around every now and again...some guy gets through a basic Thai language course with the instructor telling him how well he does, and now he is so superior to us unwashed heathens.

Take that "textbook" Thai up to Loei and see if you can talk to the villagers there.

I also took some training (at Berlitz, my employer paid for it). It was certainly helpful, but I have learned more Thai in daily interaction with my wife. I am still learning, but in a casual, unstructured manner.

As for the written Thai, I can recognize a few words, that is it so far. Longer-term I will learn to read Thai, perhaps even write.

Someone else mentioned South America, and opined that you need to speak the language to get along there. I absolutely disagree...I speak very little Spanish and I got along in Chile and Colombia just fine.

[Naam]

This type of post , out of the blue wagging the finger at the lazy bastards who cant speak Thai fluently needs a reason to be posted.

I guarantee 1000% that reason would be the OP just finished the first stage of a basic Thai course

he can count from one to twenty and is able to ask his terak "supper today what cook in kitchen you?"

[mallyrd]

Thailand has been my home for 30 years and I do not read nor do I speak Thai. What business is it of yours?

It's my business because you just volunteered to make it so.

My comment was aimed at Braddockrd, the original poster.

[Naam]

What a very strange thing to be "appalled" about!

[robblok]

Why don't I speak or read Thai, simple answer is do I not want to.

I bet you loads of money if you could read and speak Thai tomorrow without effort and fluet you would want to be able too.

What most people mean here they don't want to put the effort in (and i can understand as some of us are real busy retired people excluded). But nobody passes an opportunity to acquire knowledge at no effort.

To bad its not available without effort. I am the last to condemn people as I feel i should be much further with my language skills.

The reality is speaking and writing Thai helps you a lot but its not easy. I do know that i love the fact that I can communicate and make myself understand in conversations. I also hate that it is a tonal language as I really don't hear the differences that well but the sentence usually makes things clear.

Notice I said don't rather than directly answer the OP's question of can't, actually my reading skill's are worse than poor at best but I can converse ok which the only time that comes in handy is when I go visit the inlaws in Nakorn Bumfcuk Nowhere once in a blue moon.

I forgot, you are in Pattaya (nothing against that) but its a lot different as in other parts of the country. But even when I was on a holiday the past 3 weeks in the south of Thailand, me speaking Thai was a good thing even though they speak a lot more English there then here a bit outside of BKK.

If your in a real tourist area you need it less but it still is handy but that is just an opinion.

[dao16]

It does take a lot of time to learn and some don't learn as easily as others. It does totally change your experience of things here, though, so I recommend it to people....but I get it if they don't. It is a big time suck, which can be tough if you don't enjoy it (I actually enjoy digging into the grammar, etc....so those hours of struggling with the language are fun for me...no problem).

That said....do you not meet foreigners who speak Thai? I know several who speak it at different levels, from having basic conversations all the way up to complete fluency and (incredibly) can read and write very fast. Me, I can speak ok and can read signs and menus in Thai, plus maybe the odd facebook post or something....not good enough to actually get through a newspaper. Anyway, I don't think it is as rare as the OP assumes (asserts?).

[robblok]

In my opinion that happens for two reasons.

First, learning Thai in Thailand is not particularly necessary. It's not like going to South America without speaking Spanish. That would be a problem and you wouldn't be able to do anything. Speaking the local language there is a must. However here it's different as more and more Thais speak English.

Second, a lot of foreigners start to learn to speak/read/write at some point but often they get discouraged by the locals' behavior towards them. As a foreigner you are never going to be able to fully integrate into the society. You won't ever be fully accepted. No matter what you do, here you are just a foreigner. That attitude understandably makes people feel that they don't want to put in effort as they are never going to be rewarded.

Exactly my point. A Thai friend of mine used to laugh at me whenever I made any attempt to speak any Thai. That and the general stupidity of the people who think they can talk in my back in Thai and think I will not understand just took away any desire of learning the language. Furthermore, I am an expat, and I will be leaving Thailand one day. So, no reason for continuing. Tonal languages, I just cannot make it.

Finally, I have much more interest, both culturally and in my work, for learning Japanese, considering I already have a good basis.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I believe you, but my experience is different. I am 10000% sure I make stupid mistakes in Thai but nobody ever laughed at me. At least not in my face. I am not shy about making mistakes its normal. You learn from your mistakes and you learn from conversation.

[kurnell]

Everyone here understands 'beer' and check 'bin'. Everything else is offered on a platter. If you wanna be a smarmy <deleted> and say 'can I trouble you to fetch me an ice cold, amber, frothy beverage at your soonest convenience my good man and make it a Carlsberg' in the local lingo, then go right ahead. I get the same result with "Cazzaberrr khap!"

[toybits]

Apathy - couldn't care less about learning Thai.

Arrogance - Think that English is enough for them.

Lazy to learn to speak, read or write.

Think it is too difficult to learn.

Think that they are too old to learn..

[harryfrompattaya]

I am shocked that you have nothing to do but to be appalled at me for not be able to read or write Thai.

Please relax learn and speak any thing you want but respect my rights.

When you are able to read and speak Thai will you be allow to own a house

Now think about that.

[seajae]

would love to be able to read, write and speak thai fluently but there are just a few problems. One is I cannot pick the different tonal sounds at all, I would probably end up being assaulted for swearing at someone instead of saying something nice, Two, I have a very short memory retension, in other words I forget what I have been told/learnt in the space of a day, three, no other country in the world wants to use thai as a language, it is simply not viable for them and is only used here and even then there are several versions of it depending on where you are from so even the thais are not fluent. By the way, which version are you fluent in......

[thailiketoo]

My dog is trilingual. Some days she chooses to respond to Thai and sometimes to English or Lao. This is frustrating for my wife. "Ok what language do you understand today you crazy dog." So, she yells to me what language dog speak today? I respond try Lao. And she says sit in Lao. As I'm sure most TV members know, "sit" is the same in Thai or Lao but a different tone. Bingo the dog sits and she is speaking Lao today.

[salavan]

any foreigners that can understand Thai have probably left Thailand ask yourself why

[tartempion]

When I lived an worked in Belgium I was surprised most of the Americans and Brits who worked in Belgium could not speak, read or write Dutch nor French.

Even more surprising was that the French speaking Belgians could not read, write or understand the majority of Belgians, the Flemish people, go figure how dumb some people are

Edited December 4, 2013 by tartempion

[jpeg]

I don't speek as much as I want but more then enough to hold conversation understand what people are saying. The next step would be for me to learn to read. I think its important if you ever want to be independent. It helps me a lot in many ways. I already speak 3 languages and this will be my 4th. For me its a time issue its hard to combine it with my work and hobbies. But as I now speak quite a lot (not good enough to follow the news or movies though soap operas are not a problem) i don't know about writing. I do know that I want to go on developing my oral Thai language skills.

Which will still be very limited unless you learn to read and write it, particularly with regards the tones. It really isn't that difficult.

[thailiketoo]

any foreigners that can understand Thai have probably left Thailand ask yourself why

Au contraire mon frere. Speaking Thai, now is the time for great bargains.

[robblok]

When I lived an worked in Belgium I was surprised most of the Americans and Brits who worked in Belgium could not speak, read or write Dutch nor French.

Even more surprising was that the French speaking Belgians could not read, write or understand the majority of Belgians, the Flemish people, go figure how dumb some people are

Actually its arrogance of the French speaking (and poorer) part of Belgium not to speak Dutch while forcing the Dutch speaking part to finance them (as they are the poorer part) and speak their language.

[robblok]

I don't speek as much as I want but more then enough to hold conversation understand what people are saying. The next step would be for me to learn to read. I think its important if you ever want to be independent. It helps me a lot in many ways. I already speak 3 languages and this will be my 4th. For me its a time issue its hard to combine it with my work and hobbies. But as I now speak quite a lot (not good enough to follow the news or movies though soap operas are not a problem) i don't know about writing. I do know that I want to go on developing my oral Thai language skills.

Which will still be very limited unless you learn to read and write it, particularly with regards the tones. It really isn't that difficult.

You might be right.. but the tones are the thing that phase me. I really don't hear them and I have never been great at such stuff music ect. So that might be it. But people do understand me. I am not sure how limited my Thai is as I seem to be able to hold quite a lot of conversation (though when it goes out of my field of knowledge I am lost)

I got a course for reading Thai and i started it but it was too time consuming to combine with my work and exercise / social regime. For now my Thai is good enough to chit chat with people to joke around a bit.

But you are right i should learn more.

[David48]

I don't want to diss the Opening Post or the Opening Poster as the question is valid ... but

But, ask it as a question.

Like most things in life, you can say almost anything ... it's how you say it that counts.

I can understand his passion to encourage other's who haven't become fluent in the Thai Language to try a little harder.

But, if I wanted a Sermon from the Mount, the style of the OP ... I'll duck into the local Catholic* church.

* No disrespects to the Micks amongst us.

Edited December 4, 2013 by David48

[JLCrab]

Learning languages is like math, music, or sports -- some are good at it and some no matter how hard they would try just come up empty. It seems one can have a great life in Thailand and never learn a lick of Thai language. You have then however cut yourself off from the great majority of Thai people do not speak one or any of your languages.

[Bluetongue]

duplicate

Edited December 4, 2013 by Bluetongue

[Bluetongue]

I wish I could speak Thai better for my interactions. I wish I could read Thai for practical reasons, like what is in that shop or what is that sign etc. I have not much desire to write it. Some have the ear for it, I can speak OK as I am a reasonable mimic but my understanding is limited under rapid fire or when 4 people speak at once. I have tried learning to read (and write) formally on one occasion at IML in Brisbane the lecturer was a Thai student drafted in at the last moment, she struggled all year and I got nowhere. Now, many years later I'm self teaching at a very slow pace but gradually getting somewhere. Its a guaranteed nap after half an hour. I know the former Australian DF chief Thai instructor and whilst they laud their program I don't think its very high standard. And to those who say its not hard to learn I wonder what standard is applied. I think immersion in a Thai society is the only way to really learn to speak naturally and many who say they can really aren't very good. But I would never jump in and criticise or express amazement as the Op has done. Farang like Andrew Biggs were probably raised here and as such they get an exceptional chance not afforded to most of us.