Expats, do you speak Thai at home?

[Neeranam]

I find Thai good for the basics in life but for most kind of intellectual conversations it falls short. Even after many years it has to be a good dose of English to stop me slipping into early Alzheimers ! Although English can be too analytical for many Thais and drive them slowly mental, so you have to strike a balance.

Let me get this straight - you are saying that Thais can't have intellectual conversations because the language doesn't allow it?

Surely you aren't saying this - please confirm.

Neeranam, lighten up...asian languages cannot express a lot of western sentiments effectively as I think most linguists would agree...

what cmsally is expressing is a common western misconception and lets face it; english is extremely difficult for non-westerners to use effectively, unless you have spent years studying in a western environment and most of our thai neighbors haven't...if you're an asian, your language is suitable for what you want to express to other asians...just like anywhere else...

Never realized I was being heavy.

The point I am interested in is whether or not linguists would agree with you or not. Personally, I'm not linguist as such but enjoy learning Thai. I think some there are some cultural differences between Thailand and my country for sure. Certain words are not understood differently , like "thoughtfulness". In the West it is shown by being considerate to others, whereas here it's shown by not doing anything about the thoughtlessness of others. There are words like , "greng jai", "goo naa", "boon koon" which have no real translation to English.

I know linguists agree that as a language develops, it becomes simpler.

[Neeranam]

Typical tutsiwarrior morning conversation with wife..."morning teelak, how feel you?". Wifey "me OK, need moneeey pai shopin, give me ok?" tutsiwarrior, thinking like mad how to ask in pidgin what the hell for after shopping 13 days in a row. "Money pocket im lao teelak, where money yesterday gib you?" Wifey "You no lub me mai? you bad man I know!" tutsiwarrior "ok ok..heres another 10k " Wifey "What bout money beer you?"

I have one close friend who speaks like that to his wife of 25 years of marriage. All I was saying was to speak proper English from the start, but seems he's got a chip on his shoulder about it. Maybe some newlyweds will take my advice and not end up stuck with pidgin. it isn't easy but quite simple. I would correct every little grammatical error my wife made. No "name", say "how do you feel?", "I need money for shopping", 13 years later, my wife is now teaching English to kids - she couldn't speak a word when we met.

[Neeranam]

My advice is NEVER speak pidgin English unless you are happy speaking it for ever and don't mind your wife not progressing in life.

One of my pet hates is hearing farang fathers speaking to their kids in pidgin Thai - one guy last week at the bar had his 5 year old kid coming up to the pool table and touching the balls and he say "mai ow, mai ow". Patheti seeing the kid looked more farang than Thai. Some peope just totally lose the plot.

555, the irony!

Please explain, I can't see any irony in my statement.

'farang' = Thai, mixed into English sentence = pidgin.

'he say' = pidgin.

Not to mention the lack of punctuation, incorrect use of 'and', wrong tense, etc.

I think grammar police or more correctly typo police are a royal pain in the arse, especially when their reply is not grammatically correct but I won't embarrass you by pointing out your errors as you're not a native speaker.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Neeranam

[Neeranam]

[un]fortunately none of my family members speak Thai

You must have great freedom when you go out on family excursions. I can't even imagine not being able to speak Thai when buying a house, up-keeping it, the garden, the postman, visitors, local community stuff etc.

[tutsiwarrior]

Typical tutsiwarrior morning conversation with wife..."morning teelak, how feel you?". Wifey "me OK, need moneeey pai shopin, give me ok?" tutsiwarrior, thinking like mad how to ask in pidgin what the hell for after shopping 13 days in a row. "Money pocket im lao teelak, where money yesterday gib you?" Wifey "You no lub me mai? you bad man I know!" tutsiwarrior "ok ok..heres another 10k " Wifey "What bout money beer you?"

jeezuz...but, I left meself open fer that one...

and, the parodying technique is clumsy and doesn't serve boxclever's purposes if he wants to promote a fully english speaking household...

actually at home we mix thai and west Pasadena gangster street patois...makes for a more linguistically unique milieu...

[Gecko123]

Typical tutsiwarrior morning conversation with wife..."morning teelak, how feel you?". Wifey "me OK, need moneeey pai shopin, give me ok?" tutsiwarrior, thinking like mad how to ask in pidgin what the hell for after shopping 13 days in a row. "Money pocket im lao teelak, where money yesterday gib you?" Wifey "You no lub me mai? you bad man I know!" tutsiwarrior "ok ok..heres another 10k " Wifey "What bout money beer you?"

I take it that this is supposed to be a parody of farang/thai conversation,

but I just want to say that if anyone even has a hint of recognition that this is familiar,

I'm begging you in the most gentle, non-judgmental, encouraging terms possible:

Please, for the love of God, invest some time and effort in learning Thai.

You will be rewarded 10 fold for your efforts.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Gecko123

[millwall_fan]

We speak a right mish mash. I speak to my son in English, my wife in Thai and he is completely bilingual. To each other we speak Tinglish or Tangrit. "What are you tam alaI uing" is one of my favourites. She says "by 'nai daddy' and stuff like that..

[connda]

I speak pidgin with my wife as that's the way that we've always communicated...I speak in limited thai with the rest of the family, mostly with the MiL and the kids...most of the men pretend to not understand what I'm saying...

and I'm quite sure that my 21 y.o. step daughter understands english but she does't reveal this to anyone...she is a smart cookie and a sneaky little wench and I can't help but love her...

May I ask how long you've been married?

My advice is NEVER speak pidgin English unless you are happy speaking it for ever and don't mind your wife not progressing in life.

One of my pet hates is hearing farang fathers speaking to their kids in pidgin Thai - one guy last week at the bar had his 5 year old kid coming up to the pool table and touching the balls and he say "mai ow, mai ow". Patheti seeing the kid looked more farang than Thai. Some peope just totally lose the plot.

I've known English teachers who speak pidgin on and off campus. I've never been able to fathom why. I simply don't get it. I understand why Thais speak English they way they do. It has everything to do with their grammar and the pronunciation of their written language and alphabet system. But for an English speaker to 'regress' to that level. Whack jobs one and all.

[harryfrompattaya]

Listen as a Black American living in Pattaya I still speak Yiddish to some old guys in America

I advise people if you want speak bankers and Diamond merchants speak Yiddish

Speak Thai if you want to pick rice

[tutsiwarrior]

Listen as a Black American living in Pattaya I still speak Yiddish to some old guys in America

I advise people if you want speak bankers and Diamond merchants speak Yiddish

Speak Thai if you want to pick rice

yeah! right on!...I say that we condemn thai/english speaking imperialism/fascism and speak quechua...and then we can all grow potatoes, chew coca leaves and wear ponchos and dispense with all this linguistic jingoism...

and I'm half indigenous andean and I won't take it anymore...

Edited December 12, 2014 by tutsiwarrior

[MichelBangkok]

Of course my OP assumed that you had a Thai partner

As for not speaking Thai because we are not migrants, (unlike the subjects of the German TV programme in my OP link); whilst most of us are not 'migrants' in the sense of having acquired Thai citizenship, many of us are migrants in all but name, if it is our intention to live permanently in Thailand.

I do not have Thai citizenship (can't tick all the application boxes...), but I consider myself a migrant because this is now my permanent home and I have a long-stay visa.

You can't be a migrant in all but name, you either are, have a new passport, and can stay forever, or you aren't.

You long stay visa means jack, the Junta will have you out tomorrow, if they feel like it.

What you consider (in some delusional universe of your own) means nothing to the government of Thailand.

You have a temporary residence in Thailand.

And it's gonna get harder for you to stay in it.

Someone's paranoid.

Or very, very, very insecure...

As for the original question 100% in Thai only, never using another language (we speak three fluently)... And not just with spouse, extended family but everyone in the Kingdom, unless they are foreigners...

[Johnniey]

Listen as a Black American living in Pattaya I still speak Yiddish to some old guys in America

I advise people if you want speak bankers and Diamond merchants speak Yiddish

Speak Thai if you want to pick rice

yeah! right on!...I say that we condemn thai/english speaking imperialism/fascism and speak quechua...and then we can all grow potatoes, chew coca leaves and wear ponchos and dispense with all this linguistic jingoism...

and I'm half indigenous andean and I won't take it anymore...

Now I see why the inappropriate writing here if you speak "you wife me" I talat go buy beer" all day.

[Johnniey]

I speak English to my grown up kids and wife but Thai to inlaws and neighbors.

[infinity11]

alone and to myself, go figure

[tartempion]

Although I speak fluent Thai, I don't speak Thai to my wife at home or ever with my kids, unless it's a joke or something.

My wife does speak Thai to me most the time and to the kids.

The bilingual language acquisition experts say that the Thai parent should speak Thai to kids and English speaker speak English.

Really?

Bilingual language acquisition experts hey?

I am quadrilingual and won't tell you how I did.

Thai is not part of my curriculum but I do speak too much Thai with my four year young girl and slap my mouth all the time. Thus when I get it wrong in Thai again the little one corrects me in English. As a result I don't worry, her French comes along nicely, no accent to be heard or as the quebequois say: It's not us who have an accent...

[Neeranam]

Although I speak fluent Thai, I don't speak Thai to my wife at home or ever with my kids, unless it's a joke or something.

My wife does speak Thai to me most the time and to the kids.

The bilingual language acquisition experts say that the Thai parent should speak Thai to kids and English speaker speak English.

Really?

Bilingual language acquisition experts hey?

I am quadrilingual and won't tell you how I did.

Thai is not part of my curriculum but I do speak too much Thai with my four year young girl and slap my mouth all the time. Thus when I get it wrong in Thai again the little one corrects me in English. As a result I don't worry, her French comes along nicely, no accent to be heard or as the quebequois say: It's not us who have an accent...

They had PhDs in the subject.

Why not tell us how you did it?

Do you speak Thai like a native? If not, you shouldn't speak Thai with a young impressionable kid.

Why not speak French to her? If you speak English with her she might end up with some problems -

Edited December 13, 2014 by Neeranam

[Johnniey]

I speak English to my grown up kids and wife but Thai to inlaws and neighbors.

[Om85]

I only speak Spanish and Chinese with my douther to teach her my languages, with my wife and other relatives I only speak in Thai, but when I don't want other members of the family to understand what I want to talk with my wife then I use Chinese .

[tartempion]

They had PhDs in the subject.

Why not tell us how you did it?

Do you speak Thai like a native? If not, you shouldn't speak Thai with a young impressionable kid.

Why not speak French to her? If you speak English with her she might end up with some problems -

I studied at UCL (Université Catholique Louvain), psychology with a masters in Pedagogy and I am not going to discuss linguistics here. But I do know a bit on the subject.

I do not speak Thai as a native, never will, but I do speak Thai at home since my Thai is better than my wife's English.

As for my 4 years young daughter, that's different and it is not for you to tell me what I should or shouldn't.

Her third language after Isaan and Thai is English, her forth Will be French and her fifth German, her sixth Dutch, who knows? Living in Thailand English is way more important than French.

Last September I was with friends in Montréal and I was "face timing" with my girl in English and my friends remarked she was talking English with a Belgian accent, that from Québecois who say the French speak with an accent, 55555

You could also refer to inspecteur Clouseau and I hope your French is better than Peter Seller's.

AS for your youtube reference to "Lifeline" do you know the real line was Réseau Comet an initiative started by some Belgians. There is no use to joke with accents, I know a lot about the subject.

As for my daughter, she might speak 4 or 5 languages by the age of 15, as I did/do. We will see.

I like it when she tells me "You can not speak Thai". She is right.

[Johnniey]

^

Are you saying, as a intellectual, that speaking to your daughter in a language you can't speak well is a good idea?

I did as neernam did but made sure my Thai wife didn't speak English to them as they would have picked up bad accents. Now they all speak fluent Thai, English and Chinese. One speaks Japanese and Korean as well. Because their English was proper, there was no need for international schools and two got degrees from abroad, one with 1st class honours from the uni of South Wales.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Johnniey

[cyborgx]

Yes