Why is the address of a place in thailand written totally not understood by cab drivers?

[ultimate weapon]

So i am sure when you search for the address of a hotel, club, bar, restaurant etc in thailand you get the address. You try telling that address to the cab driver and he wouldn't understand. For me i call the hotel reception and get them to tell the driver but sometimes they need me to call the reception again after the 1st call.

Anyway for my most recent trip i stay about 1 km from the farthest MRT and probably like 2km from the nearest BTS. I got to my accomodations by phoning the reception. They also gave me the instructions in thai. One day i forgot to bring that piece of paper along and it was like 2am so the reception was closed. I had google map so i could tell the driver how to go still had to direct him a bit and he was unsure. Anyway i managed to get him to travel down the correct way and he told me oh this area is called nong cher peung. It wasn't even listed on the address.

Anyway i remember the name of the area and now i don't even need to show that piece of paper showing the address of my residence i just tell the drivers the area and the name of the soi and they instantly understand.

Just kind of odd that an address listed is so hard to understand.

In the west or rather for the english speaking countries. You could just key in say an address in maybe australia or the uk and it instantly shows up on google map.

Edited January 6, 2015 by ultimate weapon

[manarak]

It's because Thailand uses an address system similar to Japan's, i.e. screwed up from the start - it's almost impossible to find a place from the address alone, because land plots are identified by subdistrict, subdivision number and plot number, but plots are not numbered in a row in a street, but in the order of land title issue, so number 480 could very well be next to number 12. And I don't include sub-plots in these thoughts...

Either you know where a place is or at least the approximate location such as a soi, or you won't find the place.

For example, try to find 325/2 moo 12, Nongprue, Banglamung, Chonburi ?

[ultimate weapon]

So is it the same problem in japan? You need to call reception to tell the driver to get to the correct location?

Edited January 6, 2015 by ultimate weapon

[fey]

its because many of them cant read (not kidding). wont admit it though. remember 6th grade if lucky.

thats why they always want the number to call in for directions.

[manarak]

So is it the same problem in japan? You need to call reception to tell the driver to get to the correct location?

Japan is worse.

Nobody knows the numbers of the houses, and even the local neighborhood watchmen are not always able to help. Of course they will tell you some direction even when they got no idea, just to avoid losing face.

The driver's loss of face is massive when he can't bring the passenger to destination, many free fares.

A difficult address and an overly long drive is practically the guarantee that the driver won't accept payment.

GPS must have saved many taxi driver lives from Sepuku

Edited January 6, 2015 by manarak

[ultimate weapon]

So is it the same problem in japan? You need to call reception to tell the driver to get to the correct location?

Japan is worse.

Nobody knows the numbers of the houses, and even the local neighborhood watchmen are not always able to help. Of course they will tell you some direction even when they got no idea, just to avoid losing face.

The driver's loss of face is massive when he can't bring the passenger to destination, many free fares.

A difficult address and an overly long drive is practically the guarantee that the driver won't accept payment.

GPS must have saved many taxi driver lives from Sepuku

I'm kind of surprised a country as advanced as japan would be like this. It's the most advanced country in asia no?

Thank god the gps. Their internet navigation system is top notch. It will take a long time before thai taxis have that then no more problems for non thais to get to their destination.

So how does a non japanese person go about telling a japanese taxi driver his destination?

[crazygreg44]

Heeeelp !!! Where am I ????

[manarak]

So is it the same problem in japan? You need to call reception to tell the driver to get to the correct location?

Japan is worse.

Nobody knows the numbers of the houses, and even the local neighborhood watchmen are not always able to help. Of course they will tell you some direction even when they got no idea, just to avoid losing face.

The driver's loss of face is massive when he can't bring the passenger to destination, many free fares.

A difficult address and an overly long drive is practically the guarantee that the driver won't accept payment.

GPS must have saved many taxi driver lives from Sepuku

I'm kind of surprised a country as advanced as japan would be like this. It's the most advanced country in asia no?

Thank god the gps. Their internet navigation system is top notch. It will take a long time before thai taxis have that then no more problems for non thais to get to their destination.

So how does a non japanese person go about telling a japanese taxi driver his destination?

read this:

http://www.planettokyo.com/trip-planning/getting-around/the-black-art-of-finding-a-japanese-address/

[manarak]

I wish Thailand would introduce a street address system additionally to the plot number system, the mail could work with both... the Thai system is not that bad though, because it allows for receiving mail without automatically tell everyone where you live.

[daveAustin]

It's all visual and what they already know. Show them a map, written instructions or anything they haven't done before and they're generally screwed.

[bkkgooner]

Had this problem with motorbike drivers, I think a fair few of them just can't read properly, quite sad actually.

[Neeranam]

Taxi driving in Thailand is a loso job unlike the Mastermind winning cabbies in the UK.

When I retire I'm going to be a taxi driver in Bangkok for a laugh, assuming I get Citizenship before then.

[fey]

Had this problem with motorbike drivers, I think a fair few of them just can't read properly, quite sad actually.

or they cant think properly.

pull a map out 'we are here, i want to go here'. they still cant understand what to do. like they have never seen a map before 'what's that a street?'

also like how they need to pull over and ask another taxi driver even when i'm pointing the way from my gps phone and know exactly how to get there

[h90]

He came from up country 2 weeks ago.

His reading skills aren't good

He is not the smartest guy

Bangkok is a really huge city and the street names don't say too much + some streets are endless long (from Bangkok to Pattaya or down to the South like Phuket)

[Thongkorn]

Just remember Dong bi, str8 forward, siy .. left ..quar right.

[SlyAnimal]

Often when you tell a taxi driver an address, which you're reading from a piece of paper or similar, you'll mispronounce the address, as when Thai is transcribed into Latin characters, the word isn't the same as when spoken in Thai.

As in Thai, there are some letters, which aren't represented in the Latin alphabet (As spoken by English speakers) e.g. Thai place names never have the letter "G" as a starting letter, because the Thai character which makes a "G" sound, is represented in English as a "K" (It's a K sound when it's at the end of the word, and when it's at the start, it's 80% G, 20% K). Likewise the Thai dT sound is always written as a T, but it's actually a letter which we don't have in English, likewise their bP sound is usually written as a P, but it's a cross between B and P.

When written in Latin letters, words usually don't indicate correctly whether a vowel is short or long, and the way of pronouncing vowels is different to in English e.g. Mae Sot is a district in Thailand, I used to always pronounce the first word the same way as the month of "May", but it's actually more like "Mare" as in a female horse (At least to my NZ accent lol). Apparently some other European languages pronounce their vowels the same way though.

Some of the words are simply different, when they're said in Thai or English e.g. Rama IV is actually Pra-Ramh See (See being the word for 4).

Add to all that, we have our accents too, which can sometimes throw them off.

Also, a lot of Thai people get very anxious when someone speaks in English to them, and so they simply don't listen very well to begin with.

[Richard W]

Some of the words are simply different, when they're said in Thai or English e.g. Rama IV is actually Pra-Ramh See (See being the word for 4).

A better ad hoc representation is "Phra Raam thi si", and Thais allegedly don't need the tones.

Don't accept a transliterated Thai name or address unless you know the system (if any) used or have it read out to you as well.

Add to all that, we have our accents too, which can sometimes throw them off.

Also, a lot of Thai people get very anxious when someone speaks in English to them, and so they simply don't listen very well to begin with.

I don't think this was the OP's problem. The OP's problem is that the address by itself didn't mean a lot to the driver. I can remembering stammering over a street name in Chiang Mai, only for the tuktuk driver to give me the informal name - 'Soi Linda'. That would have been a lot easier to remember, as I was staying at the Linda Guesthouse! I can't remember if I'd had to say it was near the railway station.

[LennyW]

Just tell them the name of the nearest temple and they will have you at your destination in a flash!

[Orac]

Often when you tell a taxi driver an address, which you're reading from a piece of paper or similar, you'll mispronounce the address, as when Thai is transcribed into Latin characters, the word isn't the same as when spoken in Thai.

As in Thai, there are some letters, which aren't represented in the Latin alphabet (As spoken by English speakers) e.g. Thai place names never have the letter "G" as a starting letter, because the Thai character which makes a "G" sound, is represented in English as a "K" (It's a K sound when it's at the end of the word, and when it's at the start, it's 80% G, 20% K). Likewise the Thai dT sound is always written as a T, but it's actually a letter which we don't have in English, likewise their bP sound is usually written as a P, but it's a cross between B and P.

When written in Latin letters, words usually don't indicate correctly whether a vowel is short or long, and the way of pronouncing vowels is different to in English e.g. Mae Sot is a district in Thailand, I used to always pronounce the first word the same way as the month of "May", but it's actually more like "Mare" as in a female horse (At least to my NZ accent lol). Apparently some other European languages pronounce their vowels the same way though.

Some of the words are simply different, when they're said in Thai or English e.g. Rama IV is actually Pra-Ramh See (See being the word for 4).

Add to all that, we have our accents too, which can sometimes throw them off.

Also, a lot of Thai people get very anxious when someone speaks in English to them, and so they simply don't listen very well to begin with.

Also the confused look you get when you ask about trips to the river Kwai.

[MrWorldwide]

So is it the same problem in japan? You need to call reception to tell the driver to get to the correct location?

Japan is worse.

Nobody knows the numbers of the houses, and even the local neighborhood watchmen are not always able to help. Of course they will tell you some direction even when they got no idea, just to avoid losing face.

The driver's loss of face is massive when he can't bring the passenger to destination, many free fares.

A difficult address and an overly long drive is practically the guarantee that the driver won't accept payment.

GPS must have saved many taxi driver lives from Sepuku

Best way to find a hotel in Tokyo or Seoul is to go into a nearby hotel (same district) and ask them for directions. It's also your best chance of finding someone with sufficiently good English to give you directions. The loss of face observation is bang on - I had a Korean taxi driver point blank refuse to take my money when he couldnt find my hotel, and it was only when I found out where it was that I realised he would have had to drive through a pedestrian mall to get to it ! Tokyo was a surreal experience - people seem to understand enough English to know what you want - particularly if you have a map in your hand - but will then launch into complex directions given entirely in Japanese while you nod like an idiot. Tokyo remains the finest city I've ever experienced - completely different to what I'd come to expect from overcrowded nightmares like HK and Jakarta - but good luck finding anything without a really good map. Once I'd oriented myself to Ueno station, many of the clouds parted, but up to that point I was fairly lost without my tourist map.

By contrast, newcomers to BKK just need to know that Siam is at one end of Suk, On Nut at the other and lower Suk somewhere in the middle : the odd side trip to the temples/palace/Jim Thompson House/KSR aside, even a child could work it out reasonably quickly. Agree with others here that the standard among cab drivers in BKK - from English to being able to read their own language - is pretty poor. Even with a local in tow, I've had them pull to the side of the road to ask another cabbie for directions to a location that my Thai companion has painstakingly explained minutes earlier - TiT

[HeijoshinCool]

Why is the address of a place in thailand written totally not understood by cab drivers?

I don't even understand your title!

[Tomtomtom69]

So is it the same problem in japan? You need to call reception to tell the driver to get to the correct location?

Japan is worse.

Nobody knows the numbers of the houses, and even the local neighborhood watchmen are not always able to help. Of course they will tell you some direction even when they got no idea, just to avoid losing face.

The driver's loss of face is massive when he can't bring the passenger to destination, many free fares.

A difficult address and an overly long drive is practically the guarantee that the driver won't accept payment.

GPS must have saved many taxi driver lives from Sepuku

Best way to find a hotel in Tokyo or Seoul is to go into a nearby hotel (same district) and ask them for directions. It's also your best chance of finding someone with sufficiently good English to give you directions. The loss of face observation is bang on - I had a Korean taxi driver point blank refuse to take my money when he couldnt find my hotel, and it was only when I found out where it was that I realised he would have had to drive through a pedestrian mall to get to it ! Tokyo was a surreal experience - people seem to understand enough English to know what you want - particularly if you have a map in your hand - but will then launch into complex directions given entirely in Japanese while you nod like an idiot. Tokyo remains the finest city I've ever experienced - completely different to what I'd come to expect from overcrowded nightmares like HK and Jakarta - but good luck finding anything without a really good map. Once I'd oriented myself to Ueno station, many of the clouds parted, but up to that point I was fairly lost without my tourist map.

By contrast, newcomers to BKK just need to know that Siam is at one end of Suk, On Nut at the other and lower Suk somewhere in the middle : the odd side trip to the temples/palace/Jim Thompson House/KSR aside, even a child could work it out reasonably quickly. Agree with others here that the standard among cab drivers in BKK - from English to being able to read their own language - is pretty poor. Even with a local in tow, I've had them pull to the side of the road to ask another cabbie for directions to a location that my Thai companion has painstakingly explained minutes earlier - TiT

Thais are hopeless with directions even if they are well educated and language is not an issue. Even if you can speak fluent Thai, they may still not know how to get to where you want because they don't know how to get there! I am fluent in Thai and I am usually the guy with the best knowledge of Bangkok and Thailand and I generally tell my Thai friends how to get somewhere. They have also started to rely on me as they know I have a knack for these things.

But given how few roads there are in Bangkok and Thailand in general, getting around, at least finding a particular street shouldn't be hard. Most of the time and most places in Thailand just consist of a few large main streets interspersed by narrow sois, many of which are dead ends. You don't have crossroads every 50-100m like in western countries, but rather only every 5km or so. No wonder why only 8% of Bangkok consists of roads, whereas the international standard is 25%. Comparing a map of Thailand and even say southern Canada, a country I previously thought had very few roads produced some startling differences. Southern Canada has a huge number of roads even between cities and towns, whereas in Thailand there is usually just one or two roads that will take you in the direction you are going. It's either that or a maze of tiny local roads that may or may not get you anywhere and then even the locals will tell you to go back to the main road.

[boomerangutang]

Pretty much everything that can go wrong with addresses, goes wrong in Thailand. Often odd and even #'s are on the same side of the street. When they assign numbers, they go 1, 2, 3, 4, ....and then invariably realize, months/years later, that there are addresses between those #'s, so they have to digress to 1-1 or 3-2 and so on. Thais don't do much with mail. I resided in an apartment (the only farang among dozens of Thais). 3 letters would arrive each month, 2 were for me. And writing a Thai address on a letter, what a hassle. Near as bad as addresses in India. 5 or 6 lines, lots of repetitions, lots of unnecessary words and numbers. I get nearly get carpal tunnel in my right arm each time I write a Thai address. For my address, I add a town's name, because my mail goes through that town's p.o. That town's name isn't on my official address, because Thais basically can't figure out how to address things correctly.

[KhunBENQ]

Without having read through all the posts...

Another example of complete ignorance, unworldly or troll post.

Why can't he read my English language map... bla bla

1) Did one notice that an address in this country is written in Thai (the language in this country)?

2) Did one ever hear that the transcription from Thai to English (roman) is a total mess/chaos?

x versions for the same street, some simply ridicolous with no chance to be understood.

There are rules, but escpecially the English speaking ignore them widely.

3) Does one really believe that his "babble" from a transcribed address is understood by a Thai cab driver?

4) Did one ever hear that most cab drivers in Bangkok have a 6th grade elementary school education and problems reading Thai not to speak of English?

5) And as already mentioned the house/village numbers are quite useless for finding, because they are not ordered by location but chronological by house registration.

I live in house no. 340, next house is no. 8.

Edited January 8, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[KhunBENQ]

For the smart TV readers:

A list of the Thai commercial bank headquarters.

In Thai and in "English".

Try to find them on Google Street view.

Nice pasttime

Real addresses in Thai:

http://www.bot.or.th/thai/financialinstitutions/websitefi/_layouts/application/bot%20financial%20institutions/financialinstitutions.aspx

Click on "English" (upper right) to see the "English" version.

[Bravelion]

I live in Pattaya and it's enough for me to tell the street name, soi number and condo to the cab driver in orer to get home.

[Thongkorn]

I live in Pattaya and it's enough for me to tell the street name, soi number and condo to the cab driver in orer to get home.

I would not shout that you live In Pattaya on here, , OK some body has to live there . But we all cannot be that un lucky.

[otherstuff1957]

As others have pointed out, many Taxi drivers are strangers to BKK and many are functionally illiterate in both English and Thai.

If you tell them an address they probably won't understand your accent.

They never learned to read a map in school and have no idea how to use the map you show them.

Thais usually refer to areas by the name of the neighborhood, not the name of the street. The street address means nothing to them, but the local name of a small neighborhood (which won't be shown on any map) will be instantly recognizable.

In the US I could tell a taxi driver to go north on Hwy 101 and he would instantly know where to go. Most Thai taxi drivers would be totally baffled if I told them to drive north or any other direction.

[kannot]

Taxi driving in Thailand is a loso job unlike the Mastermind winning cabbies in the UK.

When I retire I'm going to be a taxi driver in Bangkok for a laugh, assuming I get Citizenship before then.

Can we have your phone number now.?...........it might save us time later

[kannot]

I live in Pattaya and it's enough for me to tell the street name, soi number and condo to the cab driver in orer to get home.

I would not shout that you live In Pattaya on here, , OK some body has to live there . But we all cannot be that un lucky.

Some of the best members live there so I wouldnt shout too loudly..............Klingon ATTACK imminent