The perfect reason for NOT learning Thai.

[sprq]

As I learn Thai very slowly I just find that all those conversations i didn't understand and still don't fully understand, they are just shooting the breeze.

I am keen to continue to learn Thai

Maybe then we can get to the point much more quickly.

There are countless good reasons for learning the language of any country you go to live in or visit often, including getting to the point quicker.

I have found it just makes everyday things that used to be a drama that much easier. And you can have a bit of fun interacting with the locals.

Most of the people who are against learning the lingo are either thick as bricks, plain lazy, lacking imagination or are dumb rednecks who would not lower themselves to a level beneath the one they are on now.

Actually, there are many intelligent farangs who've lived here for years, who can speak two or three European languages, but just don't get on with the Thai language.

Because it is totally impractical. Where you going to use it? It is totally unnecessary in Thailand.

Eh?

[micmichd]

Learning the grammar of gestures is totally practical, you can make yourself understandable almost anywhere.

As I learn Thai very slowly I just find that all those conversations i didn't understand and still don't fully understand, they are just shooting the breeze.

I am keen to continue to learn Thai

Maybe then we can get to the point much more quickly.

There are countless good reasons for learning the language of any country you go to live in or visit often, including getting to the point quicker.

I have found it just makes everyday things that used to be a drama that much easier. And you can have a bit of fun interacting with the locals.

Most of the people who are against learning the lingo are either thick as bricks, plain lazy, lacking imagination or are dumb rednecks who would not lower themselves to a level beneath the one they are on now.

Actually, there are many intelligent farangs who've lived here for years, who can speak two or three European languages, but just don't get on with the Thai language.

Because it is totally impractical. Where you going to use it? It is totally unnecessary in Thailand.

[micmichd]

Gestures make a good substitute for strange grammars and foreign words.

[ggt]

I have never found the inability of being able to speak the language a problem,

I suppose if you do not know what is being said by Thais...there is less chance for you to become pissed at how you are being perceived...

Knowing the Thai language is important if you do not want to live in isolation...never immersing one's self in Thai culture...how boring...

[NeilSA1]

there is no rational arguement for such inane, infantile logic like that! your poor, poor wife!

Bless her.

[aboctok]

Farangs commonly make a mistake. They only use one part of their brains (usually the left side) to communicate, Thais (like many Asians) use both sides. There are psychologists for training how to use both sides of the brain to communicate in groups. You will be surprised how much is hidden in the opposite-to-heart side of your brain.

So the intensely repetitive, circular conversations, low on specifics but high on ambiguity, often lingering on or even re-visiting pointless trivia, actually are characteristic of a highly developed mode of group communication, presumably with advantages in flexibility and efficiency that are incomprehensible to less developed species.

Who'd have thunk?!

[Philippines]

According to Google, your language studies should be:

1. Mandarin Chinese - 882 million

2. Spanish - 325 million

3. English - 312-380 million

4. Arabic - 206-422 million

Now considering you likely know several computer languages and may be proficient in using an online language translator, I'd say you're doing better than those not as well versed as you are.

On another note, my teaching basic algebra to dogs has been unsuccessful so far and if ANYONE can assist me I promise you fame and fortune.

[thailiketoo]

Evidently, you are so high-and-mighty that you cannot sustain any passion for relentlessly repetitive conversations, for discussing at length things of almost no consequence, or perhaps re-re-re-confirming some previously agreed arrangement, all while maintaining a facial expression of joy. I feel sorry for you and all your Thai bashing mates.

What a peculiar exercise in irony, very self-contradictory. What the heck side are you on?

What are the sides? 1. Stupid, Farang who is too lazy to learn to speak Thai and 2. the rest of us who live here?

[fitzcaraldo]

I am not fluent in Thai. Infact I only know a few word but I am fluent enough in English to know that a mattress does not "literally" weigh a ton.

And how much Thai does it take to say, "No!" and point upstairs? You train the dog or the dog will train you because somebody is getting trained, guaranteed.

these bloody mattress in yampala are so heavy , the queen size needs 4 to 6 pax to move

[willyumiii]

I have her it said, in English,

"The only things Thais talk about is food and gossip. you will never hear anything close to an intellectual discussion in the Thai language...so, why bother learning the language."

Could it be because an intellectual discussion requires asking questions?

Maybe the OP has hit on something here?

I understand some of the language and I mostly hear gossip and talk about food!

It is amusing to understand and speak just enough that when some rude person who assumes the farang doesn't understand, insults you.

When you smile and respond in Thai, they soil their laundry!

That alone makes learning some of the language worth the effort.

Edited January 17, 2015 by willyumiii

[Emster23]

Use of "verboten" gave me a smile. If you happened to learn Thai, you could give delivery people instructions about what goes where, which of course they will ignore and go ask wifey.... I speak decent Thai, but that does bug me.... "Hello? I'm the one with the darn money over here!"

[aboctok]

Downside of learning Thai is that you get to hear what the majority of Thai people talk about on a daily basis: the most inane, trivial conversations and gossip that I've ever heard in my life. Yes, you can become totally fluent in Thai with a lot of work, but then what are you going to talk about? When I reached a level where I could understand 75% or so of what I heard around me, I completely lost interest in the language.

Evidently, you are so high-and-mighty that you cannot sustain any passion for relentlessly repetitive conversations, for discussing at length things of almost no consequence, or perhaps re-re-re-confirming some previously agreed arrangement, all while maintaining a facial expression of joy. I feel sorry for you and all your Thai bashing mates.

What a peculiar exercise in irony, very self-contradictory. What the heck side are you on?

If that looks contradictory, I'm not sure how to help. You must be living under a life-long abstention from any reading material less overt than a traffic light. How boring for you. Perhaps read a little slower? Really, I don't know. But there's no silly game; my stance on this is crystal clear. Otherwise, I wouldn't have hit any keys.

By the way, how often does this happen to any of you? You ask in Thai about a product. Your Thai evidently is clear enough to be understood, because the attendant answers you in Thai. Often, the discussion extends to some option or other, or related products, shop opening times, and so on. Then, when you ask about the price, the attendant rummages around for the big, teletubbies calculator, and types in the price so that you will understand it. How thoughtful of them. Is there a reasonable excuse for such painfully limited insight? If you have put in the effort to learn some Thai, tell me—quickly now!—how soon did you learn numbers? Was it Day 1, or Day 2? That's right, probably either is correct! Must've been a trick question.

Edited January 17, 2015 by aboctok

[outboard]

Almost everyone on TVF is fluent in Thai...................

................until you meet them.

Even those who have been in Thailand a month.

90% of them are not fluent in English so that is no great surprise

[Philippines]

The only smart thing you said is:

"Thai themselves cannot communicate with each other in it"\

which is totally true.

Their language is so shiiity and unclear that I get mad so many times even if I can speak fluently. It really show the way they think...

BUT I HAVE A GOOD REASON AND ONLY ONE IS USEFUL TO EXPLAIN WHY I WANTED TO LEARN THAI:

because I am smart and most of them are not even able to learn over easy English.

Really.................

Here in the Philippines is a term well understood by the educated down to the non educated, called "nosebleed or nosebleeding", used by locals to refer to some foreigner who caused their nose to bleed because they were forced to use their brains to reply to the foreigner. Is there something similar in Thailand or is that term used only among these dummies?

[Altalake]

Bit of an odd post? When in Rome.....

You sound like a bit of an - er - oddball (spelt like a d#ck-He#d.

I find the Thais like it when I speak to them in Thai - I can't compare and contrast the Bard and Milton for example in Thai, but I then I can't do that in English either. Maybe go back to where you just speak your own lingo.

[micmichd]

According to Google, your language studies should be:

1. Mandarin Chinese - 882 million

2. Spanish - 325 million

3. English - 312-380 million

4. Arabic - 206-422 million

Now considering you likely know several computer languages and may be proficient in using an online language translator, I'd say you're doing better than those not as well versed as you are.

On another note, my teaching basic algebra to dogs has been unsuccessful so far and if ANYONE can assist me I promise you fame and fortune.

If you dog comes up to you for gratification (food) after you call him, then the dog has some conditional reflexes, and conditions are basic algebra.

What about the fortune?

[thailiketoo]

The only smart thing you said is:

"Thai themselves cannot communicate with each other in it"\

which is totally true.

Their language is so shiiity and unclear that I get mad so many times even if I can speak fluently. It really show the way they think...

BUT I HAVE A GOOD REASON AND ONLY ONE IS USEFUL TO EXPLAIN WHY I WANTED TO LEARN THAI:

because I am smart and most of them are not even able to learn over easy English.

Really.................

Here in the Philippines is a term well understood by the educated down to the non educated, called "nosebleed or nosebleeding", used by locals to refer to some foreigner who caused their nose to bleed because they were forced to use their brains to reply to the foreigner. Is there something similar in Thailand or is that term used only among these dummies?

Why would a Thai want to hear anything from your type of person? I'll bet you have no education, a manual labor job and have done almost nothing of worth in your entire life.

The reason I know this is you call people in the Philippines, "dummies." No one with any class would make such a social and academic blunder.

[aboctok]

The only smart thing you said is:

"Thai themselves cannot communicate with each other in it"\

which is totally true.

Their language is so shiiity and unclear that I get mad so many times even if I can speak fluently. It really show the way they think...

BUT I HAVE A GOOD REASON AND ONLY ONE IS USEFUL TO EXPLAIN WHY I WANTED TO LEARN THAI:

because I am smart and most of them are not even able to learn over easy English.

Really.................

Here in the Philippines is a term well understood by the educated down to the non educated, called "nosebleed or nosebleeding", used by locals to refer to some foreigner who caused their nose to bleed because they were forced to use their brains to reply to the foreigner. Is there something similar in Thailand or is that term used only among these dummies?

Why would a Thai want to hear anything from your type of person? I'll bet you have no education, a manual labor job and have done almost nothing of worth in your entire life.

The reason I know this is you call people in the Philippines, "dummies." No one with any class would make such a social and academic blunder.

What blunder? He can't call any people in the Philippines dummies? Meaning that there are no dummies at all there? Please. You can, without any insult, call people of any nation dummies, when you describe the dummies that live there! In more fortunate countries (not necessarily speaking in economic terms), there'll be a lower incidence of dummies, don't you think?

It's probably quite accurate of you to classify people with a manual job, and lower formal academic qualification as persons from whom no Thai would want to hear. That is the anachronistic, grossly ignorant blunder, since it's not difficult to find people in manual occupations with no tertiary education who are intelligent, perceptive, knowledgeable and decent, whereas some people I've met with higher degrees are scheming, duplicitous, fiercely ignorant azzholes. Where's the real blunder?

Edited January 17, 2015 by aboctok

[thailiketoo]

What blunder? He can't call any people in the Philippines dummies? Meaning that there are no dummies at all there? Please. You can, without any insult, call people of any nation dummies, when you describe the dummies that live there! In more fortunate countries (not necessarily speaking in economic terms), there'll be a lower incidence of dummies, don't you think?

It's probably quite accurate of you to classify people with a manual job, and lower formal academic qualification as persons from whom no Thai would want to hear. That is the anachronistic, grossly ignorant blunder, since it's not difficult to find people in manual occupations with no tertiary education who are intelligent, perceptive, knowledgeable and decent, whereas some people I've met with higher degrees are scheming, duplicitous, fiercely ignorant azzholes. Where's the real blunder?

So to simplify, you are saying people without educations are intelligent, perceptive, knowledgeable and decent and people with educations are scheming, duplicitous, fiercely ignorant azzholes.

Save me the pedantic explanations. But you are trying way to hard to justify not going to college.

I'll save you some trouble. Lazy, ignorant people who live in Thailand and don't learn the language and are basically clueless about what is going on around them.

Edited January 17, 2015 by thailiketoo

[Privateer]

Downside of learning Thai is that you get to hear what the majority of Thai people talk about on a daily basis: the most inane, trivial conversations and gossip that I've ever heard in my life. Yes, you can become totally fluent in Thai with a lot of work, but then what are you going to talk about? When I reached a level where I could understand 75% or so of what I heard around me, I completely lost interest in the language.

Agree fully. That's exact same reason why I lost interest in English conversation years ago.

[Pattaya Lous]

OP you are spot on well done

[In Search of Space]

Since learning to understand conversational Thai I now have the pleasure of listen to my wife and her friends/family all constantly talk about how much they paid for everything and what is the best iPhone or tablet that is currently out, for hours on end, every time they meet up.

It was better before I realised how shallow, immature and petty they all are.

Maybe you just married the wrong lady and because you did not speak Thai before you never found out.

Maybe, but then no matter where I go I hear the exact same conversations all over Thailand, so maybe it's not just my wife's family.

I'd quite like to get a new phone. Perhaps you could give me some advice from what you have learned.

I'm really interested in long battery life when running GPS.

As for the OP; I don't think it was lack of communication ability that stopped the OP's wife asking the second delivery team to swap the mattresses round - it was probably shyness at asking people to do work beyond their remit. If the OP had been able to speak Thai, he could have used the "ignorant-of-thai-manners, demanding-foreigner" card and used his brass neck to ask the second delivery team to move the mattresses. Then, perhaps, he could have rewarded them with a box of Chang to encourage them to go the extra mile for foreigners in the future.

SC

Good post, I speak a bit & can understand more, so always play dumb ferang while I get them to do what I want, then always a few Leo's get handed out (Heineken stays in fridge) and everyone's happy

[mebkk]

Maybe its best you dont understand what they are saying about you sometimes. I can understand about 35% of it and can tell you they can very rude in front of you. I have learnt to let it go as u feel thais have a far more inferior society. A friend used to call them savages. I believe they are still in the fuedal ages.

Where are you from?? And more important - what are you doing in Thailand? If you feel Thais are inferior to you - go home, you have no place here. If you understand only 35% of what is said, how can you understand the society??

and to the OP - I think other already mentioned that you are supposed to learn the language and culture of your host country. I'm sure you'd expect foreigners in your country to be able to converse in your language, and you don't learn their language in order to communicate with them. Sure, sometimes it is an advantage not to show you understand everything - like when negotiating, when you can sometimes get "inside info" when the other side discuss options in front of you thinking you don't understand, but on a daily basis - especially in cases like your story in the OP - understanding the culture and the language can save you a lot of anger, can make your life easier and better. And again - you are a guest in a foreign country. It's you that have to adapt, not the locals.

If you don't like it here - go back home

[mebkk]

Since learning to understand conversational Thai I now have the pleasure of listening to my wife and her friends/family all constantly talk about how much they paid for everything and what is the best iPhone or tablet that is currently out, for hours on end, every time they meet up.

It was better before I realised how shallow, immature and petty they all are.

This is of course the best reason for not learning Thai, that you don't understand all the idiots around you. It's bad enough to sit on a London bus understanding the idiocy of people's conversations; in Thailand I've no doubt it's far worse, given the much lower levels of education and muddled thinking processes of most Thais.

The other reason is that you don't understand all the insults or careless talk concerning you that people mouth: ignorance is bliss in this case. However, if you do have enough Thai to understand and call people out for their insulting talk, it does have a devastating effect; I've seen Thai-speaking friends do it, and the clear loss of face suffered by the Thai person is wondrous to witness.

You choose your friends / spouses / people to be surrounded by and you hear what they are talking about. Seems to me you simply have to select better.

On the other hand - you probably choose all the above according to your own level...........

[MrY]

Who on earth cares what they think of you? One of the most liberating aspects of being a foreigner is that we do not have to concern ourselves with the silliness of face, and the ensuing degree of cowardice that comes along with that concern of face. Just ask them to do the job right. Without regard to what they think of you. I told my Thai wife long ago, that it is a complete waste of time to concern ones self with what a strange thinks of you. It means nothing. I always insist it be done correctly, and will not sign anything, nor pay a balance until the job is completed properly. I ask her to do the same, though that is a bit of a challenge.

10 Points and an Attaboy sticker!

[MrY]

Bit of an odd post? When in Rome.....

You sound like a bit of an - er - oddball (spelt like a d#ck-He#d.

I find the Thais like it when I speak to them in Thai - I can't compare and contrast the Bard and Milton for example in Thai, but I then I can't do that in English either. Maybe go back to where you just speak your own lingo.

...check out the Colosseum?

[MrY]

First came to Thailand due to work in 1993. Came back and stayed because of;

-Low living cost (very low after 1997)

-The warm climate (with a hint of seasons in CM)

-Friendly female population (no, not just sex)

-Non-hostile male population (did PI before THA)

-Safety (see abpve)

-Mañana? No such urgency here.

-Thai culture? Love it. (see all above)

-Language? No thank you. I speak several already. Got the basics down well enough to manage [by sheer exposure]. Never met a Thai person that could not speak English that made me regret I didn't learn fluent Thai. YMMV.

I feel no animosity towards Thais but if it feels like I don't want to "become Thai", then neither do they [want me to]. It's all in the sig.

Edit: line break

Edited January 17, 2015 by MrY

[MiKT]

There is absolutly no reason to learn Thai to comunicate with your Thai dog.They are much smarter than the humans and understand English very quickly. In fact Thai dogs are exceptionally good at speaking dog. If left alone they interact wiith each other better than the pampered dogs in the UK.

[Lissos]

Downside of learning Thai is that you get to hear what the majority of Thai people talk about on a daily basis: the most inane, trivial conversations and gossip that I've ever heard in my life. Yes, you can become totally fluent in Thai with a lot of work, but then what are you going to talk about? When I reached a level where I could understand 75% or so of what I heard around me, I completely lost interest in the language.

It's not the first time I've heard this feedback. I met a few British expats (age mid 50s onwards) living on Crete this year and spent a few hours hearing about their experience of living there. All but one of them was now fluent in Greek. Many positives from them about living there, but their main complaint echos what you say here, that on the whole the local conversation is inane and predictable.

[mikemac]

As I learn Thai very slowly I just find that all those conversations i didn't understand and still don't fully understand, they are just shooting the breeze.

I am keen to continue to learn Thai

Maybe then we can get to the point much more quickly.

There are countless good reasons for learning the language of any country you go to live in or visit often, including getting to the point quicker.

I have found it just makes everyday things that used to be a drama that much easier. And you can have a bit of fun interacting with the locals.

Most of the people who are against learning the lingo are either thick as bricks, plain lazy, lacking imagination or are dumb rednecks who would not lower themselves to a level beneath the one they are on now.

Actually, there are many intelligent farangs who've lived here for years, who can speak two or three European languages, but just don't get on with the Thai language.

Because it is totally impractical. Where you going to use it? It is totally unnecessary in Thailand.

Then tell me why some western people denigrate migrants who now live in their country for not being fluent in English ?

Are you seriously saying that it is not necessary to speak the native tongue of Thailand ? What do you do, mix with western people only or university educated Thais ?