The joy of Thai

[Dumbastheycome]

Sorry. For those that say it is only a matter of trying or wanting. Children can master many languages without accent. But the older you are the less possible it becomes.DEspite what your mind says your tongue and vocal chords become fixed to a muscular expressional capacity. that results in the identifiable accents notable in many languages . In Thai tonal sound is crucial because Thais seem to have little tolerance for accents in Thai. If it is less than perfect then it is not understood.....even within Thai society. My Isaan wife struggles to understand spoken southern Thai. And this is why sarcasm or irony is rarely understood by Thai if y ou try to use the western way of expressing it. Thai is basic and literal in format.Context plays a huge part in meaning. Subjects involving innuendo is based on a story rather than inflections on words. A different way but equivalent to parochial language humourf Asia has had a wet.

Which also helps to explain why Thais usually like C. Chaplin style humour...slapstick.It has replaced the original pantomine language based humour that is still shown via TV but most do not have an interest in.Cultural distortion/change in Thailand has been incredibly accelerated. As it has been in many Asian the possibility of advancing it. locations. And that has created extorsions in many aspects. What many westerners do not appreciate is that they come from societies where change has been progressive and regulated and thus normal in perception. Much of Asia has had a tech culture bomb dropped on it. It would sadly seem that has been used against the population instead of advancing it.Language is a major part of that. Why is it that few Thais have even a basic knowledge of the international language? Is it so important that I can speak Thai? Or is it more important Thais learn the international language so they can understand world events directly instead of being fed an interpretation?

[asdecas]

cutest girls are available when u speak thai , otherwise they wont even look at u

One can confirm that this is indeed the case; having achieved master-Thai-speaker status many years ago, the ripest, most succulent fruit began almost immediately to drop, unbidden, from the high branches straight into one's lap.

[Dumbastheycome]

Aha! Was it you who advertised a car and when I called 10 times you eventually answered and tried to sell me a motorbike?

Some nationalities are simply [intellectually] incapable learning another language because they take their own language (and themselves) too seriously. This includes a lot of Thai people too btw, not just farang. Others, like myself, assign no value whatsoever to their nationality nor mothertongue and have bothered to learn 5 foreign languages in the last 20 years. Keeps the brain lucid too!

The main motivation for me to speak and understand [enough] Thai is so that I'd be able to hear what people say about/around me.

Yesterday, getting a traditional Thai massage, two Thai women were talking about "farang" in general; how dirty (Sokkaprok!) "we" are, how "we" smell (Min!) and only come here for blackskinned (Dam!) hookers (mind you, the women gossipping were pretty dark themselves but covered in talk powder but too old and too fat to ever make a chance with just any desperate farang, haha), how "we" this and "we" that, all utter xenophobic stereotype cr*p. When they were finished I asked them in Thai, with poker face and the gayiest voice ever: Hello ladies, let's talk about Thai men now. How they spend their quality time in 700THB brothels, totally p*ssed, getting laid with STD infested girls. The art of being Grengjai, I'm such a master ;-)

That, dear TVF friends is one of the reasons I couldn't miss speaking a little Thai. To have a good profound chitchat with the locals!

can you enlighten me and explain why it seems the vast majority do indeed hang out with dark skin hookers and or some non hookers?

a female accountant friend has asked me for the explanation

i guess there's just plenty of dark skinned girls being considered "ugly" by the local males, hence not catering/interesting to the local market? honestly i don't really care. i'm here [most of the time] since 1997 and i have stayed clear from ALL thai women*, black, pink, white, yellow. what i do know is that all my thai male friends would rather pay 1500thb for some white skin thai-yai, sipsongpanna girl [in a brothel] than getting laid for free with a DAM thai girl. i file this under: stupidity, brainwash, ignorance. they file it under: thainess, supreme taste.

* unless of course i meet one who's: die-hard atheist [no gods no master no supreme being], highly intelligent [iQ+EQ], filthy rich [self-sufficent], child-less and most important: jazz connoisseur with a vinyl collection of at least 4,500 lps. all CUMULATIVELY fulfilled !!!!! if you know one like this [black, pink, white, yellow], please forward...!

[Dumbastheycome]

Is there a Thai word for crass?

[sdanielmcev]

Sorry. For those that say it is only a matter of trying or wanting. Children can master many languages without accent. But the older you are the less possible it becomes.DEspite what your mind says your tongue and vocal chords become fixed to a muscular expressional capacity. that results in the identifiable accents notable in many languages . In Thai tonal sound is crucial because Thais seem to have little tolerance for accents in Thai. If it is less than perfect then it is not understood.....even within Thai society. My Isaan wife struggles to understand spoken southern Thai. And this is why sarcasm or irony is rarely understood by Thai if y ou try to use the western way of expressing it. Thai is basic and literal in format.Context plays a huge part in meaning. Subjects involving innuendo is based on a story rather than inflections on words. A different way but equivalent to parochial language humourf Asia has had a wet.

Which also helps to explain why Thais usually like C. Chaplin style humour...slapstick.It has replaced the original pantomine language based humour that is still shown via TV but most do not have an interest in.Cultural distortion/change in Thailand has been incredibly accelerated. As it has been in many Asian the possibility of advancing it. locations. And that has created extorsions in many aspects. What many westerners do not appreciate is that they come from societies where change has been progressive and regulated and thus normal in perception. Much of Asia has had a tech culture bomb dropped on it. It would sadly seem that has been used against the population instead of advancing it.Language is a major part of that. Why is it that few Thais have even a basic knowledge of the international language? Is it so important that I can speak Thai? Or is it more important Thais learn the international language so they can understand world events directly instead of being fed an interpretation?

What 'international' language? Yes, if you live in a country it is important to learn the native language. This is the boorishness I alluded to earlier. Unless you are there, we all get our news from an interpreter.

And Charlie Chaplin was in, mostly, silent movies. His humor was visual, not slapstick. The Three Stooges were slapstick.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Sorry. For those that say it is only a matter of trying or wanting. Children can master many languages without accent. But the older you are the less possible it becomes.DEspite what your mind says your tongue and vocal chords become fixed to a muscular expressional capacity. that results in the identifiable accents notable in many languages . In Thai tonal sound is crucial because Thais seem to have little tolerance for accents in Thai. If it is less than perfect then it is not understood.....even within Thai society. My Isaan wife struggles to understand spoken southern Thai. And this is why sarcasm or irony is rarely understood by Thai if y ou try to use the western way of expressing it. Thai is basic and literal in format.Context plays a huge part in meaning. Subjects involving innuendo is based on a story rather than inflections on words. A different way but equivalent to parochial language humourf Asia has had a wet.

Which also helps to explain why Thais usually like C. Chaplin style humour...slapstick.It has replaced the original pantomine language based humour that is still shown via TV but most do not have an interest in.Cultural distortion/change in Thailand has been incredibly accelerated. As it has been in many Asian the possibility of advancing it. locations. And that has created extorsions in many aspects. What many westerners do not appreciate is that they come from societies where change has been progressive and regulated and thus normal in perception. Much of Asia has had a tech culture bomb dropped on it. It would sadly seem that has been used against the population instead of advancing it.Language is a major part of that. Why is it that few Thais have even a basic knowledge of the international language? Is it so important that I can speak Thai? Or is it more important Thais learn the international language so they can understand world events directly instead of being fed an interpretation?

What 'international' language? Yes, if you live in a country it is important to learn the native language. This is the boorishness I alluded to earlier. Unless you are there, we all get our news from an interpreter.

And Charlie Chaplin was in, mostly, silent movies. His humor was visual, not slapstick. The Three Stooges were slapstick.

Nevertheless a great post.

[Trembly]

Some posters doth protest too much, methinks.

If you can't be bothered or find it too hard, fine . . . It's your prerogative to live according to your priorities.

However, to go on about how it's a waste of time and you're really better off not learning Thai just makes you come across as a sore loser, like the little engine that couldn't.

[poweratradio]

cutest girls are available when u speak thai , otherwise they wont even look at u

Also learning Thai can give you advanced warning if an evil doer is about to harm you or can also give you warning of an impending emergency of any sort.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Learning Thai also frees you from doing 90 day reports and gives you a 50% discount on Thai Elite Card.

Although I have not seen it myself, but from the stories I heard learning Thai gives you a better skill sets such as exiting a baht bus in while it's still moving, better motorsai manouvering and generally a better overall service at 7/11

[Gecko123]

My whole raison d'etre in being here in my early days in the eighties was to learn Thai. I was successful by any standard. I rose to be the head of the Thai department at a major international school, was responsible for introducing Thai first language IGCSE qualifications into Thailand, introduced my own Thai studies cultural curriculum, wrote twenty plays performed by children at my school promoting Thai culture. I am retired now and i can look back on learning the Thai language as the single most important thing i have ever done. Its made me wealthy financially as well as fulfilled. Even considering all the material possessions I have amassed and the pride in my residency in the kingdom, i feel that the thing i "own" that has the most value is my Thai ability. I would not be the oerson i am without it. In my private life the ability to not just speak but read and write Thai accurately has made life so comfortable, so much more fun. It has also helped immeasurably in helping me become thoroughly involved in the Thai crossword gaming scene and even though I am English i have represented Thailand many times in international competition, being thoroughly respected and warmly accepted into the fold. I adore Thailand, admire the Thai people of all social strata and have no wish to live anywhere else, ever. Positive enough my friend?

Truly amazing and inspiring accomplishments. A real eye-opener about what can be achieved if you set your mind to it. Thanks so much for sharing.

[gk10002000]

You summed it up pretty well Gecko.

So far I see no post saying it is a good thing to learn the language.

That just adds more credence to your summary.

That's about as positive as it gets!

Well done!

The OP made some good points, some a bit over-generalized. I however have found that knowing some basics has always helped. I am fairly fluent in asking how much, I can count and understand prices in Thai, I know the basic greetings, a few pleasantries, colors, most of the common foods. I can say thank you, more, less, good, delicious, don't want, do want, can do, can't do, beautiful, and more. I have never seen that being a detriment. My New England accent no doubt combined with my horrible Thai accentuation probably sounds hideous to them. But I think for casual use, my bad Thai puts them at ease when they are nervous and shy about their bad English.

[Daniel Boon]

@ukrules, did you read the OP beyond the first couple of paragraphs ?

Those who want to keep banging the drum about why it’s NOT important to learn Thai, can comment on the “Perfect Reason for NOT learning Thai” thread.

Let’s keep this thread positive, OK?

Mrworldwide ... did you not read / comprehend @ukrules observation (which I think is logical); I tried to learn Thai and the Wife and family get puzzled looks when I try to form a sentence ... it is complex, the intonation is everything; my Wife is learning to speak english ...

[dragonfly94]

Sorry. For those that say it is only a matter of trying or wanting. Children can master many languages without accent. But the older you are the less possible it becomes.DEspite what your mind says your tongue and vocal chords become fixed to a muscular expressional capacity. that results in the identifiable accents notable in many languages . In Thai tonal sound is crucial because Thais seem to have little tolerance for accents in Thai. If it is less than perfect then it is not understood.....even within Thai society. My Isaan wife struggles to understand spoken southern Thai. And this is why sarcasm or irony is rarely understood by Thai if y ou try to use the western way of expressing it. Thai is basic and literal in format.Context plays a huge part in meaning. Subjects involving innuendo is based on a story rather than inflections on words. A different way but equivalent to parochial language humourf Asia has had a wet.

Which also helps to explain why Thais usually like C. Chaplin style humour...slapstick.It has replaced the original pantomine language based humour that is still shown via TV but most do not have an interest in.Cultural distortion/change in Thailand has been incredibly accelerated. As it has been in many Asian the possibility of advancing it. locations. And that has created extorsions in many aspects. What many westerners do not appreciate is that they come from societies where change has been progressive and regulated and thus normal in perception. Much of Asia has had a tech culture bomb dropped on it. It would sadly seem that has been used against the population instead of advancing it.Language is a major part of that. Why is it that few Thais have even a basic knowledge of the international language? Is it so important that I can speak Thai? Or is it more important Thais learn the international language so they can understand world events directly instead of being fed an interpretation?

Some good points especially on tones, yes I know there are 5 but I can never identify them or re produce them, that's not an excuse it's a reason. Well done to the pompous achievers who can manage it, I and many others can't. Without the right tone a Thai cannot understand even of the word is correct.

English is the international language of trade, banking, travel, science, medicine and the Internet and of course more Thais need to speak it, even Thais agree, so what is their 'excuse' not to? too Thai probably.

When it comes to reasons for learning Thai one of the worst is being able to understand the news, I have neither need nor want to understand North Korean like news broadcast or to read the Thai Rath (like the Sun). When it comes to films, except for some Thai films (no thanks to any of that rubbish) films are in soundtrack, yes English again with Thai subs. The only problem there is when you get a Thai reading out the subs for their mate when they cannot read Thai!

[Gecko123]

Thais are so socially inclusive.

So different from the West.

Experiencing this is one of the best parts of living here.

When you can't speak Thai you miss out on so much.

[stickylies]

When you can't speak Thai you miss out on so much.

females: 50% of conversation is about food. 45 % is about money. 5% is about superstition.

males: 35% of conversation is about food. 35% is about money. 10% is about pussy (on their smartphone). 10% is about gambling (football results). 5% is about superstition. 5% is incomprehensible because they are totally lazarus.

[dragonfly94]

Thais are so socially inclusive.

So different from the West.

Experiencing this is one of the best parts of living here.

When you can't speak Thai you miss out on so much.

Socially inclusive- sitting around on the floor eating each others food and slagging off people not present, mm no thanks

[SoiBiker]

Thais are so socially inclusive.

So different from the West.

Experiencing this is one of the best parts of living here.

When you can't speak Thai you miss out on so much.

Socially inclusive- sitting around on the floor eating each others food and slagging off people not present, mm no thanks

Better to sit on your own and slag people off on the internet, eh?

[Gecko123]

Socially inclusive- sitting around on the floor eating each others food and slagging off people not present, mm no thanks

I would appreciate it if you would reread the OP carefully, particularly the second to last paragraph which reads:

Those who want to keep banging the drum about why it’s NOT important to learn Thai, can comment on the “Perfect Reason for NOT learning Thai” thread.

This thread can be found on page 2 of the General Topics forum.

The "Joy of Thai" thread is intended for people who want to share stories about the benefits of being able to communicate in Thai, not for people who can't speak Thai and want to convince the world that it's not worth the effort.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Gecko123

[Farang99]

I did business in Switzerland. As I was on a language frontier I had to learn French and Swiss German, plus High German for correspondence. Now Swiss German probably is dying out but without it I should never have got where I got, both socially, culturally and in business. Now, 40 years later, I feel most frustrated that I can't memorise much Thai vocabulary (the tones are ok, I was some sort of musician) and can only stutter out a few words and phrases. But I wonder: how do people react to traffic signs if they can't read Thai? I can to some extent. Nobody got 91 petrol in his car when he wanted diesel? How about finding the correct bus destination? I think that even in Morchit they don't write destinations in English.

I read so much about Brits complaining about immigrants to the UK that don't want to learn English...

Many English speakers don't realise that they don't really understand the structure of their own language. Just try to explain the difference between an object and a subject, an adjective and an adverb, their eyes glaze over. How can you expect them to learn another language, if they have never been forced to think about why and how things are expressed?

Anyway, happily my wife, who after two years of schooling taught herself an English better than most teachers here are capable of, helps me out, as does her 8 year old granddaughter. I can't imagine what things here must be like for people with no understanding for, or willingness to, learn Thai must be like. I know that there are a lot of opinionated people on Thaivisa that know nothing about the 'real' Thailand at all.

I cannot see the benefit of living here and refusing to try to learn Thai. Admittedly, I had a good reason - I met a girl who had her own little hairdreser/beauty parlour and a sweet smile and spoke no English, so that was my incentive to learn, but I have found it valuable in all sorts of circumstances. And 17 years later the sweet smile and I are still together.

[stickylies]

Thais are so socially inclusive.

So different from the West.

Experiencing this is one of the best parts of living here.

When you can't speak Thai you miss out on so much.

Socially inclusive- sitting around on the floor eating each others food and slagging off people not present, mm no thanks

Better to sit on your own and slag people off on the internet, eh?

LOL! good laugh

[dragonfly94]

Thais are so socially inclusive.

So different from the West.

Experiencing this is one of the best parts of living here.

When you can't speak Thai you miss out on so much.

Socially inclusive- sitting around on the floor eating each others food and slagging off people not present, mm no thanks

Better to sit on your own and slag people off on the internet, eh?

LOL! good laugh

At least there is not a mess on the floor, a pile of washing up and the place stunk out with Thai food

[Gecko123]

I remember years ago catching a late evening shuttle van from Don Muang to Pattaya.

I asked the driver if I could sit in the front passenger seat not only because it had more leg room, but because I was eager for the chance to practice speaking Thai with him.

Somehow I managed to keep the conversation going for the better part of the trip, even though my Thai really wasn't that good.

I remember that when we arrived in Pattaya, the driver abruptly, and seemingly, rather arbitrarily, pulled over to the curb. He told me to stay put, hopped out, ran around to the side of the van, pulled opened the sliding door, and unceremoniously motioned for everyone to disembark from the van. All the passengers were bewildered and looking at one another as if to say, "Where the heck are we? What are we supposed to do now?"

When the driver got back in behind the wheel, he turned and asked me what hotel I was staying at. To my delight he drove me right to the front door, and even helped me carry my bag to the reception desk.

Ever since that night I've never had so much as a moment of doubt about the value of knowing how to speak Thai in Thailand.

[dragonfly94]

I went to Mike Piromporns ( famous singer) restaurant once on lad Phrao 71. On leaving Mike got me the taxi and asked him to take his friend home, the driver was beside himself. When I got home at a great distance the driver would not take payment ask Mike has asked him to take me home. Ever since that night I never had a moments doubt about the value of knowing Thai singers. The last time I saw Sunaree Rachasima she stood on stage and told the audience I knew more about luktung than most Thai, er even though I don't speak passa Thai dee . Who would want to go to an open air brothel like Pattaya? some people have no class jing jing

Edited February 3, 2015 by dragonfly94

[starky]

[dragonfly94]

You don't need language to communicate-

Harpo marx

[StreetCowboy]

I went to Mike Piromporns ( famous singer) restaurant once on lad Phrao 71. On leaving Mike got me the taxi and asked him to take his friend home, the driver was beside himself. When I got home at a great distance the driver would not take payment ask Mike has asked him to take me home. Ever since that night I never had a moments doubt about the value of knowing Thai singers. The last time I saw Sunaree Rachasima she stood on stage and told the audience I knew more about luktung than most Thai, er even though I don't speak passa Thai dee . Who would want to go to an open air brothel like Pattaya? some people have no class jing jing

Boasters least of all

[LawrenceN]

Well done to the pompous achievers who can manage it, I and many others can't.

Oh? And what about the honest, humble responders who shared their experiences because they were asked and have something positive to contribute? Do you mean you only appreciate the pompous ones? Or that by responding when asked about our success, we are by definition pompous? Sorry if my questions sound pompous to you. I'm reserving a few choice adjectives that apply to you, out of respect for the OP's request to keep it positive.

[starky]

You don't need language to communicate-

Harpo marx

maybe true but I don't wish to live my life as a mime artist in a pantomime. I prefer to communicate with language not as a mute doing my best with hand signals, whistling and a horn thanks very much

[Rooo]

Non English post removed.

[Gutterboy]

Great post

I find the best technique is to learn Thai but don't let anyone know that you can speak it. This makes for much more fun!