Do you have any MALE Thai friends?

[Stevemercer]

I don't speak enough Thai to be able to claim I have close Thai male friends. I live out in a rural area. My brother-in-law is a friend, but he speaks good English. Most of my friends would be Thai women, I guess. In general, their English is better so there is the ability for basic communication. I like dancing and this seems to be more of a woman's thing. I can belt out the odd Thai song at karaoke (if the Thai is also in English script) which the Thai blokes always enjoy and is worth a few rounds.

Females generally pick up languages much better than males. You can see it when teaching at school. 80% of 'gifted' English classes will be girls, 15% ladyboys and just a few boys. I guess a ladyboy's brain must be wired the same as a female. Almost all females I meet are willing to try some English. It is harder for blokes. They are more concious about 'face' in social situations (until they have had a few drinks, after which you will be their new best friend).

Many Thai men are decent and hard working. Sometimes their wives complain to me that they have too many girlfriends, but they generally trust me to go to karaoke bars with their husbands. It can be a little strange to me how people I barely know can tell me such intimate things. Thai men can be the same. When a little drunk t is hard to know what to expect, but generally I am 'overwhelmed' how friendly they are.

[spidermike007]

Thai's are generally very shallow, with little real education.

Almost impossible to have as friends, and why would you bother?

Generalised xenophobic nonsense.

Most of my male Thai friends have doctoral degrees and for some reason always want to talk about French existentialist philosophy and the meaning of life...

What I would do to meet some of your Thai friends.

[Gringogazzer]

Only my barber, but I pay him to stand there & listen to me...

Acquaintances is the best description.

[Linzz]

Thai's are generally very shallow, with little real education.

Almost impossible to have as friends, and why would you bother?

I have 3 or 4 male friends (British and Australian), no female friends.

Do people ever have time for more than a handful of friends?

Racist slur!

I have met and enjoyed the company of far better educated Thai males than the ignoramuses that seem to post on here for sure.

If your life doesn't much extend beyond local bars or the expat community than you are unlikely to meet decent, educated, genuinely friendly male Thais, or females come to that!

"Get a life" as the saying goes!

Steady on!

Every forum needs a bast.ard. If MaeJo got driven off or banned, nobody on here would have someone they love to hate.The forum might die for lack of drama, and every good drama needs a villain or provocateur...carry on MaeJo, you might even make some friends through perversity

[Chalard]

I have 2 friends that I met through work 24 years ago.

They were both educated overseas.

We catch up from time to time.

They are financially better off than me, so money is not the issue.

We enjoy our friendship whether it's golfing or family get togethers.

Couldn't ask for 2 better friends. Then I have my western friends who I play sport with.

[Lorn]

I don't speak enough Thai to be able to claim I have close Thai male friends. I live out in a rural area. My brother-in-law is a friend, but he speaks good English. Most of my friends would be Thai women, I guess. In general, their English is better so there is the ability for basic communication. I like dancing and this seems to be more of a woman's thing. I can belt out the odd Thai song at karaoke (if the Thai is also in English script) which the Thai blokes always enjoy and is worth a few rounds.

Females generally pick up languages much better than males. You can see it when teaching at school. 80% of 'gifted' English classes will be girls, 15% ladyboys and just a few boys. I guess a ladyboy's brain must be wired the same as a female. Almost all females I meet are willing to try some English. It is harder for blokes. They are more concious about 'face' in social situations (until they have had a few drinks, after which you will be their new best friend).

Many Thai men are decent and hard working. Sometimes their wives complain to me that they have too many girlfriends, but they generally trust me to go to karaoke bars with their husbands. It can be a little strange to me how people I barely know can tell me such intimate things. Thai men can be the same. When a little drunk t is hard to know what to expect, but generally I am 'overwhelmed' how friendly they are.

This is absolute nonsense. If women are doing better at languages in school it's because they pay more attention in language classes because society tells men they should be focusing on Maths, Science etc. It's got nothing to do with differences in the way male and female brains work.

[Stevemercer]

This is absolute nonsense. If women are doing better at languages in school it's because they pay more attention in language classes because society tells men they should be focusing on Maths, Science etc. It's got nothing to do with differences in the way male and female brains work.

Well, I think you will find plenty of evidence that male and females do think differently. Females can multi-task better than males, male are better at tasks involving practical logic and sequencing. Females are generally better at languages. These are just plain old facts accepted by educators everywhere in the world. Look it up on the Internet if you don't believe.

[jdlancaster]

Lorn, I would have to respectfully disagree with you that language learning has nothing to do with "the way male and female brains work." Burman et al. 2009 suggests that "Bilateral activation in the inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri and activation in the left fusiform gyrus of girls was greater than in boys. Activation in the left inferior frontal and fusiform regions of girls was also correlated with linguistic accuracy irregardless of stimulus modality, whereas correlation with performance accuracy in boys depended on the modality of word presentation (either in visual or auditory association cortex). This pattern suggests that girls rely on a supramodal language network, whereas boys process visual and auditory words differently. Activation in the left fusiform region was additionally correlated with performance on standardized language tests in which girls performed better, additional evidence of its role in early sex differences for language."

But, I do agree that females are better behaved and more motivated and that is a significant factor in females outperforming males. And, I do agree with you that societal factors are, yes, a factor but one of many (Rua, 2006)

References:

Burman, D. D., Bitan, T., Booth, J. R. 2008. Sex Differences in Neural Processing of Language Among Children. Neuropsychologia 46:1349-1362.

Rua, P. L. 2006. The sex variable in foreign language learning: an integrative approach. Porta Linguarum 6:99-114.

[The Big Mango]

^^ wow , just wow..... that hurt my brain just trying to decipher it.

Hehehehehe

[PaulHamon]

one good one.

[Skeptic7]

None...nor do I have the desire for any

[Gringogazzer]

Lorn, I would have to respectfully disagree with you that language learning has nothing to do with "the way male and female brains work." Burman et al. 2009 suggests that "Bilateral activation in the inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri and activation in the left fusiform gyrus of girls was greater than in boys. Activation in the left inferior frontal and fusiform regions of girls was also correlated with linguistic accuracy irregardless of stimulus modality, whereas correlation with performance accuracy in boys depended on the modality of word presentation (either in visual or auditory association cortex). This pattern suggests that girls rely on a supramodal language network, whereas boys process visual and auditory words differently. Activation in the left fusiform region was additionally correlated with performance on standardized language tests in which girls performed better, additional evidence of its role in early sex differences for language."

But, I do agree that females are better behaved and more motivated and that is a significant factor in females outperforming males. And, I do agree with you that societal factors are, yes, a factor but one of many (Rua, 2006)

References:

Burman, D. D., Bitan, T., Booth, J. R. 2008. Sex Differences in Neural Processing of Language Among Children. Neuropsychologia 46:1349-1362.

Rua, P. L. 2006. The sex variable in foreign language learning: an integrative approach. Porta Linguarum 6:99-114.

I'll take a guess at your male Thai friends is 0, zilch, narda. Just a feeling.

[orpheus454]

Even if you can speak Thai did you ever think about what kind of intellectual enlightenment conversation you have from talking to a Thai man. As a rule, most Thais can not carry on an intelligent conversation unless the subject is eating, <deleted>**k, stealing and drinking. YOU FOOLS NEED TO WAKE UP TO WHERE YOU ARE LIVING. A Thai male friend will be an exception and usually he is interested in learning from you about western ways. Did you ever think about why Thailand is 38th in the world in education? It is because the government and the big man want to keep Thai people stupid so they can not come to Bangkok and make a big problem.

He's right, you know.

I'd better wake up to myself before I recklessly make friends with someone who actually isn't worthy to tie my boot laces.

Thanks Don, you're the best...

[thailanddogerator]

No interest in males, the girls are are not smarter but they have something else to offer <3

[Lorn]

This is absolute nonsense. If women are doing better at languages in school it's because they pay more attention in language classes because society tells men they should be focusing on Maths, Science etc. It's got nothing to do with differences in the way male and female brains work.

Well, I think you will find plenty of evidence that male and females do think differently. Females can multi-task better than males, male are better at tasks involving practical logic and sequencing. Females are generally better at languages. These are just plain old facts accepted by educators everywhere in the world. Look it up on the Internet if you don't believe.

According to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/10567876/Are-women-really-better-at-learning-languages.html

4 hypotheses are

1. They process language differently

2. They use more study strategies

3. They converse more

4. They are more motivated in school

Digging deeper into the first I find http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2478638/ who say

"Why females generally perform better on language tasks than males is unknown." and claim they are

"the first to demonstrate a main effect of sex on the magnitude of activation. Neuroimaging studies on language have often failed to show sex differences (Buckner et al., 1995; Frost et al., 1999; Gur et al., 2000; Hund-Georgiadis et al., 2002; Roberts & Bell, 2002; Xu et al., 2001), even when using sample sizes larger than here (Brickman et al., 2005; Knecht et al., 2000; Sommer et al., 2004). In studies of adults that did find sex differences, effects have been weak, usually only demonstrable as differences in laterality (see introduction). A weak interaction of sex with age has also been demonstrated in children, evident as sex differences in the rate of developmental change in intensity (Plante et al., 2006). No previous study has looked for statistical differences between sexes across tasks (although some did look for sex differences on each of several tasks), and none controlled for all the other variables that potentially affect performance (age, accuracy, modality of word presentation and task). Our approach of examining effects across tasks and stimulus modalities is similar to that used by prior studies of amodal language processing (Booth et al., 2002b, 2003; Buchel, Price, & Friston, 1998; Demonet, Thierry, & Cardebat, 2005; Gabrieli, Poldrack, & Desmond, 1998; MacSweeney et al., 2002), which demonstrate higher-level linguistic functions by eliminating modality of word presentation as a confound."

seems hard to believe it's an established fact for 50 years.

[Lorn]

Even if you can speak Thai did you ever think about what kind of intellectual enlightenment conversation you have from talking to a Thai man. As a rule, most Thais can not carry on an intelligent conversation unless the subject is eating, <deleted>**k, stealing and drinking. YOU FOOLS NEED TO WAKE UP TO WHERE YOU ARE LIVING. A Thai male friend will be an exception and usually he is interested in learning from you about western ways. Did you ever think about why Thailand is 38th in the world in education? It is because the government and the big man want to keep Thai people stupid so they can not come to Bangkok and make a big problem.

He's right, you know.

I'd better wake up to myself before I recklessly make friends with someone who actually isn't worthy to tie my boot laces.

Thanks Don, you're the best...

38th in education? 38th would be amazing considering what a poor country Thailand is (about 90th in term of GDP per capita). Did you base this on a study where only about 40 countries participated?

According to PISA tests (2012) (must be newer ones available but couldn't find them atm):

Aus 19th

NZ- 23rd

UK 26th

USA 36th

Thailand 50th

of the 65 countries that did the tests.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Lorn

[DonaldBattles]

Most people refuse to accept that Thailand is like it is because we live in two different countries, The Peoples Republic Of Bangkok and the Peoples Republic Of Up Country Farm Slaves. Education is super bad because it has long been the policy of Bangkok to keep people poor and stupid. Notice the current government has changed the education minister 2 times and given only lip service to education. I rather doubt that we will be seeing anything different. How can a country ever progress when the poor are held back like they are? Notice that Thaksin was the only PM to complete one term. It is not necessary for us to have a new constitution and elections as it will sooner or later be thrown away again. Leave the situation like it is for a few years and then think about it. This country needs a break from the thieves and politicians.

[TuskegeeBen]

Quite a few. I have the engineer friends I met at work, my BIL,uncles and FIL. My BIL and I go with friends from his work to go watch Futbol at a local Mo Kah Tah. Good food and lots of beer.

Colleagues are not Friends. The OP question asks about MALE Thai friends. Now, how many of your Thai male Engineer colleagues have actually invited you to their homes, to meet their family? Zero, probably.

[jdlancaster]

Tuskegee ben.... a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square.... a colleague most certainly can be a friend. Many of my older colleagues do invite me to their homes whether they are friends or acquaintences.... and many of my younger colleagues are single and live far from their families so I haven't met their families ...others I have. I wouldn't use seeing one's family as a friendship barometer. It is up to each of us to define what we are looking for in friendship. .. everyone has different needs and expectations. ...

and I wouldn't punish my friends by making them see my family (parents and siblings)... that would just be cruel.

[villagefarang]

Tuskegee ben.... a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square.... a colleague most certainly can be a friend. Many of my older colleagues do invite me to their homes whether they are friends or acquaintences.... and many of my younger colleagues are single and live far from their families so I haven't met their families ...others I have. I wouldn't use seeing one's family as a friendship barometer. It is up to each of us to define what we are looking for in friendship. .. everyone has different needs and expectations. ...

and I wouldn't punish my friends by making them see my family (parents and siblings)... that would just be cruel.

I agree. Can't help but laugh at some of the ridged, draconian ideas of who is a friend and who is not.

[Lorn]

Lorn, I would have to respectfully disagree with you that language learning has nothing to do with "the way male and female brains work." Burman et al. 2009 suggests that "Bilateral activation in the inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri and activation in the left fusiform gyrus of girls was greater than in boys. Activation in the left inferior frontal and fusiform regions of girls was also correlated with linguistic accuracy irregardless of stimulus modality, whereas correlation with performance accuracy in boys depended on the modality of word presentation (either in visual or auditory association cortex). This pattern suggests that girls rely on a supramodal language network, whereas boys process visual and auditory words differently. Activation in the left fusiform region was additionally correlated with performance on standardized language tests in which girls performed better, additional evidence of its role in early sex differences for language."

But, I do agree that females are better behaved and more motivated and that is a significant factor in females outperforming males. And, I do agree with you that societal factors are, yes, a factor but one of many (Rua, 2006)

References:

Burman, D. D., Bitan, T., Booth, J. R. 2008. Sex Differences in Neural Processing of Language Among Children. Neuropsychologia 46:1349-1362.

Rua, P. L. 2006. The sex variable in foreign language learning: an integrative approach. Porta Linguarum 6:99-114.

Yes I should have been more circumspect. Of course different people do learn better in different ways and so the way language is taught may benefit a greater percentage of females than males. It just annoyed me that this was being used as an excuse to a) not bother engaging with half the population and perhaps as an excuse for not bothering to learn Thai themselves as they are male and therefore learning languages is so difficult for them.

[AYJAYDEE]

plenty

[JAFO]

Quite a few. I have the engineer friends I met at work, my BIL,uncles and FIL. My BIL and I go with friends from his work to go watch Futbol at a local Mo Kah Tah. Good food and lots of beer.

Colleagues are not Friends. The OP question asks about MALE Thai friends. Now, how many of your Thai male Engineer colleagues have actually invited you to their homes, to meet their family? Zero, probably.

^Thats laughable TuskegeeBen. I have been to virtually all of their houses, met their wives and children. I went on numerous trips with them. Hell we all used to go out and do Karaoke once a week and some times it was at one of their homes. I regularly invited them down to my Hotel so they could swim and bring their kids. And FWIIW, I am still good friends with many of them today.

Edited October 5, 2015 by JAFO

[samsensam]

one male thai friend i had who was i assumed gay. he disappeared for six months and when we met again he'd become a woman. we continued to be friends sadly he/she became increasingly moody and defensive and we had an difference of opinion about literature that would mean nothing to a westerner but he/she took offence (loss of face?) and now we never meet. sad.