Thai Language - Learning Curve

[sbk]

This forum must be the elite - see IQ test.

So many here report to us, saying they speak Thai, read Thai, understand the culture etc (you will never 100% understand it!).

I have met one guy in nearly 7 years who speaks fluently - yes I do speak Thai and pretty good Thai, but where are all you fluent speakers? I have met one!

Speaking it properly means you also have your tones, I meet a lot of people in Phuket, who say they speak it, but speaking Thai in an Australian accent, English accent or Amercian drawl, is not speaking it - see if you can fool a Thai person on the phone - that is a good test.

I would hazard a guess to say many members of this forum, wouldnt have a clue speaking business type Thai - bar Thai is easy, and speaking and communicating with your spouse is Thinglish.

An easy example of teaching books, not being "speak easy" is: koh (Island), the Thai way you pronounce it is Goh, but the "fluent" expats I meet still pronounce it as its written.

harloy baht and pang isnt speaking it

Actually, not to brag, but I have been mistaken for a Thai on the phone. A southern Thai that is! I learned my Thai simply by picking it up, of course, being thrown into an almost solely Thai speaking community helped alot. Also, the fact that I studied Mandarin Chinese for 3 years helped me to be able to differentiate the tones from the start. My trick for the tonal part: I have a 'thai voice' --it is much higher and a bit more nasally than my usual 'english voice'.

That said, I am still learning Thai and would never classify myself as fluent, just lucky enough to have an excellent accent. Biggest joke is, of course, people in Bangkok know where I live as soon as I open my mouth. Kind of like meeting a Thai person who speaks English with a Cockney accent, I imagine. Bizarre