I don't want to learn local language

[Deepinthailand]

Simple really don't learn thai and remain a lonely old man.

[LannaGuy]

9 hours ago, Berkshire said:

The level of education has zero to do with strong English skills.  You are aware that Thai universities teach in the Thai language, correct?  So a Thai female with a PhD may speak less English than an uneducated bargirl.  Unless they majored in English, attend an international school, or got their post-grad degree overseas, most educated Thai females are not going to be real proficient in English.  And frankly, they don't need to be, living in Thailand.

Then how will they benefit from most of the world's science, arts and education?  and don't tell me Thai standards are equivalent because that is nonsense  and you know it. Research is essential for a PhD and for a Masters (I know I been there) but you try and use a Thai post-grad qualification outside Thailand and, yes, I know we live INSIDE Thailand but all the educated Thais I know speak pretty useful English and have studied abroad.

Edited February 15, 2017 by LannaGuy

[Berkshire]

32 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

Then how will they benefit from most of the world's science, arts and education?  and don't tell me Thai standards are equivalent because that is nonsense  and you know it. Research is essential for a PhD and for a Masters (I know I been there) but you try and use a Thai post-grad qualification outside Thailand and, yes, I know we live INSIDE Thailand but all the educated Thais I know speak pretty useful English and have studied abroad.

You're saying that "all the educated Thais (you) know speak pretty useful English and have studied abroad".....????  That's simply not true.  A very small percentage of educated Thais have studied abroad.  Maybe 1%.  I know a few and strangely, none of them have a farang spouse.  As for "useful English," perhaps your standard is much lower than mine. 

 

We're going around in circles.  Learn Thai or don't learn Thai, I really don't care.  But one thing I can say for certain--pretty much all Thai females born and raised in Thailand prefer to speak Thai in social situations, regardless of their level of English.

[LannaGuy]

8 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

You're saying that "all the educated Thais (you) know speak pretty useful English and have studied abroad".....????  That's simply not true.  A very small percentage of educated Thais have studied abroad.  Maybe 1%.  I know a few and strangely, none of them have a farang spouse.  As for "useful English," perhaps your standard is much lower than mine. 

 

We're going around in circles.  Learn Thai or don't learn Thai, I really don't care.  But one thing I can say for certain--pretty much all Thai females born and raised in Thailand prefer to speak Thai in social situations, regardless of their level of English.

I'm sorry to be awkward but that's just not been my experience. Many Thais I know (seems to be younger these days) love to speak English AND see it as cool but I do agree one thing that it is less prevalent here in this nationalistic country than, say, Philippines.

 

Maybe I'm wrong about studying abroad but I'm not wrong with my premise about higher degrees.

Edited February 15, 2017 by LannaGuy

[s1xer]

We're going around in circles.  Learn Thai or don't learn Thai, I really don't care. 

You're absolutely right learn or don't learn "up to you".

I learnt Thai many years ago, it was hard work and even now am still learning and I LUB IT.


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[wildewillie89]

31 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

You're saying that "all the educated Thais (you) know speak pretty useful English and have studied abroad".....????  That's simply not true.  A very small percentage of educated Thais have studied abroad.  Maybe 1%.  I know a few and strangely, none of them have a farang spouse.  As for "useful English," perhaps your standard is much lower than mine. 

 

We're going around in circles.  Learn Thai or don't learn Thai, I really don't care.  But one thing I can say for certain--pretty much all Thai females born and raised in Thailand prefer to speak Thai in social situations, regardless of their level of English.

 

That really depends...most educated Thai actually prefer to speak to Westerners on certain topics. Why? Because Thai media is censored so they cannot have the same discussion with locals. The same goes with different ideas on how to do things and differing research. Again, it goes back the their level of education. 

[geronimo]

Then join the many other foreigners who don't even scratch the surface of this wonderful culture.

[LannaGuy]

9 minutes ago, geronimo said:

Then join the many other foreigners who don't even scratch the surface of this wonderful culture.

cool we all agree 

[01322521959]

I can have a bit of a conversion in Thai. It makes me feel( though I know I'm fooling myself) a little bit a part of society here. Nice to pass the time of day with the fruit seller and so on.

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[01322521959]

"6" is a bugger, too.

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[uptheos]

Just give a bar girl a grand and she will tell you that you speak Thai 'geng maak' and that you are handsome also. But if you want to integrate and enjoy your life it's good to learn the language to whatever degree suits you. One thing Thai's like is someone who at least tries to speak the language.

[01322521959]

Say one word and they don't understand. Use a sentence and I'm understood even if the structure and the tone used is incorrect.

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[uptheos]

8 minutes ago, 01322521959 said:

Say one word and they don't understand. Use a sentence and I'm understood even if the structure and the tone used is incorrect.

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Most of the time their ear is waiting for a 'foreign' word so it doesn't register.

[faraday]

17 hours ago, scorecard said:

Not sure if your comment is in jest, but I am aware of an American guy (a Ph.D. holder with quite some accomplishments in medical research) who moved here on early retirement, died here about 15 years later, died pauper, family in US didn't want to know, had no friends, quite an unpleasant man.

 

In 14 years he learned zero Thai, he make a conscious decision on arrival that he would not learn Thai.

 

He abused taxi drivers every day. He would give them long details of where he wanted to go, in English and because they didn't understand what he was saying he would get angry and thump the dashboard etc. His abuse included saying things, in English very loudly and very slowly and several times, then a comment to anybody travelling with him 'see I said it loud and 4 times and he still doesn't understand because he's stoopid' (sic).

 

He ate alone 99% of the time because nobody would sit with him and be embarrassed by his abuse to waiters etc.

 

He was barred from at 2 restaurants near his apartment. 

I was being very sarcastic.

[wildewillie89]

I look at it this way...from what I have seen living here, Thai can be incredibly complex (maybe that is why you get many people say all Thai do is gossip or talk about food-as many themselves find the language difficult). The same people who claim to speak Thai, also advise against learning due to the nature of conversations. Even Thai people I have worked with who have translated meetings for me have said the one hour of content was really 5 minutes said in 12 different ways (and that I am lucky i don't speak Thai). Having a wife that works as an official I hear many different scores from many different people who sat the test to become an official. It is not at all uncommon to hear that a Bachelor or Masters educated Thai person only score 25% on the Thai language component of the test. As mentioned earlier i worked with two PhD students who didn't pass the Thai aspect, but passed the Math, Science and English without difficulties.

If the need for a sophisticated conversation extends to learning Thai that many people who have at least a Bachelor degree fails then I will give it a miss. I will just find, and it is not as hard as people claim, a Thai person who speaks English. If you're happy with a very low level of Thai that gets you through the day with incredibly boring conversations, then that is great, each to their own. But don't claim you can speak Thai or quantify how much Thai you can speak (as how can you quantify something if you don't know its completion). Generally speaking, the conversations people have in Thai you can have in English also, as they are in the most basic form that even many Thai are capable of having. They may even have a better chance of understanding the English than our incredibly poor accents (as it's a tone language). The claim you will end up lonely not learning Thai is utter rubbish. That is implying that no one in Thai can speak even a tiny bit of English. You get what you ask for, you ask for people who speak English, then you will find them and you will surround yourself with them. And those people will appreciate it. 

It is fantastic that many people do choose to learn a little bit of Thai also. I congratulate them. But there is no need to disrespect or name call those who do not learn it as you feel better than them. It is a language, not the cure for cancer lol. Many people who do learn a basic form of Thai seem to think they deserve a Noble Peace Prize it seems. Not to mention the thousands of Thai who go to *study* (work) in Western countries who refuse to go to school or hang out with Western people due to making no effort to learn the language (if you were part of the Thai community back home you will understand this). Somehow Westerners here are arrogant for at least still attempting to communicate in any language, but Thai back in our countries are perfectly okay for not even making any attempt. Think people just need to pull their heads out of their <deleted> and just accept many people have different capabilities and needs that may be quite different from your own. Rant over.

Edited February 15, 2017 by wildewillie89

[zorro1]

Depends totally where you live on how much you should know
Lower Sukhumvit bangkok and Pattaya =zero need for thai

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[SaintLouisBlues]

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Why would you think everybody is the same as your colleagues?

I don't, I regard most as even less worthy of regard

[Naam]

17 hours ago, jenifer d said:

ok, let the sh*tstorm begin   let's see what excuses THIS response dredges up

boring self-adulating blah-blah combined with unwanted advice does not cause sh*tstorms

[anotheruser]

.

[FritsSikkink]

48 minutes ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

I don't, I regard most as even less worthy of regard

Really need to look for other people to communicate with.

[redwinecheese]

9 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Really need to look for other people to communicate with.

He is ok, he is just pissed off

[GreasyFingers]

Two reasons not to learn Thai:

1. You do not have to listen to the 4 relatives talking to you at the same when drunk on your beer and whisky.

2. Only learnt this one recently when we moved to a 99.99% Thai community - the gf never shuts up. If I could understand Thai she would be talking to me all of the time.

[Deepinthailand]

Over the years this particular subject has surfaced in many Expat forums all over the world. 

My conclusion on the subject is quite simple. 

Arrogant English speaker move to a country and expect the locals to go out and learn English. Why! That's easy to its the I'm better than them syndrome.

[steve187]

I would say they are saying how hansum you are

[DrTuner]

In a few years this'll be moot anyway. AI will be powerful enough to translate from language to language in real time. Google's AI used in some of the translations between major languages is already passable (not Thai, it's non-AI at the moment, even they haven't bothered but it'll come). Investing a lot of time in something that'll be automated in the near future makes little sense.

 

I'll be looking forward to cursing in Finnish to Somchai, who'll hear it loud and clear in Lao. Never mind the reply, I'll be getting me coat by then.

[redwinecheese]

2 hours ago, GreasyFingers said:

If I could understand Thai she would be talking to me all of the time.

[mlkik]

On ‎14‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 2:40 AM, LannaGuy said:

that's not quite correct

 

animal is the classifier but you don't say 'animal dog' but 'dog one animal'  (sunak nung tua) but let's not derail the thread into a Thai lesson   :)  

The word for animal is sat and is not a classifier. Tua or doua is indeed the classifier used in this instance and can be used for people ,animals ,insects and many other things.

Maa tua nung would more commonly be used as sunak is not colloquial.

[redwinecheese]

2 hours ago, Deepinthailand said:

Arrogant English speaker move to a country and expect the locals to go out and learn English

Correct me if I am wrong but English is the world communication language not local languages!?

[Berkshire]

4 hours ago, GreasyFingers said:

Two reasons not to learn Thai:

1. You do not have to listen to the 4 relatives talking to you at the same when drunk on your beer and whisky.

2. Only learnt this one recently when we moved to a 99.99% Thai community - the gf never shuts up. If I could understand Thai she would be talking to me all of the time.

Sounds like you need a new GF.  But if she's the best you can do, well....

[anotheruser]

4 hours ago, GreasyFingers said:

Two reasons not to learn Thai:

1. You do not have to listen to the 4 relatives talking to you at the same when drunk on your beer and whisky.

2. Only learnt this one recently when we moved to a 99.99% Thai community - the gf never shuts up. If I could understand Thai she would be talking to me all of the time.

3. Languages don't come easily to me and I lack the intellect and initiative to learn them. 

 

Let's face it those that can pick up the language probably already have in the first year of living here. And those that haven't most likely never will.