The older I get, the more I am ignored here!

[Neeranam]

I don't speak to one of my neighbours as he asked my wife why farang don't wear shirts, when I was with her. I see many Thais walking around their gardens with no shirts.

Also, he wouldn't act as a referee for my Thai citizen application. Tosser.

[marcusarelus]

15 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

At new year, I had a BBQ inviting the neighbours.

Sitting with my US friend, a couple of men, one a lawyer approached us. They jokingly asked if we could speak Thai. I said yes and my friend had just finished a law degree at a Thai university. After 10 minutrs of chatting in Thai, they sat down with their female friends and started talking about us in a sort of negative way. They simply refused to believe or accept that our Thai could be better than their English.

Man, I have a thousand stories like this.

So is this thread about being ignored as you get older or your usual Thai Bashing bs?  Cause I can see why you have a thousand stories like the one above. 

[Neeranam]

44 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

So is this thread about being ignored as you get older or your usual Thai Bashing bs?  Cause I can see why you have a thousand stories like the one above. 

I don't think I know you, and you certainly don't know my topics/posts on this forum.

"Thai bashing BS"? Do me a favour and go troll someone else.

[rumak]

2 hours ago, thecyclist said:

When on top of being a farang - a second or third class of human if considered fully human at all in Thailand - you are old, you have turned into a non-entity. You can only make up for it by flashing a lot of cash/gold/fancy cars etc (in Thailand that makes up for just about any shortcoming) to get their attention and "love". 

i may be delusional.....but that ain't the way i feel where i live.   Of course i have a good personality, speak thai pretty well,  don't say stupid things, and act a lot more respectful (of people in general) than I did in my younger days. I think the problem for many farangs is that they think they are better than others... and take offense at not being seen as something "special"   

But if cash is all that works for you,  well, hope your loaded.  But one thing that it won't buy, and that is respect.  I don't expect anyone, farang or thai, to give me much thought.  This is a  selfie world we live in.

I would invite all who doubt my situation to come see for themselves,  but that would end up like all the threads here , and to be honest, the force of my urine stream just ain't what it used to be.

[smotherb]

On 2/16/2019 at 5:08 PM, LomSak27 said:

Fun little Tale from Nakhon Nowhere.

 

The best western Thai speaker I ever ran into was a German woman who came here in the 1970’s, married a Thai Chinese. Lived up country when there were no expats, only the occasional CUSO and Peace Corps, that for two decades. BTW She speaks German, French, English, passable Dutch and excellent Thai. In fact, I have never met a westerner who speaks better Thai than her although I’m sure somewhere someone does.
 

The upshot of this, she would go to a local market and even though she would pud perfect passa Thai. As often as not the vendor would turn to her daughter who looks Thai and ask her. So the question is do they just not hear,  if it comes out of a farangs mouth? This women would say at least half the time, that is indeed the case.

 

So no worries relax, have a beer. That is just the way it’s going to be, might as well get used to it.

 

 

I think they just don't expect their language to come from a Westerner.  And, I don't think it is limited to Thais. I was quite taken aback when I spoke Vietnamese to a taxi driver in HCM. He simply ignored me; then started in broken English.  I had to explicitly ask in Vietnamese if he was a foreigner and could not speak Vietnamese before it dawned on him I was speaking Vietnamese. 

 

Accent issues may also be the problem, but I think it is mainly because they do not expect foreigners to speak their language.

[Anythingleft?]

I think they just don't expect their language to come from a Westerner.  And, I don't think it is limited to Thais. I was quite taken aback when I spoke Vietnamese to a taxi driver in HCM. He simply ignored me; then started in broken English.  I had to explicitly ask in Vietnamese if he was a foreigner and could not speak Vietnamese before it dawned on him I was speaking Vietnamese. 
 
Accent issues may also be the problem, but I think it is mainly because they do not expect foreigners to speak their language.

Thats fair, I spoke to a barber today and he just refused to acknowledge what I said (in Thai) another Thai gent repeated exactly what I said (in Thai) to which the barber said "aaah you speak Thai" and carried on as happy as a lark

Several times my words have just been completely ignored until repeated by another Thai person, very frustrating....


Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[rumak]

1 hour ago, Anythingleft? said:

Thats fair, I spoke to a barber today and he just refused to acknowledge what I said (in Thai) another Thai gent repeated exactly what I said (in Thai) to which the barber said "aaah you speak Thai" and carried on as happy as a lark

Several times my words have just been completely ignored until repeated by another Thai person, very frustrating....


Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

i always start my conversations with :  khun poot passaa thai,  dai mai ??   that usually overcomes the automatic "pause " and starts the "play"  .   sometimes gotta click and repeat

[SoonOh]

On 2/16/2019 at 4:15 PM, mauGR1 said:

Nothing to do with Thai culture imo, but young people are not very interested in old people, everywhere.

 So, Why all my expat friends have young Thai girlfriends 

[sirocco]

POST 102, hello,

Your old friends pay a lot, a lot.
They are perverted grandpas.
In their country, they would have no chance.
Yuck, an old !!!!!

[mauGR1]

3 hours ago, SoonOh said:

 So, Why all my expat friends have young Thai girlfriends 

How could i say, i don't know your expat friends and their young girlfriends.

It could be that your old mates have some special charm.

[transam]

3 hours ago, SoonOh said:

 So, Why all my expat friends have young Thai girlfriends 

Wallet size tells all...????

[transam]

2 hours ago, sirocco said:

POST 102, hello,

Your old friends pay a lot, a lot.
They are perverted grandpas.
In their country, they would have no chance.
Yuck, an old !!!!!

Better than being young and yuck eh..????

 

Show us a photo of yourself, I will give my honest opinion on yuckiness...????

[Bournville]

Yep. I speak Thai.. and the staff immediately assume I am speaking English... So they run for help... Or... They are listening for English! Very very frustrating indeed.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Chippy151]

On 2/18/2019 at 9:35 PM, smotherb said:

Accent issues may also be the problem, but I think it is mainly because they do not expect foreigners to speak their language.

True. They obviously need to open their minds a bit and accept that it's possible for a westerner to speak Thai.

I've often ordered food and drinks in Thai at a restaurant here. Sometimes the waitress looks at my wife and asks her what the farang wants. My wife usually pretends she doesn't hear. The waitress walks off looking annoyed and miraculously bring us what I ordered. 

If I order in Thai, my wife won't repeat the order. Let them work it out and show some respect.

Obviously, this doesn't happen very often but I fully understand why Westerners let their wives do the ordering in restaurants.

[smotherb]

1 hour ago, Chippy151 said:

True. They obviously need to open their minds a bit and accept that it's possible for a westerner to speak Thai.

I've often ordered food and drinks in Thai at a restaurant here. Sometimes the waitress looks at my wife and asks her what the farang wants. My wife usually pretends she doesn't hear. The waitress walks off looking annoyed and miraculously bring us what I ordered. 

If I order in Thai, my wife won't repeat the order. Let them work it out and show some respect.

Obviously, this doesn't happen very often but I fully understand why Westerners let their wives do the ordering in restaurants.

I let my wife do the ordering and she isn't Thai. They usually think she is, or at least they look at her expecting the order, and I speak better Thai than she does.

[sirocco]

hello, post, 106

The problem is not there. I was only answering a post 102 question.
Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! you might have a hell of a shock when you see me.
To answer the author of this message, I do not find abnormal, whether we are elderly or teenager, the restaurant, or elsewhere, it is preferably addressed to the native.
We do the same in my country.
Do not discriminate, race or age.

[Puwa]

Although I'm pretty confident in my Thai, I'm happy to switch to English if that's what the other person wants, whatever the reason. In fact, learning to let go of this issue, about 10 years ago, was kind of liberating. 

 

(By the way, if you want to objectively test how comprehensible your spoken Thai is, dictate into an Android phone and read, or have someone else read, the transcription.)

[Almer]

Briggsy, i am pleased to say the Chinese have stopped shouting at me, i tell them not to shout or i will leave, it works everytime, what im working on is the pushing and que jumping, in a Chinese ownrd hotel in BKK last week at breakfast was a coach load having breakfast before there day out, i was stood at the toaster waiting patiently and was pushed to one side by a loud speaking granny, i took my toast and helped myself to the food she had gathered and on the way past the plug socket i removed the plug, disgarded her poor selection for breakfast and sat down she starred at the toaster for a good 10 minutes and a further 10 minutes to find her cold food and then be told the coach is leaving, yes i know its childish but it was better than the television blaring out.