What is Your Attitude to Learning Thai?

[charliebadenhop]

There is an excellent FREE learning platform for learning Thai. 

Lingopolo

 

It is based on a "spaced repetition system". 

If you don't know the word today, they present it again tomorrow. If you know it tomorrow, the word gets presented in two days again.... 

 

This platform is the first time in my life that I feel competent in learning a foreign language. You don't need to "try" and remember, just go along and see the word again in a short amount of time.  Give it a try!

 

Your pronunciation will improve over time.

 

[samran]

1 hour ago, stephen tracy said:

That is a little weird. I wonder why she wouldn't encourage you to speak Thai. I'd help anyone who was having a go at improving their English by taking some time to speak to them in English. 

 

1 hour ago, Aforek said:

I have noticed several times that people who can speak good English , refused to speak Thai with me ; people who did it were an exception; may be they are proud to show they can speak English; but people who can't speak English are happy to speak Thai with me 

 

50 minutes ago, villagefarang said:

I find people like her rare but they do pop up from time to time in my life.  I try to be understanding of their apparent need to use English as long as it is pretty good and the conversation doesn't suffer.

Indeed they are the exception, and I must admit, I have thai relatives and friends that for whatever reason, our default language is English, but that it has been that way since i was a kid and it feels strange speaking thai to them (if you can follow that). I’ll speak English exclusively to one cousin and only Thai their brother and sister (even though their English is just as strong).

 

But with this lady - it’s different - but she just won’t budge. Polite as I said, but also a level of refusal. As everyone has said thought, it is quite a unique one to come across.

[moontang]

On 3/17/2019 at 8:24 AM, sammieuk1 said:

After 10 years I can order 10 baht of ice and mind the gap between train and platform so I'm getting there ???? 

Super Highway, mobile phone, mini market were some of my first Thai words.

[GalaxyMan]

I've always thought of it as the 'when in Rome, do as the Romans' kind of a thing. If I'm in their country, the least I could do is try to learn/speak their language. It's just common courtesy. I'm sure that most people expect foreign visitors to their native country to speak the local language, too, for the most part. Thai is a tough nut to crack, but I expect to add it to my list.

[GarryP]

What gets me is those who insist speaking with me in English, when my Thai language skills are far superior to their English - and they know it. If we spoke in Thai everything would be so much clearer and the chance of misunderstanding reduced considerably. But no, it is English only with them. 

[jasonsamui55]

Here’s my two cents. Here in Samui learning Thai is almost completely useless. It’s not really Thailand at all but rather an island of expats. Expats here can usually go days or even weeks without ever interacting with a Thai person. The island is like 60% foreigners, 20% Burmese (who usually speak English because they came here to work in restaurants, bars and hotels) and 20% Thai. And of the 20% Thais, 5% are the rich locals who own everything you see and went to boarding schools and university in England and America so speak English perfectly well, maybe 5% work for government or big corporations/hospitals/hotels and have good jobs and are well educated and speak English, and 10% are from Isaan working as maids or massage girls. Of course English is the de facto language here but if one were to want to “waste their time” on another language, learning French or Chinese or Russian would be a much better use of one’s time. The only reason I see to learn Thai is if you have a Thai wife or girlfriend, which I do not, and even then, from what I’ve seen though not from experience, most don’t bother for more than a few most basic words like hello and thank you.

[GalaxyMan]

1 minute ago, GarryP said:

What gets me is those who insist speaking with me in English, when my Thai language skills are far superior to their English - and they know it. If we spoke in Thai everything would be so much clearer and the chance of misunderstanding reduced considerably. But no, it is English only with them. 

I've seen that all over the world. The people are proud to have learned English and want to show that fact, or they want to practice. In any event, it's seldom meant as an insult. I've found that you let people speak whatever language they want until there's an impasse, then it will logically get resolved in the common language that both speak.

[Tagged]

The less I understand of Thai, the better. Just want to live in peace and quiet, and that means I do not need to use energy to try to understand thai. 

 

My partner speak good english, and make my life easier for me. 

[JimmyTheMook]

Just now, Tagged said:

The less I understand of Thai, the better. Just want to live in peace and quiet, and that means I do not need to use energy to try to understand thai. 

 

My partner speak good english, and make my life easier for me. 

 

Rubbish. 

[GarryP]

1 minute ago, jasonsamui55 said:

Here’s my two cents. Here in Samui learning Thai is almost completely useless. It’s not really Thailand at all but rather an island of expats. Expats here can usually go days or even weeks without ever interacting with a Thai person. The island is like 60% foreigners, 20% Burmese (who usually speak English because they came here to work in restaurants, bars and hotels) and 20% Thai. And of the 20% Thais, 5% are the rich locals who own everything you see and went to boarding schools and university in England and America so speak English perfectly well, maybe 5% work for government or big corporations/hospitals/hotels and have good jobs and are well educated and speak English, and 10% are from Isaan working as maids or massage girls. Of course English is the de facto language here but if one were to want to “waste their time” on another language, learning French or Chinese or Russian would be a much better use of one’s time. The only reason I see to learn Thai is if you have a Thai wife or girlfriend, which I do not, and even then, from what I’ve seen though not from experience, most don’t bother for more than a few most basic words like hello and thank you.

I first started learning Thai while on Koh Samui 37 years ago. Very different back then. No Burmese and apart from the tourists (nowhere near today's numbers) everyone was speaking Thai.  Made my first really terrible mistake there asking for a "semen milkshake" (nam kuay pban instead of nam gluay pban). Was given a dirty look and told to go away in hand signals, until I pointed at a picture of a banana. Also shouted at the songtaew driver to "yet, yet, yet" instead of yut, yut, yut (they didn't have bells back then). Got many dirty looks but the songtaew stopped immediately. 

[4MyEgo]

On 3/17/2019 at 11:21 AM, Crossy said:

hearing is less than perfect (I don't hear the tones and I'm deaf one side) 

That wouldn't help, I too am deaf on one side and when the girls talk to me (daughters), I have to get them to speak up, because if a fan is on, it's enough to make it harder for me to hear, when the boys speak to their mum in Thai or the mum speaks to them, it annoys the crap out of me because it's so tribal, no disrespect, but the pronunciations, tones, everyone speaking over each other does my head in.

 

Just listening to them (tribal people) talk is enough to put me off, as I like soft slow speaking people, a little raised is ok, I am that close to getting them to learn sign language with me, just to stop them from yelling from afar, FMD, how much can a Koala bear ???? 

 

[MuuKondiao]

On 3/17/2019 at 6:31 AM, GinBoy2 said:

I think it's all how your brain is wired from a small child 

As a hispanic American I grew up bilingual, and it seemed fairly easy for me to pick up more. 

Now I speak English, Spanish, Mandarin, Thai, Lao & German, all places I've lived.

 

But I think it's really down to that early brain wiring.

 

When we lived in Singapore & our son was born, I spoke to him exclusively in English & Mandarin, my wife in Thai & Lao. 

His head got around it flawlessly, and he's fluent in all of them.

 

I wanted him to learn Spanish as well, but I couldn't keep all 3 languages straight in my head while I was talking to him

 

So on the topic of living in Thailand. I don't think I could have lived in Thailand as long as I did without being able to speak and read Thai & Lao.

That being said it doesn't help that much in getting you inside Thai society on any meaningful way!

 

 

I could not agree with you more on the first point you make.

In my case , though, I did not get the opportunity to study languages other than English growing up in Canada. I was always fascinated by the sounds of people around me talking away in French and Polish and Magyar and Chinese. I remember that my parents thought it was amazing that the little boy next door would talk to us in English and turn around and talk to his grand-parents in Japanese - I thought it was simply natural. But I didn't get to study other languages until H.S. - except for learning some Italian (mostly) cusswords - where I was in the program that included French and Latin. No one wanted to actually "learn" these languages; it was just a matter of getting a passing grade. 

When I went into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968 they decided on the basis of a general language test that I had aptitude for Vietnamese and sent me to the short 12-week course in Monterey. 

 

In studying for a degree in anthropology in California I was taught that - as you say - the time to learn language is in childhood and that some people can - and do - master several languages before going to school. And they learn that the world view of their own ethnic group is not the only way of looking at reality. 

 

In Thailand, first in 2009 and again this January, I set about studying the language every day, knowing that I am not learning as a child but that I could work through it. One advantage I had from having learned Vietnamese was that I did not have the mental block against "Tones" - a stumbling block for many Westerners - though the tones used by the two languages are different. 

 

And now - I am in Quy Nhon, with a 3-month visa that was easy to get, and a chance to settle here or apply for the TV to go back to Chiang Mai. Studying Vietnamese again and it is hard again and my hearing is worse.

 

But where I disagree with you is in the way it helps one to acculturate/assimilate/ to the alien environment/society.  I feel that any amount of language study helps. And everywhere there are people who appreciate your efforts to understand what is going on and some people will encourage you and assist you to do this. 

 

A friend from the States will stop in the middle of a conversation and yell into his cell phone and show it to someone and expect his translation program to communicate for him. I think that is disrespectful - creating a barrier between people;  I stumble through buying some food from a roadside stand, manage to get what I want on the bread, without hot spices and get the right amount of money paid for it - with the women patiently correcting my pronunciation of words... little children stopping by to say, "hello." 

That is communication.

 

Having said that I say that any person from "somewhere" will probably never fit in 100% in any new country.

But he could become more and more able to live and function and be accepted and even contribute to the society

as he works at absorbing the local language. 

 

That is why I say that I.M.H.O. it is worth the effort to study the language.

[StevieAus]

On 3/17/2019 at 7:21 AM, Crossy said:

I managed quite well with Korean in the early 90's, there was no real choice as little English was spoken outside central Seoul.

 

Here we are nearly 30 years later, I'm 30 years older (that's scary), hearing is less than perfect (I don't hear the tones and I'm deaf one side) and I'm in an almost exclusively English speaking environment (the Thais I work with all speak excellent English).

 

It's not for want of trying but in reality I'm stuffed trying to get past ordering lunch and a beer ????

 

Thank goodness we have one poster who is prepared to admit what is reality, rather than all the others who suggest you are some sort of Buffon if you cannot speak Thai.

I have not had formal lessons but find that as do many of my expat friends that I do not retain the words apart from maybe a dozen phrases used regularly.

I really think age has a lot to do with it young kids become multilingual quite easily my own very young daughter speaks English, Lana and Central Thai.

Strangly I still recall a fair bit of French which I learned over 50 years ago but again I was a lot younger then.

[GarryP]

4 minutes ago, StevieAus said:

Thank goodness we have one poster who is prepared to admit what is reality, rather than all the others who suggest you are some sort of Buffon if you cannot speak Thai.

I have not had formal lessons but find that as do many of my expat friends that I do not retain the words apart from maybe a dozen phrases used regularly.

I really think age has a lot to do with it young kids become multilingual quite easily my own very young daughter speaks English, Lana and Central Thai.

Strangly I still recall a fair bit of French which I learned over 50 years ago but again I was a lot younger then.

To be honest, if I arrived in Thailand yesterday as opposed to 37 years ago, I would find it so much more difficult to learn Thai. I learned through total immersion as there was no choice back then. Today everything is so different and I could probably get by with very basic Thai. Age is also a factor. I started learning Thai when I was 19 years old. 

[StevieAus]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

What gets me is those who insist speaking with me in English, when my Thai language skills are far superior to their English - and they know it. If we spoke in Thai everything would be so much clearer and the chance of misunderstanding reduced considerably. But no, it is English only with them. 

I think you will find that many Thais want to improve their English and I have met many who speak English but are embarrassed because they do not speak it perfectly although in most cases I have no problem understanding them.

My Thai is useless although not through lack of trying and appreciate them speaking English.

Perhaps you should show more compassion or courtesy and try and help them, after all it is their country.

[rumak]

No way i'm gonna read 7 pages of  "yes, speaking thai is great"  and of course the opposite response "just a waste of time".    To each his own.    For me the better my language skills got the more I enjoyed being here

(and for the practically minded:   the better ladies i met )   

Isn't anything more rewarding the better you get at it ?    

[GarryP]

14 minutes ago, StevieAus said:

I think you will find that many Thais want to improve their English and I have met many who speak English but are embarrassed because they do not speak it perfectly although in most cases I have no problem understanding them.

My Thai is useless although not through lack of trying and appreciate them speaking English.

Perhaps you should show more compassion or courtesy and try and help them, after all it is their country.

It is not a matter of courtesy or compassion. It is mostly in a professional capacity. They are not talking to me in English to try to improve their English. It is work oriented in most cases and comprehension is important. If it is their country then surely speaking Thai is the way to go. BTW it is also my country.

[emptypockets]

On 3/16/2019 at 9:46 AM, villagefarang said:

I can't imagine a life here if one were unable to speak Thai.  I learned during a different time, however.

Dr Who? 

[oldrunner]

I came to Thailand for a short visit that turned into bar ownership for three years. All clients and most staff spoke English. Did a hitch in Sudan, then back to bar, then a job in Saudi Arabia that lasted 13 years. My wife picked up English and I managed basic directions from her (like Shut up). Now back to Thailand and am not exposed to Thai except for wife's phone conversations. I'm two months short of 79 and I cheated my way through Latin (except what I needed as an altar boy), cheated my way through Espanol but I just can't do languages. I can do basic directions in Thai (to wife "stop hitting me") meow cop. So I languish in a world of English ignorance and it has not killed me yet (except the marriage part).

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, oldrunner said:

like Shut up

sow wow

[Beatriz]

Same story with me except that it is not Thai language that I fell to learn (I have no problem with Thai language) for me it is Maths and Music. 

In my late 40s I had too much time so try to learn music that's when I found that I couldn't read notes no matter how hard I tried and my phrasing and timing were bad. My music teacher looked at me in a strange way.. He probably thought I was too old to learn music. I finally gave up after couple of years. I have a Renaissance Lute in my room and a classical guitar too.

Our brains are wired in different ways. I need a brain transplant if only I could appear in this world say 50 to 80 years later I could get a brain transplant. That would be fun.

[Saltire]

I used to be whizz at languages, An 'A' student in high school in French and Russian for 5 years. Visited France often but never got a chance to try my Russian, other than a trip to Hai Nan where I had to translate names of fish at a market for a tourist, and help an African friend in Wuhan pick up Russian girls in the sole expat bar.

 

I moved to China for 2 years in 2003 (turning 50 while I was there) and was determined to learn Mandarin, thinking it would be a breeze. I sadly did not take into account 2 things - 1) the age factor which is huge, and 2) meeting my second wife a week after I got there, so it was a combination of memory degeneration and laziness, letting her do all the talking. When returning home in a taxi from the above expat bar, 4 of us tried to tell the taxi the street name (He Ping Dadao) and it took us maybe 10 minutes of all having a go to get any recognition from the driver). It was easier in the long run to give left, right, straight directions.

 

In 2011 I moved to Cambodia and decided Khmer 'must' be easier than Mandarin, not being tonal unlike my Mandarin failure, and no spouse in tow. However in Siem Reap the majority speak english so even though I tried, I didn't get far in 5 years. 

 

Fast forward to today in Thailand getting on for 3 years. Still have the desire and determination to learn the local language. This time the 'local' language is only 20% Thai as I am the only farang in the village surrounded by Mon/Myanmar and Laos locals. However I am still trying and now am definitely improving, albeit slowly. As my Thai wife constantly encouragingly says - don't worry in 10 years more you will have big Thai!

 

I will be happy just to be alive and still enjoying life then.

 

[Try this memory test: When out for a walk, look up and straight ahead and try to remember what you are wearing - not so easy eh? ???? ]

[richard_smith237]

17 minutes ago, myshem said:

Better not learn the language if you do not want to hate the people that you will find more and more idiots and ridiculous. I was able to speak Thai fluently and just prefer to speak it as little as possible. Knowing how much people here have nothing interesting to tell or talk about is the worst experience.

At least in English we can try to imagine that they have nothing smart to talk about because of the language barrier... even if I now know that it's not true and that they just have no other interest but eat, drink and travel.

 

 

 

The same could be argued of our Home Counties... most people have very little of interest to discuss, I listen to people and often consider how blissfully ignorant they are...

But, that’s not true of everyone and that’s the same here. 

 

If I overheard people having a conversation and discussing that ‘there is no point in understanding Thai because it highlights the idiots’ would have me believing those holding said conversation are also idiots !!!!! 

 

Burying our heads in the sand so we continue on in blissful ignorance of our surrounding seems rather a daft idea. 

[Jane Dough]

I own houses, condos, cars, bikes and other investments....

 

But the most valuable thing I "own" is my Thai voice. 

 

Rooster

[m Stender]

If you live permanent in Thailand or has a serious relationship to a Thai girl, you owe toy yourself or other in your surroundings to be able to speak and understand THAI.

[GinBoy2]

4 hours ago, MuuKondiao said:

I could not agree with you more on the first point you make.

In my case , though, I did not get the opportunity to study languages other than English growing up in Canada. I was always fascinated by the sounds of people around me talking away in French and Polish and Magyar and Chinese. I remember that my parents thought it was amazing that the little boy next door would talk to us in English and turn around and talk to his grand-parents in Japanese - I thought it was simply natural. But I didn't get to study other languages until H.S. - except for learning some Italian (mostly) cusswords - where I was in the program that included French and Latin. No one wanted to actually "learn" these languages; it was just a matter of getting a passing grade. 

When I went into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968 they decided on the basis of a general language test that I had aptitude for Vietnamese and sent me to the short 12-week course in Monterey. 

 

In studying for a degree in anthropology in California I was taught that - as you say - the time to learn language is in childhood and that some people can - and do - master several languages before going to school. And they learn that the world view of their own ethnic group is not the only way of looking at reality. 

 

In Thailand, first in 2009 and again this January, I set about studying the language every day, knowing that I am not learning as a child but that I could work through it. One advantage I had from having learned Vietnamese was that I did not have the mental block against "Tones" - a stumbling block for many Westerners - though the tones used by the two languages are different. 

 

And now - I am in Quy Nhon, with a 3-month visa that was easy to get, and a chance to settle here or apply for the TV to go back to Chiang Mai. Studying Vietnamese again and it is hard again and my hearing is worse.

 

But where I disagree with you is in the way it helps one to acculturate/assimilate/ to the alien environment/society.  I feel that any amount of language study helps. And everywhere there are people who appreciate your efforts to understand what is going on and some people will encourage you and assist you to do this. 

 

A friend from the States will stop in the middle of a conversation and yell into his cell phone and show it to someone and expect his translation program to communicate for him. I think that is disrespectful - creating a barrier between people;  I stumble through buying some food from a roadside stand, manage to get what I want on the bread, without hot spices and get the right amount of money paid for it - with the women patiently correcting my pronunciation of words... little children stopping by to say, "hello." 

That is communication.

 

Having said that I say that any person from "somewhere" will probably never fit in 100% in any new country.

But he could become more and more able to live and function and be accepted and even contribute to the society

as he works at absorbing the local language. 

 

That is why I say that I.M.H.O. it is worth the effort to study the language.

Ahh so you went to the Defense Language Institute.

Fantastic location. Spent a lot of happy times in Monterey

[ancharee]

9 hours ago, Saltire said:

I used to be whizz at languages, An 'A' student in high school in French and Russian for 5 years. Visited France often but never got a chance to try my Russian, other than a trip to Hai Nan where I had to translate names of fish at a market for a tourist, and help an African friend in Wuhan pick up Russian girls in the sole expat bar.

 

I moved to China for 2 years in 2003 (turning 50 while I was there) and was determined to learn Mandarin, thinking it would be a breeze. I sadly did not take into account 2 things - 1) the age factor which is huge, and 2) meeting my second wife a week after I got there, so it was a combination of memory degeneration and laziness, letting her do all the talking. When returning home in a taxi from the above expat bar, 4 of us tried to tell the taxi the street name (He Ping Dadao) and it took us maybe 10 minutes of all having a go to get any recognition from the driver). It was easier in the long run to give left, right, straight directions.

 

In 2011 I moved to Cambodia and decided Khmer 'must' be easier than Mandarin, not being tonal unlike my Mandarin failure, and no spouse in tow. However in Siem Reap the majority speak english so even though I tried, I didn't get far in 5 years. 

 

Fast forward to today in Thailand getting on for 3 years. Still have the desire and determination to learn the local language. This time the 'local' language is only 20% Thai as I am the only farang in the village surrounded by Mon/Myanmar and Laos locals. However I am still trying and now am definitely improving, albeit slowly. As my Thai wife constantly encouragingly says - don't worry in 10 years more you will have big Thai!

 

I will be happy just to be alive and still enjoying life then.

 

[Try this memory test: When out for a walk, look up and straight ahead and try to remember what you are wearing - not so easy eh? ???? ]

shorts and flipflops

[BritManToo]

Just now, ancharee said:

shorts and flipflops

........... and a 'Chang' wife-beater.

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, Saltire said:

When returning home in a taxi from the above expat bar, 4 of us tried to tell the taxi the street name (He Ping Dadao) and it took us maybe 10 minutes of all having a go to get any recognition from the driver). It was easier in the long run to give left, right, straight directions.

Should have written down the name of the road and showed it to the driver.

That's how I got around, write down the names of the places I wanted to go, then compare with signs (if on the train), or showed someone if walking/taxi/bus.

[Pilotman]

On 3/20/2019 at 7:02 AM, samran said:

Citizenship applications give a good amount of points for thai language skills and thai knowledge. It’s a shame however that to apply, basically the only way to be considered is you have to be working. 

Hell would freeze over before I would ever consider becoming a Thai Citizen.