After Age 60: Is it possible to learn to Read and Speak Thai? And, Is it Worth the Effort?

[Rockhopper 147]

Forget learning Thai if you lost your short term memory.

[ben2talk 1,102]

It's useful to learn some, but learning to read well enough to read books or newspapers I'd say probably not. Also, judging by the time wasted by my son reading absolutely ridiculously  boring diatribe in schoolbooks I'd say it's best avoided.

 

Enough to understand signs and basic instructions - but then you can open google translate in the phone and click the camera to get some translating done there.

[DUNROAMIN 813]

8 hours ago, vogie said:

Oh come on Dunroamin, you seem very intelligent, I sure if you really wanted to learn thai you could, many people say can't when they really mean 'don't want'

I forgot to mention, maybe, lazy.

[umlungu2012 104]

Waste of time unless you are dead certain to spend the rest of your life in the country. After all, it's not a portable language. Things being what they are, it might seem a tad difficult to project a future in Thailand at this specific point in time. It all depends on your time, effort, perseverance, and general knack for learning languages. I certainly wouldn't bother, English gets you by - just - and with a mobile phone shopping for difficult to describe items is easily accomplished. If you are looking at potentially other places to live and retire post-60, learn a language that has more of a geographic spread.

[elliss 3,101]

 

        The thai ladies i have met have been mainly multi lingual .

        My thai lady , is teaching me to speak Chinese ..

 

           PS , i am three score and ten ..

           

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by elliss

[GinBoy2 8,369]

2 hours ago, umlungu2012 said:

Waste of time unless you are dead certain to spend the rest of your life in the country. After all, it's not a portable language. Things being what they are, it might seem a tad difficult to project a future in Thailand at this specific point in time. It all depends on your time, effort, perseverance, and general knack for learning languages. I certainly wouldn't bother, English gets you by - just - and with a mobile phone shopping for difficult to describe items is easily accomplished. If you are looking at potentially other places to live and retire post-60, learn a language that has more of a geographic spread.

Dunno about that.

 

I learnt Mandarin while I was living in Shanghai, I subsequently lived in Singapore and Taiwan. 

 

I now don't use it in everyday life, but I like to be able to watch TV news, movies in Mandarin, and to some degree read news from Taiwan, although I will admit my traditional Mandarin is a little shakey.

 

So I'm always of the opinion that you learn the language that you are in. Even now I always when I go on vacation learn simple things; Hello, Thank You, Good Bye

[kokesaat 874]

Married to the same Thai woman for 48 years, lived in Thailand for 24.  Didn't buckle down learning Thai until about 13 years ago, so I can compare life before and life after learning the language.  My 2 satang worth:  if you're speaking Thai to the cashier in Big C, for example, and she doesn't understand you, I'd guess you haven't learned the tones or haven't learned how to read the language.  If you're relying on transliterated Thai to tell you how to say/pronounce a word, good luck.  Is it Udorn (as it's better pronounced) or Udon as all the signs say?  If it's Udon as all the signs say, then do you pronounce Udon and Ubon the same way (except for the d/b)?  

Ultimately what it comes down to is you have to learn how to read and how to pronounce the tones to be able to communicate......outside of the bar areas where most of the girls have retuned their ears to gutter Thai.

I'm 70, have profound hearing loss, wear hearing aids......but am convinced that if you want to learn the language you can do it if......you have the right teacher and you're willing to spend hundreds of hours practicing what you learn (in addition to the hundred of hours you'll spend learning.

That said, despite the time I've spent on the language, I consider myself an elementary level learner......good at conversations where I can control the flow, bad at slang/Isaan or fast talkers.

If you want to deal with the electric office, buy a car on your own, order food in a restaurant to your liking, or deal with the traffic cop or maid or gardener or clerk in the store, then you have to up your game.  If you're not up to the task, you'll either have to live in an area where English speaking is more common or drag your spouse/gf with you whereever you go.

I only wish I hadn't waited so long.

[pineapple01 1,465]

Ive dreamed of a meaningful chat with a Big C Cashier. Now what better incentive do i need. I can order a new Car every day too.

[TKDfella 2,185]

11 hours ago, umlungu2012 said:

Waste of time unless you are dead certain to spend the rest of your life in the country. After all, it's not a portable language. Things being what they are, it might seem a tad difficult to project a future in Thailand at this specific point in time. It all depends on your time, effort, perseverance, and general knack for learning languages. I certainly wouldn't bother, English gets you by - just - and with a mobile phone shopping for difficult to describe items is easily accomplished. If you are looking at potentially other places to live and retire post-60, learn a language that has more of a geographic spread.

You could extrapolate that to any topic. Why bother studying this & and that if you aren't going to use it. I might never use use the ancient Cuneiform script but that doesn't mean it isn't interesting. Learning Thai is also a route to the culture too.

[Neeranam 8,338]

On 6/3/2020 at 3:50 AM, HerbyJFlash said:

However, I have noticed that when I show her my newly learnt Thai she almost disapproves or shrugs it off. 
I get the feeling she doesn’t like me knowing it. 

Some Thais seem to go native in the UK and don't like talking Thai, especially to non-Thais. They like to show off their English. 

I overheard a woman in Primart talking on her phone saying she was scared of farang and it was too cold. I said no need to be scared, we don't bite, in Thai. She was shocked and tried to run away. I said I lived in Khon Kaen and where did she come from. She said Aberdeen and did run away! 

Sat next to some Thai women in the casino and shocked then when they were checking out the guys, but they took it very well and we had a good chat. They were really happy, and surprised a farang could understand them. However later when I took the wife, she didn't want to talk to my new lady friends. 

[Neeranam 8,338]

11 hours ago, elliss said:

 

        The thai ladies i have met have been mainly multi lingual .

        My thai lady , is teaching me to speak Chinese ..

 

           PS , i am three score and ten ..

           

 

I'm learning Chinese, its not easy. 

[Neeranam 8,338]

11 hours ago, umlungu2012 said:

I certainly wouldn't bother, English gets you by - just - and with a mobile phone shopping for difficult to describe items is easily accomplished

I find it strange that some are content getting by, whatever that means. 

Illiterate, deaf mutes get by, but would love to live a full life. 

[Neeranam 8,338]

 “You live a new life for every language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once.” – Czech proverb

[Neeranam 8,338]

On 6/3/2020 at 1:36 AM, JohnBarleycorn said:

Learning Thai makes me feel more productive, and Thai language has become an important tool which helps me to be a better teacher.

 “Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[umlungu2012 104]

10 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

Dunno about that.

 

I learnt Mandarin while I was living in Shanghai, I subsequently lived in Singapore and Taiwan. 

 

I now don't use it in everyday life, but I like to be able to watch TV news, movies in Mandarin, and to some degree read news from Taiwan, although I will admit my traditional Mandarin is a little shakey.

 

So I'm always of the opinion that you learn the language that you are in. Even now I always when I go on vacation learn simple things; Hello, Thank You, Good Bye

Proves my point. You learnt a language that is useful elsewhere. Thai is not. Waste of effort unless you live in Thailand.