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I don't want to learn local language


redwinecheese

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16 hours ago, Deepinthailand said:

All this rubbish. Way back when I was at school I had to learn French and German. I presume a lot of you on here did as well. Hated it at the time but glad of it over the years. I lived in Malta for 5 years. Just about everyone spoke English, but I took the time to learn Maltese why beacuse I lived there. I took time to learn Thai it's a really hard language to learn I agree I wouldn't say I'm fluent but can hold my own and it will only get better with practise. Why did I beacuse I live  here simple really. So while people who can't be bothered to learn thai have to rely on gf/bf/husband/wife to translate  everything and live in there own enclosed world. I can do things for myself as I've always done.

" I took the time to learn Maltese "        I'll bet you're just a lil terrier.

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On 2/14/2017 at 10:15 PM, s1xer said:

My life would be very different if I did not possess an understanding of Thai. When visiting my family I would feel very isolated if I could not understand what is going on. I know my tonal renditions are often way off but I seem to get by and my mispronunciation often causes merriment.


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They will love you for making the effort. They are cautious with the English language because the feel that they are not doing it right. Again its A for effort. 

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On 2/14/2017 at 10:26 AM, Ulysses G. said:

Learning Thai is one of the most useful things that I have ever done in my life and I did not put a lot of effort in it - my Thai is far from great. However, beggars AND parasites completely leave me alone after a few words. I get charged reasonable prices most of the time without much bargaining and young beautiful girls don't seem to mind spending time with me as we can chit-chat. If you don't want to learn Thai, that is up to you, but you are really missing out on a lot.

 

The only advantage you indicate here is communicating with "young beautiful girls", which my wife would prefer I don't do LOL. I have no problems whatsoever dealing with "beggars AND paradises" - I just ignore them and walk on by. Getting the right price is never a problem where I shop as I hate markets.

 

I think it depends on where you live. Some places you really do need to know a fair bit of Thai to get by, but not where I live.

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I love learning Thai and I enjoy building up my vocabulary, so much so that I get frustrated when the TGF and other Thais reply in English when I try to speak to them in Thai but I understand why they do this if their English is better than my Thai, which generally it always is :D

 

The only downside of learning Thai is that even if I became fairly fluent I'd still miss out on what the TGF and her family and friends are saying because for her Thai is only the language she had to learn at school and is for formal circumstances and HiSo environments. Back in Mukdahan her family all speak Sô (from the Kaso tribe) and elsewhere Lao is very common (not just in Isaan but BKK too). In the various factories she's worked in, in Ayutthaya, Lao (Isaan Lao) is spoken everywhere.

 

A good friend of mine is fluent in Thai and also reads and writes Thai fluently. A thing he once said to me about Lao (which his wife and family from Sakon Nakhon all speak) has always stuck in my mind and always makes me chuckle.

 

"The Lao language is like the Geordie version of Thai"

 

There's a grain of truth in it and Isaan people are from the North East. Also it made me chuckle because my family in UK are all Geordies.

 

Edited by penco
Grammar
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