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Thai afraid of foreigners speaking Thai


waerth

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Sometimes it drives me up the wall.

 

I speak Thai decently enough. Hey I play comedy in the language and the audience usually has no problem understanding.

 

But sometimes you meet a Thai person whom just refuses to understand you. And asks help from friends other people to talk with you. Instead of talking directly with you. It is so bloody rude, they just refuse to understand one word of what you say and insist you speak with someone else.

 

Just now I was ordering some food at mcdonalds on the phone. Everything went well, in Thai, untill after I had given my phonenumber. She than saw my name on the screen told me to wait.

 

A few seconds later another person comes on the line ... in English. I told her in very rude words that I do not speak English and I would like to speak with someone whom speaks Thai. So after ordering I ask her why I was transferred. She says the girl didn't know she spoke to a foreigner until after she saw the name (actually implying my Thai was good enough to pass as a local ;) ), so as a courtesy she transferred me ... . So I asked courtesy or she is afraid to speak with a foreigner? The girl laughed and she said the last .... .

 

Now why on earth do some Thais completely shut down when confronted with a foreigner speaking Thai. Obviously the girl hadn't noticed she was speaking to one before my address came up. It can get my pissed of at those moments, I am not fluent I know ... but for peetsakes I speak it well enough to be understandable .... .

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Yes, many Thais are afraid of farangs speaking Thai. But for different reasons.

 

1. Take for example a waitress taking an order. The farang orders Crab fried rice but gets Pork fried rice. He gets upset. From the girl's point of view she may not understand enough of his accent to differentiate between the 'Poo'(crab) and the 'Moo'(pork) so she either wings it to further abuse later, or hands the problem over to someone a little better in making sense of accents.

 

2. Others who don't like farangs who can speak Thai are those with an agenda. They like it even less if you can read.

 

The normal Thai person, however, is usually pleased that you've made the effort to learn and tends to encourage you.

 

And on the top end of the scale, there are those who do speak decent English. If you do meet them, humor them as they'd like to practice too!

 

I'd take your highlighted incident with a pinch of salt and say she may have erred on the side of caution and passed you on to a better English speaker. You'll get this in many organisations - including banks - these days.

 

Just my opinion.

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Hi,

 

One of the funnier incidents I had was at a small local dentist. I came in with my wife, so even though it was me who needed treatment, I got ignored completely and the staff only talked to my wife.

 

As this was the first time at the dentist, I was asked to register. So, while they continue talking to my wife I am filling out the registration from - which was in Thai!

 

At one point I wasn't 100% certain if what I thought I had to enter was correct, so I asked - in Thai - the staff for confirmation. She starts moving her mouth a bit without sound, then a stammer, and finally a 'Yes!'.

 

I was reading Thai, talking to her in Thai and still it couldn't compute that 'white face = can speak Thai'.

 

Sanuk!

 

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I have had the total opposite experience as well.

 

I have a friend who taught himself to read and pronounce Thai over a boring weekend - but he had no idea what he was saying. Just memorize the symbols and pronunciation rules. Smart man! I can't read Thai to this day!

 

We went to a restaurant - he reads the menu - "Cow Pat Poo" - Crab Fried Rice I reply - "COW PAT GAI" Chicken Fried Rice I tell him - this goes on for a while.

 

Waitress comes over - he points to what he wants - and orders it by reading it out in Thai - perfect!

 

Except then she asks him how he wants it cooked - spicy or not?

 

He has no idea what she's saying so I translate into English - she's confused - keeps talking in Thai to him - he keeps ignoring her telling me what he wants in English which I tell her in Thai.

 

She walks away very confused - A Farang who can read and speak perfect Thai yet can't understand a word she says!

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I've forgotten most of my Thai since I moved back to the UK and am just a visitor now. But when I lived in Bangkok I did go to language school for a while to learn Thai and got to conversational level. But I'm not a natural at languages and my tones where/are crap. It was ok if the Thai person spoke slowly but at full tilt I was usually lost :(

I often found that if I started speaking to a Thai in Thai they assume you are fluent and go off in full flow and then I'd be lost again!

Simie.

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CTO, LOL that's very funny indeed - wonder what's 'smarter' though - able to understand & speak a bit or able to only read & speak (1-way traffic!)?

;)

 

Anyway to give a comment I'd say I'm very basic level of speaking thai, but I do find I'm able to get understood fairly easy particularly in places where no-one speaks any English thus no confusion as to what language I'm speaking 555+

 

TiT & I still love it despite all!

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Hi,

 

I find that once it 'registers' that you can actually speak Thai, most Thais enjoy the fact and are usually quite comfortable speaking to you in Thai. It is just getting over that initially hurdle for some :)

 

Agree with simie's comment on speaking a little Thai and Thais thinking you are fluent :)

Don't have the problem much anymore as my Thai is fairly decent (just had a business meeting half of which was in Thai ;) ), but I still get this every now and then - especially upcountry.

My mother-in-law tends to talk in the local dialect while chewing betelnut. Gets hard to understand her at times :)

 

Sanuk!

 

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