Living in Thailand without speaking Thai

[USVirgin]

I grew up in Southern California, the son of Irish immigrants who didn't tan well. The hatred I was exposed to still haunts me to this day, as does the skin cancer.

 

My father started a successful business and tried to learn English as best he could, his brough was nearly absent. Yet it was always his heavily accented ancient neighbors, the Scots, who picked fights with him in the local pubs. I used to think it was religious persecution, now I suspect it's just the Scottish way of enjoying a beverage.

[kamui]

... but you need to try to distance yourself from your native ACCENT as well.

 

Piggy' date='

Not just your native accent but sometimes hers as well. It is very easy to place people who have picked up the nuances of the language in a particular environment.

[/quote']

 

When I learnt Japanese I only had women teachers. The result, I did not learn some important words used exclusively used by males. As a result I certainly sounded as being gay in the beginning until some Japanese male friends corrected me.

 

I guess learning Thai von Isaan BGs isn't probably not the best way neither... :content:

 

 

By the way: is this the same in Thailand as in Japan? As soon as a Japanese tells me that I speak Japanese very well, I know that made a mistake... (they would never tell directly that I made a mistake, except close friends).

[waerth]

Yes as soon as someone told you: khun poed pasa Thai chart maak .... you said something wrong is my opinion ....

 

And it rubs of whom you learn Thai from. My Thai is sometimes to Isaan ... although I am still improving. This is because most people I interacted with daily in the comedy group were from Isaan. At the moment the balance is in favor of either Central or Southern Thais depending on if you count Petchaburi province to be in the south or in central.

 

W

[Flashermac]

When I first moved to Bangkok, Thais asked me why I spoke with a northern accent. Uh ... I wasn't aware that I did, since that was the way everyone in the north spoke. I think I've more or less got over it.

 

p.s. Virgie, my mother has that white Irish skin. She doesn't tan, she just turns red and burns. She also keeled over from sun stroke as a kid and was lucky to survive!

[Flashermac]

...In California' date=' no foreign language was required....[/quote']

 

Really? I was required to take a year of a foreign language, in high school, as well an another year in college.

 

This link indicates Calif's foreign language requirements:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/hs/hsgrtable.asp

 

 

 

Of course, I am speaking about the 1960s! I took a couple of years of Spanish in high school, though I don't recall that it was required. Only those intending to go on to a university took a language. My high school offered just French and Spanish. (Both were poorly taught, not conversational or practical.) I took a couple of years of German (again poorly taught) at UCSB, but I think a language depended on your major. A friend went all the way to his PhD without ever studying a foreign language.

 

p.s. I know I never took any "visual or performing arts". Where did that come from?

 

 

 

[MooNoi]

Piggy,

Not just your native accent but sometimes hers as well. It is very easy to place people who have picked up the nuances of the language in a particular environment.

 

Ah, that is VERY true, VK! :thumbup:

 

I remember when I first moved to Thailand (and didn't speak more than a couple of words at that point) I lived in Krabi for 3 months before moving to Bangkok.

 

In that 3 months I learned a LOT of Thai.

 

Unfortunately, when I got to Bangkok everyone said to me: "Why are you speaking Southern Thai and talking so fast?"

 

I pretty much had to learn EVERYTHING again and start from scratch.

[kamui]

In which part of the country the best Thai spoken officially?

[AD1985]

Although I am moving elsewhere as a semi-vacation I will still work quite a bit online (the nature of my gig) so taking the time to practice another language will not be possible. This language issue may sway me towards the Philippines. I know they all speak english over there, but does anyone know if their signs, menus, etc generally have English captions as well?

[Pescator]

Yes as soon as someone told you: khun poed pasa Thai chart maak .... you said something wrong is my opinion ....

 

And it rubs of whom you learn Thai from. My Thai is sometimes to Isaan ... although I am still improving. This is because most people I interacted with daily in the comedy group were from Isaan. At the moment the balance is in favor of either Central or Southern Thais depending on if you count Petchaburi province to be in the south or in central.

 

W

 

Unless I am actually in Isan, nobody speaks Isan/lao to me because I am a whitey.

They automatically assume that based on my etnicity I`ll only understand central thai.

And it is not particularly polite to start yakking on in lao to a stranger.

 

Thais are generally a notoriosly polite bunch and many will show their appreciation of a foreigner going through the effort of learning their language by throwing in a few words of appreciation in a conversation:

 

Phoot thai geng: You know how to say hello and goodbye and what does this cost.

 

Phoot thai chat: They can actually recognize some words in your butchered pronounciation.

 

Phoot thai khlaawng: Fluently, they claim. Now you are getting somewhere. But they could just as well be up to wanting something from you by complimenting you like this.

 

Phoot thai muan khon thai leey. Same applies.

Speaks like a thai.

 

Yuu meuang thai gee pbee? How many years spent in Thailand?

 

That is more like it, IME. This is not a compliment, but a question.

You can hold your conversation with a good command of vocabulary and pronounciation.

 

YMMV

 

[The_Munchmaster]

What language issue?