The Up Side Of Ebola

[Mekong]

Dean care to tell us what the 10 other languages are?

 

I will give you Mandarin and maybe even Arabic but then what? Italian modern day Latin with hand movements (yes I had Latin rammed down my throat for 5 years) but what else, what other Language has more exposure than Thai?

 

Personally I don't profess to speak Thai even though I should but I know enough to have banal chit chat taxi drivers family Mart shop assistants etc, I can even talk about the weather, I am British it is what we do. Recently I was on a business trip to Korea and the American person I was travelling with could not understand why I was getting doors held open, chairs pulled out for me at restaurants etc where as he was being snubbed, simple I used the Korean language skills I had learned over 25 years ago rather than raise the voice and start shouting in order to try to get the point across I.e. Average dumbfuck american. Not all Americans are dumbfucks but a high majority act so.

 

What is so special about being able to read Spanish? You brag about it as if is something special, it is in the same Romanic script as the mother tongue English and also that bastardised version you have west of the pond..

 

Hut Thuoc Gay Ung Thu Hong Thanh Quan, oh look at me I can read and write Vietnamese bullshit, it is the health warning of a packet of Thang Long the most popular ciggies in Ha Noi.

[dean]

Spanish, Chinese, Russian, German, French, Portugese and sign language (OK, for me, 10 is a stretch). I don't think that I bragged about speaking Spanish but was responding to the veiled remark that foreigners (U.S.) think that they are smarter than many in the world but can only speak English. When I go back to LOS in 10-12 years, I will attempt to learn to rudimentarily speak Thai, probably getting an Ed Visa (if they are offered). I do think that I would be hard pressed to find any school in the U.S. That teaches Thai (maybe in L.A.). My son, who is in first grade, has been taking Spanish classes for two years. With a considerable number of people in the U.S. Speaking Spanish (and many of them speaking it as their primary language) and almost all of Central America and South America as Spanish speaking countries, I don't think anyone would dispute the importance of speaking Spanish over Thai (in general). In Europe, I would assume that proximity and business dictates which languages one would learn and I don't think that Thai is high on that list. Having said all of that, I still am going to insist that my son learns to read and write Thai in a couple of years (after he learns English). He already speaks it as my wife and 3 step children speak it exclusively at home, unless they are talking to me (actually, my wife uses the children to translate for her half the time, as her English sucks). As a dual citizen, I want my son to have every opportunity afforded Citizens in Thailand and to be able to move to LOS after school (again, if he wants to) and get started with a career without having to go through a learning curve. However, for the vast majority of people visiting Thailand as a tourist or working here for a couple of years, learn the basics to be polite and use Thais that speak English as translators, unless you have an overwhelming desire to learn Thai.

[WorldFun]

indeed spanish is pretty high up there, but if taking the region of SEA separately Thai gotta be top of the list cuz first Thais sucks at Eng while being the 'hub of everything' now also ebola travels lol. gotta love or hate those amazyness

april 1st yet?

[dean]

Not April 1st yet but it's nice of you to think of my birthday!

[Flashermac]

I can't see myself living in a country for any length of time and not at least trying to learn the language. What have you got to lose? (Speaking Thai makes life so much easier here. Even my broken Lao makes it pleasanter for me there.)

[Coss]

Me, I am unable to learn a language with any level of proficiency. What little I do learn, is by mimicry. Some of us are just not wired correctly for language. On the other hand I have what I consider, high levels of understanding and empathy with Thai and Lao speakers, perhaps I am learning non-language communication unconsciously. Some of the people I know who are fluent in the languages, have more difficulty than I when communicating.

 

Or the beer makes it easy, I'm not sure...

[Flashermac]

I recall from my Peace Corps language training that some people simply were hopeless at learning Thai. They even had a hard time learning the numbers. It wasn't from lack of trying either. I'm told I started out bilingual (English and German), which may have given me an advantage ... even though I later forgot most of my German from lack of use.

 

What PC language training does is try for speaking ability in the most basic situations - social greetings, talking about work, shopping, feeding yourself, booking tickets or hotel rooms etc. It's survival level Thai. Anything beyond that is up to you. Plenty of volunteers never went beyond that very basic level, but nevertheless they got by at a time when far fewer people here spoke English.

[Dexi]

Speaking Thai is not too difficult - I started to pick up the basics after a while.Reading is taking it to another level and takes a lot of practice.Being able to compose and write ( with the correct spelling )in a grammatically correct way ,well I reckon that would take literally years of dedication .Also,in some parts of the country understanding the locals is impossible even with a good grasp of " pasah glahng "