speak thai and were finnished

[..]

dddave said:

A frequent poster to this board who speaks fluent Thai resists showing it off when he enters a bar, he justs acts his normal self. He can pretty quickly determine the character of the girls, listening to them talk about him.

 

If they are particularly rude and callous, he'll make a comment to them in Thai as he gets up and leaves, quite enjoying the stunned looks on their faces.

Works for me (as well I'll add, since I am not you you are referring to me or not), but I am now in a rut where I only go into bars I am well known, so that kills that plan. But as I have said before, that is a specific reason I avoid NEP!

 

And it *is* good fun to listen in on conversations without them knowing it and seeing the shock on their faces when you understand. But of course they can easily lose me if they switch into Lao- or Khmer-based Issan-speak (but they don't know that LOL!) since I am only comfortable with Central-dialect Thai!

 

Cheers,

SD

[..]

liquidflux said:

...I think it's good to NOT let people around know you understand what's going on. Playing the dumb farang, at least in the beginning, has it's advantages sometimes.

That was one of my first "real life" lessons when I became an expat in a non-Englishg speaking country long ago. I learned it from the Japanese who are masters of that tatic. It has served me well in business negotiations over the years (I do the same as Stick: have a translator with me but can at least understand some of the language as well). And it has earn me respect of business partners because they like the fact I make them fall for their own trick! Off-topic: Another famous Japanese negotiating tatic is to schedule an important meeting for the early (0700 or so) morning after someone arrives from overseas so they are jetlagged and not sharp...and draw out the meeting for at least a couple of hours talking about stupid off-topic shit!

 

Biz in Asia 101: Do not complain about their way of doing biz...simply learn to use those rules to your advantage (face, language, etc).

 

Cheers,

SD

[Torneyboy]

Good advice SD..

[..]

Thanks -- it has served me well.

 

I still remember the first contract I negotiated for Ford back in the early 90s here in Thailand. After the negotiation were finished (and I did well because I understood Thai and the gents were arrogant enough to discuss their bottom line pricing out loud in Thai -- I was alone and the discussion was in English only), we went to lunch. I asked the owner of the company for the honor of ordering since the menu was in English. He agreed. I ordered in Thai, including some things not on the menu. He pissed himself laughing knowing he had been had!

 

We are still fast friends to this day, I might add...

 

Cheers,

SD

[Pescator]

FAT_AUSSIE said:

 

My wife tried this with me at first but with time I could'nt help but picking it up but earlier on in our R/S I told her that I wanted to make a concerted effort to learn and she told me if I did she would leave me???

 

What is wrong with these people???

 

What is wrong with some of these people!

Frankly, anyone having objections to me speaking thai can go **** themselves. Those are probably the ones that are no good anyway/up to something... whatever....

What a lousy attitude. How about me having problems with thais speaking english? Wouldn`t that be absurd?

Thankfully, they are IME a small minority usually found in farang orientated nightlife venues.

Can`t believe that someone actually refrains from learning thai just to please the GF! Simply too irrational for me to accept.

 

 

cheers

Hua Nguu

[Steve]

If I lived in LOS or was married to a Thai woman I would learn Thai. Even if I was living in the states. I would also not get involved with a woman who wouldn't want me to learn Thai. I further agree with those that said, they would not let on to Thais that they understood the language. I am by no means fluent and only know certain phrases, etc. I can also get the gist of most things. The only time I ever spoke out was a woman at kiosk in the mall selling football shirts who referred to me as a monkey. I publicly told her in Thai she was a monkey and a whore. She said 'so sorry' but I wanted every one around her to know not to insult people. Although its never acceptable I could partially understand if I was acting like an ass but I was not being a bad customer, I am easy going, smile a lot, and was about to buy something from her. I am aware of the word or westerner or a black person in a few languages (quai loh (falang)...hak quai (black falang) in cantonese, schwartze in yiddish (from my brooklyn days..haha), mayate, mexican slang for the n word, etc). Hey, just realized I'm teaching you all bad habits! I find out so I'll know when I'm being insulted but I almost always keep it to myself.

 

Living in Los Angeles and growing up in a neighborhood that had a fair number of Puerto Ricans, you can't help but to understand a lot of spanish. I understand 'spanglish', street spanish fairly well and get the gist of almost everything and a similar type of thing with the Thais happens here as well. But most of the spanish here is for when gringos are acting up, which we do. Sometimes they say we're cute and its hard to hold it in. hehehe

 

 

Every relationship has to have trust for it to be successful and for me at least, not wanting me to understand Thai instills a lack of trust in me.