Living in Thailand without speaking Thai

[Old Hippie]

It usually is native speakers of English, unfortunately. Yet see how pissed off they will be if foreigners come to their country to live and refuse to learn English!

 

I've heard some fantastic howlers from Farangs though, such as a friend asking a waitress for a KUAY KAFFEE instead of a TUAY KAFFEE. The waitress blushed, then giggled ... but she figured out what he must have wanted.

 

(TUAY = cup; KUAY = penis!)

 

The famous one years ago was the Peace Corps teachers whose class was getting rowdy. She told them QUIET. They made them laugh, so she shouted louder ... QUI-ET! Then they started roaring, so she shouted QUI-ET at the top of her lungs. A Thai teacher came in to give the boys hell. He then gently explained to the American gal that it sounded like she was yelling KWIGH YET = the buffaloes are fucking!

 

 

Ever see the movie "peace corps" with Tom Hanks? a classic scene where they are in rural Thailand, and some woman is giving a lecture in Thai with the English subtitles...her intention was clearly NOT getting accross due to tones etc...funny scene.

 

 

KS, New Mexico is officially bilingual and we had to study Spanish in school. In California, no foreign language was required - and that is the way it is in the majority of the States. Foreign languages are electives. (I think French is required to some extent in Louisiana.) Also, most immigrants do not pass their langaue on to their children - at least beyong the first American born generation. I've always been amazed to meet children of Thais, Danes, Italians etc who are almost completely ignorant of their children's language. (I began life bilingual, but them my grandmother stopped speaking German very often and it slipped away from me. ) The big bitch about the recent Hispanic immigrants is that they REFUSE to learn Spanish and want everything in their language. That isn't immigration, it is conquest.

 

 

I think you mean "...they refuse to learn English..." which is true. The Chinese are almost as bad...I work with tons of these guys who have lived here longer than there, but still sound like they are right off the boat, due to staying in their own communities,not assimilating, and speaking Chinese as often as possible. Gets annoying when you have to work with them.

 

What pisses me off even more is forced bilingual education at the expense of learning proper English. A co workers daughter can pass a Spanish exam, but is below grade in English, she is NOT even Hispanic. Also pisses me off that some cities have public tax payer supported schools that teach/emphasize Chinese. Try getting into one of these schools if you are NOT Chinese...rant aside, I do think everyone should speak a second or more language, but not at the expense of the home language.

 

[Flashermac]

You've got it, refuse to learn English.

 

BTW my grandmother came to the US with her parents when she was 5 years old. German was the language of the home, but English everywhere else. She and her brother spoke both English and German with native speaker accents and fluency. Her parents worked at Anheuser Busch until they had mastered enough English to get by. (Great granddad was an electricians - converted city transport systems from horse cars to trams.) They couldn't wait to learn English. Why? Because they had to! None of the crap about accomodating immigrants in their own language. WTF happened to the US? We have to adjust to THEM, not them to us.

 

 

 

[chuckwoww]

Ah but what a joy it is to listen to Cantonese gabbering away only to surprise them with your Mandarin.

[Old Hippie]

I suppose, but it seems they have little or no real respect for our country or culture.

 

I feel if you are going to live in a country you should make an attempt to learn the language, especially if there are programs that are free or dirt cheap to help you.

[chuckwoww]

They can be polite but you're right. Very little respect for laowai, gweilo or yang guize. But I think it's changing. The younger ones are better. I find the ones who were born in the West very easy to get along with. Some say the Chinese are arrogant about their economic progress but I haven't noticed it. The ones I've seen in Pattaya don't seem too bad.

[Vintage_Kwai]

My opinion on living here without being able to speak Thai.

Yes, you can. But...

 

- You'll be limited (more like restricted) to taking taxis from point A to point B as you can't read Thai on the side of a public bus and you can't ask anyone how to get there or where to get off.

- You'll normally go to a place where there is English writing on the menu - the food at these places is generally twice (or more) the price of the normal food.

- you won't really get to meet 'normal' Thai girls.

- if you do get a girlfriend you'll eventually get lazy and let her handle most of the transactions like rent, food etc. Okay if you get a good one but usually it's the other way around and you could get ripped off.

 

And on, and on....

 

Since you're staying at least six months, pick up some basics before you come and you'll not regret it.

My two cents.

 

[MooNoi]

It's all very well learning to speak the language and learning the phrases, but you need to try to distance yourself from your native ACCENT as well. :thumbup:

 

When I lived in Thailand, I heard a lot of expats/farangs who knew enough basic Thai words, but were pronouncing them in their home country's accent.

 

There's nothing weirder IMO, than hearing "Sawasdee Khrup" or "Khob Khun Khrup" with a real Aussie twang or deep Texan drawl attached to it!

 

And, also IMO, most farangs who THINK they can speak Thai have absolutely NO IDEA about the correct tone they should be using with a given word or words.

 

Learn how to say:

"New Wood Doesn't Burn, Does It?"

"He Puts White Rice On His Knee"

or

"Do You Have a New Bear That's Made of Wood?"

 

And you'll see what I mean...

 

This is a fundamental part of the language and should be learnt before learning the actual vocabularly if you want to be told "phuud Thai chart!" (You speak Thai clearly).

[rookie]

...In California, no foreign language was required....

 

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

[waerth]

I suppose, but it seems they have little or no real respect for our country or culture.

 

I feel if you are going to live in a country you should make an attempt to learn the language, especially if there are programs that are free or dirt cheap to help you.

 

I wish native English speakers would do the same if they went to another country. I sometimes really get pissed off at the arrogance of native English speakers with which they expect everyone to speak their language. And then make snide remarks about someone being stupid because they are not good enough in English.

 

Or the remarks that because you misspell English that you cannot participate in a discussion on a forum. Or people not reading your arguments but bitching about spelling mistakes.

 

Do not get me started on this subject. The French are even worse.

 

W

[Vintage_Kwai]

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

 

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.