10 Years Of Learning Thai

[panadolsandwich]

One thing I love about traveling is just sitting somewhere, and observing people - how they act, their mannerisms and gestures - I'm like a finely calibrated precise piece of laboratory equipment. What I'm looking for is emotion, I'm the very entomologist of emotion. And Nana plaza is engorged with all these flitting specimens. It was like I was born with acute tetra chromatic vision - a highly unusual condition.

 

Render an old man saying a cautious goodbye to his ladyboy going back to work under the cheap neon lights so poorly modulated, Ha! A young girl buying som tam before starting her shift. These are minutely detailed, almost impossible details to forget. I can see them all in vivid detail even now years later - even rotate them in the minds eye. I can even envision their moods via the colour spectrum.

 

I'm an uncompromising pragmatist though. I'm effective - and I get what I want. Because - when you cast your gaze out there - it's a fucking zoo.

 

But that doesn't mean I don't care. You have to observe, and be mindful of absolutely everything that it can possibly represent - before you make any judgment. Only then - and I'll repeat - only then will you become truly fluent in the language.

 

That was my breakthrough. And if you choose to go the same path - it *will* be painful - because you are going to have to consciously warp your brain, and you may discover you are unable - or tired and old and unwilling.

[buffalo_bill]

Mr Sandwich , firstly I wish to apologize for my inappropriate comments as per December7th 2016 at 18:13 hours . After reading your opening piece I realise you are dead serious about the matter . I learned Portuguese a couple of years ago and learning Italian these days by always carrying a small notebook with me where I listed about 400 words which I think are important . Those I assembled from a dictionary . Daily target is remembering 5 words plus repeating the previous ones . Does not work like clockwork but does the job in the end .

 

Would that work with the wonderful Thai language ? I would not , like it would not with Chinese or Lao . There is no way to get the pronounciation right or find the proper tone . Either you live in the environment or use a teacher . Maybe Miss Pim from the Moonlight Bar .

 

Hab big prompremm .

[Flashermac]

Best advice ever had came from the head of our Peace Corps Thai language program(me). "You need to practice your Thai. Go get a girl."

 

It also helped that PC gave us "motivation". After our first week in Thailand, they told us they would no longer feed us. They gave us a 60 baht a day allowance (plenty of money back then) and told us to start feeding ourselves. Nothing like an empty stomach to encourage you to learn how to order meals.

 

After a month on the coast at Prachuab, they told us we'd be continuing our training in the lower north. They told us where to meet (the university, not the teacher college), gave us enough money to get there by train, and loaded us into a bus. They dumped us out in Bangkok and said they'd see us in Phitsanulok in another three days.

 

Situational reinforcement really works, plus we found out in a hurry if we could survive on our own in Thailand. I thought training was great. A buddy and I spent two of the three days in Bangkok, hitting the bars and massage parlours. Then we took the train north on the last day.

[panadolsandwich]

On 3/7/2017 at 10:19 PM, buffalo_bill said:

There is no way to get the pronunciation right or find the proper tone

Perhaps that is the case.  But millions of children seem to manage it.  

Talking Thai or Isaan or Khmer is not that difficult.  All these languages are just different ways of expressing the same things.  They aren't really that much different from us (Western culture), it's just they found their own way.  I found that fascinating, and in the interest it made me really listen to them. 

If you really want to speak a foreign language, then learn to listen first, and be fascinated by their culture. 

If not, well your welcome to your bubble. 

[Old Hippie]

On 12/8/2016 at 1:13 AM, buffalo_bill said:

Wottyouname whereyoucumfromm youpaydinkforme I consider as basically sufficient to maintain a decent conversation so why trouble yourself with ThaiLao Laothai and Koratthailao ?

To know when they are talking about you and what they are saying/plotting… Interesting to note, my wife grew up speaking “Khamen,” and speaks it with her mom ion the phone and in person…she claims she cannot speak Lao yet yaks to anyone and everyone in what I assume is Lao or Issaarn dialect. Around me, they quickly switch to Thai as the falsely assume, as many Thais do, that I am 100% fluent and don’t wish to exclude me.  I had a Filipina ex who spoke Chavacano as her main dialect, often referred to as “bamboo Spanish,” I speak poor Spanish and could follow along…when they realized I got the gist, they’d switch to Tagalog when they thought I got that, they’d switch to Visayan…tell me that wasn’t grounds for suspicion..?

[bust]

Never believe an Isaan girl if she tells you she cannot speak Lao, Khmer or both.

Unfortunately never stayed up there long enough to get a handle on the language. I can get by with basic which I guess is better than many.

I have had 3 Thai girlfriends here in Oz, 4, 3 and 5 years and all studying so speaking English was preferable for them.

[Coss]

I think that Lao has something like 80 dialects and 5 main ones,  MLG has to alternate between several of them depending on who she's speaking with.

I imagine it's a bit like me using Ce'st la vie and Schadenfreude. 

When I'm listening to them and they are talking about me, I often will interject with "Yep", or "that's right" or the Lao equivalent "mmm/grunt", keeps 'em on track.

[bust]

I enjoy watching the confused look on a Thai's face when you say "pom mai phuut thai khrup"

[think_too_mut]

My daughter (her first language was Thai until the family moved to Japan when she was 4.5 years old), then English at International school and at home. She did not start learning Thai from nothing in 2020. when we engaged a professional Thai language teacher, online. The lady (in her mid-50s) is teaching her 2-3 times a week. So far, about 400 lessons. 15 US$ a lesson. The teacher lady became even a family friend.

One time, Khon Kaen, struggling to find our hotel, I entered a wrong way street. A policemen stopped me, fortunatelly there was their commander, before I got fined, the commander asked through the window: "Noong, pasa Thai?".
She (a girl, then 18) explained what our problem was and he ordered a motorcycle mounted policeman to lead us to our hotel. No fine, nothing.

[think_too_mut]

Forgot to tell the most important thing about learning Thai language: it is writing and reading, not only talking. That is what she is on.
Talking only is worthless.