Learning Thai

[PigDogg]

The book Snick recommends "Thai For Lovers" will enhance your trip. It has phrases such as "do you like it doggy style" in English, Thai, and Thai using a western alphabet.

And if a girl really likes it you can give it to her as an extra tip. 300 baht in Thailand.

[PigDogg]

(ozzie @ May 15 2006,13:08) The best book I have found is

Thai for Beginners

Just ordered the book and CD from Amazon, Ozzie.    

[Guest]

(PigDogg @ May 21 2006,12:30)

(ozzie @ May 15 2006,13:08) The best book I have found is

Thai for Beginners

Just ordered the book and CD from Amazon, Ozzie.    

Cool all the best mate. Rip the CD to mp3 and pop them on your player and listen to it on the way to work etc with book in hand.

[dummy_plug]

(PigDogg @ May 21 2006,09:30)

(ozzie @ May 15 2006,13:08) The best book I have found is

Thai for Beginners

Just ordered the book and CD from Amazon, Ozzie.    

I ordered it too. Hopefully I'll be spitting out Thai like a pro by the next time I come back.

[Guest]

A few reasons to learn Thai (for those who, I'm sure, were half-joking about demanding they speak English)

1. I can tell you from experience, most people from any country will be a lot nicer to you and meet you half way if you at least attempt to speak their language. A great example of this is the French, whom everyone describes as rude. If you at least try to speak some French, they will be very nice to you.

2. Whether you SPEAK it or not, there can be some big advantages to just HEARING it. In this case, you may not even want to let on that you know any Thai, but you may find it useful when you are being talked about.

3. If you speak a little Thai well, eveyone will wonder how much you know, and they will be more likely to be careful around you. You will seem less like a dumb farang, and more likely to be street wise.

[dummy_plug]

All very good points Grunyen.

[Snick]

#4) so you can give a cab driver directions. They may be Thai, but not all of them are from Bangkok

#5) So you can go into a bar, pretend to be a total newbie, and eavesdrop.

#6) So you can insult people by purposefully getting the pronounciation wrong. ('you are cute' and 'you are bad luck' is just one tone difference)

#7) So you can haggle better. Once you can say "thats expensive" in Thai you'll find it much easier to get a good price.

[Looker]

(grunyen @ May 24 2006,01:44) A few reasons to learn Thai (for those who, I'm sure, were half-joking about demanding they speak English)

1. I can tell you from experience, most people from any country will be a lot nicer to you and meet you half way if you at least attempt to speak their language. A great example of this is the French, whom everyone describes as rude. If you at least try to speak some French, they will be very nice to you.

2. Whether you SPEAK it or not, there can be some big advantages to just HEARING it. In this case, you may not even want to let on that you know any Thai, but you may find it useful when you are being talked about.

3. If you speak a little Thai well, eveyone will wonder how much you know, and they will be more likely to be careful around you. You will seem less like a dumb farang, and more likely to be street wise.

Hmmm..yes and no actually. Rather not in fact.

I happen to speak some chinese mandarin. My pronunciation is in fact quite good, at least when speaking with Taiwanese people or other "open minded" chinese people. Dumbasses in P.R. China will just look at me and try to guess if I'm from Mars or from where else..

Personally, I've no intention whatsoever to learn more than the little I already know.

What I find annoying is that because of my poor knowledge, I cannot really understand much. Listening and understanding it's MUCH, MUCH more difficult than being able to utter a few world in a new language. Prove me wrong!!
Because of this, when I say something with a right pronunciation , they assume I actually know the language and start conversating with me fastly and saying words which I do not have half a clue about the meaning. Obvioulsy they look at me strangely when they see I do not understand...duh!

Yes..it helps with numbers and few other stupid things but not at all in a real conversation. Then what's the point?

If you're not quite fluent in a language it doesn't help much.
Just my opinion...

[olekunde]

i agree with looker. i had many of the same experiences. ive picked up quite alot thai, but far from being able to have a meaningful conversation, even if i can talk and joke about easy stuff, especially in the bar circuits. but as looker pointed out, if they believe you can speak, they will reply in thai and speak very quick.

also, the tourist areas, including the bar areas, are all about parting us from our money(in a nice manner), so if they think youre not an easy prey many will scout for other tourists, so it might not help get any better price or service or whatever you want.
this goes especially for the ggs and lbs in bkk from my experience. the lbs and ggs in particular in pattaya doesnt seem to mind that much.

the only times i found it useful to speak thai is when i order food from streetstalls or going to markets(for thai people) and ask about the price(i rarely bother to haggle unless its way too much).
the thais also seem to enjoy if you know the basic phrases, it often brings a smile to their face.

i must admit though when i am drunk i have an awful habit of trying to speak thai. in my imagination i belive i do it quite good too, maybe cos i feel more relaxed and not so hung-up if i pronounce the words correct or not. when i am sober i think its hard to let go and sing the language as the thais do, so i have some admiration for the tourists that in broad daylight, with lots of people around, try to speak thai.

[Looker]

(olekunde @ May 25 2006,07:22) i agree with looker. i had many of the same experiences. ive picked up quite alot thai, but far from being able to have a meaningful conversation, even if i can talk and joke about easy stuff, especially in the bar circuits. but as looker pointed out, if they believe you can speak, they will reply in thai and speak very quick.

Absolutely!
That's exactly what happens. So, it's good to know a few words especially when shopping and dealing with the hopless bangkokian taxi drivers...but if you don't know the language quite well don't stretch it too far or you may just look silly in attempting to stitch up a conversation and not being able to carry it.

Try instead speaking in english plainly and slowly and if you've got strong midlander, scottish, irish or australian accents try to leave them at home

[dummy_plug]

Learning Thai, or any other language, is optional. You do it on your own time and on your own free will. I don't think there's anything to bitch about just because you only know a little of the language. If its so useless why the heck did you bother to pick any of it up anyways???

That said, I think the vast majority of us wouldn't mind if we knew some Thai. It'd be very difficult to achieve fluency unless you live there or spend a significant amount of time in Thailand. Additionally, you'd probably need formal classes as I've never known a book or CD to be an effective tool to gain near-fluency in any degree.

[Looker]

(dummy_plug @ May 25 2006,08:10) Learning Thai, or any other language, is optional. You do it on your own time and on your own free will. I don't think there's anything to bitch about just because you only know a little of the language. If its so useless why the heck did you bother to pick any of it up anyways???

.

To answer to your question..
- Because it almost didn't cost me any effort (and money) to learn a few words, that's it.

I'm not bitching around saying that's totally useless knowing a little..I just said what happens when you know a little about a language and try to enter into a conversation.

Your initial posting was about learning Thai more or less serioulsy way..

[Mai-Kee]

I'll never forget what a good friend who lives now for almost 30 years in Thailand once told me: "With tears in my eyes I remember the times when I didn't understand a word what the girls said. Everything sounded so cute, exotic and their 5 words English just heartbreaking! But once I began to understand all that rubbish, I wished I'd never learned it....."  

MK

[Looker]

(Mai-Kee @ May 25 2006,15:50) I'll never forget what a good friend who lives now for almost 30 years in Thailand once told me: "With tears in my eyes I remember the times when I didn't understand a word what the girls said. Everything sounded so cute, exotic and their 5 words English just heartbreaking! But once I began to understand all that rubbish, I wished I'd never learned it....."  

MK

Serioulsy speaking..another reason I'm not interested in learning any of the asian languages, as it did happen with the arabic when I was living in Middle East, it's that the sentences building and the way how to put a meaning into them doesn't do for me.

In simple, far too many ways I've assisted at conversations in chinese, indonesian, malay and thai where two people were talking for minutes and when I asked what was all about the reply was something like:
- Oh..she said cannot be done!
OR
- He said it's too expensive!
OR
_ Ermm..I don't know how to explain..??!!

Now, if I have to learn a language where 10 minutes of talking results in saying "It cannot be done" I think I can do without it...