Do you find the more Thai you learn the more you realize you don't know?

[LaaMok]

It does my head in! As you get round that corner you see another 10 miles!

[Dr.Winston]

It does my head in! As you get round that corner you see another 10 miles!

 

I can remember thinking exactly the same thing Bryan. Keep at it, for me the fog seemed to clear after about 2 years of living there.

Edited March 7, 2008 by Dr.Winston O'Boogie

[LaaMok]

I can remember thinking exactly the same thing Bryan. Keep at it, for me the fog seemed to clear after about 2 years of living there.

 

My girlfriend speaks 0 english, and she goes off on one and talks without breathing for five minutes at a time.

 

I keep reminding her that i am farang and she needs to talk slowly, some times i can guess. But when i dont understand i just repeat bits out of it, at least that keeps the conversation going.

 

It just makes me realise how little i know, when she starts yaking away. However its good for me as i am learning more than i would if she spoke a little. I've had girls that speak a little and you can go far when you both know a decent amount, but with her its a struggle..

 

a likeable struggle at that

 

The most important thing, is that i know enough to keep her laughing!

 

The funny thing, when i first met her, she kept ringing her friend to get her to translate to me, but i already knew as i was listening to the call, but i couldnt really get it through to her so i just laughed!

 

I am watching about 2 hours of thai tv every night now which i think helps a little. Its should a slow process, i know its going to take another year,

 

keep on inspiring me!

[pete3006]

However its good for me as i am learning more than i would if she spoke a little. I've had girls that speak a little and you can go far when you both know a decent amount, but with her its a struggle..

 

??? Your not going out with mutes normally do ya Bryan? (no disrespect intended lol)

 

Yeah I find that the more I learn when I am in England from all the courses, I think "ok, next time I am in town, I am gonna talk Thai

like nothing else" and then I arrive hear some TG's yakking away to each other, and I wisely shut up or keep it in English lol

 

Do have to say tho, that when I am in private with a TG I will try to speak Thai, and sometimes it works and sometimes...........

she's in stitches lol.

 

C'est La Vie I suppose

Edited March 7, 2008 by pete3006

[Som]

Too right. I took me 3 or 4 days on my first trip to learn how to order song vodka nam som krap! It is a long haul but now I find myself in complete mastery of the Pimsleur series. I've had a fair bit of help with the Poomsan Becker books and CDs and am waiting now hopefully for delivery of the Linguaphone and Rosetta software, courtesy of Panyaa. The internet is loaded with some great learning material and I find that a bit of discipline is needed to decide what one I am going to use until it's been done, rather than pecking away here and there. Just putting an hour aside a day and keeping to it for swotting seems to keep me plodding along. Unfortunately I'm not in LOS for as long as I'd like to be to get the real 'immersion' experience which can't be beaten. My next big hurdle is going to be how to determine the tones from written Thai and that's going to be a toughie, not sure if I'm ready for it yet but I'll have a go. I think part of the key to continuous improvement is not being content with the level you have attained so far and being up for the next challenge. It is satisfying when you get there.

[Dr.Winston]

My girlfriend speaks 0 english, and she goes off on one and talks without breathing for five minutes at a time.

 

I keep reminding her that i am farang and she needs to talk slowly, some times i can guess. But when i dont understand i just repeat bits out of it, at least that keeps the conversation going.

 

It just makes me realise how little i know, when she starts yaking away. However its good for me as i am learning more than i would if she spoke a little. I've had girls that speak a little and you can go far when you both know a decent amount, but with her its a struggle..

 

a likeable struggle at that

 

The most important thing, is that i know enough to keep her laughing!

 

The funny thing, when i first met her, she kept ringing her friend to get her to translate to me, but i already knew as i was listening to the call, but i couldn't really get it through to her so i just laughed!

 

I am watching about 2 hours of Thai TV every night now which i think helps a little. Its should a slow process, i know its going to take another year,

 

keep on inspiring me!

 

You'll get there Bryan, it's obvious to me that you have the right mind set. It's just a matter of patience. Most guys never get beyond basic sentences, which is fine if they are happy with that.

 

It takes a bit more dedication to get really good, most of the farangs in Thailand who say they can speak Thai don't actually speak it that well IME, if you don't speak Thai then another farang saying virtually anything will seem impressive.

 

On my last trip back to the UK from LOS I was flying 1st class to use up my air-miles. One of the advantages of 1st class is that the cabin crew make a bit of a fuss of you. My hostess was joking in Thai with me, later I heard the passenger behind me saying that he thought it was wrong that a Farang should be in seat 1a on a Thai plane. She told him to be careful what he says as I could speak Thai. He replied that he has never met a Farang who could speak Thai properly. I understood the whole conversation but bit my tongue. I could see where he was coming from though as their is a vast difference between the level of Thai that most ex-pats speak and the level at which Thais speak it.

 

It just takes time and practice, there are no short cuts but your effort will be rewarded. One of the first signs that it was falling into place for me was when I started to hear Farangs speaking Thai and I realised I could hear that they were pronouncing words incorrectly. When I first started learning it all sounded the same, I would say something and they wouldn't understand. They would tell me the correct pronunciation and I would think "That's what I bloody said". A lot of it with Thai is just getting an "ear" for the language. Constantly being with Thais and things like watching Thai TV will eventually develop that.

[Gobby]

It does my head in! As you get round that corner you see another 10 miles!

 

dude you will get it soon.. you are living there and its all around you..

plus you are very dedicated to learning the language.. for real though if it wasnt for your accent your thai would be very good in my point of view.. for sure you know alot more advance words then i do already..keep up the great work bryan.. and we'll test out your skill soon... .. but you have to speak it slowly...555

[herds]

For me it became a whole lot easier to be understood once I stopped saying singular words and using sentences. Saying singular words can be so random to them if especially if you havent got the correct tone where as if the word is in a setance they can work it out from the context.

 

One thing that definately helped me was get a notebook and add words to it when you learn them, and spell the words the way you understand them by splitting the words.

 

Ant - a - lie

Glue - aah << makes it easier imo

 

Seeing as you're living here bryon you'll find many thai people want to learn/improve their english as its considered a very beneficial skill to have. A couple times I've taught people English in exchange for them teaching me Thai, a couple hours of this a week goes a long way.

 

btw, i'm no pro thai speaker, you're probably miles better than me anywaysm hahah.

[Goldfishpie]

Totally with you on that Brian. Can be a bit discouraging at times. Don't know about you but I find listening the most difficult. If you start speaking Thai they seem to think you understand every word and go off at about 10 words per second. Had a few people trying to teach me a few Thai proverbs and idioms of late .............result....Headache!!!

[BangkapiBoy]

It is tough learning and advancing to the next level. It really takes a while! I am not there yet.

[Ajay75]

I used to feel quite overwhelmed by it all and it used to stress me out stupidly. But now I just learn at my own pace and getting a teacher 5 months ago has improved my Thai no end. Before that I was floundering around after learning the basics with Pimslar and other online sources.

 

The thing I think is hardest is getting used to the way Thais phrase things and their way of expressing themselves. I've understood when something has been said to me before but havent had the slightest idea what the point they were trying to get across. Some of it is almost comical when you break down their literal meanings.

 

Its a long long road and I think you have to go through several phases of learning and experience before being to speak (almost) as well as a Thai. Just watching the Thai TV channels is enough inspiration for my end goal in what I want to achieve. I'm 18 months in and can speak and understand ok but its no where near as good or as fast as I want to be. But I'm not rushing and taking things one step at a time. Hopefully in around 3 or 4 more years I'll be getting closer to a really decent level.

 

The thing is that Thais find it just as hard to learn our language as well. I think nations where English isnt their first language do really put the effort in when learning whereas I'm afraid to say that us farangs do tend to give up rather easily when the going gets tough.

 

The comforting thing is that Thais are so accomodating and helpful to us when we try and speak in Thai with them.

[aitch]

It does my head in! As you get round that corner you see another 10 miles!

 

ฉันก็เช่นเดียวกัน

 

 

definately a struggle. good luck Bryan

[barney]

, I would say something and they wouldn't understand. They would tell me the correct pronunciation and I would think "That's what I bloody said".

 

Hmmmm......... that's about where I'm at!

[mikey1313]

Every time i think i've figured out life's anwsers....they change the questions! 55555555555555

[Grumpy]

My goodness yes!

 

My wife speaks fairly good English, and she's a little impatient when it comes to teaching Thai, so most of what I've learned has been solo. If she spoke little to no English I'm sure my Thai would be much better, but as it stands, my listening comprehension is greater than my speaking ability. Put it this way, my new Gik that lives out of state has taught me more Thai than my wife of nearly 4 years.

 

Learning to read Thai script is the gateway to true Thai language enlightenment I hear. Eliminating the reliance on transliteration makes all the difference, I am willing to believe that.

[coolman]

I like to learn how to order food pork with chow tom moo thai girls smile at me .