Experiences Of Speaking Thai With Bar Girls

[alessandro_no]

Speaking Thai is definitely and advantage when wanting to communicate with anyone in Thailand. Even more so I find that bar-girls often take more of a liking to someone who has taken the time and effort to learn their language.

 

Speaking Thai will get you much further under the sheets in the long run as well because the women will respect you as an equal instead of a dumb foreign cash cow.

[alessandro_no]

My Thai is conversationally very fluent. But if I watch the political news on television I can follow no more than 50% of it. The problem with learning Thai even when living here is that you find yourself in the same situations over and over - shopping, ordering food, travelling, general chitchat. In certain situations you do fine. Get away from them and you are lost. Thai has levels of vocabulary - for equals, talking to superiors, speaking to monk or even royals (something we don't have to worry about). Even the average expat can handle no more than ordinary conversations, the type one gets into every day. Our vocabulary outside of that will be very limited, unless we make a conscious effort to improve it through reading.

 

I'm at that very same stage. When speaking to Thais on the phone they sometimes mistake for being a Thai. However if the conversation carries on it doesn't take long before they realize I'm a foreigner.

 

If the topic of conversation suddenly switch onto something I'm unfamiliar with it's very easy to get lost and having to resort too ขอโทษ แต่ผมไม่เข้าใจคำว่า . . . .

 

Only way to learn the specialized words are to read up on those topics.

[Dr.Winston]

It is hard to learn Thai when you don't live here. You have to be submerged in a language and culture, where you hear it every day and possibly are even forced to learn it. When I lived up north, very few locals could speak more than a few dozen disconnected words of English. That gave me a reason to learn Thai. The way to remember is by repetition, repetition, repetition. You need reinforcement to make it sink in. Fortunately, I had a cool language teacher. He said to me one day, "You need to practice your Thai. Go out and get a girl." And spending a day or two with a Thai girl who didn't speak English did wonders. (I mean for my Thai language, though it did the rest of me good too. )

 

Best thing to do in the west is to get recordings and listen to them frequently during the day. Stick with one lesson until you master it, then move on to the next. Don't get discouraged, just keep at it. Next time you come back to LOS you should notice a big difference. For one thing the counry will be more enjoyable. I feel awkward when I am in Cambodia or Malaysia because I simply cannot understand what is being said around me. I never feel like a stranger in Thailand or Laos.

My experiences differed from yours in that I found that I learned the bulk of my Thai, certainly the foundations anyway while studying it through tapes and books in the UK. I've never really taken to actually studying Thai whenever I've been living there. There's no doubt that the practice and immersion is essential though.

 

BTW, like the avatar, I haven't seen that box for nearly 20 years. Darlie just just doesn't do the job as well IMO

[chanman]

Some very interesting and informative views expressed here, I also agree that the only way to learn the language *fluently* is to live in the said country and try not to speak in your native tongue, very difficult I know, every time I go to Issan I am the only one that speaks english in the whole village, been going back and forth 5 years now, and although I know many words and some short sentences in thai find it near impossible to even try to hold a conversation, very frustrating, thats because I dont have enough time over in LOS and have to rely on learning from the web whilst back home. As for bar girls being negative about it I have not experienced that, they seem to be a little more friendly and even think its quite funny to see me struggling to string a sentence together, but in general they are quite pleasant about it and do try to help. One major thing though is to learn their way of telling the time, I missed a taxi once because I ordered it for 3 o clock but they took it that I meant "thai time" which is actually 9 o clock, lol

[RAM8]

Wow, Great thread!

 

I was under the impression that most Thai's would be impressed if you showed the effort to speak Thai. In Australia, most english speaking aussies find it offensive if non-english speaking people don't make the effort to try. I am sure it is the same in the UK. I am quite "Thai-curious" so I am trying to learn a bit more lingo for my next trip.

 

Thanks to the doctor and the guys for all you insights.

 

BTW, is there a school in Pattaya for adults wanting to learn Thai?

[Angelwitch]

 

BTW, is there a school in Pattaya for adults wanting to learn Thai?

 

I am a student at CTLS. I paid 22000baht for one year = 45 weeks. That gave me a 15 month visa. Two days a week / 2 hours a day. And I think it's a good first step. Learn the alphabet, write a little. It's an easy start in the thailanguage.

 

My link

[Jimmydr]

I looked for English speaking ones and once located, had fun with them.

[RAM8]

I am a student at CTLS. I paid 22000baht for one year = 45 weeks. That gave me a 15 month visa. Two days a week / 2 hours a day. And I think it's a good first step. Learn the alphabet, write a little. It's an easy start in the thailanguage.

 

My link

 

Thanks Angelwitch, you've just given me one more reason to put my life on hold and spend a year in LOS. Sounds like a good plan with an education visa and not too taxing on the brain at only two days a week.