Speaking Thai well in Pattaya?

[buttmint]

in USA...New Mexico, why?

Acute food posoning

[dillpickles]

I

 

learned to speak a fair bit of Thai, knew the Thai alphabet & could recite it, learned in 1982 from the Thai ambassador's wife, after my first visit while working expat in Saudi. On my next trip back I decided to put my new found skills to work in a restaurant. I said something like "Pom thong kan kwai gy dao, gup moo". The waitress asked me in perfect English " Where do you some from?" I said I'm American, she said " American must be a wonderful place, you ordered fired buffalo eggs, with pork".

 

I would say at my best I was a good as a 5 yr old., but after being away for 8-10 yrs a lot was lost. But what I remembered was enough to met my wife who never worked bar & spoke no English. AS others have pointed out not only learning to speak Thai, also involves learning when to use it & when to keep quiet. I wouldn't advise speaking at immigration. But had a lot of fun with it. Sometime with drawbacks. If you speak proper Thai others my feel you are talking to them from a position of superiority, if you speak only poor bar Thai they may feel insulted especially if your trying to conduct business. They may even tell you lets try English instead.

 

For me the best way to learn was to speak crazy Thai, everyone would have a good laugh then they would correct me. I still can't understand a thing my father-n-laws says but my mother -n-law even understands my farang humor, which she probably finds absurd

 

.

[dc_publius]

Of course your Thai friends will appreciate your effort. It is usually like that in almost every country. People don't want to have to talk to their friend in a foreign language because they are too lazy to learn.

 

You will always be treated and considered a foreigner if you don't learn the local lingo.

 

Learning languages requires effort, study, and lots of practice. Thai is no different. The more hours and studying you put into it, the faster you will pick it up. But if you approach it like many Thais approach English - thinking they they will just absorb it if they show up to classes - then... well... you will end up speaking just as poorly.

[saxondale]

If you are a serious student, learn Thai script first, as the transliteration will only confuse you. For example, how would you pronounce 'gin' = eat? As in gin the drink, or the correct way as in the 'g' in 'giraffe'?

 

What about row = we? Would you pronounce it as in 'rowing a boat' or 'a couple had a row'?

 

This is good advice.

 

Thai is wonderful because most of the time because the script is phonetic and therefore can be pronounced one way. There are exceptions however but not too many.

 

As I recommend to everyone, pick up a copy of "Teach Yourself Complete Thai" and download the CDs online. It's a great guide for learning the script and the tone rules which to be honest are not hard at all. Whilst working through the book download and listen to Pimsleur on your mp3 player, this will help with pronunciation and conversation.

 

After this get yourself a good grammar such as "Thai an essential grammar" by David Smyth (the PDF is online) or "Thai Reference Grammar" by James Higbie. Both are great books (the latter being better than the former) and will give you a good foundation to work on. After all of these books you should be able to move over to books written completly in Thai intended for junior school learners.

 

Start to read Thai newspapers such as the Thai Rath or the Post Today, highlight words you don't understand and cross check against a dictionary. Ask for help on ThaiVisa if you don't understand the context or need additional help.

 

If you want a more enjoyable way to learn download CamFrog and join the Thai rooms or go on Thai message boards like Sanook and attempt to join the discussion.

 

To wrap up I'd say that if you live in Thailand, have a Thai spouse or even visit on an annual basis, you should learn Thai.

 

You save money, you fuck more girls, you fuck better girls and you will experience things that others don't.

[dillpickles]

Very good, I made a note of your recommendation. I have looked over many books on the subject, but the English phonetic spelling was terrible at best. I learned the Thai alphabet from The Fundamentals of Thai Language 5Th Edition, by Stuart Campbell, don't know if it's still in print the first edition was in 1964. The phonetic spelling in English is the best I've seen. While taking lesson I bought 2 copies in 1982. Don't understand how this works for her, but my niece 12 yrs old fell in love with it for learning English, so I gave her a copy. It has Thai phrases in phonetic English, then the phrase written in Thai so someone could help with correct pronunciation, & the English translation.

 

Until I spent more time here I completely ignored tones, & still do to some extent, which causes some confusion. Added to fact that when I was at my best, my New York accent mixed with me speaking Thai caused people to ask was I from khon khan.

 

Your last statement has never been more true, I have friends who I met here 30 yrs ago, that still have to order by number in a restaurant, in our monger days they were restricted to BGs who spoke English. Their ability to speak English was my gage of how long they had been working. I preferred the FF, if I weren't married I most likely still would. I mentioned that I could not have met my wife if I could not speak any Thai. She comes from a fairly well to do family & found it extremely entertaining that I even approached her.

 

Good Post

[Who-is-next]

You save money, you fuck more girls, you fuck better girls and you will experience things that others don't.

Thats what we want to hear.

 

Personally, lately i try to speak english only to the girls, most common they start pointing to my face with a laugh saying 'you can speak thai..'

I can't say that i speak thai well, but when thai's start talking to me in thai, my poor brains give answer in thai....

[El Cata]

Here are a couple of sites that I've found useful. The 1st has flash audio for consonants & vowels:

 

http://www.learningthai.com/index.php

 

http://phil.uk.net/thailand/index.html

 

Here is a dictionary, in case you get stuck:

 

http://www.thai-language.com/dict

 

Once you've familiarised yourself (a bit) with the script, BM Ajay75 has kindly uploaded his weekly homework here:

 

http://www.pattaya-addicts.com/forum/topic/61451-reading-practice/

 

I would suggest that you begin the homework as soon as possible. Good luck.

 

Peace.

[saxondale]

Very good, I made a note of your recommendation. I have looked over many books on the subject, but the English phonetic spelling was terrible at best. I learned the Thai alphabet from The Fundamentals of Thai Language 5Th Edition, by Stuart Campbell, don't know if it's still in print the first edition was in 1964. The phonetic spelling in English is the best I've seen. While taking lesson I bought 2 copies in 1982. Don't understand how this works for her, but my niece 12 yrs old fell in love with it for learning English, so I gave her a copy. It has Thai phrases in phonetic English, then the phrase written in Thai so someone could help with correct pronunciation, & the English translation.

 

I own a copy of that. It wasn't easy to find but it is a very good book. I don't recommend it simply because it's a pain in the arse to source being out of print. You can view it online for free just by googling the name.

[Oeshon]

I am not fluent but I am putting a lot of effort into expanding my thai ability. I found Pattaya the worst place to practice my thai. I had numerous girls who thought it was bad that I could understand some of their conversations and they switched to a different dialect. They tell me it is bad falang know too much. I asked them why is it bad? Surely you should be thankful than a foreigner has shown interest in your culture and language. Unfortunately I already knew why they think it is bad.

 

I am happy if they tell me that though. It makes it very easy to single out which girls I will or will not barfine. I have no interest in bar fining a girl who thinks it is bad that I am trying to learn their language. It is a very quick and easy test on the character and moral of a girl. For that I find it useful.

[dillpickles]

I am not fluent but I am putting a lot of effort into expanding my thai ability. I found Pattaya the worst place to practice my thai. I had numerous girls who thought it was bad that I could understand some of their conversations and they switched to a different dialect. They tell me it is bad falang know too much. I asked them why is it bad? Surely you should be thankful than a foreigner has shown interest in your culture and language. Unfortunately I already knew why they think it is bad.

 

I am happy if they tell me that though. It makes it very easy to single out which girls I will or will not barfine. I have no interest in bar fining a girl who thinks it is bad that I am trying to learn their language. It is a very quick and easy test on the character and moral of a girl. For that I find it useful.

 

 

 

Realize it bad for them, a farang who speak to much or some Thai is not an easy mark. It aslo depends on where you like to handout. If your a Walkering Street monger, then it is bad becasue they know you are not an easy trick., & can see thru their bullshit. If you socialize in lower ended bars BG are happy to teach you. You can get by where ever you are if you know when to speak Thai & when to shut up. If you start out by walking into a place & start speaking Thai, you will get no attention at all. Let them flirt, & listen to what they say about you. One of thr first fiive questions they will ask is this your firdt time here. How you reply is up to you. But when they know they will not be taking a ride on your ATM Thai BG logic is "Well I'd rathet be hungry tomrrow, & wait for the bigger fish mayby to come".

 

If pick out BG who tells me she doesn' t speak much English then I slowly talk to her in Thai & get her reaction if shes interested then things move on. How much English a BG speaks is an indication of how long she has been working Bar. I have alsways preffered the FF they are comfortable with me, usually grow an attachment hard to shake.because I can understand their feelings.

[kansuwan]

After this get yourself a good grammar such as "Thai an essential grammar" by David Smyth (the PDF is online)

 

Agree - it's a great book, and here's the on-line version:

 

http://pawanpanta.free.fr/language/Languages/E-%20book/language%20books/THAI%20-%20Thai%20An%20Essential%20Grammar.pdf

[miked818]

Has anyone tried the Rosetta Stone Thai course? Worth the time?

[saxondale]

Has anyone tried the Rosetta Stone Thai course? Worth the time?

 

I advise against it simply because it doesn't teach your any script or grammar.

 

It is good for vocabulary though.

[Shake Girl]

I've had BG's instantly, and I mean instantly turn around and walk away from when I've started speaking Thai to them. I see it as being great because if a TG only wants a farang she can keep in the dark what does that tell me about her intentions? These days I speak in English with them (If it's an option) until they are comfortable with me and then I'll switch to Thai. I've found that I definitely get treated differently if I start out in Thai, which usually isn't what I want. If they ask I'll always tell them the truth but sometimes make a game out of them wanting to know just how much Thai I speak

 

 

i'll have to concur on the 'start in english' thing especially with BGs. i speak conversational Thai fluently, many think i'm half Thai due to my lack of foreign accent. starting out in english immediately let's them know you're a foreigner and normally they can tell what country you're from which is an issue for them as well. normally, i'll eventually stop speaking english with Thais because its a chore and rarely does one of them speak english better than i can speak Thai. i also agree with 'weeding out the scum' because any woman who doesn't like that you speak Thai obviously has something to hide and i don't need those type of women in my life from the offset. *2 cents*

[kensvay]

Its always a trap to speak a little of a language well.

the locals assume that you can actually speak and understand and one often gets a torrent of language that is impossible to understand.

[dillpickles]

I think it's time to remove myself from this thread. Oblivious to me the last few new post know more than the 30 yrs. I have been coming & living here.

 

Good luck to all. Hope to see you in another thread.

[Dr.Winston]

I think it's time to remove myself from this thread. Oblivious to me the last few new post know more than the 30 yrs. I have been coming & living here.

 

Good luck to all. Hope to see you in another thread.

Why let a few negative opinions keep you away from a thread? I also find it frustrating when people try to discourage others from learning or speaking Thai but I don't let it make me angry and I certainly wouldn't let it change the way I post. Better to share your more positive experiences IMO.

[el_jefe]

I think it's time to remove myself from this thread. Oblivious to me the last few new post know more than the 30 yrs. I have been coming & living here.

 

Good luck to all. Hope to see you in another thread.

 

I'm not sure what you mean, but I hope as someone experienced in the thai language you will stay in this area of the forum and help myself and others get to the next level. There are many threads on specific questions about how to say something correctly or grammar and such that I encourage you to start contributing on to teach us thai.

Edited November 21, 2010 by el_jefe

[ExpatDave]

I am starting to dream in Thai......Freaky.

[Sam Hill]

One "farang rue mak" moment got me a playful clip round the the ear when I mentioned one girl had gone to 'pick the flowers' (gep dog mai) as in gone for a pee!

 

Women pick flowers. Men "ying gra-dai" - shoot a rabbit. Try that one on them.

[Sam Hill]

I advise against it simply because it doesn't teach your any script or grammar.

 

It is good for vocabulary though.

 

 

Rosetta Stone is very good for practicing your listening comprehension. But use it as supplementary material. On its own you won't learn that much.

[saxondale]

Rosetta Stone is very good for practicing your listening comprehension. But use it as supplementary material. On its own you won't learn that much.

 

It teaches what is frequently referred to as "robot dialect" because it sounds very out of place and overly formal.

[El Cata]

I think it's time to remove myself from this thread. Oblivious to me the last few new post know more than the 30 yrs. I have been coming & living here.

 

Good luck to all. Hope to see you in another thread.

There's no need to take the ball home. Your knowledge is valued as much as everyone else's. Some people gain a small amount of knowledge about a subject, then think they know it all; we don't know what we don't know!

 

Here's some food for thought.

 

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which an unskilled person makes poor decisions and reaches erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to realize their mistakes. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than it actually is, while the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to the situation in which less competent people rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence: because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

 

Peace.

[dillpickles]

Why let a few negative opinions keep you away from a thread? I also find it frustrating when people try to discourage others from learning or speaking Thai but I don't let it make me angry and I certainly wouldn't let it change the way I post. Better to share your more positive experiences IMO.

 

 

Hello Dr., negative opinions have nothing to do with it. As it was my job dealing with confrontation negative people at-least 20-50 times a day. I have been certified in the best Los Angeles Police Academy, & Air[port Police classes & training on dealing with such individuals, on a verbal basis. I'm not about to use verbal judo to convince someone to change a preconceived opinion someone already has. Better to let them learn in whatever manner it takes, or even never at all, I have nothing at stake. The stats I read as to what happens to farangs just makes my newspaper reading a little more interesting. Communication is 2 ways, one makes a statement, the second concurs or disagrees, whether or not they both adopt the others side it is still communication as long as both are willing to listen to the others opinion. Not my job to sway anyone's thinking. When I feel that I am no longer of service it is a waste of my time, certainly not to change a belief someone already has. Experience is that teacher.

 

I am surprised this even got through, I will remain in the topic but will only offer my input where I think it may do some good. I have long time friends some who I met here many yrs ago who cause themselves the same frustration, & aggravation trip after trip. They are my friends, I don't even offer advice unless they ask for it. They sometimes ask favors which I refuse to do. Like looking up a GF to gave money to until their next trip here. My answer has never changed NO. As my friend I don't want to ever walk in to a bar, or show up at her residence & try to give my buddy's GF money while she sucking someone dick. I don't play kill the messenger, I gave them the bad news who do think their angry with?

 

PA is about in my mind expats & mongers providing advice to each other, some of the very same guys who once gave advice will still fall victim to that very same advice. But having a closed mind & set in one's ways leaves learning by experience the only way.

 

Not sure of all functions of the website I would assume since I got this post after I unsubscribed I have cancelled that request, by replying.

[El Cata]

Clinically depressed people often find themselves becoming self-absorbed & focus on their own problems, which become insurmountable, without comparison to the 'ordinary' lives of the wider community. They often benefit from voluntary work, during which they vicariously experience problems far greater than their own, which can help to bring their own problems into perspective.

 

Peace.