Farang know too much

[buksida]

Starting this one from comments in the "WOTD" thread as it interests me.

Why would partners/spouses not want their partner to have a better command of the language? Surely it would ease those cross cultural and communication barriers that are common in farang/Thai relationships.

If a couple went to a western country would the native half want the Asian half to remain ignorant of the language and look stupid?

Is it an effort at nationalism? "Its our language and we don't want aliens speaking it!"

Shopkeepers and those in business I can understand after all we're all just stupid tourists in their eyes.

Personally, as stated before, I am wary of anyone that does not want me to expand my vocabulary and understanding ... I find myself asking "what are they trying to hide?" My Thai was pretty good before I met Mrs B so she didn't have a choice!

Thoughts on a postcard ...
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Luctor et Emergo

[Terry]

Buksi

Wait 'til the littl'uns are bigger and fluent in both Angrit & Thai.
You then have your own 'spies' - works wonders.
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[STEVE G]

[MrPlum]

It does seem to be a contradiction when some say they are delighted if you try and speak their language and others, as you suggest, don't want you to.

For me, it's easy. I love NOT being able to understand the yak, yak, yak that constitutes most conversations or the sniping gossip mill. I can remain oblivious to it all secure in the knowledge that the irate Thai whose bike I just ran over, is telling me how much he loves farangs.

Being a natural introvert, conversations drain me. In a world full of noise, the less I need to waste in unnecessary conversation, the better.

Ignorance truly is bliss.

[Guess]

I remember when first reading tourist guides many years ago that they all said that travellers should make ant attempt to learn the language. The Thais feel "complimented" by the fact that foreigners wish to learn their language.

I have later read since I have been here that speaking Thai will get you places. In have found evidence that that can be true but also see evidence that that is not always the case.

In a husband and wife situation in Thailand many other factors may play a part. My wife wants me to improve and helps but does not want to become a full time language teacher. We have the added complication that she mostly speaks a different dialect of Thai which is says is her natural language. She also admits it has the benefits of keeping a selective audience.

I have witnessed many time, Thais speaking about me to my wife without considering that I understand any of it. If I don't understand she translates afterwards anyway. Some Thais , especially suppliers, will discuss deals that they don't want you to hear like in another thread about the minibus driver saying "don't worry the farang will pay".

It seems to me it is more to do with the individual's opinion about foreigners speaking Thai rather than a national trend.

If they have something to hide they will not appreciate your knowledge of Thai and if not they should be keen to teach you.
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[Green Nomad]

My Thai wife and I live in Spain, when I am not working in the middle east, and you can imagine the interesting situations we have sometimes.
Firslty, my Spanish is ok for most conversations, put it this way I get by. My wife, whos english is quite good is learning Spanish words all the time. We have Thai, French, German, Spanish as well as English friends there, but is never any problem or bad feeling with anything. Lets just all make an effort to relate to foriegn people, you will be surprised how much understanding can be achieved. But what I will say there are some thai women here in Oman who when they meet us farang here say they dont like us speaking thai. Her loss......

[dtaai-maai]

[Ray123]

Thai here says so that they dont know how the less well of thais talk together about screwing over the stupid farang. Like the teachers teach then in school to work together o not let foreigners take one inch of land from thailand.

[dtaai-maai]

Thanks for that, ray, very enlightening...
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[Super Joe]

I think Ray has just demonstrated that the thread title is incorrect.

SJ

[buksida]

Interesting ideas, good post d-m, that bit about asking for something when you're alone and getting it and repeating the process with a Thai next to you and getting a blank look is very accurate. I'd put that down to laziness on the part of the listener though as they can understand if they want.

I like the idea of "helping out" also, a nice alternative to my cynical views!
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Luctor et Emergo

[prcscct]

If they're all still alive which I doubt, there are more than 150,000 American ex-servicemen somewhere who learned his only Thai on the street unfortunately. I was one of them who got my first exposure that way.

Our exposure to Thai's working on the bases resulted in them using pigeon English most of the time, something similar to the sound track of an American made post WWII occupation movie set in Japan. They didn't try too hard to teach proper words, and almost all of us being between 18 and 22 years old, didn't care that much. One year here and BANG, home we go and who cares.

Those of us who extended here for 1-2 or 3 years began to get into the heart of things and then we were more readily accepted, and with the smiles came an attempt to teach us proper words and usage.

What a surprise to many who thought his girlfriend was calling him 'darling', was really calling him 'dak-ling' which translates roughly to 'monkey's ass'...LOL.

So, the cursing and bar'street language slowly gave way to normal Thai, although primitive. This had good results as it was obvious to see the way the Thai's treated the 'long stay' soldiers vs the ones who were here for a year or less. We were treated real well and given some degree of respect.

Life here then was much less jaded and cynical. The Thai's encouraged us to learn and ble3nd into their society, at least on the village level. Pete
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"What America needs is a huge hypodermic needle of morality." Alice Cooper 21 Sept. 2007

[STEVE G]

[DawnHRD]

I get the opposite much of the time. Having littl'un, many Thais expect me to speak fluent Thai & start rattling on at great speed - only to be met with either flustered pidgen Thai or blank incomprehension from me.

His (littl'un's) father did want me to learn Thai & did teach me some. However, he wanted to learn English too, and learnt more rapidly than me, so soon the proportion of English to Thai spoken started to change so we spoke more English.
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