Thread: Anyone Here Speak Fluent Thai

Originally Posted by English Noodles

Originally Posted by Jeremia

above average Issan Kmmer

You can speak Suay dialect?

I lived in Kap Choeng for 8 years...many moons ago.

^That's great if you can speak it. I take it that there was no formal school to learn from and everything was learned on the ground so to speak. My next learning curve is trying to learn to speak this particular dialect.

I gave up on languages after I had to learn English.

Originally Posted by Nawty

He sat with one of the most powerful figures in thailand recently and chatted to him in Thai for 20 minutes.

He went from tourist jibbersih to this in 3 years, but he is single and retired, so he had the time and dedication to do it.

I find this interesting.
I never met anyone who in their autumm of life was able take thai to a decent level. Or to any level at all for that matter. (Thai is if he was retired due to old age obviously)
Although I recall reading columns in the BKK Post written by Dennis Segaller, who I believe was in his 60`ties when starting his learning curve. And he did very, very well indeed judging by his columns and books.

I see the single most outstanding factor important when acquiring proficiency in a new language is motivation.
Nothing more, nothing less. Not time, nor money, not even immersion.
Especially not in the year of 2010. So many resources available online.

He is around 48yo I think, so 45ish when he got into it maybe.

His motivation was a book he wants to write here and he can see a good future for it.

I have a few friends who became fluent after a few years of full-time study. What's the national exam taken to prove one's fluency? The Bor Hok? or something similar.

Remember them talking about the knowledge one needs to pass, studying ancient mythical poems with language that the average wouldn't know or use.

Originally Posted by The Gentleman Scamp

I once asked a fluent farang what two girls we were sharing a lift with in Ayutthaya were talking about and he looked at me with despair and said, "Trust me, it's so inane you don't even want to know.

This sadly becomes apparent as soon as you understand the very basics.

For such a fun loving, and amusing people, their day to day chit chat is painfully droll.

Originally Posted by The Master Cool

. What's the national exam taken to prove one's fluency? The Bor Hok? or something similar.

Por 6.

^ as in Prathom 6?...fuck me I'm nigh on fluent then..

Originally Posted by English Noodles

^That's great if you can speak it. I take it that there was no formal school to learn from and everything was learned on the ground so to speak. My next learning curve is trying to learn to speak this particular dialect.

Why? There are so few native speakers.
My wife and her family speak Suay. I've picked up a few words. It has an odd sing song quality to it.

Originally Posted by somtamslap

as in Prathom 6?

Yes, Prathom 6. Some dictation, letter writing, 3 essays on Thai subjects such as the government, Royal family etc, a multi choice grammar exam. A listening exam and a speaking exam.

Originally Posted by Humbert

Why? There are so few native speakers.

Because my girlfriend speaks it with her family, I think it's a good challenge for me to try to learn.

Originally Posted by English Noodles

^That's great if you can speak it. I take it that there was no formal school to learn from and everything was learned on the ground so to speak. My next learning curve is trying to learn to speak this particular dialect.

This would be a challenge Noodles, as sub-dialects and language change from one moment to the next....there's a market language, a mooban language, as well as a closer familial one. Certainly this applies to how Suay, Surin Khmer, and Khmer Krom are used throughout Surin. Good luck.

Thai is a tonal language and I have a "tin ear" still after many years I can understand pretty well. German and Japanese are not tonal maybe that's why they were allys?

Originally Posted by English Noodles

The Thai language has more words than most European languages.

Where did you get that nugget from? Are you counting all variations of Thai or just Central Thai? Or, are you just making stuff up?

Originally Posted by English Noodles

German for example has one of the smallest base vocabularies of any language in the world.

Despite you use of the word 'base' to enable you to wiggle out of posting nonsense, according to Bill Bryson's book 'Mother Tongue', English has about 200,000 words in common use, German 184,000 and French 100,000.

Of course all languages have a load of words that are archaic or specialist (i.e. English has over 600,000 words listed in the OED and according to the Global Language Monitor has surpassed 1 million), but it's the common usage that has real meaning. So in that respect, Thai probably has about 500 from what I've heard in the last 9 or 20 years. <-- For Noodles.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Despite you use of the word 'base'

You do understand what that means don't you?

Originally Posted by English Noodles

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Despite you use of the word 'base'

You do understand what that means don't you?

Of course. In which way would you like to twist it?

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

French 100,000.

I think you will find it's closer to 40,000.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

German 184,000

Closer to 130,000

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Bill Bryson's book

Did you cross reference it with Jeremy Clarkson?

What is the vocabulary count for central Thai?

I would be surprised if it was half that of English.

half of the English nouns translated into thai don't give you a word, but another noun with adjective - mother water, strong water, strong heart.

Unless there are actual Thai words for these that aren't used by the public, which might well be the case.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Of course. In which way would you like to twist it?

This might give you a clue, as I have a feeling you really need one.

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of exclamations, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes, etc. And these figures don't take account of entries with senses for different word classes (such as noun and adjective).

Oxford Dictionaries Online - English Dictionary and Thesaurus

Originally Posted by English Noodles

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

English has about 200,000 words in common use,

Sounds like he was about right.

How many words are listed as being in common use in central Thai?

Originally Posted by The Master Cool

Sounds like he was about right.

Another idiot who can't read and understand English.

Originally Posted by The Master Cool

How many words are listed as being in common use in central Thai?

What exactly does that have to do with anything? Do you even know what is being discussed here?