Thread: Is it really necessary to learn a host country's language?

Originally Posted by DrB0b

This is usually the toughest part, because it requires reading and paying attention and other skills usually only posessed by homos and losers...

If they try to get rid of you, it means you're winning. Find a way to return. Declare your superiority once you arrive. (Don't forget the capitals and exclamation points!) Eventually they will admit defeat and make you their King, and shower you with gifts and money and naked chicks...

Not often I pull one of these out but that deserves one:

Originally Posted by The Gentleman Scamp

I can speak 40% Thai

You forgot the decimal point. I think you meant 0.4%.

I was wondering how he arrived at that figure.

I figure I'm about 28% but it could be 62. I'm not a mathematician.

Originally Posted by Dalton

I think that it's very un-polite not to learn the language in the country one decides to live permenently in

No sure about the polite bit, you can be polite and respectful without use of verbal communication. I dont feel like its a permanent arrangment for me here. The usual things like land ownership, investment hassles, visa worries, work pemit paperwork mountains and other beurocracy make me treat Thailand as one big playground to piss around in, in my spare time.

Sure, if I was afforded the ability to buy a place i could call my own and stay here with some peace of mind in a dignified way, my attitude might change.

Why bother jumping through hoops to "fit in" when the vibe from the government is "spend and leave".

Call the above simplistic if you like, but thats the way I see and feel it.

Originally Posted by Spin

Why bother jumping through hoops to "fit in" when the vibe from the government is "spend and leave".

One could argue that it's a circle, hey?

Who starts first?

Originally Posted by njdesi

In my experience, any Thais who have anything interesting to say will be fluent in English.

Interesting, I find it the other way, but I'm also a naive moron...

Originally Posted by njdesi

I don't plan on studying above an intermediate level of Thai. Most Thai conversations seem to focus on the present and what is happening now. There is little reflection or debating for fun, like there is with native English speakers. In fact, their culture and the way their language is structured seems to be hostile to this.

In my experience, any Thais who have anything interesting to say will be fluent in English.

Amen to that, different languages different purpose, that's why it's always good to speak more than one language, more than 3 or 4 and then it becomes a bit ridiculous

it is a complete waste of time learning thai!
1 most bargirls can speak enough english to make themselves understood to us.
2 of course all thais speak enough english for us to understand exactly what they are trying to say.
3 if you can make yourself understood to your thai wife, she can do all the negotiations for you, and she would NEVER rip you off!
4 it is ok to live in thailand being totally unaware of what is going on around you.
5 when your thai wife dumps you and runs off with the money, you will easily communicate with the cops, immigration officials, bankers and lawyers in english, and will get by just fine communicating in english when you need to use public transport or need to buy anything or do any kind of business in thailand.

i would prefer not to have had to make the effort to learn to speak thai, too, but since i did make the effort, i found it opened so many doors for me.
if you can't understand thai and you live in thailand, you may as well be deaf and dumb!
thailand becomes s totally different place when you can speak and understand thai.
i guess that for some though, ignorance is bliss!

^Good post as ever, mate.

Even with my limited Thai it makes things more interesting. Just last night I was at the Buriram bus station. Dalton was having a natter with the Thai chaps who run the place before going off to the 7/11. One of the guys turns to me and asks me if Dalton is my father. Sadly, my honesty is too ingrained and replied that he is only 3 years older than me. I got some nice compliments about my baby-face.

^You should have pulled your pants up then...

On a serious note, I suppose if I wanted to live and work in Thailand, I'd have to learn to read and write Thai.

Otherwise, I'd never be able to read or reply to people sending me bills or pleasant post.

When I first moved to Germany I found plenty of English speakers in Hamburg and Berlin but the job opportunities were in provincial east Germany and where I now live most people speak nothing aside from German and Russian.

I couldn't have survived here without learning German and I think the same must apply to Thailand or wherever else the first language is not English.

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

You should have pulled your pants up then...

He did complain about a sore arse.....Now we know why

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

One of the guys turns to me and asks me if Dalton is my father. Sadly, my honesty is too ingrained and replied that he is only 3 years older than me. I got some nice compliments about my baby-face.

You wouldent understand if he asked you for a blow-job or to merry his sister...

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

Originally Posted by njdesi

There is little reflection or debating for fun, like there is with native English speakers. In fact, their culture and the way their language is structured seems to be hostile to this.
In my experience, any Thais who have anything interesting to say will be fluent in English.

Without learning the language you'll never know, will you? There are educated people here that use tricks of language to make a point and have a laugh. Many of them have learned English but will not embark on a complex conversation in it.

I say that mostly based on the my Thai friend, who has lived in the US for three years who is fluent in both languages. There are things she will talk about it in English that just don't seem appropriate when speaking Thai.

When I say intermediate Thai, here is some examples.

The first time my future father in law saw my friend (who is American), he said to him, "Don't worry about the dogs barking, they only do that when they see ugly people."

Again, my future father in law at my friends wedding ceremony. "Hey! Stop paying attention to that stupid witch doctor. Look at me!" (He was a bit drunk)

When my friend was drunk and started talking to his shrimp, my father in law said, "Do you have a car in America? Good, you can drive your friend to the crazy house when you get back."

Father in law again talking about my friend to his thai wife: "Good job marrying the farang. He can't even speak Thai!"

To me after seeing my hairy chest: "Are you sure you aren't a shaved monkey pretending to be a person?"

Him and my wife are big fans of puns in Thai, which go over my head. I miss out on all those jokes. I am content knowing enough Thai that I can understand my father in law when he is taking the piss out of me.

Your father in law sounds a right fuckin dick head
It's OK, I've had a couple pretty fuckin weird ones in my life as well.