How much Thai (language) do you know?

[cdnmatt]

Here's a question. Seems as though most of here either live in Thailand, or spend a good portion of the year here. So on a scale of 1 - 10, how much Thai do you know? Can you just speak, or can you read & write as well?

I'll pin myself at a measly 3.5. I haven't been putting in the hours lately, as when I am behind the computer, I'm working. That's thankfully changing right now though, as I'm more capable of giving myself free time nowadays. Not to mention, once you learn enough to do whatever you need, then the ambition diminishes. I'm definitely getting better nowadays though, and quickly too. Within 3 months, I'm hoping to be up to a 6 on a scale of 10.

One obstacle I had was there's loads of beginner resources available, but not much after that. I went through all three of the Benjamin Poosam Becker (sp) books, but even after the "Advanced Thai" book, I still didn't know shit. So I got a bit frustrated, picked up some DVDs at the market I like, such as Avatar, etc. I managed to figure out to burn the DVDs to my computer, plus have two sets of subtitles playing. So now I can watch movies in Thai, with Thai subtitles at the bottom, and English subtitles at the top. Works great!

Then I put together a little online software system, so I can store vocab & phrase lists, randomize them, only display the parts I want to, etc. So as I'm going through the movies, I put in any new words / phrases, then go back through them later to ingrain them into my mind. Then I also have Kim sit with me, and we go through the saved sentences, to help get my pronounciation and tones better. So far, so good!

If anyone out there by chance knows hard to "burn" two subtitle files onto a AVI, let me know! I'll be happy to put all this shit online, free of charge, with the movies split up into 5 - 15 minute chunks. Even got thai-trainer.com registered already, but can't figure out how to merge the two subtitle files into the AVI, so it's just one AVI file.

Wow, talk about drifting. Anyway, how well do you know Thai? One thing I've noticed is alot of farangs speak Thai, but can't read or write at all. Why is that?

Oh, and do you speak Thai, Issan, or both? Another interesting thing, farangs should never speak Issan. Kim has no problem with me learning & understanding Issan, but I'm never allowed to speak it, because everyone will laugh at you. It's true too. One of my friends decided to learn Issan instead of Thai, and he gets laughed at constantly. I keep trying to tell him this, but he's oblivious to it, and just thinks people are surprised he can speak Issan.

Anyway, I've railed on enough, so obviously I have a beer or six in me. How much Thai do you know though?

[Undaunted]

Since Google has introduced Google Phrases translate.........That covers 90% of my needs! I will put it another way...My best friend had a boyfriend 20 years old from a small village in Essan. He sent him for English lessons he then asked me if he should learn some Thai so they could take their relationship to the next level. My friend being a farang in his 50's promted me to say if your boyfriend spoke perfect English and you perfect Thai what on God's earth would you talk about?

[christianpfc]

You forgot to label the scale, I assume 1 means "no knowledge of Thai language" and 10 means "speak Thai fluently"? For me: zero so far (but I didn't spend much time in Thailand). However, even as a tourist and staying in Bangkok and Pattaya, knowledge of Thai would greatly improve my experiences.

google translate: I just translated the post into German (my mother tongue), I get a rough understanding, but it's painful. Whoever considers using google translate regularly, should try and translate between two languages he understands to check the outcome! I would not torture anyone with a translation by google translate. Anyway, you can only use on computer and not in real life.

I used to watch a lot TV in England with subtitles, unfortunately the substitles do not always exactly write down what is spoken, which caused a lot of confusion in the beginning.

[mahjongguy]

"...how to merge the two subtitle files into the AVI, so it's just one AVI file."
You need to read up on Matroska files. One MKV file can contain an AVI plus multiple subs.

[Gaybutton]

I gave myself a 7. I can communicate fairly easily in Thai and make myself understood. I've been told by several Thais that I have the tones correct, and that's almost equally important as the words themselves. If you don't get the tones right, it can often be very difficult for Thais to understand you.

I have never even tried to learn to read Thai. I've never had a need. There is enough written English in Thailand that so far, for me, it has never been necessary. The only exception to that I have ever encountered is sometimes I receive mail, all in Thai, that I can tell is something important. No problem. I can always find a Thai whose English is very good and can translate for me. I also have Thai neighbors who speak English quite well. I have one Thai friend who used to live just down the street from me. Her English is nearly fluent. She has moved away, but it's still no problem. If I run into a translation problem I simply call her, explain the situation, and let her speak with the Thai person. She translates back and forth for us.

[cdnmatt]

You need to read up on Matroska files. One MKV file can contain an AVI plus multiple subs.

Just took a quick look, and looks promising. Thanks! Will look into it further later on.

google translate: I just translated the post into German (my mother tongue), I get a rough understanding, but it's painful.

Yep, agreed. Google Translate is absolutely horrible. The best I've found is http://www.thai-language.com/dict/search, and it's excellent. Although, it only does single words, and not phrases or sentences. Excellent resource though.

If you don't get the tones right, it can often be very difficult for Thais to understand you.

I know, that's such a pain in the ass, isn't it? "No, it's not 'giaaOW-gap', it's 'giaaow-GAP'". Aggravates me to no end. Really though, you give yourself a 7? No offense, but that's fairly high. That means you have a vocabulary of about 20,000 - 25,000 words. Really?

I have never even tried to learn to read Thai. I've never had a need.

Yeah, everyone's mind learns differently, and I'm the opposite. If someone just tells me a word, I'll never remember it. I need it written down in Thai, so I can visualize the Thai script in my mind. Then I remember it.

[painai2]

Speaking, reading and understanding Thai does make living here more enjoyable. It sure makes it easier to have a good time with the Thais you meet and bring home. You'll find a few Farangs who do make an effort to learn Thai.

[RichLB]

I didn't vote because I don't really know how to assess my Thai skills. I find I have a large vocabulary in Thai and can carry on and think in Thai when conversing with my boyfriend or Thais who know me well. But my pronunciation is so terrible it's often difficult for strangers to understand me. Luckily, I can understand them, though, and in time they get used to my terrible spoken Thai and we can talk comfortably.

That being said, let me encourage every one to learn Thai. Don't believe the nay sayers. It is really a very simplistic language and not difficult to learn. Remember, your goal is to learn to communicate and not to become a linguist. For those who don't already know Thai let me give you a few pointers which make learning Thai a lot easier than you think it will be.

There are no stem changing verbs which makes it a lot easier.

There are also no tenses (well, there are, but they are simple) like in Spanish. You can forget about stuggling with the subjective mode, the pluperfect tense (whatever that was), etc. To indicate future tense you merely say "ja" in front of the verb and to indicate past action you merely say "lay of" after the verb. Simple, huh?

The tones are important, but Thais will recognize you are farang and quickly learn to look past your mispronunciations (just like we do when speaking with someone who is not proficient in English). Although I confess I greeted my boyfriend's mother for a couple years by saying "Sawatdee ma" (Hello dog) rather than "Sawatdee mae" (Hello mother).

The vocabulary is additive - which means if you learn a few words, by combining them differently you've actually picked up many more. An example of that is the English word "fever". In Thai "dtua" means "body" and "rahn" means "hot". Thus fever is simply "dtua rahn". There are countless other examples like that. A few learned words results in many new, but not studied words.

There is very limited use to the English "to be". No more worrying about how to say "was", "will", "has been", "will have been", etc. Thais simply don't bother.

Recognize that since Thai is tonal, Thai uses specific words to indicate questions, emphasis, softening, etc. For example, Hyoo mai, not Hyoo?; or Ma see, not Ma!!; or Check bin na krap not Check bin (said softly).

I'm not trying to look like a know it all. I just want everyone to not be afraid of learning Thai. You will learn it quickly and it will add tons of fun to your experience in Thailand.

[Gaybutton]

\Really though, you give yourself a 7? No offense, but that's fairly high. That means you have a vocabulary of about 20,000 - 25,000 words. Really?

I don't know where you're getting those numbers from, but yes, I probably do have a vocabulary of at least that much.

[painai2]

One thing about learning Thai, it is does take a lot of work and you won't learn it overnight. Those Thai schools that promise you to learn Thai in 3 months are crazy. It does take time and study. What makes it even more frustrating is when you try to practice your Thai. Unless you use the right tone, many Thais will not understand you. It makes it so easy to just give up. In time it does get easier, if you keep at it. The benefit is actually being able to communicate with your Thai friend. That makes it all worthwhile. I see so many Farangs take their Thai friend out to lunch, but not talk since neither understands the other.