Question for Farangs who speak Thai.

[bobbyboy112003]

When you speak Thai, do you think in terms like this?

Joe: You speak language Thai can well very.

pete: Thank you. I fairly speak can but read write not can.

Joe: You study language Thai when?

Pete: I study come 2 year already.

Joe: Study where?

Pete: Wife I teach give. She be lecturer language at a university.

Joe: Be person Thai or?

Pete: No she be person American but experience come study at country Thai. Get degree master language Thai here.

Thanks,

Bobby

(learning Thai one century at a time)

[CiaranM]

When you speak Thai, do you think in terms like this?

Joe: You speak language Thai can well very.

pete: Thank you. I fairly speak can but read write not can.

Joe: You study language Thai when?

Pete: I study come 2 year already.

Joe: Study where?

Pete: Wife I teach give. She be lecturer language at a university.

Joe: Be person Thai or?

Pete: No she be person American but experience come study at country Thai. Get degree master language Thai here.

Thanks,

Bobby

(learning Thai one century at a time)

Joe and Pete would need to learn how to speak (and read and write) English before they start learning Thai ....

[bobbyboy112003]

When you speak Thai, do you think in terms like this?

Joe: You speak language Thai can well very.

pete: Thank you. I fairly speak can but read write not can.

Joe: You study language Thai when?

Pete: I study come 2 year already.

Joe: Study where?

Pete: Wife I teach give. She be lecturer language at a university.

Joe: Be person Thai or?

Pete: No she be person American but experience come study at country Thai. Get degree master language Thai here.

Thanks,

Bobby

(learning Thai one century at a time)

Joe and Pete would need to learn how to speak (and read and write) English before they start learning Thai ....

Well, so would I for that matter :roll:

I mean do farangs who speak Thai make a conscious effort to use the Thai word order.

[Loburt]

When I speak Thai (not very well), yes I make a conscious effort to use the Thai word order.

What comes out, though, isn't always in the right order, especially when I'm trying to figure out how to say something.

[khun_lung]

Understanding Thai word syntax isn't all that difficult. For example, adjectives always follow the noun rather than precede the noun. In English we might talk about a "red shirt" whereas in Thai it is "shirt red". Personally I never had any difficulty in grasping the syntax differences.

[Loburt]

Actually, Bobby, I should say in the beginning you make a conscious effort. As time goes by, it just becomes more natural and you don't thin about it. You just speak that way.

[bobbyboy112003]

Loburt, Yes, I have seen you speak Thai many times (pretty well too). It seemed to me at those times that when you had any pause, it was because you were looking for the correct word to use or an acceptable word to use.

That's probably because I don't have a great amount of Thai vocabulary yet. Your second comment brought it home for me though, thanks!

Mike, I think your knowledge and experience with Thai is vast. I have, and still do, study from many Thai books and cd's. I read in all of them that English and Thai are similar in syntax, but I believe that they are more different than similar, at least when it comes to speaking. I used the example that I posted to show this. If someone hadn't studied any Thai at all and read my example, they would see a screwed up English I think.

I envy your ease with Thai Mike and hope to be there one day also!

jLanne, Yes, I agree with you fully. I am trying to get some perspective here because now that I can read Thai script like a school child, I want to start speaking like one too :wink:

Thanks all for your input and help. I need a lot of it by the way lol

[inamorato25]

I remember thinking "why do they say 'car red' in French. It's so stupid" when I was in High School French in Canada. In fact, I used to compare pretty much everything I was taught to English.

Then I learned the secret of language learning -- never ask "why." You just learn the word order and so on as native speakers do and move on.

Note that the other big problem you'll run into is that there are lots of ideas and grammatical tools you can say and do in English that you simply can't express in a foreign language, and vice versa. It can be frustrating, but if you just accept it when a Thai says, "We don't say that in Thai," and move on, your blood pressure will thank you for it.

[bigKus]

..:: You guys do not have to be worried..

whatever you speak (thai) you always look cute for thai people.. mai pen rai.. we appreciate your effort :wink:

[bobbyboy112003]

Mike, that's a good piece of advice there partner Yeah, I know that pretty much I'm going to have to deal with frustration. There's no quick fix.

Kus krap, well then I must look super cute when I speak Thai lol. I have never had so many Thai's look at me with smiling, but with complete confusion when I would speak in Thai. Yep, that's me, super cute :oops:

[bigKus]

Kus krap, well then I must look super cute when I speak Thai lol. I have never had so many Thai's look at me with smiling, but with complete confusion when I would speak in Thai. Yep, that's me, super cute :oops:

..:: Of course you are (super cute ) bbbnumbers, not just ( trying to ) speak thai correctly but whatever you do jah.. lolz Oop..! sorry didnt mean to laugh :wink:

[khun_lung]

As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. I am not particularly gifted when it comes to languages so my Thai abilities come from a lot of hard work and practice, day in and day out, and also from motivation. It's something I really WANTED to do! Obviously living in a Thai environment helps a lot!

When I first began my Thai studies at AUA in Chiang Mai, if my teacher had said to me, "Here is a summary of what you're going to need to learn over the coming weeks and months.", I'd have packed up and said I could never do it. But it really is a one day at a time process and each day you learn something new, and new vocabulary, you're marching down the road to success.

I could tell you MANY stories about my learning path, but I don't want to break the A4 rule! hehehe

[smoggie]

Learning the script is the first big obstacle to overcome, it all gets easier from then on, you just need to get yourself into the Thai environment.

Once the language is all around you, you can teach yourself though reading, listening and speaking for yourself.

Use books, CDs, teachers, whatever to get the basics drilled into you, that's the hardest part that requires the most dedication. But once you've got to that kindergarten level, the fun starts when praticising it in the real world.

Keep at it, be brave, no shyness, make mistakes, it gets easier.

[PattayaDaz]

BigKus

You guys do not have to be worried..

whatever you speak (thai) you always look cute for thai people.. mai pen rai.. we appreciate your effort

haha...Don't know about looking cute.. but i love to see the look of relief on some Thai faces when they realise they don't have to embarrass themselves by speaking English.. When they can watch the Farang embarrass himself speaking Thai..

For me I speak Thai at every oppotunity.. only prob I have is some Thai's are shy to correct me or point out a mistake.. I know they are trying save my face but it is hard to improve if you don't realise you are saying the wrong word or using the wrong tone..

As has been mentioned many times before.. LEARNING TO READ THAI SCRIPT is the key factor..once you have this mastered it makes everything else easier...

[khun_lung]

As has been mentioned many times before.. LEARNING TO READ THAI SCRIPT is the key factor..once you have this mastered it makes everything else easier...

Yes, I agree with you on this point very much. It opens a totally new window into the language and one can SEE the correct way to pronounce words rather than just depending on their ears to try to replicate a sound.

I recently kinda served as stu_thailand's mentor to help him to begin reading the langage and you can ask him what a difference it's made. Yes, Stu can now read and write Thai. I helped him when he had questions or things he didn't understand and gave him a few "homework" assignments but he did most of the work by himself. And he was reading Thai within ONE MONTH!

[Thadeaus]

After learning thai script things went much faster for me.

I don't know who really decided the transliterations, but for the most part they are horrible. Come up with your own until you can switch and just rely on the actual letters.

When I showed up with a group foreign English teachers 10 years ago the reason I learned faster was actually getting the alphabet down.

As far was word order...you have to get to a point where you think in Thai. Practice in your head...it's like your crazy, but works after a while.

Remind your Thai friends to correct you. Even though they might get what you say, others might not. I had to remind them or ask if I was say it right because they don't want to come across as maybe embarrassing you.

Side note Khun Lung...were you at a place called Lucky Bar last night? I could have sworn that was you...

[khun_lung]

Side note Khun Lung...were you at a place called Lucky Bar last night? I could have sworn that was you...

Nope. I was at Soi 8 Pub for the TF event there. And I didn't get lucky.

[bobbyboy112003]

Thanks all for the comments. It re-in forces what the books and others have told me: LEARN THE THAI SCRIPT!

I think that I'm probably at a point of crossover or something. Reading the script isn't all that hard anymore (at my child level I mean), but now the word order is kicking in.

From learning 2 other languages, I know the importance of being around native speakers. Until that time though, I'll continue with book study!

You guys rock!

[khun_lung]

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Yes I'm sure that isn't exactly correct. But it's fun nonetheless.

(The script's so damn small and difficult to see.)

Yes, it's not exactly correct. I can't read it! LOL!

Well, keep in mind that Thai has to make room for vowels under and over consonants. Unlike English, it has to get squeezed. Fortunately you can copy and paste it to Notepad or Word and change the font size to as big as you want. After awhile, you get used to reading the small type.

[anenglishman]

i don't claim to speak great thai but i can usually get by. learning the alphabet was the key 4 me........i prefer reading thai script to transliteration as it makes pronounciation much easier. But my continuing problem is the tones.

[Zleepy]

Yo Bobby..

My advice is learn things in meaningful sentences or clauses from a good Thai example... I think you learn stuff and it just becomes a new way of doing things. And yeah, learn to read if you can be arsed.. makes things easier, and is much more conducive to learning and understanding things better in the long run sure... I'm guessing you're doing that already though.

Thinking of the sentence structure like you mentioned kinda makes sense if you want to think like that.. I don't know.. ..consider this,

e.g. "I really like that small red hat" = "pom chob muak dang bai lek nun mak" = "I like hat red one small that alot".

I don't think it will help anyone to try and think like that, right? It was hard enough for me to re-write it in English with the Thai word ordering :roll: :shock:

[bobbyboy112003]

Yo Bobby..

My advice is learn things in meaningful sentences or clauses from a good Thai example... I think you learn stuff and it just becomes a new way of doing things. And yeah, learn to read if you can be arsed.. makes things easier, and is much more conducive to learning and understanding things better in the long run sure... I'm guessing you're doing that already though.

Thinking of the sentence structure like you mentioned kinda makes sense if you want to think like that.. I don't know.. ..consider this,

e.g. "I really like that small red hat" = "pom chob muak dang bai lek nun mak" = "I like hat red one small that alot".

I don't think it will help anyone to try and think like that, right? It was hard enough for me to re-write it in English with the Thai word ordering :roll: :shock:

Thanks Z-man!!

It seems that I should continue Thai script and let the word order come as it will...and from those I know that have learned Thai, it WILL!

Just show the love when I yet again make a fool of myself speaking Thai :wink: