Comments on: Thai 101 Learners Series: A Trusted Native Speaker is Essential

By: kaewmala

kaewmala — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:35:34 +0000

That’s one of the best insights I’ve seen from non-native speakers of Thai, Rikker. It’s true that native speakers (of any language) aren’t automatically very good at their own language because they speak it naturally everyday. Only few can really articulate (in English or Thai) the familiar usage (hence, “it just is” response).

Thai is not only difficult for non-native speakers. It is for Thais as well. It’s a complicated language with the cultural and social stratification dimensions that makes it easy to commit faux pas.

As a Thai I continue to learn Thai everyday and I find it fun to learn it using English to articulate what my discoveries and learning.
.-= kaewmala´s last blog ..How to say “Toy Boy” & “Toy Girl” in Thai =-.

By: Talen

Talen — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:51:21 +0000

I echo Martyn’s sentiments. Another thing that makes it harder is the varying situations a lot of us find ourselves in. Speaking to a middle class Thai person in Bangkok to talking to your girls Uncle in Issan.

And let me tell you I’ve gotten some funny looks in Bangkok when using Issan words and stupidly thinking this is Thailand so everyone will understand.

I do agree though that over time being in country that you pick up on the different words used to address different people. It’s hard now that I am not in Thailand to remember and keep decent track of them but hopefully being in country for longer periods of time will solve that.

More than anything it’s just so frustrating for us beginners that can’t fully surround ourselves with the language yet.
.-= Talen´s last blog ..Thailand in the News Week Ending 02/27/10 =-.

By: rikker

rikker — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:54:05 +0000

Martyn, that’s a fair observation. But it comes in bits and pieces. It starts with simple things like addressing Thai relatives by a kinship term like พ่อ /phaw/, แม่ /mae/, พี่ /phii/ and น้อง /nawng/, or for others by their nickname, instead of just using the generic pronoun คุณ /khun/ for everyone.

From there other dimensions are added, like going to the doctor and addressing him as คุณหมอ /khun maw/. As vocabulary grows, you might learn more or less polite words, and often the context you learn them in will help you know when to use them.

Bit by bit you’ll be working your way up to making this kind of social analysis in more complex ways, and eventually you’ll do it without really thinking about it. It just becomes part of how one uses the language.

It’ll come.

By: Martyn

Martyn — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:52:08 +0000

Rikker and Catherine – Learning Thai is for most of us a very difficult thing and here you highlight something which most of us are aware of but tend to hope won’t happen until a long time in the future.

…..’Thai society is highly stratified, so you need to be a bit of a linguistic chameleon. Age, education, social standing, and profession are all factors you’ve got to consider when choosing which parts of the language you should and shouldn’t use with someone’….

For us beginners it is hard enough trying to talk with strangers and hope you don’t fall flat on your face, this makes the fall a lot more likely but with a bigger thump.

I’ll stick to my language book and hope I don’t meet anyone too high up.
.-= Martyn´s last blog ..Tick Tock =-.