Why do some long-term expats in Thailand not learn the Thai language?

I'm not being rude to Thai people, but all I hear is a noise, one long joined up word!

I'm totally unable to distinguish individual words like I can in European languages.

Freedom of choice.

Its fun language. If you're an expat, traveller Useful 💯👍 thai people are friendly , kind.. If you guys want to practice i highly recommen

@d ************************

er . She has a great online class

I speak broken thai and some Lisu after 26 years

Please come to India .. no one expects you to speak any of the 122 languages or even the national language because everyone speaks English 😂

But you don’t have nana plaza or soi cowboy there 🍀

If an American speaks more than one language, it's a miracle.

They teach English in the thai schools but a lot of younger kids don't want to learn it.

I myself am trying to learn thai, it's hard and embarrassing at times but I feel if I'm in another person's country I will show some respect to their culture and language and not try to force mine down their throat and as far as misconceptions about Americans trying to change things, that's the American government for the most part, not the people.

Most Americans I know believe live and let live and leave me the hell alone.

To each his own reason. Meaning each individual have their own reason or preferences. Why does it bother you if other foriegners are not as good or fluent as you? This is not USA. Here the motto to live by is respect... not language. Of course its easier to live by in speaking their language.. but if you get by with what you know.. thats it! There are options you know.. like translation apps..

same hahahah

I try to learn a new word or phrase every week. It’s a very hard language, some letters have 4 - 5 different written and pronunciation versions. Theres no spaces between words a lot of the time. This is my workbook.

We’re only human.

I speak some Thai, however I find it totally unnecessary to fluently speak Thai to function in Bangkok and the other major international and tourist areas. I spend very little time in small villages and farm areas. The bottom line, it's just not necessary in my day to day life in Thailand, to be fluent in Thai. As to Americans who get mad at people for speaking Spanish, or an Asian language in the USA, it's just a cover for their racism and bigotry. Note, I've never seen an American getting mad at someone for speaking French, Italian, German, Swedish... In fact they will compliment Europeans for speaking these non-English languages. Ex: It sounds so sexy or intelligent.

I just can't apply myself to learning, to be honest. Can't concentrate.

I'm still trying to recover from the past few years of stress.

I can't hear..

I can speak Thai but I must admit 95% of foreigners including my friends cannot speak Thai , it was something that was very Important for me when I first moved to Thailand. In my experience I have found many "not all" foreigners have a sense of superiority and just can't be bothered learning Thai.

Okay the American bashing should really stop. I know that my country has its bad points but that was not the issue in the post. So to address that... I find it impossible to learn Thai. Why? Maybe because I speak French and German and English? But the post is right one really should at least try.

I agreeeeeeee ka

Do you speak Apache?

Pronouncing correctly is a huge issue even when you know the correct words..

Thailand will not allow ost foreigners to obtain citizenship so if learning a tonal language is easy for you, then it is worthwhile.. an entirely new alphabet and tones. Chinese is more widely spoken so it's a more practical.option

You want to explain why people should care

I’ve tried can speak very little but I have two translators with me near all the time my daughters .

Your opinion and you are welcome to it. That does not make you right.

Not in Kansas anymore Toto, Thais accept you if you don’t speak Thai many of them especially in the cities have a smattering if not good English and will always try to use it even if you want them to speak Thai, often foreigners give up at this stage, those that live in more rural areas often learn faster out of necessity but it’s almost never seen as a bad thing that you don’t. All down to perceived status from both sides sadly. Always best to have a go though it’s tough as the basis of both languages are a world apart and even if you don’t pick up the Sanskrit based alphabet at least try to get conversational, it opens many doors and hearts.

I have been here 10 years and have tried on 3 occasions to learn Thai. I have attended group classes and one-on-one classes. Like most things in life to master anything one must practice almost daily which is very difficult. Some say, get your wife to teach you but that is like teaching a family member to drive, it just shouldn’t be done. I have ferang friends so it’s not too bad. I am 76 now so I really couldn’t be arsed…

People in the Excited States get mad, that’s hard to believe 😅

Who speaks correct English in US ? Not many anymore ! and many do not even care to learn a language that is used through the world, so do not ask to foreigners to learn such a stupid language as Thai ! By the way, before the monkeys reply, I speak Thai fluently.

You'd be better off learning Spanish, regarding the way the USA is going, & Chinese for international business!

You'd have to be committed to at least staying on for 5 years in Thailand to make learning Thai value for money & time expended as that money & time is very valuable for most people.

Do you even realize how many languages there are in the world? Thai doesn't even make it near the top 20 of most useful ones!

It's simple, I've tried to learn, still am trying.... but it's f'ing hard work. English is easy, I learnt that when I was young. 😂😂😂

Some can do it easy, some find it goes in one ear then out the other. I'm the latter.

I'm not stupid, but just can't learn it.

I can get by in a shop or restaurant, but can't hold a conversation. I have a friend who can speak it fluently, I am envious, but I just can't learn it.

Lucky this isn't America. Thai people don't care if you don't speak Thai, they're very surprised if a foreigner does. Seems like a western view you're trying to impart on an Asian country.

Reason most expats don't is mainly, difficulty learning the language, they're old and they live in areas where you can function perfectly speaking English.

Cognitive issues

I think that it's due to the large number of expats, especially the retired ones. They mostly socialize with each other and rarely venture into local communities. It’s the diaspora effect... That said, this is a widespread phenomena all over the world and isn't unique to Thailand.

There are tons of people in the USA who cannot speak English in spite of having been in the country for 50 years plus. Miami Cubans come to mind. Lots of Chinese in NYC too. I end up speaking Chinese with them.

Iv been learning and not even one year yet. People are ignorant thinking they better it something it's gross if you want to move there and not learn the language. Honestly you'll just look not smart to Thai ppl

Before you make a statement like that you should check and see how many languages the ballots to vote are printed in in the United states.

Bit of a pompous question, presumptive judgement on other people's lives and decisions, what's your excuse for being like you are 🤡😆

If you don't get the tones correct they have no idea what you're saying. It's not as easy as learning Spanish and English.. oh by the way I can't understand half the Brits i encounter.

Been here 10 years and can speak 50% which helped way back but currently over last few years I haven’t needed to speak Thai as most of the locals can speak English now, or at least where I am.

Google translate does a better job than my dumb old ass will ever be be able to learn, so fuck it.

Also my Thai girlfriends do not want me to learn 😂😂😂

We are the customers. Thais need to adapt to us🤙🏽

Yeah why would people be proud of being ignorant - beats me.

None of my neighbors spoke English in the USA and didn’t care. South Florida. However I do avoid almost all humans because they love to talk bad about others. Thai is a very hard language. I cannot tell the sounds apart.

In the United State people get mad at you for any reason. If you don't speak the language, if your skin is a different color, if you voted for the wrong person. If you let fear of people 'getting mad at you' motivate you in the United States you are in a sad situation.

I lived in Mexico for a year and didn't bother to learn the language. I moved to Los Angeles for a couple of years and learned Spanish. Hence, I am capable of learning other languages.

I choose not to learn Thai because I don't really see an advantage to it. It's easier to find someone that speaks English than it is to learn another language. In tourist spots the locals speak enough English that I can order pizza. The Dentists, Doctors, Lawyers all speak English.

I discovered if I don't speak the local language police are less likely to talk to me. Which means I am less likely to get a ticket (One advantage to not knowing the local language). My wife speaks Thai and very little English - we get a long great (another reason not to learn the language).

I lived in Myanmar for 4 years, but went to Thailand at least 5 times during each year, and it's difficult to learn a language outside of English that does not use the same letters. I learned greeting words, taxi words and restaurant words. I didn't commit to learning more of each language because that is A LOT to learn. In Thailand, it seems that many people in the tourism business speak English and that is helpful.

THIS is why MANY, including myself struggle with learning the language 🤣🙈🤷🏼‍♀️

Its a choice.

I can like to say Crap Croon Crap..Muy Thai is Aroi!!!!

That’s why I have a gf why learn gibberish , not spoken anywhere else in the world , 19 years here Kojai

I didn't speak it for a long while too. Just observing until I felt comfy my vocab was adequate enough.

Now I dare use it & pls as punch when the locals say how precise my accent can sound 555

Uncertainty if I would make Thailand my forever home. Seems to be the plan now. Pom pood pasa Thai.

Been here quite a while and when I go back to my own country and listen to phone and transport /coffee shop conversation I'm so glad I don't have to do that here

I speak enough to get my needs met good luck

I know that most thai people think our accents are terrible

How come you can’t then, seeing you studied Thai, but then immigration wouldn’t extend your Ed visa as you couldn’t understand Thai🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Thank God for Google Translate. But be careful and watch/read everything you say/write. Half the time the translation is poor and not accurate. A few times the translation will be insulting or vulgar. To complicate things, if a Thai in Issan is talking, their words will probably be a mixture of Thai and Issan, which will translate into gibberish. If Google Translate can’t get it right, how does anyone expect a farang to get it right?

Didn’t you ask this same question a year or so ago?

The fact that it is one of the hardest languages out there to learn might have something to do with it 🤔 ( according to global statistics and not Steve from the bar ).. another might be that if you don't speak it correctly you will never be understood ,unlike poorly spoken English that can be understood by anyone anywhere. Nowadays there is alot of access to learning , YouTube is one example.Alot of older expats never had access to these 10 years ago as the content simply wasn't available for such a Niche language.The written language is also extremely complicated to most people and without learning to read the script it's Very difficult to pronounce the thousands of words correctly. One word can have more than 5 meanins for example . I am talking fluency here ,not hello and good bye . It would take about 4 time's longer for a western speaking human to learn Thai due to the complex vowel system not working properly with your tongue /throat and the tones not coming from.the correct part of the mouth/throat. I personally know quite a few very intelligent people that went to school here in Thailand to learn and found it impossible . I know multi lingual people that also find it impossible . Theres a huge portion of the Thai population that don't want you speaking Thai also which can be extremely demotivating .. so adding all of that to the mix should answer the question.. not to mention the different dialects ,in Samui for example it's a southern dialect , but most people working here are from the North (or are none Thai speaking Burmese ) yet the schools will teach you central Thai 😂 Then there's the culture ,you would need to understand the culture to understand what they are really taking about ,it's one off the reasons Google translate is so poor at translating the Thai language .. simply translating to English would be lost in translation with many words and meanings . So unless you are prepared to dedicate a decade to constant submersion and practice daily for hours on end ,speaking Thai won't happen for most expats. There's always an exception to the rule ,but 1500 hours to learn to speak basic FLUENT Thai is a huge investment for most expats . For context I've been here for 14 years and speak and read Thai .

Sure they were proud? 🤔

I am pretty sorry that I don't seem to be able to learn this beautiful language.

Maybe I would if it weren't so easy to get along without, most of the time.

If I try to speak Thai, people hardly understand what I am talking about. It's a nightmare 🙈

In Germany, I don't get mad at people who are not speaking German. If they are speaking English I simply do, also. It's more difficult if they speak neither. But then I don't get mad, but a bit unpatiened at a certain point. It's pretty hard to learn German. Even Germans seem to have problems with it 🤪

My pronunciation is so bad I say terrible words, and my wife told me “never speak Thai again”.

I tried to tell someone that we were going to Korea, but I instead of saying “Korea” I said “we are going to see the sluts”.

Plus my ear can not pick up the tones so, so I can’t understand Thai either.

All you really need to know is how to order food other than that I have found everyone kind of forces me to speak English so they can learn English. 🤷‍♂️

@Bruce ********

Very easy answer. Many people are not interested in learning a very hard language (I'm learning myself and after I speak 3 other languages Thai is crazy hard in many ways. And I'm not even talking about reading and writing, that's a different story. )

If you are not living in the rural part of the country where very few people can speak English, you can get very far with English. 99% of them live in areas that are full of expats and other long-term foreign people. So they can communicate in English/ their own language. So no much need to speak Thai.

A big part of the long-term foreign are old expats. I don't know because I'm only 40. But I guess when you are 60-70+, you have a really small motivation to learn a very hard, new language when you can live a comfortable life without it.

For me is easy. I always learning the language of the country where I'm living. I'm learning basic phrases in every country I'm visiting because I feel better myself if at least I can say Hello, Thank you, This is good, Very tasty, etc. in a local language. For me an extra motivation is my partner is Thai and her parents don't speak any English (They even speak Isaan, just to make my life more fun/harder 🤣 ) So I want to be able to speak with them even on a very basic level, but more than Hello and How are you. (I can do that already)

So before you start judging people, just think a little bit. Everyone has a different reason. Even if that's just laziness, an "I don't care attitude" is still their decision.

You've a short memory. Did you pass the test in the end...?

Been here 4 years still struggling with the language may be just a slow learner it's based on tones witch my old voice box cannot acquire cheers

Tit! And I don't mean This is Thailand.

It's a very difficult language to learn, especially with a different alphabet. Just look at the stellar job Google translate and Facebook do. The vast majority of their translations is indecipherable garbage. Add on top of that most expats live in areas where almost anyone they interact with speaks better English than they do Thai. Some places although written in Thai is almost like a different language. My wife can't even read or understand when spoken.

Let me add that learning standard Thai is not all there is to speaking Thai. Most people in any language speak in colloquialisms and slang which is much more difficult to learn and to know how to use respectfully. Where I am living now, Sisaket province, most people converse in a mixture of standard Thai, Isaan, and Cambodian. I don’t even try to follow local conversations while I struggle with standard Thai.

Some guys assimilate languages better than others for a start, some can’t be arsed, some are arrogant. Thai being a non Latin based language, based on tonal inflections, can be surprisingly subtle to western ears. I certainly profess to less than stellar Thai skills, I can’t read it and my speaking ability should be better than it is, in saying that, I do okay.

In saying all that, I speak two other languages but they are Latin based. In Europe it’s normal for a person to speak a few languages, in America not so much

Also, allow me to say this with the risk of being ostracized. Maybe they just don’t feel there is much to talk about with Thais.. I speak the language decently well. I can read and do my daily business quite fine, but I find that apart from these things, I don’t really find I have whole lot to say to many Thai folks. They often don’t have a cultural reference point a lot of the topics I would like to discuss or really have a lot to add to conversations that are above a certain level of basic discourse. Now, I know people are going to read into that and possibly say I am being xenophobic or Whatever, but honestly, that’s kind of where I am. From a standpoint of understanding the world and being able to discuss a wide range of topics, even if I possess the ability to talk about, just aren’t things the average Thai is really capable of talking about anyway

Many people are just not good at languages and more than that many people were just not studiers in school anyway. So I’m not going to be judging people, particularly retirees, that won’t put the effort into what the US State department considers a medium difficult language. And usually those that say they don’t know the language actually do speak a little to get by in a market, restaurant, or taxi.

I’m pretty good at math, studied physics & engineering, and had a 30 year engineering career. I’m just not good at languages. I wasn’t good at French and German when I was in high school & college. I studied Thai for 5 months at Duke Language school, 10 weeks with a private tutor, and over a year with an online group during Covid. I can get by but I am in no way conversational.

Fortunately, as English speakers, we can get by in most of the rest of the world with just English. At least give people some credit for taking that leap to move to a foreign country in the first place. Yes there are some A-hole farangs out there (and not all of them are Americans) and those that can’t speak Thai that much are not necessarily doing it out of disrespect and they are well aware that they are missing out some by not having fluency with Thai.

Nearly 17yrs in Thailand now and I know very little Thai language and the reason for this is that I have found that a simple 2 minute conversation between English speaking people turns into a 10 minute conversation for Thais as they input into that same conversation insignificant utter rubbish.

It's exactly the same on the telephone when I ask my Thai wife to ask a simple question to a Thai person something

Have you ever tried to learn Thai language? Not the easiest not so many words . One word can mean ten different things depending on tones

I lived in Isaan for 5 years. The villagers were confused I wanted to learn only Thai and not Isaan. My Thai just caused a confused look on their face. Trying to speak Thai in a tourist destination is easier as they understand farang-Thai better.

Americans are lucky because most Thais are more than happy to speak English with you. On the other hand Americans don't fancy Thais at all

Because I am a total embarrassment and a very lazy person. I have no reasonable excuse at all.

1. Because it's difficult. 2. Because it's easy enough to get by without it.

Here 3 years, read and speak better than English, so...?

Congratulations a èl y a ti tambien Tulita, porque detras de esto hubo y hay una excelente madre!!!!!

⚘️

Who exactly gets mad at non English speakers living in the USA? Sounds like some MAGA nonsense to me. People are free to live the way they choose...and please come here and tell me how easy Thai is.

What’s amazing is that those are the same people…those who don’t learn the local language when they move & those who complain about others not learning English.

People live their entire lives in the US without learning english…

💀

💀

"Teach crocodile how to swim"

Thai people really hate it if foreigners speak Thai! If you can speak a bit keepnit a secret and you will learn what people really think about you behind the fake smiles.

This is such an interesting post! I never really thought about it! So we only did live there for a year but I am Thai-American and I speak Thai but my kids LITERALLY did not learn a single word living there (our excuse is we were there during Covid). My kids only bonded with the sitter who spoke the most English and she was always happy to practice. By the time we left she started replacing her Thai pronouns with “I” and “you.” We also lived in a fancy western condo where everyone wanted to practice English with the kids. Rest of the time, I spoke for everyone and was just too lazy to teach any of them thai though my husband is very fluent in Thai cuisine dish names 😅 I am NOT proud that the kiddos didn’t learn any Thai. I would blame it on laziness. I’m surprised some people are “proud” of that fact but Thais do love to practice their English!

🥱

English is a lingua franca and can thus be used in many countries. Thai is not. This is not an excuse. Just saying that you can't compare it.

No offense but you sound like a KAREN.

Do you and let others do them...

or do something constructive like starting a Thai English Language exchange group....

Quite a sanctimonious statement. Thai is a tonal language. Perhaps the individual has difficulty with languages... or cannot distinguish tonality.. or hard of hearing ... frankly as an American I think it's asinine to have everything available in 10-20-30+ different languages. Also English is the universal language and if that doesn't work dollars do 🙂

Speaking Thai is my treasure and big advantage. I don't need an excuse.

I just feel sorry for people who are not interested in learning the local language of the country where they live. I am here for 20 years and I'm proud of being able to converse with locals. It's fun to understand people and be understood. You get in touch much better to the Thais and get to know people you would never have met without speaking the language.

In Pattaya I can recommend

@Easy **********************

. Online classes available as well.

As they say here , " UP TO YOU "

Personal choice

Bruce: As you should notice sadly most of the responses are very negative very typical of the foreigners here. My hunch less than 1% can speak enough Thai to survive on their own. I no longer offer help to foreigners unless they beg me to help them with something. My Thai girlfriend won,t even let me approach most foreigners Rude too much!

No excuses necessary, moved here to do what I want without being judged

I tried for a while and realized I am a terrible student and have no ear or ability for a language. Was actually told "you are drowning in a little cup of water" 😆 and "please stop trying..... lets just speak English" (heard that a lot).

That’s because you came from a very screwed up country. We

can understand why you left

Maybe like myself (a little older) and it gets harder to do the tonal words, also here in issan it's a different language that's spoken very fast and difficult to get even the basic words down even when listening hard,

I spent a year in Thai school so can get by, but even if I didn't and didn't speak any Thai, it would still be none of your business nor concern. Stop being so judgemental of others and mind your own business.

I thinks living in Thailand long term, and refusing to at least learn a bit, shows a degree of disrespect.

I have heard so many lame excuses over the years. The worst being "Why don,t they speak English?" The #1 reason expats and long term visitors are miserable here. Do not blame the bar hooker you hired as translator , girlfriend , wife for your problems. Take a real long look in the mirror. The same goes for foreign women .

Don’t need to speak Thai in Thailand just shout loudly “ENGLISH,DO YOU SPEAK IT” never had an issue any where in Thailand.

I wish Americas would just stay in their own country where they belong instead of trying to change the rest of the world 💀

My excuse would be: "it's almost like they have a different word for everything"

I am super hard of hearing even if I wear my hearing aids and have enough trouble with English. Thank goodness for the written usage of Google translate and the friendly people who are understanding and patient with me.

I think you should go and try to learn it and good luck

They get mad here too!

And the motive of this post? To tell people that you can speak thai?

It's to the persons own advantage to learn to speak thai.

I can speak enough to get by but not enough to get into a full conversation iv been here on and off 12 years

It a hard language to conquer I live in the sticks and it's a different slang of thai ????

Not good to judge people, to each their own

Been here 3 months and just starting to learn it. I consider myself quick learner but I find it to be quite a difficult language. Perhaps many are not motivated just when they realize how long the alphabet is 44 consonants and 32 vowels, and on top of that 5 tones, which mean 1 word can have 5 different meanings based on tone used. However, I find it fun so far and can't wait to be able to speak in Thai ☺️

Do you need an excuse not to learn the language? It's not compulsory although it's very useful. I wouldn't be comparing Thailand to the dysfunctional USA