News Forum - What are common miscommunications between Thais and foreigners?

[astro]

3 hours ago, JamesR said:

Context of course, if I say to a shop keeper, "Beer Chang song kooed clap", he might from the context infer I want to buy two bottles of Chang beer. 

Yeah, sometimes context helps.

In my early days, I went to a noodle-soup street stall and ordered noodle soup, in (what I thought was) Thai. They looked at me with large open eyes and only caught on when I pointed at the noodles and the pot of broth.

[Mazz11]

On 6/10/2022 at 8:55 PM, palooka said:

"Thai time"

Get used to it or it will drive you insane.

Had friends ring and say they in the car on the way over, arrived one hour later on a ten minute drive --- they drove past the markets and had a short stop.

Broome time is also common here in Western Australia.

If the surfs up, shut the shop and put a 'Gone Surfing' sign up 

[oldschooler]

5 hours ago, js89 said:

A very common one that I rarely see discussed, is the response to a negative question.

For example, "You don't want to go to the doctor today?" or "You don't like seafood, do you?"

The typical English-speaker would expect a response of "No (I don't want to go / I don't like seafood)" if they don't want to go or don't like seafood.

However, the Thai speaker will always respond to this question with a "Yes" if they don't want to go or don't like seafood. 

Thai “ Yes”  ( I Don’t) is correct. British “No” a double negative technically ( but not normally) meaning Yes (I Do )!  

[oldschooler]

On 6/11/2022 at 3:19 PM, berrec said:

While we are all only visitors here, no matter our status, Thailand and Thais need to move forward as a culture and a country that wants to engage in international business with foreigners and be recognized as a member of the international community, like everything in life they need to change also. 

If you can't see the forest for the trees, you will never move forward.

After working here on and off for some 30 years and now living here for 5 years, I love the place, but I just see too much dead wood in Thai society. 

Love It Too. BUT Separation Required to Avoid Insanity reconciling Cultures So:-

NOT here for Culture Politics People Govt Reason Religion Food Expats Modernity Driving Stress

AM Here for Safe Hot Cheap Tropical Beach Women Flexible Friendly Simple Relax Comfort 

[oldschooler]

4 hours ago, Soidog said:

What’s your issue with Isarn @JamesR? I’ve noticed a number of your posts seem to call out Isarn woman as uneducated bar girls. Maybe you’ve had some poor experience with such girl, which is not uncommon. Equally I know many guys who have had bad experiences with bar girls from Chumphon, Rayong, Trang and Krabi. All working in other locations but from those towns. Sorry if you’ve been hurt, but as you indicate, you shouldn’t generalise about a nation or a region of a nation. 

Thailand is like Alcohol though. 
Problem AND Solution

[oldschooler]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:03 AM, jerm138 said:

One thing I find difficult as a new Thai language learner is that most Thais I encounter will put ZERO effort into understanding what you're trying to say if you don't speak as well as a native.

Whenever I hear a Thai person struggling to speak what little broken English they know, I strain really hard to try to understand them, and very much appreciate their effort to speak my language. But when it's the other way around, if I don't speak absolute perfect Thai (the tone is slightly off, or the grammar was slightly backwards) then they just look at me blankly with no attempt to figure out what the silly Farang is trying to say. I can understand if I completely botch the tone, but I'm talking about things like saying "Nan" vs "Naan" (not drawing out the "aa" that extra 1/100th of a second.)

The best way to learn a language is to just try, try, try. But when you're just stonewalled every time you try, it's pretty difficult and demotivating.

When speaking basic Arabic in Saudi 40 years ago I was always responded in English.

[Guest1]

7 hours ago, js89 said:

A very common one that I rarely see discussed, is the response to a negative question.

For example, "You don't want to go to the doctor today?" or "You don't like seafood, do you?"

The typical English-speaker would expect a response of "No (I don't want to go / I don't like seafood)" if they don't want to go or don't like seafood.

However, the Thai speaker will always respond to this question with a "Yes" if they don't want to go or don't like seafood. 

But isn't "yes" the  right answer, if they don't wanna, in case the question was "you don't wanna"? 

Yes (, I don't wanna")

How is it their problem, that the English people don't understand/care their own grammar?

 

[astro]

5 hours ago, Guest1 said:

But isn't "yes" the  right answer, if they don't wanna, in case the question was "you don't wanna"? 

A simple Yes or No is not sufficient as an answer, it's a confusing question for non-native speakers.

[Gerardinho]

6 hours ago, Guest1 said:

But isn't "yes" the  right answer, if they don't wanna, in case the question was "you don't wanna"? 

Yes (, I don't wanna")

How is it their problem, that the English people don't understand/care their own grammar?

Correct, answering no in this context creates a double-negative, which therefore means yes. And that's not what the person meant, so it's wrong. That's why in French we have si to counter a negative statement with a positive one. Oui is plain yes.

[Guest1]

47 minutes ago, astro said:

A simple Yes or No is not sufficient as an answer, it's a confusing question for non-native speakers.

Really? For "you don't want ...",  a yes or no is not sufficient?

But for "You want ....", a yes/no would be?

 

That might be the same "issue", like with this, eh, strange "I did not do nothing",  "I did not kill nobody", huu?

I think, the insufficiency has more to do with the expectations of the  questioner.

Imho the grammar is pretty clear with that. 

And most people, almost all non-natives, learn their English in school, with grammar books/rules, not from/in the neighborhoods! 

[JamesR]

12 hours ago, Soidog said:

What’s your issue with Isarn @JamesR? I’ve noticed a number of your posts seem to call out Isarn woman as uneducated bar girls. Maybe you’ve had some poor experience with such girl, which is not uncommon. Equally I know many guys who have had bad experiences with bar girls from Chumphon, Rayong, Trang and Krabi. All working in other locations but from those towns. Sorry if you’ve been hurt, but as you indicate, you shouldn’t generalise about a nation or a region of a nation. 

What I find funny is I meet so many farangs who generalise about Thailand while in Thailand, I find in most cases they are with girls from Isaan which is known to be the provider of 99% of bar girls and are the least educated in the country.

They say Thai girls are like this and that as can be seen in the responses to this article, but they do not realise most Thai girl are not as they think and generally their experience is solely limited to Isaan girls because they have met them in bars.

In the UK, my wife from an educated family worked for Thai Airways, another friends wife worked at the Thai Embassy in London for example, both spoke good English and were not as dim as the ones mentioned in the replies in this article. We met them in England, I had never been to Thailand at that point.

In conversations with many farangs in England it would be "Oh my friend is married to a Thai too, she loves a good drink, likes to gamble...", etc etc. We never bothered keeping in touch with those idiots, but they did make us laugh.

In 99% of times talking to English guys with Thai partners is always, "She is from the North East", I suppose on a two week holiday to Thailand that is all they experience. 

Most farangs include many on this site have a vey limited view of Thailand due to the circles they mix in and that is why most of the comments state indirectly Thai women are dim, it is not the case but the ones they mix with do seem to be dim. 

 

 

[JamesR]

12 hours ago, astro said:

Yeah, sometimes context helps.

In my early days, I went to a noodle-soup street stall and ordered noodle soup, in (what I thought was) Thai. They looked at me with large open eyes and only caught on when I pointed at the noodles and the pot of broth.

Many years ago I went to a pub in Bangkok and said "Beer Singh ning cooey clap".

The staff laughed and told me to say it again, they laughed and got more staff around and told me to say it again, they all laughed again. 

I found out I had asked for a bottle of penis beer. 

[astro]

4 hours ago, Guest1 said:

Really? For "you don't want ...",  a yes or no is not sufficient?

But for "You want ....", a yes/no would be?

Apparently so.

[Soidog]

4 hours ago, JamesR said:

What I find funny is I meet so many farangs who generalise about Thailand while in Thailand, I find in most cases they are with girls from Isaan which is known to be the provider of 99% of bar girls and are the least educated in the country.

They say Thai girls are like this and that as can be seen in the responses to this article, but they do not realise most Thai girl are not as they think and generally their experience is solely limited to Isaan girls because they have met them in bars.

In the UK, my wife from an educated family worked for Thai Airways, another friends wife worked at the Thai Embassy in London for example, both spoke good English and were not as dim as the ones mentioned in the replies in this article. We met them in England, I had never been to Thailand at that point.

In conversations with many farangs in England it would be "Oh my friend is married to a Thai too, she loves a good drink, likes to gamble...", etc etc. We never bothered keeping in touch with those idiots, but they did make us laugh.

In 99% of times talking to English guys with Thai partners is always, "She is from the North East", I suppose on a two week holiday to Thailand that is all they experience. 

Most farangs include many on this site have a vey limited view of Thailand due to the circles they mix in and that is why most of the comments state indirectly Thai women are dim, it is not the case but the ones they mix with do seem to be dim. 

Totally get your point James and it’s certainly true many bar girls come from Isarn. I wouldn’t put that figure at 99% mind you, although I wouldn’t be able to provide any proof to suggest it’s a different figure. My own experience over the past 25 plus years is that it’s the majority but more like 75%. What I would say is that 99% of bars girls come from outside of the Bangkok area and many come from poor families. They also come from areas outside of Bangkok where there is poor education standards. I would therefore suggest that it’s not a split between Isarn and other parts of Thailand and more a split between Bangkok and the rest of Thailand. 
 

I would imagine that if any members who are with partners from such poor and uneducated backgrounds they would find the same issues and hence post on here. There are of course many well educated and informed Thai women who hold down professional jobs and have a full career. Unfortunately, such opportunities simply don’t exist for the vast majority of people in Thailand, even those with the intelligence. To make a good life for themselves. 

[Mazz11]

18 hours ago, oldschooler said:

When speaking basic Arabic in Saudi 40 years ago I was always responded in English.

I had a laugh recently when I tried to say thank you to a young motorbike taxi driver in Thai.

He responded 'have a good day' in perfect English 

[oldschooler]

15 hours ago, Soidog said:

Totally get your point James and it’s certainly true many bar girls come from Isarn. I wouldn’t put that figure at 99% mind you, although I wouldn’t be able to provide any proof to suggest it’s a different figure. My own experience over the past 25 plus years is that it’s the majority but more like 75%. What I would say is that 99% of bars girls come from outside of the Bangkok area and many come from poor families. They also come from areas outside of Bangkok where there is poor education standards. I would therefore suggest that it’s not a split between Isarn and other parts of Thailand and more a split between Bangkok and the rest of Thailand. 
 

I would imagine that if any members who are with partners from such poor and uneducated backgrounds they would find the same issues and hence post on here. There are of course many well educated and informed Thai women who hold down professional jobs and have a full career. Unfortunately, such opportunities simply don’t exist for the vast majority of people in Thailand, even those with the intelligence. To make a good life for themselves. 

Key is being family- enabled to get the High School Certificate here. Probably 90% Fail and right there, as Family want them working full time at 14,so doomed to Factory FarmBar Farang.

After HSC at least a reasonable Bangkok College for Vocational / Technical Training or a basic public university for Professional Qualification. To at least lift out of menial Labour / poverty. Even then females expected to take care Parents.