Thread: How many interactions with Thais....

...do you have on a daily basis? Just curious.

Let me consider a typical day....

I'll have breakfast at a local cafe and chat with the owners P'Nid and P'Wat. Her English is better than his; the convo' is 80/20 in favour of English.

If I take the ferry, I'll interact very briefly with the ticket woman, or perhaps the grab the rope woman/man. The grab the rope woman likes speaking English but I find myself talking only in Thai to her.

Then to school, where I'll joke around with my Thai colleagues at various points in the day. Probably the same percentage of English and Thai as the cafe.

Lunch is a good opportunity to speak Thai. The young lass who cooks at a little joint near the school has a lovely temperament (not too shy, not too loud) and as well as ordering, I'll share a joke or two with her.

A couple of phonecalls to the Mrs: 90/10 English. Some gooey stuff in Thai just to make her laugh!

3 or 4 times a week I'll pop into OMC to see Harry and/or Chris and the girls. Nong Gop and Nong Cherry are the most serious and will ask various questions about items that are on the TV etc.

Nong Oy and Nong Yee like to kid around quite a bit, whereas Nong Dai will ask for advice about stuff, as well as pronunciation tips. I speak a fair amount of Thai with the girls.

At home, it's nearly all English. Dear helps me out with things I've heard and haven't understood.

The lady at the minimart is sweet natured, speaks no English, and has been slowly getting used to my silly ways. I find it a little difficult to understand some of the stuff she says. I think she assumes I know more than I do cos of my fairly decent pronunciation/ability to mimic.

The old taxi ride is always a good chance for a chinwag. Recently, I've found myself riding with some very interesting chaps. Some have expressed concern over the country's future (bemoaning the handling of the fire at Santika, for example), while others have spoken very good English and have received phonecalls from foreign friends who are visiting the Kingdom.

Ordering food from P'Won is always a laugh. She's very candid, course and extremely quick-witted. To be honest, a lot of it goes over my head and I have to ask Dear, but it's good fun. Her two kids run around and are fun to play with. The little lad in particular has a great personality, though he's a cheeky sod at times (poking me in the roo doot!)

The fruit lady a 5 minute walk away is a little stern at times, but I can usually make her smile while the hairdresser bloke is pretty much mute, though affable enough.

I like to have a massage once a week at a place on Phra Atit, and that's another chance, albeit small, to engage with a local and expand the old vocab, in terms of body parts etc.

If I didn't live in Bangkok, I'd be more proficient but I still manage to interact with a fair few folks.

How about you?

I forgot the hundreds of kids I teach....

Good thread Nick.

I interact on a daily basis with my employees who are either Thai or are Burmese (and learning how to speak Thai) and with my in-laws who are also my employees but one must not mention that. Most interractions other than that are to do with food but these days I have to go around the houses ordering building materials. In the evenings I play football with my friends and none of them speak English so once again I have to speak Thai. Unless friends come up to visit from the city I only ever speak English with The Wife.

Originally Posted by LeedsLeedsLeeds

my in-laws

Forgot about them as well.....

Thanks for replying, LLL.

good thread nick

speak mainly in english all day as that is the environment i work in
but will usually talk to the maid/ nanny/ mother in law or whoever is about in the morning
chat briefly to the old woman and granddaughter who have set up a coffee stall at the end of our road
chat with the receptionst at work, who ive known for years and is the only person i speak thai with regularly
order beer at the ma and pa shop

thats about it really, my thai is ok but never really use it much
i'm noyt much of a people person

Not enough

If I'm being lazy I'll take a mototaxi to work and talk with them but usually it would be a walk and don't talk to anyone, once I get to school I'd say good morning to any of the maids or cooks that were about, the only other chance I get is to speak to them at lunch time to tell them if I want pork or chicken . The rest of the day at school is 100% English only, walk home and maybe buy some noodles off the nice old lady if she's there. Once the Mrs gets here we speak English. Oh and also sometimes a quick word with the security guards or the lil shop round the corner.

Since most conversation is just 'polite noise' anyway, I don't really bother. Much more can be said (especially in Isaan, I gather) with a smile. I give a cheerful, slightly interested smile to the pretty reception girls at my mansion. A caring and more respectful smile to the pregnant maid, an attentive and cheeky smile to her 5 year old daughter who will wave back and grin. A smile and nod at each motorbike I pass, a small and 'manly' nod to the university guards who will reply with big grins as if this is the most interesting that's happened to them all day. It probably is.

Big smiles for my students as they wai me with one hand as they carry books and mobile phone conversations. A big cheeky smile for the receptionist at the university with whom I'm having one of those 'smile affairs'.

Post on Ajarn with plenty of these and then it's teaching until dark and maybe an online chat with Sissy with plenty of these =)

Buy my dinner at the roadside and smile a cheery "I have no idea what you're saying to me" smile at the cheerful family of vendors. Brad Pitt 'Legends of the Fall' smiles for the girls I pass at the roadside stalls as I ride home.

I only speak to my wife, who speaks excellent English, I say hello to the old boys in the gym but that's it. my Thai speaking skills are really shoddy, finding it difficult to learn, the books and audio cds i bought are really shit, the banjwan poomsan becker ones are pretty hard as she introduces phrases instead of words which makes it very difficult to brake down, maybe i'm just lazy.

Me and the wife downloaded a 5 cd set of how to speak mandarin and it is so easy to learn and understand as the guy teachng it uses a really good method, colours and things to help you remember words, benjawin becker i just can't get my head around.