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#71
31-07-2007, 20:45
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The French.
I think we(farangs) are the same as the Thais in that when we try a few words of the others language and it's not perfect they will make a big effort to understand. Not so the French. If it is not native perfect they give the Gallic shrug and pretend not to understand. Happened to me not so long ago in Paris asking for directions. "Ou est la rue....s'il vous plait". The Parisian shrugged and gave me a whithering look and indicated she didn't understand- "rue? rue?" I tried what I said out on a French teacher when I got home and she said it sounded pretty good to her. One refreshing thing recently was meeting a French 24yr old girl who now lives in the UK. She got to 21 and decided she couldn't stand France or the French any more so moved over here.
__________________
"God is dead"- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) "Nietzsche is dead"- God (1900) 
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#72
31-07-2007, 21:04
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Perhaps we could encourage an exchange scheme - their fitbits for our lardarses?
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#73
31-07-2007, 21:15
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I had a terrible valentines weekend in Paris due to that exact thing.. Supposed to be a nice 4 day getaway with the missus.. Instead it me threatening to smack attitudy waiters and having scenes everywhere..
My french is awful but I can order a coffee and a couple of croissants.. and then some cnut turns his lip up and grunts back at you (the customer).. Funny thing is down in the south they are a lot easer to get on with.. Wouldnt say overly warm but not outright nasty.. Tho they tend to the rascist side there so thats a side I didnt have to suffer but dont like to deal with.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#74
31-07-2007, 21:21
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I'd noticed that level of uniformality before. Am I alone in thinking the Korean's chicks are the fittest in Phuket? Just something so natural about them. I didn't know they practised rote learning, but had definitely noticed the lack of innovation. It's the sheer lack of business sense that gets me - pouncing on people checking a menu, chasing people with wares they couldn't possibly want to buy (who goes to the beach to buy a table?), asking you a million times if you want a taxi to take you to the zoo when you've a beach towel tucked under your arm, and last but not least, rubbing those wooden frogs things, which produce the single most irritating noise on the planet. Who's going to buy anything from them? However, I sense that Thais really like and care for each other - a group of 10 farang mates have competition, conflict and egos. I have many mates I don't really like. That sounds wrong - they are mates, but there's a definite order in farang society that maybe isn't so prevalent in Thai? Not sure. I very rarely hear one Thai badmouth another - they *****, but it is for unpalatable specific actions rather than a general dislike of someone's personality. The only real antagonism I've noticed comes when discussing someone who isn't Thai, a Lao for example.
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#75
31-07-2007, 21:26
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A snooty Frenchman? Whatever next! Quite like their snootyness actually - think it's rather amusing. I've never been to Paris, but have done the south a fair few times and never had a single problem with a frenchman, other than a head on collison with farmer who was pissed, at 11 in the morning.
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#76
31-07-2007, 21:32
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Well, Paris is not all of France, like Phuket is not all of Phuket. Lot of people remarked that the Thai mentality in HKT is different from less touristic parts of Thailand. By the way, the Provence is not the frienliest part of France either, as they have the same tourist approach.
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#77
31-07-2007, 21:37
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Of course Paris is not the all.. And I take each person as I find them and try not to have any chips on my shoulder..
The south I have enjoyed the most is around the Cote du Savage.. Hossegor and that side.. Back inland as far as Dax.. Lovely region, the pyrenees (sp) south, the atlantic just there, good climate..
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#78
31-07-2007, 21:49
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I had another problem in a French skiing resort when I asked for a cassis, one of the most famous French drinks of all. The barman said he didn't understand. I left and went to the bar next door and said the exact same words. No problem.
I remember a time in Patong when I had finished my evening meal, paid the bill + good tip, and read the last couple of pages of a newspaper. I didn't want to carry it around all night after I'd finished it so asked a waitress if she had a bin I could throw it away in and she just looked at my table and saw no pot with the bill("bin") in and said, "where is you bin?". No matter how many times I explained that I'd already paid it she wouldn't/couldn't listen and was going ballistic thinking I was going without paying. It being Thailand, the girl who had taken my money didn't say a word.
__________________
"God is dead"- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) "Nietzsche is dead"- God (1900)
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#79
31-07-2007, 22:04
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Guess you could say thai's are very ridged in there willingness to understand imperfect thai. For whatever reason, there is common acceptance that you can bastardize English all you want to try and get your point across. And it works. for example, after a few hours in Singapore my ears can tune into "Singlish" and follow along. I'm willing give up how english should sound so Singlish turns from sounding like gibberish into something like English. (how do you like that rap throw-down) Seems thais are at least less willing to do so. Or perhaps able. Somewhere else you mentioned lack of problem solving skills and to some degree comprehending a mashed-up language takes problem solving skills. If you look at how thais are bad with English, it is partly pronunciation. That is partly them forcing in some tonal aspects. I think this is partly because english words adopted into thai are given a tonal treatment (on thai tv and such). Second issue is they can't wrap there head around the new grammatical structure. Third they have a lot of trouble with plural, tense, and pronouns. Why is it that no matter how well a thai speaks english, they always mix up "he" and "she"? Part of the reason I don't bother with Thai anymore. Just easier to speak broken english.
__________________
Women with a past and men without a future grope and shuffle on the dance floor.
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#80
31-07-2007, 22:35
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Did you pay again mate? As you mention you read a newspaper, which I do when going to a restaurant alone, I've noticed I get a lot of curious looks from the waitresses etc. Not bothered about that but have often noticed Thais rarely read newspapers or books. Why is this?
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#81
31-07-2007, 22:49
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No, just shook my head and walked away. Even she must have realised that if I really was going to sneak away I wouldn't do it with such fuss or bring attention to myself. She didn't run after me shouting, anyway.
__________________
"God is dead"- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) "Nietzsche is dead"- God (1900)
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#82
01-08-2007, 09:15
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Lack of pictures !! Well not the Thai ones.. They are mostly pictures with captions.. Little editorial content.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#83
01-08-2007, 10:04
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related to me by a Thai friend:
Thai A: What did the farang want? Thai B: An umbrella. Thai A: So why did you say you don't have it? Thai B: It sounded like an umbrella, but I wasn't sure. His Thai is horrible. Plus, what if he wanted something else? Not an umbrella. What if he wanted a watermelon? I would be so ashamed to have given an umbrella instead of a watermelon. Thai A: And what was that funny actions he was doing? Thai B: Beats me. Looked like a farang holding an invisible umbrella.
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#84
01-08-2007, 11:39
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ha ha ha.. Yeah I think thats another big part.. Venturing a guess may lead to being wrong.. And being wrong or ignorant is then a loss of face...
Never mind the fact they have us dancing like a chicken round the store miming what we are after.. Sometime I wonder if they just think "lets see if we can get the silly farang to dance like a chicken" and all have a good giggle about it later.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#86
01-08-2007, 12:32
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Whoooaaa Pad mate - Chill!!  - you obviously havnt read this delightful thread:http://www.phuket-info.com/forums/ge...asy-money.html
__________________
Its My Life ..........!
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#87
01-08-2007, 12:58
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Imagine you were working in a store in England. Someone from another country comes in and says to you quite clearly, "I want plenty of tigers on fire!! Plenty of blazing tigers!"  Then repeating this over and over, dances around in a circle, miming putting on a shirt and pulling something over his head. What would you think? what would you do?I think that is what happened to you. I feel sorry for the Thai. How in the world could he possibly be expected to know that plenty of blazing tigers has something to do with a f*cking raincoat.  If you'd just said you you wanted to buy a raincoat, I'm sure he would have been happy to get it for you! 
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LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown. 
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#88
01-08-2007, 13:08
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I've seen plenty of Thais reading newspapers, but they look like the tabloid type newspapers, like the Sun or the National Enquirer. Still remember a couple months after the tsunami, my masseuse asked me if I was leaving town tomorrow. Why? I asked. Because another big tsunami is coming on Thursday, she said. I said, "I don't believe you. Who told you that?" She said, Yes, really, it's true, it's on the front page of the newspaper. Then she showed me the article, front and center, screaming headlines in this Thai tabloid paper!!  :
__________________
LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown.
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#89
01-08-2007, 13:21
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One of my first visits "up country", I was in a small "market town". While the GF shopped for food, I hit various shops, trying to find a bottle opener. (Got's to be able to open my "chang's")
With no english spoken, I would do pantemines, and even hold a bottle, while mimicking the act of popping the top. (with a proper opener) It got lot's of giggles and funny looks..followed by waving of the arms in a crossing geture, and shaking the head "NO". One older lady (in a liquor shop), saw me do this...and started screaming "baaa", "baaa". Some guy appeared from the back, and from his look (5555), you'd of thought I was pulling a robbery! Geeeshh. Later that night, I was "tutored", by one of GF's brother's...on the fine art of bottle opening, with a butane lighter! 5555 Pablo 
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#90
01-08-2007, 14:16
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Believe me.. I tried raincoat !! Also I know I had 'rain / fon tok' 100%.. And I was able to pinch a real shirt / jacket.. So now we have rain... 'coat' established.. In a hardware shop that sells plenty of them.. Is it such a leap of the imagination ?? While miming a hood / coat ?? Once wouldnt be enough to make it a theme but its very common to have something with only 3 or 4 options and yet a complete lack of being able to infer or assume that what you said sounds almost like option A etc.. and nothing like option B through D so is probably.. Nope there tends to be a 'none (exactly) of the above type thing that happens. I do think its a cognitive trait. Tho quite why I am not sure.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#91
01-08-2007, 14:41
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I've put my Thai lessons on hold for this very reason, it seemed the more I learned the less I could tolerate the total lack of understanding. Then a friend of mine ordered some food, one dish was masaman chicken, 'Massaman Gai', cannot really say this too wrong, cannot be any of its other meanings and we are in a restaurant, but nope the guy shrugs and will not/does not understand.
Spoke to my teacher on another day and she said that in her opinion, they do understand but just do not like us speaking poor Thai or indeed any Thai. It is not all of the Thais but a lot of them. Same with running a restaurant, having starters, main and dessert on the menu but bringing it in any order they choose. Spoke to ITM about this and he said they just do not logically think through which meal takes the longest, nor which food takes the longest to cook.
__________________
If I havn't done it already, then i'm gunna do it today.
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#92
01-08-2007, 15:21
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It is hard for a farang to understand that to a Thai, there is absolutely NO CLUE for them that when you say tiger, you may actually mean shirt. To us it is a very short leap from one to the other. As an analogy, let us say we played a guessing game, and the only clue you gave me was that I was to guess a make of car. After I finally gave up, you said the answer is Heineken. I would say that's a beer, not a car, so how was I to guess it, and you said, well, I actually meant beers, not cars, but you should have been able to guess that. The point is that if you use the rising tone(f |