Do you speak English Khun Noy?

[Manianna]

Can you speak English or any “farang” language?
I ask the women in the North East , who want to get a farang as a friend or to marry.
I am a Canadian Citizen of Indian origin , retired and living with my common-law
Thai wife in a small village. The women here of all ages from 20 years to 50 years old already married, widowed or divorced and having children from previous marriage(s)
and of course not having enough money , ask me to find a “farang” for them.
Can these women speak any farang language? No. Not a single word.
Here in this village, I am teaching English to children from age 8 to 12.
Guess who is more interested in learning English. Of course , the girls.
Why? They tell me they do not want to marry an Isaan person because they get drunk and are lazy . The boys have no interest to come to my class even during the weekends. The students from High school cannot speak good English.

[Voice]

Yes you need to learn the language before you can speak and it will need a lot of practice to make it perfect. They might the language at school but without oral practice every day you still can’t speak the language that you had learnt. Some people have good survival skill they may pick up the language quite easily but there are still many that unable to pick up anything even when after school. But if they want to find their way out by marrying a foreigner then they should seriously think about learning the language first.

[Chiefy]

Be careful what you wish for!!All Europeans who insist all Thais should speak the language of the european country they go to may feel differently if the same language laws applied to retirement and married visas here inThailand.Ref.Thais in England for years and not able to speak English-How many of long resident europeans in Thailand speak Thai,in my experience[21 years] about 0.1%.

Chiefy

[medman]

I do agree that when a person wants to live in another country that they should have a basic understand of the language
of the country they want to live in. There are many reasons for this, for me the most important one is if they need emergency
medical treatment, can you imagine how scared they will be? not knowing whats going to happen to them, also what if we give them a drug they are allergic to. This i have personal experience off, but i am lucky as i speak thai. My wife is thai and she is from issan, when we met she did not speak english so i learnt thai, now she speaks a little english.
Next year i will retire to Thailand. I accept that there immigration laws are not the same as most other countries but that is a countries choice. As for western man being rich, well not all are.
Also do not forget when you live in another country you also have to abide by their laws. I wish you a lot of good luck and happiness Khun Noy.
I do work in the medical field.

[Voice]

Hello medman, what you said is correct not all the European men are rich. The different between European & Thai is the value of the currencies. One other thing is In European countries they have all the system in place with high standard unlike Thailand. It will be a long way to go yet for Thailand to achieve those things that most European countries have like good health care and social services. Most Thai fall in that trap because they mostly think that foreign men could provide them better financially. Most foreign men seem to be more responsible when it come to look after their own family. But don’t get me wrong there are some good Thai men too.

[drake]

Can you speak English or any “farang” language?
I ask the women in the North East , who want to get a farang as a friend or to marry.
I am a Canadian Citizen of Indian origin , retired and living with my common-law
Thai wife in a small village. The women here of all ages from 20 years to 50 years old already married, widowed or divorced and having children from previous marriage(s)
and of course not having enough money , ask me to find a “farang” for them.
Can these women speak any farang language? No. Not a single word.
Here in this village, I am teaching English to children from age 8 to 12.
Guess who is more interested in learning English. Of course , the girls.
Why? They tell me they do not want to marry an Isaan person because they get drunk and are lazy . The boys have no interest to come to my class even during the weekends. The students from High school cannot speak good English.

Well said.
This seems to be the reality of Isan since the day of the GIs, or even before.

[cadcolin]

Don’t see any real issue with this

If you’re going to live in a foreign country its does help to learn the local language

There have been cases where people have been exploited by their own community in the UK because they cannot communicate effectively with the rest of the population

It’s quite simple but knowing how governments don’t use the simple solution but the most paperwork involved convoluted and expensive solution

What would be the simple solution would be?

On application of a marriage visa
1) A simple conversation with the applicant to prove they can speak some basic words
2) As part of the visa being granted a practical language course would be compulsory in the country which they would like to stay

[Ian Wensor]

Thais who resent this requirement now know how falangs who've married Thai ying and lived here for years feel about draconian Thai laws, rules and regulations that apply to them and in particular those relating to permanent residency.

[village_electrician]

Yes you need to learn the language before you can speak and it will need a lot of practice to make it perfect. They might the language at school but without oral practice every day you still can’t speak the language that you had learnt. Some people have good survival skill they may pick up the language quite easily but there are still many that unable to pick up anything even when after school. But if they want to find their way out by marrying a foreigner then they should seriously think about learning the language first.

THEY SURE SPEAK ENGLISH MONEY WELL,SOME STILL USE THEIR TOES AND FINGERS BUT THATS PROCESS

[Voice]

Sure Village! That is the first thing they learn how to say money! And of course the word ‘Love’ would seal it nicely.