Do you speak English Khun Noy?

[Rebecca69]

@voice

Funny to see how people like yourself are speaking about using a language correctly. Maybe you should think about an English language course yourself....and maybe a course or 3 about interpunction. You nitwit.

[Voice]

No need for bad language here Rebacca69 are we in conversation? If you going to start pigging for few mistakes in my writing I think you are in the wrong forum. If the truth is upsetting you then there isn’t anything else I can do for you here. We all make mistake as we go along I am not try to show anyone else including you that I have good English. We are here among friends so it no needs for the language like that. Nitwit is surely not in my court unless you have some else better to say then say it. Personal attack isn’t allowed here if you know the rule of the forum.

So what you were saying? Rebacca69!

[Jason McDonald]

@voice

Funny to see how people like yourself are speaking about using a language correctly. Maybe you should think about an English language course yourself....and maybe a course or 3 about interpunction. You nitwit.

Yes i agree with Voice here Rebecca in this forum we get a lot of disagreement and I have agreed and disagreed with voice but there is no need for personal attacks. This forum is performing a service by encouraging people to engage in discussion and debate. This is especially important in thailand at the moment as it struggles with the political situation. We must encourage Thai people to engage in discussion and not ridicule them when they do. It is very hard to and sometimes embarrassing to engage in discussion in a language that is not your first language.

Take care and welcome to the forum.

jason

[Voice]

Thank you Jason, I had it worse then this before and it not going to deter me away from here. At least she understood the language that I wrote. Perhaps the language I used wasn’t quite right but it was meant to be a joke to Taurus comment. Even thou it wasn't very far from the truth. Rebecca could be Thai or foreigner but if she is Thai then I do understand her anger. But I think I speaking the truth and from experience that I had with Thai girl in Thailand. Four years ago after my divorce a friend of mine suggest that I should try this dating site with Thai girl advertising themselves for husband or boyfriend. I must say that out of the girl I send the message to almost all of them when they found out that I wasn’t Farang they drop me like a brick. Some of them would tell me about their intention to look for foreign men not a Thai person like me. Recently I watch a program on BBC about Exported Bride. It kinda sad in many way to see our country women has turn themselves into some kind of meat market sex for sale. I had helped many women & girls that were strand in the UK due to incompatible after arrived here with their new husband or some were force into prostitution. Some were lure for the good life but end up working as prostitute. There are some Thai that would do that to their own people too not just European. Writing the truth isn’t easy it always upset some one but I want the truth to be known so they won’t make the same mistake again. Most Thai girl I met wants foreign boyfriend some may lucky enough to find the right one but if they keep throwing themselves as they do they will never find any happiness they looking for. Living aboard isn’t easy as they think without a language behind them life would become much harder for anyone here.

[Jason McDonald]

Hi Voice,

I am in Australia at the moment with my Thai wife; she's from Issan. We seem to get on very well. But I guess we are lucky becasue there are many problems with Farang/Thai relationships. Ihave seen or heard of many stories. But they mainly centre on two misconceptions.
1. That a Thai wife is good eye candy and she will do everything you ask and basically be your slave in all respects and,
2. That a farang man is rich and if you marry him you will live like a princess not ever having to work again and he will support all you family which will give you a high status in your family's eyes.

Most old Farang men find it easy to get a young Thai girl friend and most young Thai ladies find it easy to get an old Farang. But then they realise that the hard part starts; trying to stay together when the two cultures and age differences start to clash.

I too have been on these thai dating sites and I can tell you the result is the same with me. That is you say you're Thai and they run away whereas i say no I won't send you money, i am not rich and they run away. It still turns out the same really ha ha.

But I agree living in another country without full grasp of the language is not easy. I live in Thai land on and off and I find that i can not live there longer than 2-3 months without going a bit mad. This is becasue of many things like being ripped off most places I go and being told mai dai when i ask for something. But the main reason is my lack of understanding of Thai or more correctly Issan as most of the people I seem to interact with speak Issan not Thai. All that yang yang yang not dern dern dern and urrr not krub ha ha. I have learnt a bit of Thai and can converse when I hear people speak it.

Anyhow keep posting I enjoy your comments.Especially on legal matters.

[pattaya12]

Very interesting that the USA is now requiring those persons from other countries to speak English as part of the visa process. Just think of the milions of US Tax Payer dollars that could have been saved had the USA impossed this logical regulation years ago, there would have been no need to print federal information and countless other information in both English, and Spanish for all those visitors the USA seems to receive an abundance of legally and/or illegally each year.

[beau58]

I think one of the main issues not addressed yet is that the vast majority of Thai women going abroad, who are the real focus of such requirements are poorly educated farm-girls from Isaan for which even proper Thai language is a challenge. Language acquisition of their new host country is only one hurdle of many they need to overcome. The general inward-looking nature of Thai society, their poor education standard, their lack of desire to learn any second language and their overall inability to adapt easily to any culture but their own means that poorer Thais function quite poorly outside their familiar milieu.

Apart from the age difference between Farang man and Isaan girl and her resultant immaturity, the obvious culture clashes are not only a result of the poorly-educated girl's lack of world experience and understanding, but also differences in class between the Farang and the Isaan girl. At the risk of sounding classist, I've never understood why my fellow Farang are content to "marry down", so to speak. A university-educated westerner with a good job, from a middle-class family will usually socialize and marry roughly within his own social group. But, it seems the minute they step off the plane in Thailand, all that goes out the window and they end up with the type of girl, they would never have dreamed of associating with back home.

Sure, it's much easier for the average Farang to get these girls, because of the comparative wealth and escape they offer. But, I always wonder what compromises these men convince themselves to accept, in order to do this. I've certainly heard plenty of defensive explanations from these type of men. But, all I see any time I go to Isaan are scores of mis-matched couples who simply look ill-at-ease with each.

In 13 years in Thailand, my friends and I always tried to avoid this well-worn path and the inevitable pitfalls. None of us ever dated the typical Isaan farm-girl with the dead-beat family, living in a hovel in a dirt-poor village, somewhere. it certainly takes more effort to meet what we see as, more appropriate girls. But, it makes more sense to us.

I am now currently engaged to a Thai girl (albeit, still from Isaan) who is however, appropriate to my background: i.e. from a good, middle-class family, well-educated, and intelligent, who is cosmopolitan and culturally aware, and speaks excellent English. She also happens to be half my age, which seems much less an issue because of her background and resultant maturity, when compared to her poor Isaan counterpart.

It may sound a bit smug, but it seems just common sense to me.

[Voice]

Hi Jason, You’re right there! There is a lot of misconception about having Farang husband and everything is going to be OK. There are many problem in mix married like different culture, language barrier, expectation, money, mentality these are the few hurdle that both have to try to overcome. Of course not every one of us is lucky with love so finding a soul-mate could be very hard. Some Farang came to Thailand and found a young thing of course he going to be very happy. But be with young girl it isn’t easy as you will have a generation gap. Unless you are prepared for the worse you won’t have much problem. And one thing Farang men find it very hard to understand is about looking after their parent. My friend got a shock when his girl friend told him that if he would marry her he has to look after her parent too.

[KennyG]

I’m an American businessman that has been visiting the north-east of Thailand for 15 years now. On my most recent visit I did hear from the locals about these problems, and quite frankly I think it is wrong.
Who’s to say that because a lady cant speak the same language as you she doesn’t understand your feelings. Language is not a big barrier, as age also is not a barrier. I have had more than 1 partner from Thailand and always felt we were on the same wavelength, if I didn’t why would I keep coming back?
I don’t speak Thai but I am able to grasp the cultural differences and have always had a good rapport with my partners families.
We do some things differently back home, and yes it may seem strange to some people the idea of sending money to the girls parents, but when in Rome……..
I dislike these regulations and hope that the ‘Land of the Free’ doesn’t follow this path, and more to the point I think we all hope that Thailand doesn’t do the same to us!

[ThaiPride]

Back to the original subject of weather it is an insult for someone to have to learn English to travel to a different country. In my opinion it is really not necessary. Many talk about broken marriages, well I am 55 year old English man and my Thai wife is 27. She is from a poor family in Esarn. Her family has had many problems throughout life. They had a half dozen heads of buffalo but they lost all of them to decease. When I met her I was new in Bangkok and I was having a night out on the town. She was working at a bar and with the little English she knew we talked and she told me the story about her family. I visited the place several times and decided to marry. I gave 1 million baht for the 'bride wealth' which helped her family plenty. They were able to get 2 new buffalos and a truck to help them get around. I am very grateful to my wife and her family because they have taught me a lot about the Thai culture. She stays with her family because she has to take care of her sick parents so when I come to Thailand we stay together in a nice hotel near her village. Her English is improving slowly and so is my Thai. For all the farangs that are not as blessed as I am, remember if you marry a Thai you should follow the customs here, they are almost sacred to the Thais.

Good luck all of you guys and hope everything goes well for you in Thailand, the land of smiles.