Quote Originally Posted by FarangRuMak View Post
Basically if I initiate the conversation and therefore control it I do quite well. But as soon as Thais start up among themselves or with me I'm lost
Yes me too, except when bf and certain of his friends whom I have listened to over the years and picked up their nuances are chatting. My 'thai' is mostly Lao/issan and have to adjust words to suit where I am. Pattaya is fine for Lao/issan, Bkk I have to adjust to be polite. Asking for the bill Issan/Pattaya 'Gep Tang' is fine but bkk it's best with simply 'check bin.

When listening to Thai I think like us when we are back home we use abbreviated language, local language and words and this is what the Thais seem to do. They seem to adjust when you start the conversation to take account of our difficulty, but bf could use a Thai sentence when addressing me and I understand, he uses the same sentence when on the phone to other Thais and it seems completely different.

The only reason I started learn Thai at the very start was really just to confirm and double check things, simple things like how much for this....yee-sip baht/20 baht....and I would repeat yee-sip mai? just to confirm, as the first couple trips there were SO many misunderstandings it was frustrating as you thought they had taken in what you said, but they would merely say 'yes' to anything and deliver what they 'thought' you said/wanted. After the first year or so using books I got lazy and thereafter simply repeated the words I heard around me, be it Bkk Thai, Issan etc..

For me what also helped greatly was after the first trip I was hooked on their music, karaokes, VCD discs etc, I played guitar and it was much the same chord sequences as western stuff etc but had to make an effort to get the words/lyrics correct, and so also wanted to know the meaning of the songs I was singing and it moved on from there. I have a number of words/phrases which are remembered as two different entities for the same meaning Thai and Issan-lao and just use as appropriate. When you do understand many of the Lao words you can be a bit sneaky and listen to waiters talking openly about you right in front of you, have done that many a time. when they realise you can understand some of what they say their reaction is priceless. Something like..the boys asking eachother in Thai/Lao 'how old do you think he is?' (me sitting 2 feet from them) and I'll reply I'm 29! in Thai.

But it does make a huge difference to the enjoyment of a visit with some Thai/issan under your belt.