As I continued my mindfulness journey – the Thai language was the next thing to learn. I wanted to know more about this country and people, so I started to learn the Thai language. At first, I tried to learn the Thai language on the street. I even try listening to the radio and TV or using the internet. It was tough to learn any words and even harder to understand one word that they are saying. Reading Thai is even more difficult. Later I find out that local people have a specific dialect that is much faster than usual Thai. Also, they often shorten or altogether leave out many words. So, you can not understand them even if you know some Thai.
My teacher
Finally, I found a great teacher to help me learn. She runs a regular language school, for Thais and foreigners, children and adults.
I liked the most that she teaches me not only the Thai language. She also introduced me to Thai culture, history, and everyday life customs. It helped that she spent three years in France on her master studies. She was able to understand how European people think. She learned our process of learning is different than one of Thais.
So, the Thai language is different than English or even Serbian. It is melodic language, and the way how you pronounce your words will decide on their meaning. You can say one term with a flat, high, low, rising, or falling accent. Those are five completely different words and definitions. And, as I mentioned before, Thai people shorten the words often. Also, in the alphabet, they Thave 44 consonants and 18 vowels. But no interpunction signs or even spaces between words.
Talking to the people
I started to learn Thai two years ago, but I still find it challenging to understand what they are saying. I can say what I want, but when they start to ask me questions, I usually give up and switch to English. Interestingly, they also, when they see a foreigner, start to speak English. Even if you begin to talk Thai, they don’t understand you, because they are expecting English words, and cannot grasp what you are saying. If you want to speak Thai with Thais, often you must start with “Do you speak Thai?” so that they can prepare that you will talk Thai with them.
I am now able to read street signs on shops and on the road. It comes handy when you go out of the tourist zones. There are roads with only Thai alphabet signs. But, not to worry, the internet is everywhere, so you stop and look at the Google map.
In Bangkok, it is a very different situation, people speak more slowly and grammatically correct. There I was able to communicate much better when visiting their capital city.
It’s a process
I am still learning the language, but my downside is that I am not a very sociable person, so I don’t mix too much. The only way to actually learn the language is to speak every day, as much as possible. Or to have a Thai girlfriend. The later is, as even Thai say, too dangerous. Thai girlfriend, they all say, will convince you that she really loves you. And maybe she is, but if, or rather, when you run out of the money, the situation is rapidly changing. And you are deeply in love by then. I did not try this path yet, but no one can tell what will happen in years to come.
Finding a way to talk to the people on the streets and to read and write more was essential. I know that this helps a lot when communicating with Thai people, because they like, like every nation, when you at least try to speak their language. Some times they laugh, but really not at you, but with you, and then correct you gently.
Understanding and speaking basic Thai helped me to explore places that I would not be able to find otherwise and to make some contact with local people.
About some of the places, I will tell you in the next post.
I hope these tales will help some of you to embark on the mindfulness journey of your own.
If you want to know more
If you want to learn more about things I write about, check out my books. See also what the goal of this web site is. You can check out my other post about mindfulness, and share your thoughts and comments.
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