I am similar, I never look down on others for a lack of speaking Thai. But I am troubled by those who won't even try because they look down on Thai people. That feels so disrespectful.
That’s a very good point! If someone doesn’t learn because they’re busy, I get it. But if they don’t learn because they look down on Thais, that’s not good at all.
@@markabbottofficial Thais are the sane with other Thais who are learning English and Thai kids who learn English are made fun of if they make a mistake
In my opinion, I think when foreigners try to speak Thai, most Thais are try to understand. However, many of Thai people are also shy to speak English, because if we pronounce it wrong many of us afraid that's foreigner will look down at us. By speaking a little Thai at first, it could break the ice easily.
Thais love to practice their English as I love to practice my Thai ,I often have mixed conversations transitioning between the two languages and its great fun for all involved ..
Great vid, Mark and happy new year. I visit Thailand annually and I intend to retire there in about 8-10 years. I'm currently 6 months in my Thai studies (I watch a ton of Thai TV, in addition to my Thai videos). Could you give a breakdown on how you became fluent what resources you used🙏🏽
Can you please upload the video of how to get Thai citizenship please mate I’m extremely interested I have been told by everyone I can’t get it. I speak intermediate Thai, read and write not 100% but I can have basic conversation. Everyone has told me I can’t get Thai citizenship
It’s also about the location where you live. Like me, I’ve been living in Phuket for a long time, and my workspace is in Patong, which is a very touristic place. I use English more often than my first language, Russian, and the Thai people around me all speak English. Once, I was in Pattaya at a hotel with many Russian tourists, and around that hotel, Thai people spoke Russian much better than English. For all the people I know from Bangkok, they speak Thai because in Bangkok, as I understand, speaking Thai is more important.
For me, there is no excuse for not trying to learn a few phrases. This isn't 1994, where you would have to physically spend your time in a classroom to try to learn the language. Relaxing on the beach? UA-cam some thai phrases. Sitting by the pool? UA-cam some thai phrases. Walking on the treadmill? UA-cam some thai phrases.
Three years and not a single Thai has ever tried to make me feel uncomfortable. Quite the opposite. Just found your channel today. Inspiring. I am seriously struggling understanding native Thai speakers. Learning a little about the Thai alphabet helps a lot though; I recommend. I'm in Phayao and closely monitoring your path to citenzenship. Thank you for these videos.
Well Mark, i agree with ya about looking down on people. Thai is a very hard language with so much tones and sounds westerners don't use. So yeah i get it, i am trying to learn it abroad in my home country. No school just online studies. So the tones are the difficult part, reading and writings is the next dificult part. But just for those who want to learn, keep your head down into it, diggin and keep pushing. Have a great week, month Mark 👊
As a foreigner, may I ask why Nan? Any difficulty blending in with the locals? Or no need to bother, they wont mind foreigners up there? But nice view with Khao Soi there!
Blending in with the locals is certainly more difficult because the level of spoken English still isn’t anywhere near that of more internationally recognized provinces. They also speak the northern dialect which if you’re truly fluent in Thai, won’t take long to pick up. I have a house in Nan because my wife is from Nan so it made sense to buy a place up there.
Hmmmmmm. Well, I don't exactly look down on farang who have not learned to speak much Thai, but I certainly do respect farang who have. As for myself, I absolutely hate being left out of a conversation. Improving my Thai is a priority. To each their own.
Yeah, that’s how it should be. Respecting those who have while not looking down at those who haven’t. It’s a challenging language and I’m hoping to do more content about the language in the future!
@@markabbottofficial Well, that's kinda Paddy's shizzle. If I may offer an opinion, I don't know squat about UA-cam, but I think your in with the boxing world must be a gold mine. Nobody doing videos in English right now has your golden ticket into one of the most iconic Thai things that there is. Nobody even comes close. I'm surprised you'd do videos about anything else. But again, I don't know squat.
I’ve been struggling a bit with this to be honest and it’s interesting you should pick up on it. I’m probably gonna make my Instagram more and more about that while my UA-cam is more about Thailand in general. I’ll have to play it by ear.
@@markabbottofficial After I made the comment I wondered if maybe making videos about the muay Thai might be dangerous. There was a show called "Hurts Like Hell" that made it seem pretty rough. If you do focus on language, you might ask your viewers if there's a mistake they always make no matter how much they study. I learned the words for "post office" and "bath towel" on the same day in 1988 and to this day I confuse them. "I'm going to the bath towel, be back in ten minutes" or "I've got soap in my eyes! Hand me the post office!" Also I confuse somtam and tom yam. I know I've done it by the confused look on the waitress' face.
Forgetting a major point imo: as native English speakers we are adding Thai as a second language usually, whilst other Farang here are adding as a 3rd or 4th language .. massive difference. But, the lazy English native speakers who say it "is too difficult" or that "after X age you can't learn new things" .. I have zero respect for! Also, the people who "bastardize" the language as they can't read or write & know no tones, but say they are "fluent" they just give me headaches as I have to translate their "Thai" to Thai to English to then understand wtf they are trying to say 55 Rant over!
Don't forget Thailand is a developing country with a lot of backward ideas. Being critical of Thais or Thailand is perfectly fine, example the import taxes protect the rich, or that the English levels are horrific. Its the same as saying Japan has too many rules and they work too hard. Basic facts such as being the top death by automotive accident show there are issues here. Thais hate people asking them "why" or complaints, but its part of them growing as a nation and facing some reality.
I do not see how this could lead a well intentioned person to "look down on the Thai people." In Japan, our English is actually worse than most Thai people. Yet I do not see how that would lead people to have disdain. It is quite easy to look at something honestly without having disdain any for a peoples' culture to the point you wouldn't even attempt to learn the language. It may be a framing/response resonance issue, but I fail to see how being critical of Thailand can or would inevitably lead to looking down on the Thai people.
@@SavageSairung Yes indeed the Japs have even lower English speaking abilities. But in Thailand, if you speak English your options and career are far far brighter. Basically all good paying jobs in Bangkok require english
Constructive criticism from a place of love is very different from looking down at people. All countries have issues that need to be solved and can be solved without looking down at the locals. 💪🏻
@@zenithchan581 That's kinda hilarious, in Thailand it's all about not losing face, has nothing to do with respect. Avoid confrontation is the game. And a lot of people take advantage of others good grace in Thailand, breaking rules etc.... And nobody tells them to stop to avoid losing face.
I am similar, I never look down on others for a lack of speaking Thai. But I am troubled by those who won't even try because they look down on Thai people. That feels so disrespectful.
That’s a very good point! If someone doesn’t learn because they’re busy, I get it. But if they don’t learn because they look down on Thais, that’s not good at all.
@@markabbottofficial I had a friend a long time ago who said, "My Boy, we Britons conquered the world by teaching the WOGs to speak English!"
@@markabbottofficial Thailand is one of the surviving great civilisation states
@@markabbottofficial just like the UK they were once a superpower
@@markabbottofficial
Thais are the sane with other Thais who are learning English
and Thai kids who learn English are made fun of if they make a mistake
In my opinion, I think when foreigners try to speak Thai, most Thais are try to understand.
However, many of Thai people are also shy to speak English, because if we pronounce it wrong many of us afraid that's foreigner will look down at us. By speaking a little Thai at first, it could break the ice easily.
Thais love to practice their English as I love to practice my Thai ,I often have mixed conversations transitioning between the two languages and its great fun for all involved ..
Thank you for this. It is encouraging to hear, because I'm embarrassed at my attempts to prounounce Thai words correclty.
Great vid, Mark and happy new year. I visit Thailand annually and I intend to retire there in about 8-10 years. I'm currently 6 months in my Thai studies (I watch a ton of Thai TV, in addition to my Thai videos). Could you give a breakdown on how you became fluent what resources you used🙏🏽
Can you please upload the video of how to get Thai citizenship please mate I’m extremely interested I have been told by everyone I can’t get it. I speak intermediate Thai, read and write not 100% but I can have basic conversation. Everyone has told me I can’t get Thai citizenship
how did you organize your thai learning experience. This is where im getting tripped up. I dont even know how to plan it out.
Nice video bro. Made me miss that northern Thailand weather at this time of the year 😁
Thumbs up 👍 Mark
Happy New Year to you & yours Mark 🙏
ฉันรักคุณ ฉันรักประเทศไทย ฉันรักคนไทย
It’s also about the location where you live. Like me, I’ve been living in Phuket for a long time, and my workspace is in Patong, which is a very touristic place. I use English more often than my first language, Russian, and the Thai people around me all speak English. Once, I was in Pattaya at a hotel with many Russian tourists, and around that hotel, Thai people spoke Russian much better than English. For all the people I know from Bangkok, they speak Thai because in Bangkok, as I understand, speaking Thai is more important.
For me, there is no excuse for not trying to learn a few phrases. This isn't 1994, where you would have to physically spend your time in a classroom to try to learn the language. Relaxing on the beach? UA-cam some thai phrases. Sitting by the pool? UA-cam some thai phrases. Walking on the treadmill? UA-cam some thai phrases.
คนไทยบางคนยังพูดไทยไม่รู้เรื่องเลย555 คนที่พยายามไม่ใครดูถูกหรอก ภาษาไทยมันยาก
I totally agree with you mate 💪🏻🙏🏻
Three years and not a single Thai has ever tried to make me feel uncomfortable. Quite the opposite.
Just found your channel today. Inspiring.
I am seriously struggling understanding native Thai speakers. Learning a little about the Thai alphabet helps a lot though; I recommend.
I'm in Phayao and closely monitoring your path to citenzenship. Thank you for these videos.
Well Mark, i agree with ya about looking down on people. Thai is a very hard language with so much tones and sounds westerners don't use. So yeah i get it, i am trying to learn it abroad in my home country. No school just online studies. So the tones are the difficult part, reading and writings is the next dificult part. But just for those who want to learn, keep your head down into it, diggin and keep pushing.
Have a great week, month Mark 👊
As a foreigner, may I ask why Nan? Any difficulty blending in with the locals? Or no need to bother, they wont mind foreigners up there?
But nice view with Khao Soi there!
Blending in with the locals is certainly more difficult because the level of spoken English still isn’t anywhere near that of more internationally recognized provinces. They also speak the northern dialect which if you’re truly fluent in Thai, won’t take long to pick up. I have a house in Nan because my wife is from Nan so it made sense to buy a place up there.
Waiting for your new video how to be Thai.
This is the same as me living in France but cannot speak French 😂 I tried for two months but failed miserably
Can I ask about your glasses? It’s very cool. I would like to get one for running. Can you tell me the brand and the store?
The brand is “100%”. I got them from Alta24.com but I can’t remember the exact name of the model. Great quality lenses.
Thanks, Mark. Happy new year.
Hmmmmmm. Well, I don't exactly look down on farang who have not learned to speak much Thai, but I certainly do respect farang who have. As for myself, I absolutely hate being left out of a conversation. Improving my Thai is a priority. To each their own.
this is you 00:55 😂
Yeah, that’s how it should be. Respecting those who have while not looking down at those who haven’t. It’s a challenging language and I’m hoping to do more content about the language in the future!
@@markabbottofficial Well, that's kinda Paddy's shizzle. If I may offer an opinion, I don't know squat about UA-cam, but I think your in with the boxing world must be a gold mine. Nobody doing videos in English right now has your golden ticket into one of the most iconic Thai things that there is. Nobody even comes close. I'm surprised you'd do videos about anything else. But again, I don't know squat.
I’ve been struggling a bit with this to be honest and it’s interesting you should pick up on it. I’m probably gonna make my Instagram more and more about that while my UA-cam is more about Thailand in general. I’ll have to play it by ear.
@@markabbottofficial After I made the comment I wondered if maybe making videos about the muay Thai might be dangerous. There was a show called "Hurts Like Hell" that made it seem pretty rough. If you do focus on language, you might ask your viewers if there's a mistake they always make no matter how much they study. I learned the words for "post office" and "bath towel" on the same day in 1988 and to this day I confuse them. "I'm going to the bath towel, be back in ten minutes" or "I've got soap in my eyes! Hand me the post office!" Also I confuse somtam and tom yam. I know I've done it by the confused look on the waitress' face.
คุณมาร์คหล่อมาก
Forgetting a major point imo: as native English speakers we are adding Thai as a second language usually, whilst other Farang here are adding as a 3rd or 4th language .. massive difference. But, the lazy English native speakers who say it "is too difficult" or that "after X age you can't learn new things" .. I have zero respect for! Also, the people who "bastardize" the language as they can't read or write & know no tones, but say they are "fluent" they just give me headaches as I have to translate their "Thai" to Thai to English to then understand wtf they are trying to say 55 Rant over!
🎉🎉🎉🎉
ถ้าจะม่วนน้อคับอ้าย
WHAT ABOUT TONES WHILE SPEAKING AT A NOSIY GAME OR EVEN ON THE TRAIN ????
WHAT KIND OF ENGLISH DOES THEIS FELLOW SPEAK ???
Don't forget Thailand is a developing country with a lot of backward ideas. Being critical of Thais or Thailand is perfectly fine, example the import taxes protect the rich, or that the English levels are horrific. Its the same as saying Japan has too many rules and they work too hard. Basic facts such as being the top death by automotive accident show there are issues here. Thais hate people asking them "why" or complaints, but its part of them growing as a nation and facing some reality.
I do not see how this could lead a well intentioned person to "look down on the Thai people."
In Japan, our English is actually worse than most Thai people. Yet I do not see how that would lead people to have disdain.
It is quite easy to look at something honestly without having disdain any for a peoples' culture to the point you wouldn't even attempt to learn the language.
It may be a framing/response resonance issue, but I fail to see how being critical of Thailand can or would inevitably lead to looking down on the Thai people.
@@SavageSairung Yes indeed the Japs have even lower English speaking abilities. But in Thailand, if you speak English your options and career are far far brighter. Basically all good paying jobs in Bangkok require english
Constructive criticism from a place of love is very different from looking down at people. All countries have issues that need to be solved and can be solved without looking down at the locals. 💪🏻
I think you generalize my country. I will tell you that no matter what, the first thing you should do is respect others.
@@zenithchan581 That's kinda hilarious, in Thailand it's all about not losing face, has nothing to do with respect. Avoid confrontation is the game. And a lot of people take advantage of others good grace in Thailand, breaking rules etc.... And nobody tells them to stop to avoid losing face.