The Fall of the Thai Language Barrier

Even Ronald McDonald speaks Thai here... I'm DOOMED!

Many Thai people outside of downtown Bangkok do not speak good English.  It is even more pronounced in Mahachai, the town where the school I teach is located.  Though English studies are mandatory in every school in Thailand, it does not universally produce oral fluency.  I find that many Thai people can read and understand several words and sentences in English, but carrying out conversation is very challenging.

Though its hardly worth mentioning, I was quick to discover these facts.  And because I like to communicate with people and be friendly, I found myself up against a very formidable barrier when trying to accomplish much of anything in my day-to-day life: from teaching to shopping to asking for directions -- even just being friendly.  Smiles and hand motions only go so far :)

Since the first day I arrived here, I've made it a point to learn new words and phrases on a daily basis.  Just about 6 or 7 weeks ago, I decided to take on learning their alphabet.  It looks like this:

In case you haven't noticed, it looks absolutely nothing like English or any Latin-based language.  The Thai language derived from Old Khmer Script.  According to tradition, the Thai script was created in 1283 by King Ramkhamhaeng The Great.  The above are just the consonants.  Whereas English has its 5 vowels as part of the alphabet, Thais consider the consonants their alphabet.  There are a total of 44 consonants.  Outside of this are the 32 vowels.  They look like this (4 are hardly used anymore and are omitted below):

Vowels are placed to the left, above, to the right and below consonants, depending on which vowel it is.  To a foreigner, like myself, this is highly confusing.  We are so used to reading left to right.  And while Thai is read from left to right, you kind of have to recognize what's above, underneath and to the side while reading.  It definitely makes the learning process very interesting!

I decided to take on my studies on a gradient.  I taught myself how to write the Thai numbers, 0 through 10, though the customary Arabic numerals are what's commonly now used here.  After that I took on the 44 character alphabet.

Each character has a sound, then an associative word that uses that sound.  This helps differentiate characters within the alphabet, because despite there being 44 characters, there's actually only 20 unique sounds.  There are 4 different characters that make the sound "K", for example.  The first character is read "Gau Gei", however it is a soft "G" sound, which almost sounds like a "K".  The "Gei" means chicken.  So this character is associated with the word for chicken.

Then there is the issue of tones, voice pitches when reading the character.  There are 3 classes: high, mid and low.  These classes affect the way you say the character when read independently and read within a word.  This is the brick wall I'm currently running up against now.  I can now write, read and say each of the 44 characters, but sometimes my tone is not correct.

Okay, enough with all the didactic gibber jabber.  I'll spare you... for now.  This is a video of me writing and reading each of the characters in the Thai alphabet.  Enjoy.

For the record, I entirely taught myself this alphabet.  I downloaded videos from YouTube, watched them constantly and practiced writing each character until my hand went into a full-on, catatonic, carpel tunnel stasis.  But it was fun and I was always kept at high interest.  I enjoyed approaching Thai friends, showing them my new-found skill.  Their astonishment that I was learning, and getting it right, was real motivation to keep going.

An easy way I remembered each of characters in their proper sequence was through a YouTube video I found.  It's a narrative about a cute little rooster that is trying to find out why Mr. Sun did not rise when he was supposed to.  The story takes you through every associative word of the complete alphabet.  So when I think of the order of the characters, I go through the story in my head.  Because its all in Thai, I wrote a little script for it, according to what I thought was going on.  Check out the video.

Even if you can't understand what's being said, it's still very well done and very cute.

I am now learning each of the vowels.  I can read and write about 8 of them now.  For the last few weeks, I've been studying 3 hours a week with one of the Thai teachers from my school.  I am putting together words and sentences, which is really cool.  I am constantly trying to read the signs when I drive around, which is probably not the safest idea.

This past week I wanted to learn a few new goofy phrases.  It's always fun meeting new Thai people and saying something totally random to them.  I always love their reaction.  Here's a video of "Important Thai Phrases."  Enjoy.

That's all for now.  I hope to be well-versed in writing and reading in the next 3 to 4 months.  So hopefully you'll see a blog some time from now where I'm carrying on whole conversations and reading long, complex, bombastic dissertations, all in Thai :)

I'll leave you with some random pictures from around Thailand over the last several weeks.

Thanks for reading!

March of the Penguin Suit

That's me.  Donned in dapper.  Dressed to kill.  Turning heads and saving lives.  Well...maybe not the saving lives part.

But you guessed it!  I'm in a tuxedo, or as some Thai people call it: a "body suit."

Every year in the month of June there is a big parade/procession in the town the school is located, Mahachai.  All of the schools, programs and even some companies in the province of Samut Sakhon march through the streets to promote themselves and celebrate.  The streets are endlessly lined with locals: from 6-month-old babies to 85 year old grandma's.  Everyone and their mother -- and grandmother -- is there.

I was informed about a week before that this was happening and that I would be fitted for a tuxedo.  First I was told that I would be modelling.  I got the idea it was some kind of catwalk or something indoors.  NO.  Then I found out it was going to be outside in the late afternoon.  That was some kind of misunderstanding on my part because just the day before I discovered that, not only would it be outside, it would be at 2pm in the afternoon on one of the hottest days of the year!  And I'd be walking 10 kilometers (approx 6.2 miles) to boot!!

The cherry on top was when I was told, "Oh, and the teacher who did it last year passed out from heat exhaustion -- AND HE WAS FROM KENYA."  What??!!!  If a Kenyan can pass out from this heat, I'm SCREWED!

Nevertheless, being the trouper that I am, I carried through.

That morning we had to drill the formation and who was doing what exactly.  This is me thinking of what's to come...

The school wanted me at the very front of the formation.  They had one of their Thai teachers dressed in traditional attire, me in my "traditional" attire (if you consider a tux Anglo-American traditional) and a Chinese teacher.  Behind us were the signs and most of the faculty.  Tyler 1 joined in the ranks and took most of the pictures throughout the day.  Gotta give him props.

We arrived at a large temple lot where everyone was waiting to start.  Let me stress again: IT WAS HOT.  The heavy, non-breathing, black tux only exacerbated the already wonderful warmth I was feeling.

Here's a video that shows you how lively it was in preparation for the parade.  You really get the contrast between me and local culture.

When Tyler 1 and I got there, we were greeted by the management and faculty.  Being that they never see a foreigner in a tux, I was quite the showcase.  Everyone wanted their picture with me.  The students.  The dean and manager.  The Thai teachers.  The Chinese teachers.  It was celebrity status.

There was an old temple right behind us.  After entering, we were warmly greeted by a friendly, young monk. He showed us around a little and we got a picture with him.  It's hard to tell, but he's smiling -- it's a humble smile.

From inside the temple.  They had all this great natural light coming through.

Then "The March" started.  And while it didn't end up being 10 kilometers, it was still a hellavu trek.  Fortunately, there are assistants constantly handing you wet towels, water, electrolytes and all manner of food and candy, so you definitely stay fueled.  It was really an experience.  Here are some shots from along the journey.

Heading out into the street.

There were all kinds of cool sights throughout the day. 

Here was a group of women in traditional attire.  Look closely.  The woman in the foreground clearly likes her watermelon. 

Throughout the 2-3 hours of walking, Thai people were constantly saying hello, waving, greeting me with smiles.  They were all extremely amicable.  I was constantly bombarded with heavily-accented "Hello!", "I love you!", "Good afternoon teacher!"  And when I acknowledged them, they would get giddy with glee.  It was hysterical. 

Tyler 1 shot a video of me about 2 hours into the walk.  I was definitely feeling it. 

It did finally end.  Needless to say, I was drenched in my own sweat and my feet were on fire.  Boy did it feel good to get out of that tux.  

The school was grateful and said I could take a 3-week paid vacation for my dedicated service -- NOT.  I wish.  It definitely was great promotion for the school though.  They were very pleased to have us and were happy that I didn't pass out.  I felt pretty good.  I lasted longer than a native Kenyan.  I must have good blood :)

Here are some other shots from throughout the day.  

Hope you enjoyed.  Until next time!