I have been in Thai language school for 3 months now. Which pretty much means I can tell you my name, "happy birthday," that my air conditioner is broken, it's really hot outside, and I want to order fried rice.
Other than a couple semesters of Spanish in high school and college, I've never really studied another language before. Like the I-actually-want-to-speak-this-in-life kind, not the I-just-want-to-pass-this-test kind.
It's just a miracle that anyone can ever communicate at all. For real. And I don't even mean Thai, I mean any language.
The more remarkable aspect of this is when someone learns to speak English, with all its crazy idioms and metaphors and junk.
For example.
I was riding in the car, listening to music the other day with my Thai friend. She speaks a good amount of English, but not enough to navigate the parts of it that make no sense. "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift came on, and as we listened to the lyrics play play play play play play I asked her if she understood what the phrase "shake it off" meant. She nodded in affirmation, then stuck out her hand and... shook it off.
I mean, that's fair.
After I laughed at her for not being fluent in my first language, I told her in some-Thai-most-English language, "It's like... something bad happens to you, and you say, 'Never mind! I don't care! It's fine.'"
The same thing happened when we listened to Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do," who tells her lover, "Only you can set my heart on fire." When I asked my friend if she understood that phrase, she nodded again and pretended to remove her heart from her chest, then talked about... setting it on fire.
English is so hard.
Sometimes, when I'm in a team meeting or serious conversation with someone, I check out for just a second to think, We understand all the words each other is saying and that's amazing.
When it comes to people understanding me in Thai -- now that's a miracle. I call the same girl every week when I want to order more drinking water. I have no idea who she is, but her name and number were given to me by a friend of a friend who said, "Just tell her you want to order water to the farang ("white foreigner") house." So that's what I do, week after week. I call, and something happens in between that causes these guys to roll up and bring me humongous bottles of water, and then I don't die of dehydration.
I felt a little guilty today for calling this girl all the time and never trying to actually make conversation, so I threw in a "Are you doing well?" and tried to slip in a "Thank you for helping me," as she interrupted me with polite Thai words in a way that seemed like she was ready to get off the phone with this needy white girl who speaks Thai like a 2-year-old.
And it wasn't annoying or hurtful or anything, because I get it. Communicating in a foreign way is just kind of exhausting. Learning to change your greeting phrases from things we would say to Westerners like, "Hi, how are you? My name is Reagan. What's yours?" to, "Where did you come from? Where are you going? Have you eaten yet?" is one of a thousand adjustments that must be made to live life here without looking like a freak all the time. I'm thankful that Thai people are pretty gracious and that I like them enough to want to adapt.
And on the days that I don't, a good sandwich and an episode of "The Office" normally do the trick.
Other than a couple semesters of Spanish in high school and college, I've never really studied another language before. Like the I-actually-want-to-speak-this-in-life kind, not the I-just-want-to-pass-this-test kind.
It's just a miracle that anyone can ever communicate at all. For real. And I don't even mean Thai, I mean any language.
The more remarkable aspect of this is when someone learns to speak English, with all its crazy idioms and metaphors and junk.
For example.
I was riding in the car, listening to music the other day with my Thai friend. She speaks a good amount of English, but not enough to navigate the parts of it that make no sense. "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift came on, and as we listened to the lyrics play play play play play play I asked her if she understood what the phrase "shake it off" meant. She nodded in affirmation, then stuck out her hand and... shook it off.
I mean, that's fair.
After I laughed at her for not being fluent in my first language, I told her in some-Thai-most-English language, "It's like... something bad happens to you, and you say, 'Never mind! I don't care! It's fine.'"
The same thing happened when we listened to Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do," who tells her lover, "Only you can set my heart on fire." When I asked my friend if she understood that phrase, she nodded again and pretended to remove her heart from her chest, then talked about... setting it on fire.
English is so hard.
Sometimes, when I'm in a team meeting or serious conversation with someone, I check out for just a second to think, We understand all the words each other is saying and that's amazing.
When it comes to people understanding me in Thai -- now that's a miracle. I call the same girl every week when I want to order more drinking water. I have no idea who she is, but her name and number were given to me by a friend of a friend who said, "Just tell her you want to order water to the farang ("white foreigner") house." So that's what I do, week after week. I call, and something happens in between that causes these guys to roll up and bring me humongous bottles of water, and then I don't die of dehydration.
I felt a little guilty today for calling this girl all the time and never trying to actually make conversation, so I threw in a "Are you doing well?" and tried to slip in a "Thank you for helping me," as she interrupted me with polite Thai words in a way that seemed like she was ready to get off the phone with this needy white girl who speaks Thai like a 2-year-old.
And it wasn't annoying or hurtful or anything, because I get it. Communicating in a foreign way is just kind of exhausting. Learning to change your greeting phrases from things we would say to Westerners like, "Hi, how are you? My name is Reagan. What's yours?" to, "Where did you come from? Where are you going? Have you eaten yet?" is one of a thousand adjustments that must be made to live life here without looking like a freak all the time. I'm thankful that Thai people are pretty gracious and that I like them enough to want to adapt.
And on the days that I don't, a good sandwich and an episode of "The Office" normally do the trick.
