English Lessons for a Thai Boy

[Guest ryanasia]

At 3,800 Baht there is no merit to debating the worth of doing it. The investment is so small it is inconsequential. So I guess I just wish the best of luck to the OP on this, as it seems there isn't really too much more to add to this. 

[Gaybutton]

The investment is so small it is inconsequential.

 

That, to me anyway, is not the issue.  The issue is whether the boy wants to take English lessons or the farang is pressuring him into it - even if it was free.

[Guest ryanasia]

That, to me anyway, is not the issue.  The issue is whether the boy wants to take English lessons or the farang is pressuring him into it - even if it was free.

 

Nothing ventured nothing gained. I guess for me if he has decided to go for it then I can only wish the best out of it at this point. There are worse things a guy could be pressured into doing.

 

I just had another though on the matter. Even if the boy is being pressured or the guys is selfish, learning English gives the guy more options than staying with him anyway. So one risk would be he does lern English and that makes it easier to jump ship later if the Thai guy wants to. Just a thought. In any case English should the Thai learn any is a skill that is useful in more than just a relationship with one guy so I can't see a down side.

[kokopelli]

Lighten up GB! I spent 3,800 Baht in a go-go bar in one night on tips and drinks. Why not spend the same on some English lessons? Little to lose and a lot to gain. 

[Gaybutton]

Lighten up GB! I spent 3,800 Baht in a go-go bar in one night on tips and drinks. Why not spend the same on some English lessons? Little to lose and a lot to gain. 

 

I can only repeat what I said in my last post.  How much it costs is not the issue. 

[Guest ryanasia]

So it is the emotional commitment? 

[Guest abang1961]

Tongue in cheek:

Sawadeekrap.

Can someone sponsor me to attend a Thai language (oral) class?

I am dead interested in upgrading myself. 

It may be a small monetary investment but it could turn out to be an emotional commitment!

Khob khun krap (with a smiling wai).

 

 

[Guest ryanasia]

If you learn how to romanize your Thai with in reason I will sponsor you.

[kokopelli]

I can only repeat what I said in my last post.  How much it costs is not the issue. 

Seems that you are making an issue out of what is a non-issue. 

 

"I will arise and take a chance, too, by my faith!' Nothing ventured, nothing gained, or so men say." Chaucer ca. 1390.

[numazu]

My friend is not pressuring the boy. The boy wants to be able to go to America and he is worried that he won't be able to talk to anyone when he is here, or even to be able to answer the TSA or Immigration when it is needed.

 

My friend wants to help the boy, and the boy is willing to get the help (at least from what I saw in the few moments I spent observing their personal dynamics). The AUA suggestion was great and it looks like the boy will be registering and taking the next placement test in October. 

 

"I will arise and take a chance, too, by my faith!' Nothing ventured, nothing gained, or so men say." Chaucer ca. 1390.

 

 

I love "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Thanks kokopelli! Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. 

[anddy]

 

I love "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Thanks kokopelli! Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. 

hadn't heard that phrase before, and even less did I know it was so old - but there is another maybe just modernized version of this piece of wisdom which I've been familiar with for a very long time: "no risk, no fun"

[kokopelli]

anddy, the expression you used, "no risk, no fun" may be closer to that of the original words of Chaucer,

 

`Unhardy is unseely,' thus men sayth."

 

The chap that uttered those words, John, did have his way with the Reeves' wife,

 

 

 He priketh harde and depe as he were mad.

[Guest Prakanong]

I am amazed that I agree with GB on something. don't invest too much into Thai guys. They don't have the drive. Any smartphone which they are likely to already have has a billion resources to learn English. I have bent over backwards to help Thai and Lao people but they don't seem to be able to carry the torch very well. I estimate over 70% of most ventures eventually fail and that is being generous. If the guy really wants to learn then I suggest they do it together when the foreigner is around. You can make simple games and it can be fun. I learnt Thai consonant classes using flash cards while drinking with moneyboys for example. Let's just say I am better at it than they are. 

 

Some rather wild generalisations here.  Your remarks would have seemed more reasonable had you confined them to the socio-economic groups that you associate with and who are willing to associate with you.  As for those consonant classes, it's no surprise that a second language speaker of Thai would be more familiar with them than a native speaker because that's not how we learnt it.  We acquired the language naturally from birth and had the privilege of time and total immersion in it.  I literally started by memorising the consonants and vowel signs through poems, games, drawings and drills and did not start writing full sentences until I was in primary two, if I remember correctly.  These consonant classes, tone rules, grammar 'formulas' are learning shortcuts designed for second or foreign language learners of Thai.  Hence I also hear from my foreign friends of the many 'exceptions' in the language that their Thai teachers taught them.  These are not exceptions intrinsic to the language itself, but, really, things that could not be fitted neatly into the boxed learning short-cuts that I mentioned, and therefore are labelled by the teachers as such because they couldn't think of a better way of explaining them.  Anyway, how well you know the consonant classes is irrelevant, what is relevant is how well you speak the language.

[Guest ryanasia]

We are talking about learning English for a Thai boy. You may speak the best Thai and read and write it but this has nothing to do with the topic. I can give advice about how to learn Thai but it isn't relevant. The point is that spending money to educate a Thai boy in the English language more often than not is going to be a waste of money.

[Guest Prakanong]

We are talking about learning English for a Thai boy.

 

You mean sponsoring a Thai boy to learn English but I think we get what you're saying.  I was responding to your broad and emphatic assertions about the learning capacity of Thai people as well as the rather unfair and un-instructive comparison of your superior ability as a second language learner to know and  understand the consonant classes to that of a native speaker who acquired the language naturally.

[colmx]

your superior ability as a second language learner to know and  understand the consonant classes to that of a native speaker who acquired the language naturally.

It's funny that you should mention this Prakanong

 

Here in Dublin we get 100's (maybe 1000's!) of Asian students visiting every month to learn English.

On the odd occasion some of them end up as my bed mates... during foreplay (!) the more studious ones ask me questions like "whats the perfect past tense of xxx" "is that word you just used a noun/pronoun/verb/adverb"  etc

 

Of course as someone that learned English as my native language - I have no idea. I just know what sounds correct and what sounds incorrect (to my colloquial and regional hearing)

[Guest Prakanong]

It's funny that you should mention this Prakanong

 

Here in Dublin we get 100's (maybe 1000's!) of Asian students visiting every month to learn English.

On the odd occasion some of them end up as my bed mates... during foreplay (!) the more studious ones ask me questions like "whats the perfect past tense of xxx" "is that word you just used a noun/pronoun/verb/adverb"  etc

 

Of course as someone that learned English as my native language - I have no idea. I just know what sounds correct and what sounds incorrect (to my colloquial and regional hearing)

 

Exactly and thanks for the example.

[ChristianPFC]

Here in Dublin we get 100's (maybe 1000's!) of Asian students visiting every month to learn English.

On the odd occasion some of them end up as my bed mates... during foreplay (!) the more studious ones ask me questions like "whats the perfect past tense of xxx" "is that word you just used a noun/pronoun/verb/adverb"  etc

 

Of course as someone that learned English as my native language - I have no idea. I just know what sounds correct and what sounds incorrect (to my colloquial and regional hearing)

 

Now that's funny! I once had a boy ask me during foreplay if my mobile phone can be set up as a WiFi-hotspot and if I could do so so he can use my data connection to save money on internet. I understand the question, but made a sound pretending I did not understand. One of the many occasions on that encounter where I should have left.

 

Whereas grammar questions could be a turn-on for me.

 

I have an interest in languages and linguistics, and having learnt several foreign languages, I can apply the grammar I learnt for these languages on German and give German grammar advice.

[kokopelli]

\

I have an interest in languages and linguistics, and having learnt several foreign languages, I can apply the grammar I learnt for these languages on German and give German grammar advice.

I had to look up the difference between learned and learnt since learnt is a word I would not use. So that means I must be an American and Christian learnt British English. Obviously Christian  is a very learned person.

 

These are alternative forms of the past tense and past participle of the verb learn. Both are acceptable, but learned is often used in both British English and American English, while learnt is much more common in British English than in American English.

[Guest FossilGay]

Obviously Christian  is a very learned person.

 

 

 

Sometimes he gets a bit lazy and refuses to do his lessons in which case I would bend him over my titanium-enforced knee and give him a good spanking.

[Guest FossilGay]

I have an interest in languages and linguistics, and having learnt several foreign languages, I can apply the grammar I learnt for these languages on German and give German grammar advice.

 

Is that how the expression 'Grammar Nazi' came about?

[Guest FossilGay]

Some rather wild generalisations here. 

 

Agreed.  If you listen to that bitter and cynical Gaybutton and some of the others you'd think the Thai people were not capable of achieving anything and are only good enough to be used as servers and cum buckets.  If that were true, the whole country would have collapsed by now, especially under GB's weight.  These cynics limit their observations based on what they see in Pattaya and other bordello-ghettos and then apply them to an entire people which is misleading and unfair.  I have travelled and lived all over Thailand and I saw hardworking and enterprising people everyday; people with goals, people who study, people with jobs, people balancing work and relationships, people with a sense of duty to their families and communities.  Needless to say these are not the same people who gravitate around farangs sitting in bars whose highlight in life is stuffing their faces with stale meatloaf.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to start off with a rant on this glorious Sunday morning but merely wanted to add some balance to the discussion.

[Guest thaiworthy]

 

If you listen to that bitter and cynical Gaybutton and some of the others you'd think the Thai people were not capable of achieving anything and are only good enough to be used as servers and cum buckets.  If that were true, the whole country would have collapsed by now, especially under GB's weight.  These cynics limit their observations based on what they see in Pattaya and other bordello-ghettos and then apply them to an entire people which is misleading and unfair.  I have travelled and lived all over Thailand and I saw hardworking and enterprising people everyday; people with goals, people who study, people with jobs, people balancing work and relationships, people with a sense of duty to their families and communities.

 

This is a bit crude, harsh and not very constructive. I thought Gaybutton's opinions were noteworthy. I think anyone living in some area of Thailand would have their experiences influenced by local life and Pattaya is no exception. I do not see anything unfair or misleading. He and mostly everyone else here have been very precise in assessing the values of Thai peoples' willingness to learn. But learning how much-- as determined by who-- may be the real issue. Each boy and every farang is a unique situation. But there are similar attributes, and the farang and/or Thai boy simply do not want to repeat their earlier mistakes. That is not bitterness. But I do agree, all Thais have a sense of duty to their families and communities, AND to themselves and others, including the farang. Why single out one farang in this thread just because he happens to live in Pattaya? This is prejudice.

 

Needless to say these are not the same people who gravitate around farangs sitting in bars whose highlight in life is stuffing their faces with stale meatloaf. 

 

If it's needless to say, then why say it? 

 

Meatloaf notwithstanding, now back to subject. A farang on holiday has the odds stacked against him. There is practically not enough time to really devote oneself to effectively learn Thai or helping an off or LTR learning English from scratch. As said, if he wants to learn English, he will have already started. BUT there are exceptions. The wisdom in these situations comes mostly from gut feelings and experience. Only you can know that if the boy "really is different." There is no general guidance or wisdom to be shared on this subject that can be applied for everyone. If you have the money to spend on his education, spend it. If you can't, don't.

[Guest FatRichard]

 

I thought Gaybutton's opinions were noteworthy. I think anyone living in some area of Thailand would have their experiences influenced by local life and Pattaya is no exception. I do not see anything unfair or misleading.

 

I thought Gaybutton was unnecessarily negative and fatalistic.  Having your perpectives shaped by your local environment isn't unfair or misleading, but applying those perspectives on the general Thai population as Prakanong said, is.  Now that I am working in Thailand with access to people from all walks of life, my perspectives and perceptions of this beautiful country and its people have changed and continue to change -  mostly for the positive.

 

 

 He and mostly everyone else here have been very precise in assessing the values of Thai peoples' willingness to learn...Each boy and every farang is a unique situation...There is no general guidance or wisdom to be shared on this subject that can be applied for everyone.

 

 

You are really contradicting yourself here.  How can one be precise with something that you yourself admit is so subjective and fluid.  You say "there is no general guidance or wisdom to be shared on this subject" yet you have no qualms in defending and supporting Gaybutton's negative rubber stamping of the Thai people.  And who exactly are these "Thai people"?  They are not a single entity but pockmarked by differences in upbringing, social environment, motivation, economic opportunities and ability.  And what qualifications do your friends who are "very precise in assessing the values of Thai people's willingness to learn" have in making their "very precise" evaluations, something which even educational psychologists and sociologists dare not claim?  I'm in education and I see a range of motivations and abilities in young Thais - one thing is right though, the ambitious ones do not hang out in farang bars waiting for opportunities to happen. 

 

 

 

 

Why single out one farang in this thread just because he happens to live in Pattaya? This is prejudice.

 

I'm sorry, but do you even know what prejudice means and the context in which to use it?  I believe Gaybutton was singled out because he is always portraying himself as an expert to whom everybody must listen.  How many times have we heard that quote which  Richard Burke allegedly made?  Everyone simply must share the same negative experiences in life and relationships that he's had in his little cocoon.  Isn't it about time he asks who or what is the common denominator in all that negativity?  On this forum, we're allowed to question and challenge him but try to to do that on his board and you will get insulted, your posts deleted and finally banned from his forum.  So before you want to chastise anyone for being 'prejudiced' in the future, you might want to look at the background and biases of the person you're defending first.

[Guest thaiworthy]

I believe Gaybutton was singled out because he is always portraying himself as an expert to whom everybody must listen.

 

Ha, ha. In all this rubbish, one thing is clear, you have issues with Gaybutton, not me.