การเรียนภาษาไทย

During the past month our main task has been to get our focus back on the Thai language and to study Thai. While we may become involved in some other things this will remain our goal for the foreseeable future.

We’ve been working on improving our reading and writing skills and to help us with this we have a teacher come to our home. Each day when Kru Phayleen arrives we enjoy chatting to her and have got to know her well as a teacher and friend. Of course the ‘chatting’ is in Thai so helps us with our spoken Thai too. Then we get into our reading and writing lessons for the day and finally, like any good teacher, Phayleen assigns us our homework. Teachers must be the same to world over!

Kru Phayleen teaching at our home

To become proficient in any language requires spending time with native speakers learning not only how to speak clearly but observing the culturally appropriate ways to act and communicate. We’ve been making some good friends especially in the church we’ve been attending and enjoy learning from many of these friends too.

Bobby with a friend from church

Recently I noticed a sign on a store written in Thai and English. The English translation gives some idea of the problems facing a Thai speaker trying to learn English and of using a 'word for word' translation. This sign makes for amusing reading but don’t laugh too quickly, if someone experienced this amount of difficulty going from Thai to English there is the same potential for error going to other way!

Perhaps it would have been better translated, ‘We buy old furniture and second hand safes’.