Sa waa dee kah!

I have always thought I was pretty good at picking up foreign languages.  When I lived in Italy I could get around without speaking any English and I could carry on a full conversation in Italian.  During my travels through Germany I could get by on the basics despite not having spoken a word of German since high school.  My confidence was pretty high.  Until I came to Thailand.  It was like a high kick straight to my foreign language ego.   The language of Thailand is perhaps one of the hardest things I've ever had to learn.  The only things I can think of that might be harder would be learning brain surgery or how to fly a space ship or something.

Reason being: Thai has five different tones. High, low, rising, falling, and flat.  Literally you can make a complete sentence using only one word depending on which tone you use.  What the heck? But to a native Thai speaker they are completely different words with different spellings and meanings.

ไม้ ใหม่ ไม่ ไหม้ ไหม

mai - mai - mai - mai - mai

high - low - falling - falling - high

"New wood doesn't burn does it?"

Example of my first Thai language FAIL:

Me: "Chan yak pai Pattaya Neah kah."  Meaning "I want to go North Pattaya please." Or so I thought.
Motor Bike Taxi Man I: something in Thai that I didn't understand and then a look of confusion. "I no understand." 
Me: "Pattaya Neah....Pattaya NEAH." 

...more confusion and then a second motor bike taxi man got involved and they are rapidly speaking Thai as I am frantically repeating "Pattaya neah." 


Motor Bike Taxi Man II: "Pattaya neah!"
Motor Bike Taxi Man I: "Ahhhhhhh Pattaya neah!" 
Me: "I flipping just said that." 


What I learned later was neah with a rising tone means North, but neah with a flat tone means beef.  So apparently I was telling this poor guy I wanted to go to Pattaya beef.  Oopsies.    

All beef aside, Thai is a fun language despite its obvious challenges.  It will make me more sympathetic towards my students as I know what it feels like to be the student learning a foreign language.