To everyone who I have yet to complain to about the Thai language, it is difficult. Not only do you have to learn a new language, but a new alphabet. On top of that, Thai is a tonal language. This means that you could think you are saying "near" when you are actually saying "far", or you try to say "kangaroo" but you actually say "lizard". This makes it both difficult to speak, and understand people, especially since Thai people speak lightning fast and when you ask them to slow down they repeat what they said at the exact same speed. Finally, having an accent is horribly overrated. Half of the time when I KNOW I have said something correctly, the Thai people still can't understand me because of my accent. How the British and Australian foreigners survive, I will never know. Particularly with the elderly Thais, my Thai friends will have to repeat exactly what I said so that they can understand.
Since I have been here I have somewhat mastered a Thai accent [at least I think I have, the Thai people always say I pronounce things very well], but I still cannot be understood on the phone. Cellphones, with their sometimes horrible reception are initially a problem, but when you add a foreigner trying to speak a tonal language, it really is painful. I will phone my host mother who is used to my accent more than anyone, and I will tell her in Thai what I am doing, where I am going or what time I will be home. She does not understand. I don't understand her either. In the end after I try to repeat my plans to her five or six times, she asks me in English "What do you want to do?" I answer her in English. Communication; it's not Thai, but we communicate and that's all I can ask for... at the moment.
Today my host Aunt and Uncle in Bang Pa-In, Ayutthaya phoned. I lived with them for my first week here, and they are probably the most friendly and loving Thai people I have met. Leaving them and coming 12 hours away to Nakhon Phanom was a tear jerker. My host Aunt and Uncle can speak very little English; I had a hard time understanding what was going on when I lived with them and usually just copied what they did. I can remember the time I spent with them, when I learned the basic Thai phrases: "I like this" "Thank you" "Delicious". When I spoke on the phone with Koon Mae Noi [my host aunt], she spoke just as fast as she always did, but I could understand her. For the first time since I have seen them I could have a full conversation with her, completely in Thai. For the first time since I've been in Thailand I had a full conversation, in Thai, on the PHONE, with no English words spoken. Not one. She understood me perfectly; I was never asked to repeat anything and I never had to ask her to repeat anything in return. Perfect Thai communication. I told her about my plans for the school break, what I had been doing, that I had made many friends and that I will be dancing at Wat Phra That Phanom on the 14th of October. She told me that they would be coming to visit on the 10th of October, would see me dancing in the festival and that they may try to see me when I go to Bangkok at the end of the month. This was the kind of communication I had been longing for. Not the communication we settle for when we are sick of trying to understand, but that heavenly moment where you can have a conversation, and enjoy it.
No award, celebration or certificate could make me more proud of myself than I am today. I had always worried that I would be the only exchange student who wouldn't learn the language. But I have, and soon I will be fluent. I was always proud of myself, just for setting out on a journey, that has become my life. I am proud of myself for leaving my family, friends and country behind; I'm proud of myself for trying new things to do, eat and wear; for adapting to Thai rules, the Thai way of life. I'm proud of myself for waking up every day and going to sleep every night, not homesick or sad, but blissfully happy. I am always proud of myself for something, whether it is being particularly kind to someone, or for eating something I never would have eaten, just to be polite.
Today, however, I am proud that I can speak Thai.
1 comment:
Congratulations! :D
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