BANGKOK – A long-time expat’s acquisition of new Thai words reached an all-time low of three per annum in 2010, according to his friends.
Sources who know Trevor Feldman, a 38-year-old American who has lived in Thailand for nine years, report that he only managed to learn three new Thai words during all of last year. Feldman’s total Thai vocabulary has now reached 187 words, most of which are related to food, taxi directions and retail transactions.
The drop in Feldman’s Thai-learning rate is, however, consistent with a steady decline that began the first year he arrived in Bangkok, during which he took a three-week basic Thai-speaking class. Since then, his vocabulary acquisition dived from 50 words a year to 30 the next year, and 16.5 the year after that.
The three words he learned in 2010 are “phrai,” during last year’s red-shirt rallies, “dek” after the birth of his daughter, and “see muang” while shopping for curtains for his high-rise condominium.
When questioned about his pathetic rate of Thai learning, as well as the generally sad state of non-fluency despite having spent nearly a decade of his adult life here, Feldman mumbled some explanation about being “bad at foreign languages” and “not having a chance to use Thai.”
Closer examination of Feldman’s lifestyle, however, revealed that not only is he married to a Thai national, but also works with dozens of them at his finance job. Additionally, he encounters approximately 30 Thai persons on a daily basis.
Most damning of all, however, is the fact that almost all of Feldman’s other expatriate friends speak Thai at either fluent or semi-fluent levels.
“Trevor’s just lazy,” said Dean Lamar, his long-time friend. “He’s like those tattooed lifers you see in Pattaya, only he’s got a respectable office job so he gets away with it.”
Analysts predict Feldman’s infant daughter, Audrey, will surpass her father’s Thai abilities in November.
