Poot Paasa Thai Dai Mai

Learning a language is such a fascinating process. Learning Spanish was a new and novel experience for me and I had not the slightest idea if what I was experiencing during the learning process was unique to my situation and learning style or similar to other people’s. Two months after arriving in at the Bangkok airport I think I am a lot closer to answering that question. My experiences with both Spanish and Thai have been very similar and I believe that most people go through a similar process. The latter declaration is where the doubt arises and why my statement lacks absolute affirmation of knowing the answer. My experience has been similar in learning both languages, but that is comparing apples and apples. Although an analysis of my own language learning patterns does not definitively answer the question, through speaking with many people, both in my PC group and other friends who have learned a foreign language, I can confidently say that through the entirety of the process many parallels exist, even among diverse language backgrounds and learning styles.

Studying a foreign language is a rollercoaster ride complete with drops, rises, loops, and spins. The rises and falls can occur in any given interval: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly. A breakthrough occurs and you are on top of the world, but the ecstasy of finally understanding a simple sentence can be rapidly transformed into the agony of defeat over a simple use of poor pronunciation. I remember my first night spent in Guatemala like it was just yesterday and the reason, more than a dramatically different culture, was the sudden understanding of the enormity of the task of learning this new language. It is easy to avoid any substantial conversation your first few hours of living with a new host family, but inevitably you must eat. Dinner is truly the time of reckoning. No amount of delay or distraction can free you from the inevitable first “true” conversation. It is a frightening experience, but the astounding ingenuity of the human mind truly comes to the fore to pull you through. It is remarkable how an understanding can be achieved with no more than ten mutually comprehensible words available among the two parties involved. Gestures, grunts, and facial expressions rule the roost during these trying times. Inevitably you leave the table simultaneously experiencing exhilaration and despair. The memories of these first encounters will stay with me as long as I live and the chance to experience it two times has suddenly become one of the most fascinating events in my 25 years of being.

It has been claimed that after you learn one foreign language it is much easier to learn subsequent ones. Like my earlier solo debate, this concept necessitates my analysis and ensuing conclusion. The principal point of consternation is the definition of the word “easy”. Does this mean that grammar is easier, that words make more sense, that the brain functions in a different manner, or that one magically acquires the ability to learn through “osmosis”? I can not say with certainty that “easy” can be defined by any one of the aforementioned definitions, but I can provide my own personal opinion. I think learning Thai has been easier than learning Spanish for the simple reason that I have hindsight. Given this fact, I am more easily able to cope with the language acquisition process. Hindsight has been invaluable in allowing me to reflect on my first language learning experience and apply my shortcomings and success to the current process. One of the most prevalent examples is the fact that the scary rollercoaster with drops, rises, loops, and twists has become a ride on the lazy river at the adjacent water park. When I start to feel anxiety about the pace of my language acquisition I can step back and tell myself that it is a long process and I have a concrete personal example to assure my mind that this really is the truth. When a word continually slips my mind, I have tried and true methods to fall back on that assuage the frustration. I know that this subject seems rather random, but every good solo debate has a story behind it.

Tonight I had one of those language experiences that shoots you to the peak of that rollercoaster. I was eating dinner with my host family and like most other dinners it doubled as a language lesson. I am now to a point where I am beginning to be able to speak and understand Thai sufficiently to feel comfortable at the dinner table. I had my trusty flash cards and my host dad was helping me read some of the more difficult words I had written in Thai on the front of the cards. I’m not quite sure when it happened, but we started talking about the phone calls I receive from the US. My host dad has found it quite amusing to tell me that I need to start answering my calls from the US in Thai. Although I have my own room, the walls in my house do not reach the roof and therefore my family can hear all of my conversations. Granted, they can’t understand them, but they sure can hear them...but I digress. After discussing this for a short time we started discussing how I answer the phone in English. I told them that all I say is “hello”. Well, this was a moment of enlightenment for my host mom. In Thai they answer the phone by saying, “hello, sawat dii khrap.” I have seen “sawat dii” translated as several things but most often it is translated as “hello”. When I told my family that “hello” was an English word and that “sawat dii” meant “hello” they couldn’t believe it. Although I didn’t completely understand everything my host mom was saying, the gist of it was that it was very absurd that Thais are actually saying “sawat dii, sawat dii” or “hello, hello”. The enormity of the experience did not lie in the fact that we realized that Thais say “hello, hello” when they answer the phone, but rather in the fact that at that moment I realized that I understood the whole conversation, and it was more than a simple exchange of greetings. Now maybe it is more apparent why some people love studying languages. What seem as the most inconsequential daily events can actually carry so much meaning and bring so much joy.