Of course, that depends upon the Thai tutor having the correct pronunciation and an appropriate cultural reference. I’ve been privileged to study with one of the monks at the local Thai Buddhist temple. (“Local” is a bit of a misnomer. Thai Buddhists prefer to locate their temples where the monks will have access to large tracts of open space for quiet meditation, so the temples tend to be a couple of kilometers east of nowhere.) The monk is a nice guy, although he sometimes seems to feel obliged to act like Pai Mei, which seems to stem from his own preconceptions of what a monk should be.

Even though Thai seems to depend upon subtle differences in pronunciation and inflection, he, like many Thais, seems to swich ร and ล somewhat indiscriminately. If he says, “ใคล,” and I repeat, “ใคร,” to indicate my understanding, he tries to correct my pronunciation.

His concept of tones is also far different from what a Thai instructor at another temple taught me. And I’ve heard this from another Thai, as well. I was taught to shift pitch. My first instructors would recite a sort of tonal scale to demonstrate where a word fit. But the monk seems to think in terms of weight and volume, rather than modulating pitch.

When I became frustrated with the quality and variety of self-instruction materials, particularly at the intermediate level, I decided to produce my own. (I’ve worked in video production and have my own lights, cameras, microphones and such.) My idea was to produce brief comedic sketches with optional English and Thai subtitles, which would form the basis for various drills and exercises. It’s been a massive exercise in cultural shock.

My Thai actors, from the perspective of an Italian-American, didn’t speak with much emotion, despite my exhortations to speak with more feeling. Part of the difference seems to be cultural, based upon a deeply ingrained cultural imperative to behave politely in public. But it also seems to reflect a need to maintain correct tones to differentiate between words, rather than to express emotion.

Words and expressions in English can also have different meanings, as anybody familiar with George Carlin’s “****” routine or anybody who remembers Johnny Depp’s discourse on the meaning of “forget about it” in Donnie Brasco can attest. Correct interpretation depends on context and tone, but often these are manipulated. English speakers often say humorous things in serious tones as a way of joking.

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