Communicating with Thais
During our travel in Thailand, the biggest opportunity to communicate with foreigners was taking a taxi or a car called by “Grab” (an App similar to “Didi” in China and popular in Southeast Asia).
In the beginning, things were quite simple, since our Bed and Breakfast owner in Chiang Mai, a beautiful young woman, helped us to book all the taxis in advance and got a reasonable price for each trip. So we didn’t need to speak to local people often.
Then, on day after visiting the Sunday Market near Tha Phae Gate, we need to call a taxi by ourselves. There were a lot of red local taxis nearby. The taxis were like pick-up trucks with shelters and their real names were Songthaew which could hold eight or nine persons. We seven people took a Songthaew with other two strangers.
During the bargaining time, I talked with the driver in English. It was more difficult than I thought. I could show him the location on map but the bargain was tough. When we came here in the morning the taxi fee was 100? totally, but this driver ask for 300? in the beginning. It was too expensive, then after a discussion with everybody talking at once, we thought we got a deal at 120 ?. However, after reach the destination, the driver said it is 140 ?—20 for each person. I was too tired to figure out who misheard so I gave him 20 ? more. The conflict in communication was big since we both use unfamiliar language and bargaining itself made people upset.
Then we came to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. This city’s traffic was heavier and we need to call a car more often. The app “Grab” was easy to use since it had a translation function in text message and we could also talk directly by telephone. These two ways were suitable in different situation.
When the traffic was not heavy and the nearby buildings were not too many, we use text massage. By text message, the drivers could tell us when they will come, where we should wait or some other information in advance, and he can speak in Thai and the system helped to change into English or Chinese words.
When in downtown area, we usually encountered traffic jams, and the Grad had a problem of inaccurate locations. When the Thailand driver telephoned me to find out where we exactly were, my English seemed so poor, so they usually took a long time to find us or even gave up the orders.
Later we came up with a new method: when we called a car on Grab, we first chose a place that was easy to be located. A hotel was the best since it had a parking lot in front or a shop was also a good choice such as a massage shop. The receptionists there often spoke English well, so I talked with the receptionists in English to ask for help and let them to talk with the drivers in Thai. Then the drivers could pick us up in the right position.
There was another interesting experience that I want to mention in the end. Once we booked a car by Grab and located at a hotel. The person that I asked for help was actually not the staff there. He was a police officer. But his English was quite good and showed us a warm heart. After talking with our driver, he still stood there and chatted with us. He wanted to practice his Chinese and share with us his four trips to China. If he didn’t know how to say something in Chinese he would use an e-dictionary on his phone to show us the Chinese characters. We helped each other and had a good time. And his pride to be a policeman and the enthusiasm to learn a foreign language gave us a deep impression.
在泰國(guó)旅行期間盅称，用英語交流最多的時(shí)候就是坐車的時(shí)候鲫售，或者打出租或者用“Grab”軟件叫車的時(shí)候嘹履。（Grab是泰國(guó)使用很多的類似滴滴打車的軟件萍虽，新加坡公司出品，在東南亞打車市場(chǎng)份額最大）
最初一切都好膜楷，我們?cè)谇暹~住的民宿的老板旭咽，一位漂亮的小姐姐幫我們?cè)诿看纬霭l(fā)前都定好車，并且談好價(jià)格赌厅。所以我們并不用怎么和當(dāng)?shù)厝苏f話穷绵。
之后有一天，逛完塔佩門的周日夜市特愿，回來的時(shí)候需要打車仲墨，路邊停了很多當(dāng)?shù)丶t色的出租車勾缭，那種出租車很像帶棚的皮卡，名字叫做雙條車目养，一輛車能乘八九個(gè)人俩由。我們有七個(gè)人，跟另兩個(gè)人去拼的車癌蚁。和車主談的時(shí)候幻梯，位置好說，給他看地圖就行了努释，麻煩一點(diǎn)的是詢價(jià)碘梢，早上我們來的時(shí)候是100泰銖，回去的時(shí)候他要價(jià)是300伐蒂，我們說太貴了煞躬，就七嘴八舌地一通談，最后以為談到的價(jià)格是120泰銖饿自，但下車的時(shí)候他說是140汰翠，因?yàn)檎f的每人20泰銖，我懶得去解釋到底誰聽錯(cuò)了昭雌，就又給了20复唤。感覺都用自己不熟悉的語言交流還是挺困難，而且討價(jià)還價(jià)本身就是有沖突烛卧，讓人很不爽了佛纫。
等到了曼谷，泰國(guó)的首都总放，這里的交通壓力很大呈宇，經(jīng)常堵車，我們出門需要打車的時(shí)候也更多了局雄。APP“Grab”挺好用的甥啄，自帶信息的翻譯功能，也可以直接給司機(jī)打電話炬搭。這兩個(gè)方法適用的情況不同蜈漓。
當(dāng)路況比較好，周圍的建筑物比較少的時(shí)候宫盔，適合短信融虽。司機(jī)會(huì)提前告訴我們他們什么時(shí)候到、我們?cè)谀抢锏然蛘咂渌恍┬畔⒆瓢拧Ｋ梢灾苯诱f或者用泰語打字有额，翻譯過來給我們看的就是英語或者中文，很方便。
但當(dāng)在繁華路段巍佑，本身堵車多茴迁，而且樓之間間隔很近，“Grab”定位不準(zhǔn)的問題還是很明顯的句狼，當(dāng)司機(jī)給我們打電話讓我們說具體在哪的時(shí)候笋熬，那個(gè)時(shí)候相當(dāng)詞窮，很容易讓他們找不到腻菇，甚至放棄這一單。
后來想到了一個(gè)好辦法昔馋，找附近的店面筹吐，賓館是最好，或者按摩店之類的秘遏，前臺(tái)的英語一般比較好丘薛，我用英語跟他們講，讓他們跟司機(jī)說明白我們?cè)诘奈恢冒钗＃@樣呢他們就用泰語溝通好洋侨，司機(jī)來接就會(huì)順利很多。
最后倦蚪，我想分享另一個(gè)有趣的經(jīng)歷希坚。有一次我們?cè)贕rab上叫車，定位在一個(gè)賓館陵且。我去求助的人其實(shí)并不是賓館的工作人員裁僧，我們后來才知道，他是泰國(guó)警察慕购。英語相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)聊疲，人也很熱心。在幫我們跟司機(jī)溝通好之后沪悲，他還站在這跟我們聊了會(huì)天获洲。其實(shí)他是想練中文，并且跟我們說他去中國(guó)旅行過四回了殿如。當(dāng)他不知道一個(gè)中文詞該怎么說時(shí)贡珊，他會(huì)用手機(jī)上的電子詞典，把中文字打出來給我們看握截，這樣就明白了飞崖。我們互相幫助，算是度過了一段愉快的時(shí)光谨胞。他對(duì)于警察這個(gè)職業(yè)的驕傲還有學(xué)外語的熱忱固歪，給我們印象特別深。
