ImagiNation

You will fail, if you continue

That's what I heard today while in the middle of taking my Thai spoken exam. Apparently if someone asks you how old you are in Thai, it is wrong to simply answer with a number. The same if someone asks your name, address or the name of your sibling. (Though, this is according to my teacher, my room mate (from Thailand) claims that this is not the case). So even though I understood every question asked of me, I was going to fail because I couldn't say, "I am 24 years old," or "My older brother's name is _____". So my teacher is giving me until Friday to learn such things.

Now, I know I was not the best student when I took Chinese, but if the teacher asked me a question and I understood it and could answer (complete sentence or not), I would at least pass the test. I just have a hard time believing that if I went to Thailand and a Thai person asked me how old I am and I said 24 (in Thai, of course) that they would not understand what I was saying. Which is what my teacher said. And after talking to my room mate about it- I'm even less inclined to believe it.

posted by imagine @ 12:55 AM