I’ve told you over the years how proud we are of our son, who lives and works in Thailand.
To give you one example of why we are proud –
He is really good at languages and keeps finding ways to improve his skills.
He speaks English, of course, and also Mandarin and Thai.
When he was home last time, he showed me that there was an app on his phone where he could help people with the language. People wrote in, asking for a translation, or ‘how do you say,’ questions. He would read the question and then answer it. Sounds simple? Sometimes the writer was Chinese, sometimes Thai, sometimes from an English-speaking country. He had three keyboards on his phone that he used to answer in the language of the writer, telling them how to say ‘—-‘ in Thai, or Chinese, or English. I would have happily watched him doing this in real time forever.
His newest thing is flashcards. You notice there is no English on them. These are for Chinese people trying to learn Thai. He is using these to refresh himself on Mandarin and learn how to spell Thai words. (He knows how to SAY many more Thai words than he can write.) He will work with these every day to increase his expertise in both of the languages.
I have no idea where he gets his ability to learn languages. His mom and dad still struggle with English from time to time (I’ve heard word retrieval problems are one of the perks of getting older.)
He considers learning a language well as respect for the country and the people where he is living.
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