I have always felt that learning the language of your photographic subjects, your friends, was very important. I started to study Thai in 1999, writing down words phonetically, with the help of
friends I met while photographing in on Sukhumvit road in Bangkok. Later I studied at a Thai Buddhist temple in Edmonton my city in Canada. I learned to read and write at a young child's level, with time I learned to speak basic conversational Thai (I am not fluent). I never regretted learning, it has lead to countless positive moments in my life. I wish I could speak other languages, like Burmese, Spanish, Khmer and Cree. Maybe someday! Here is some fun Thai, spoken to with a Burmese lady in the dump in Thailand. We were both speaking our broken Thai, it gave us a shared experience, some laughs. You got to love languages, loads of fun. Learn languages people, its wonderful!
