danphuket

I have gone through Pimsluer a long time ago. It was helpful to get the pronunciation right.

I am going to try out skype lessons from next week. Hopefully it will effective.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I have recently relocated to work in another country, but would like to continue learning Thai language. Does anyone know a good online Thai language course (or Skype lessons) for intermediate-advanced level?

..........................................................................................................................................i have spent 12 years learning on my own i consider my self advanced and read and write well......my advice is.......forget learning this rediculous language.....take up the violin or the piano,harp,banjo,flute,saxaphone....anything.....just walk away from the idea learning this language will help you.....IT WILL NOT...

I would argue with that. If we talk about practicality, what is more useful, playing a musical instrument or being able to speak to 55 million people in their own language?

If you talk about aesthetics, again, Thai is a way to understand culture. I , personally, find Sanskrit letters elegant, and sounds melodic and soft; Thai mindset rather amusing.

Speaking this language helped me in numerous occasions: government offices, police, businesses (especially in Phuket Town, where almost no one can speak English). Obviously it also helps to bargain prices down, to find what you want in the supermarket, find friends, etc.

Having said that, as it is not an international language, Thai has significant value within the borders of the country, and not as much in other countries.

The best way to learn tones for me was to go to a language school and get myself trained to recognize tones and pronounce them through straightforward repetition. Books and even audio books lack ability to correct you when you even don't realize that you are mispronouncing. Hearing tones and being able to produce them in at least a recognizable way is crucial for future learning experience

I don't know if anyone here has this issue, but I find it extremely annoying that all the thai dictionary apps I download only show me the answers in thai script. I can't read thai script just yet, so it would be very useful to have a handy app that shows the thai words in a romanized transcription. I have a windows phone and the only app I've found so far was this one Thai Language App (English Transcription)

It seems to be in a beta phase, requiring an internet connection to work, but still, it has been extremely useful to me. I'm very much a visual learner so I need to see the written word for me to be able to memorize it. Has anyone tried this app? Are there any other ones with the romanized script for windows phone? Well, at least in my case it has helped a great deal to be able look up words quickly and know how to pronounce them.

I have used Paiboon dictionary (paper version) for the first year of learning Thai for the reason that it has a sensible transcription system and good quality translations. If you are looking for a software- the best one would be Talking Thai made by the same publisher (Android market). It is much more expensive- around 800 Baht, but worth every satang. Don't waste your time on products not tested extensively by other users

Russian is also becoming more and more useful these days.

French is also an important language, so is Hindi.

You can't just ask a vague question like this.

Strangely, I just checked the number of speakers of Hindi- there are only 258 million (2001 census, wikipidea), compared to a population of more than a billion!

By 2050 7 percent of world's population will speak French and 1 billion people in 2060 (in 2025 500 million). At the moment there are 300 million

The most widespread languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers#More_than_100_million_native_speakers):

Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese - they all have more than 100 million native speakers

Interesting article about value of learning second language (http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/22/popular-foreign-languages-tech-language_sp08-cx_rr_0222foreign.html). The last chapter: While Chinese and Spanish are becoming global languages, the demand will rise at the same pace as supply.

Well, you are right that the question is not specific.

If you learn an additional foreign language (assuming knowledge of Thai and English) which one would you pick up to potentially enhance your career?

My options now:

Korean (vibrant society, unusual culture, delicious food; hugely popular among South East Asian countries ("Korean wave"); Korean brands everywhere now)

Japanese (can't help it: "love anime!"; unique philosophy of life; big investor in South East Asia)

German (sounds rough and cool; largest European economy; lots of deep quality books)

Chinese (even after struggling with Thai this language is still scary; is it worth the effort?; the biggest state population on Earth and probably will be for this century; main manufacturing base for many industries)

II built/own several small hotels in Phuket. I'd go for revenue management (and all that this entails).

If you are good at it, you will reap the rewards, especially if you can negotiate profit share.

I spend several hours every day juggling and managing room rates via about a dozen on-line agents, using Channel Management software, knowledge of flight arrivals, different demographic trends etc (my hotels are at the airport). By doing this, I manage to achieve 100%+ room occupancy almost throughout the year, whilst my competitors lag behind.

Simon

Wow! 100%!

Could you recommend some books on revenue management, statistics and demographics that you found useful?

Interesting place to have a hotel. Good luck!

Thank you for your replies.

I am divided between 2 subjects at the moment. On one hand accounting (cost accounting, financial controller) is a licensed profession which has a pretty straightforward route and stable income associated with it. It does offer some interesting challenges, but is very technical and dry most of the time in my perception. On the other hand I like the idea of doing mathematical type of research for businesses (such as revenue management for big hotel chains, market research, logistical problems, statistics, modelling). If you were in my shoes in your twenties what would you go for? Math (operations research) or accounting?

Looking 10 years into the future what do you think will be more in demand?

Is it possible that accounting will be automated to a great extent and therefore there will be reduction in specialists needed for any business?

In choosing a career path what would be a general advice to your own children?

I have a defense language institute supplementary book with translation exercises. It is good but carries topics that are of no interest to me. For example: "He is bleeding badly. Do you know how to stop the bleeding?". Besides it was published a long time ago in cold war period, year 1971.

Apart from famous Paiboon Publishing are there any good texts to translate from English to Thai with answers to exercises? Preferably with more of a business context or with fun casual conversations.

After completing bachelor's degree in business I moved to Thailand to work as a small guesthouse manager. Prepared business plan, budget, helped to build it and worked there for 1.5 years, all within the same period of time. Later moved to property business - sales, rentals, maintenance of 10 luxury villas.

2 years ago I had a vague idea of what to do with my life. After the above mentioned experience, it is clear to me that this is not what is going to drive me for a long time. My preference is to go into more technical and analytic fields. Hence the question. What are the typical positions found in a hotel where you need to deal with numbers and facts most of the time rather then to deal with people?

My guess is that not that many. Finance, accounting, IT, revenue management.

One of the possible ways I am thinking about is to get a position in hotel chain and work my way through the ranks to revenue management position. In a couple of years get education in Operations Research, Statistics and work as a researcher/consultant from then on.

Another way will be to get into accounting, but since I am a foreigner that is nearly impossible at an entry level.

I am 24 now. Can speak fluent Russian and English. Can speak, read and write Thai and hopefully will be semi-fluent in a year.

Any recommendations welcome.

Thank you all for your replies!

I will have to make a new one in another country then

I have both car and motorbike Thai driving licences. Is there any way to convert them to international in Phuket?

Conditions:

1) Holding student visa

2) Driving licences were issued for a year (first time)

3) At the time the driving licence will expire I will most probably be in another country, and my student visa will expire. Therefore it would be good for me if it is possible to make the document before leaving (which will happen in a couple of months)

There are a few pages about car parts in Oxford Picture Dictionary (English and Thai). It is normally available in major bookshops

A short summary of regrets:

• Didn't learn how to read and write from the beginning
• Didn't set the tones right from the start
• Didn't learn how to type
• Poor teaching

Have I missed anything else?

Oh man i would really really like for you to record saying หมูทอดกระเทียม". (or something other)

Here it is.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1O79FAt2iVZ

BTW, what kind of media files can be uploaded? I tried m4a, m4v and mp4, but all were rejected.

That was perfect! Like a Thai. I don't understand why you have any problems with speaking. You got all the tone right.

As AyG mentioned it is much more efficient to learn all the rules then to blindly memorize words as they are. Paiboon publishing dictionary is an excellent tool. They have phonetic transcription with all the tone marks for each syllable (audio as well). Let's take a word สมบูรณาญาสิธิราช for example. Can you remember how to pronounce it? If you know tone rules it is straightforward, if you don't... sombooranaayaasithiraat!

I wonder whether learning how to write Thai is a basic skill which new learners should acquire during their initial learning phase. I suggest that in today's world gaining familiarization with the Thai keyboard and learning how to touch-type Thai are more fundamental skills than the mechanical reproduction of letters, vowels, tone marks and words via a pen or pencil. What do you think?

I think that a beginner student should learn how to write all the letters first and then switch to typing as soon as possible. With all the available technology (Facebook, Line, electronic dictionaries, translators), that will speed up learning process significantly. Besides, who cares about writing using pen or pencil nowadays? Speaking about English, 99% if the time I am typing.

By the way, it is best to arrange rituals yourself. We didn't like that part of the service.

My father passed away in Phuket. That was a year ago. We hired a Thai company to do all the paperwork, cremation, rituals and so on. I am not sure about Australia, as I am Russian myself. In our case they offered several options:

Transport body as it is to the country

Cremate and send it

Cremate and keep it here

Everything was done by them. I think it is the best option for farangs.

Normally if I don't understand something I start asking a lot of questions which require simple 'yes' or 'no' answers or answers with numbers to figure out overall meaning.

Does this machine have a guarantee?

How much?

What time?

Which day?

I don't understand you well. Could you repeat slowly like you will do for your 3 year old son?

If this doesn't help the last hope is Paiboon publishing dictionary or google translate.

What about your speaking? What is the most challenging part?

If I knew what the problem was I could figure out how to fix it. When I hear spoken Thai I can't pick out any words at all. It's just an unintelligible buzz. When I listen to my wife talk to friends or family on the phone or in person I understand zero. But, if she repeats it to me in what she calls "Rosetta Stone Thai", I understand quite a bit. When watch the Thai TV news in the morning I don't understand anything the announcers say. Not a word. However, I can read some of the on screen text and usually understand the SMS messages posted at the bottom of the screen.

I have a similar problem with listening to news or radio. Sometimes I don't understand at all, occasionally I get to know roughly what the conversation is about. My solution was to switch to simpler texts with audio recordings, like this one: http://thairecordings.com/

It is designed for intermediate learners. My vocabulary is sufficient to understand most of the text without a dictionary. There will be around 10-15 new word per each text.

In my opinion, blindly listening to material that is much more challenging than we are capable of comprehending helps only with pronunciation and intonation. I do listen myself mainly for that reason.

I've been through Becker, Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, and 70% of High Speed Thai. I've spent hours with audio analysis software trying to improve my pronunciation. I've watched thirty minutes of Thai news per day for the last eight years. I watch a soap opera or two weekly. I started studying in 1996 with the Becker book and cassette tapes which I listened to for an hour a day while commuting. Many people have tried to help me with my pronunciation. They have all given up with a shake if the head. After spending hundreds and hundreds of hours and dollars I finally realized that the pursuit was hopeless. No one understands anything I say and I don't understand any spoken Thai at all. It is by far the biggest, most frustrating and most humiliating failure of my life.

That is hard to believe that after such a hard work you are still not conversational. What is the problem? The tones? Vowel length?

First off, DO learn Thai if you're going to spend a substantial amount of time here. Your experience will be richer and more fun than if you didn't. Don't give up, everyone reaches a plateau now and then, but trust your effort will pay off in the long run.

Secondly, DO learn to read & write. I refused to learn my first couple of years here and it was a mistake. Once I could read a lot of problems I was having became easier to understand, and acquiring new vocabulary became easier. The other thing about reading and writing is that it's easier to learn than speaking/listening - so it keeps your confidence level up.

Have fun.

I gave up because after years and years of study and after learning how to read, I still made absolutely zero progress learning how to speak and understand. The constant failure to understand and to be understood was just way too depressing for me. I'm much happier now that I've accepted the fact that I will never learn conversational Thai.

For example: The other day I was on a long bicycle ride. I stopped to buy water three times. Each time I asked for น้ำเปล่า in my best Thai. Each time the shopkeeper looked at me as if I'd asked for tickets to a Puccini opera.

So, after 17 years of on and off study and after living here for nine years, I can't even ask for a bottle of plain water.

It was time to give up.

That is not true that you can't learn conversational Thai. It is a matter of effort+ability+guidance. If you lack one of it you can compensate by 2 others. Trust me, after you listen to (and repeat after!) Pimsluer, Practical Situational Thai, listen to 5 drama series, listen to radio every day for 30 minutes, go through all Paiboon books with audio, make a habit of having a simple conversation for 15 minutes every day (use language exchange, sharedtalk) you will be able to order a bottle of water!