somtamguy

13 minutes ago, thailandsgreat said:

I think it is up to every student to dedicate his or her time as he/she pleases. We haven't come further on dialects. There are big differences. Many speakers on TV use a pronounciation I understand (except for my lack of vocab) but with some I don't understand at all. It would be interesting to know why. What are the differences, who speak like this or that. Even the course I did a while ago went into pronounciation that was very different from "Paiboon and Google translate" as the levels went up.

Just giving you some advice, because I see you have made three posts on this forum since 2019 asking people on here about how to improve listening comprehension, because you said, in your own words, that your "listening comprehension is poor". 

All i'm saying is, from someone who is now able to understand native speakers in most situations (both in formal and informal situations), you need to spend a LOT more time doing listening practice. There is a clear correlation between a foreigner's level of listening comprehension of Thai and the amount of total hours they've put in doing listening practice. You don't have to take my advice, because it doesn't matter to me if you want to strictly study the different variations of Thai native speaker pronunciation. But you're asking for advice on here from experienced Thai language learners about how to improve. If you want to get good at listening you will have to put in a lot more work doing listening practice.

Like I already mentioned - somewhere between 1-3 (or even more is optimal) every single day for approximately the next 1-2 years. You'll see a huge jump in your listening comprehension. If you don't want to do that, then it doesn't bother me at all. But your listening skills will most likely stagnate over the next few years or maybe only slightly improve if you don't focus on listening to native speakers (on Youtube and in real life) on a daily basis.

Good luck!

TBH I think you may be concentrating way too much on different pronunciation between native speakers. This is something you can maybe start to focus on once you get to the higher intermediate/advanced levels. But right now it looks like you need to spend A LOT more time on listening practice, and also speaking practice. Thai is hard to understand as a beginner, which is pretty much the level you're at. But once you get to the higher levels it becomes a lot easier, and sometimes feels completely natural to someone who has achieved that high level. 

You seem to be getting way too bogged down in linguistic questions, when your time would be way better spent on doing anywhere between 1-5 hours per day of listening practice for around 1-2 years, every single day. Unless of course your goal is to understand the absolute nuts and bolts of the language, then that is ok. But if your goal is to UNDERSTAND native speakers comfortably, you are going to have to put in a lot more time improving your listening comprehension (and of course, speaking and reading). 

5 hours ago, underthecounter said:

    Dude, you are killing it!!!!! My wife says you sound 95% Thai.

    My marriage has been in Thai for the last year or so. It is a great way to start your learning, but it is quite easy to fall in the "wife trap": your wife understands you, but just because she is used to your pronunciation and intonation. Out of this, other Thai people has troubles understanding you, but your wife, God bless her, says that they pretend not to just out of pride, so you go back to speaking with her, perpetuating the vicious circle. I have embarrassed myself in front of so many Thais that I don't feel it anymore and keep trying... 

    It is very inspiring that you can get to this level by self study, well done! 

Haha thanks mate. But definitely still got a long way to go. 

I totally understand that feeling where your partner understands you but no other people understand you, lol. The best way to fix this is to try and start practicing talking with a wider range of native speakers. This will take you out of your comfort zone, and you'll get the reality check from the random natives that you need. I sure as hell got it when it happened to me, lol. It is also a good thing. Because it kind of shows you how much you need to improve, and how much more work there still is to do. I never really listen to what my GF tells me. The only way to gauge how i'm going is when i'm interacting with random native speakers who have no connection to me. That's where the real work begins! 

And it's also inspiring that you are trying to talk to your wife exclusively in Thai. Well done to get to that level! Usually we see the opposite with foreigners where they speak mainly in English with their partners. 

Here is my next clip that I have made - 

If anyone wants to read along, here is the story/post below - 

"ไม่ใช่นึกจะอยู่ตรงไหนก็อยู่ได้"

นายกฯ เชื่อว่ามีคนอยู่เบื้องหลังการชุมนุมของชาวบ้านบางกลอย ยืนยันอยู่ในเขตอุทยานแห่งชาติ-พื้นที่ป่าต้นน้ำไม่ได้

วันนี้ (17 มี.ค.) พล.อ. ประยุทธ์ จันทร์โอชา นายกรัฐมนตรีและรัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงกลาโหม กล่าวถึงการชุมนุมของชาวกะเหรี่ยงบ้านบางกลอย จ.เพชรบุรี เพื่อร้องเรียนที่ถูกเจ้าหน้าที่กีดกันไม่ให้อยู่อาศัยและทำกินในป่าแก่งกระจาน ทั้งที่ชุมชนอยู่มาก่อนพื้นที่นี้จะถูกประกาศเป็นอุทยานแห่งชาติ และมีส่วนช่วยในการดูแลผืนป่า

พล.อ.ประยุทธ์กล่าวว่าพื้นที่ดังกล่าวเป็นอุทยานฯ และต้นน้ำชั้น 1 ที่จำเป็นต้องอนุรักษ์ไว้ พร้อมกับอ้างว่าคนไทยทั่วไปไม่พอใจที่มีชุมชนอาศัยอยู่ในบริเวณดังกล่าว อีกทั้งรัฐบาลได้จัดหาพื้นที่สำหรัอยู่อาศัยและทำการเกษตรให้ชาวบ้านแล้ว

"(รัฐบาล) ดูแลไทย-กลุ่มชาติพันธุ์ทั้งหมด แต่ต้องให้เกิดความเท่าเทียมกัน ไม่ใช่นึกจะอยู่ตรงไหนก็อยู่ได้" นายกฯ กล่าวกับผู้สื่อข่าวที่ทำเนียบรัฐบาลอย่างมีอารมณ์

พล.อ.ประยุทธ์เชื่อว่ามีผู้อยู่เบื้องหลังการชุมนุมของชาวบ้านบางกลอย ที่ต้องการสร้างความขัดแย้ง สร้างความไม่เข้าใจระหว่างรัฐบาลและประชาชน

"เราจำเป็นต้องรักษาป่าต้นน้ำไม่ใช่หรือ และต้องหาพื้นที่ทำกินให้กับเขาแต่ไม่ใช่จะไปอยู่ในใจกลางอุทยานฯ ผมไม่อยากจะพูด แต่ไม่ได้โทษเขา ผมโทษคนอยู่เบื้องหลัง ซึ่งก็รู้ว่าใครอยู่เบื้องหลัง" นายกฯ กล่าว

And here is the link to the post - https://www.facebook.com/BBCnewsThai/photos/a.1527194487501586/2898112507076437

13 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Fair play. Thanks for that, somtamguy, and for picking the topic - folk are probably still swilling over harry n meghan ad nauseum!

Nowhere near your level but do you know of a Thai news site/app with headlines in Thai and English? I find that ideal for getting news fast and learning...

My brain switches off and my imagination takes me elsewhere when I hear anything about those two, lol. Makes me fall asleep. 

I don't know any sites or apps that have that kind of service, but I definitely recommend just trying to rely on Thai websites for native Thai speakers. You may struggle at the beginning and it may be slow going, but eventually you'll be reading headlines in Thai without even having to translate the meaning into English. Just gotta keep grinding day after day and it will eventually happen. 

30 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

Hello! I have read this page before, sorry if this lacks “polish”. 

63714248663__1D14E776-9592-4BC7-B796-56C4879410FA.MOV

Amazing job mate. I listened to the whole clip :D. Maybe some more people could share some clips too. 

On 3/6/2021 at 10:56 AM, jackdd said:

Why don't you go ahead, since you picked an article? Then others might follow.

Ok, I just recorded my attempt at reading the article. I still make heaps of mistakes and still have a long way to go. I only lived in Thailand for approximately 12 months back in 2014/2015, so I'm hoping to get back there soon and do some more intensive classes. The reason I think it's better if we upload a clip of ourselves is because anyone can answer a few general questions about their language level, but the proof is in the pudding when we just show ourselves speaking/reading etc. If anyone else wants to read along or create a clip of themselves reading the article in the video like I have, here is the article below - 

 

28 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

Next, how does she describe the way she is dressed ? I got จัดเต็ม and thought that I heard ผม . 
edit. That was the last question,  even when I know what is said its still to fast for me to hear it. 

วันนี้หรอ

หนูก็จัดเต็มสิคะ 

ทั้งเสื้อผ้าหน้าผมเนี่ย 

ถ้าแม่ได้เห็นนะแม่ต้องร้องว้าวแน่เลยอ่ะ

4 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

15 hours ago, somtamguy said:

Pretty sure she said ลูกแม่น่าจะได้เป็นลูกสะใภ้เจ้าสัว not เจ้าสวน 

<They sound similar, and seeing as she talked about the mango farm just before this line you probably expected the word to be เจ้าสวน, but i'm fairly certain it's เจ้าสัว. >end if quote. 
 

This is rather odd coming from somtamguy, and begs the question, do we report what people say or what they mean?  Since สัว is not a word the meaning must be สวน. 

tgeezer - เจ้าสัว is a word. Please type in the word เจ้าสัว into google and you will find out the meaning of the word.

Actually, I'll do the work for you. Check this link out and tell me if เจ้าสัว is not a word - https://www.thairath.co.th/tags/เจ้าสัว

3 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

Well it is far too fast for me. I heard สวนมะม่วง the second time as I said it sounded nothing like that to me first time round. and I didn't get ลูกสะใภ้ at all. Very little was spoken correctly so It's not surprising that many native speakers are none too particular about spelling.  
Did either of you need to "ask a friend"? 

Nope got it straight away.

55 minutes ago, KeeTua said:

 

What I heard is this but wouldn't bet the farm on it being absolutely correct:

ได้ยินมาว่าเขาเป็นลูกเจ้าของสวนมะม่วง but shortened มะม่วง to ม่วง I heard he is the son of a mango orchard owner.

 

*I see Jack beat me to สวนมะม่วง as I was typing.

 

and:

ลูกแม่น่าจะได้เป็นลูกสะใภ้เจ้าสวน Your daughter may be the daughter in law of an orchard owner.

Pretty sure she said ลูกแม่น่าจะได้เป็นลูกสะใภ้เจ้าสัว not เจ้าสวน 

They sound similar, and seeing as she talked about the mango farm just before this line you probably expected the word to be เจ้าสวน, but i'm fairly certain it's เจ้าสัว

Any of the guys in here who can read Thai want to record a clip of themselves reading this news article for us to hear? https://voicetv.co.th/read/MwHxEUshZ
 

21 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

That is a great idea I wonder how it is done when limited to iPad and iPhone.  

In the reply section there will be a button to click “add files” and it will allow you to take a video of yourself speaking Thai or reading something in Thai out aloud

So when is anyone actually going to share an audio clip/video clip of their level in Thai? We are all well aware that foreigners who learn Thai language tend to overestimate their level of Thai by a long shot.

It's "หน้าใส" on the plaque... It's under "ประชาชนสุขสันต์"