Does anyone else find it to be sick irony that probably the top institutions in existence for the Thai language are in a city where you could never have the opportunity to use or become conversational at the language? You'd think they could build a Duke language school somewhere where Thai is spoken - a farming village perhaps? (I haven't found a good city yet, Pattaya, Ko Pha-ngan etc. were as heavily Americanized as Bangkok in my experience).
Middlebury's very famous Summer Language Immersion Programs function entirely on the premise of not allowing anything but your target language for the length of the program. It DOES matter, it's not my own idea.
Anyway, I think I'm qualified to at least comment on this. Twenty years ago when I attended a language school in China, every interaction everyday all day for the entire year was in Chinese no matter how poorly it went. I made a fool of myself many times, but there was no fall back. That's why - relatively speaking - everyone was amazing after only 3 months! What I mean by that is that, of course they were nowhere near the professional levels they might have gotten to years later, they had face enough situations to know how to navigate all of them and to get speakers to respond back in a way (perhaps simplified or slower) they could handle - to navigate the hospital, bank, university enrollment bureaucracy, anywhere really.
Most Thai learners in Bangkok will not be at the China 3-month level even after 3 years to tell you the sad truth. Even if they go to a proper school. The passing of years in Thailand, honestly, counts for nothing if your interactions in the language do not last *HOURS PER DAY*. A few words here and there don't add up to anything even over 12 months in aggregate.
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