I've decided I should pick up some Thai language skills.

[RobFord]

It does not matter Rob, you are not going to learn even Central Thai taught in the schools.

 

555. That's what the GF said when I told her I was taking lessons.

 

"Good Luck."

 

At this point I'm also interested in how the language works.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[jackdd]

It depends alot on what type of conversations you want to understand.

If it's the usual chit chat of the girls, you will encounter quite alot of slang words, which you won't learn in a "conversation course" at any thai school.

My way of learning thai, which works quite ok in my opinion: If i think about how to say something but don't know it yet i ask somebody or look it up on the internet. If i'm listening to a conversation and hear a word which i don't know yet several times i ask somebody what it means. If you want to take this a bit more serious you can just write these things down and practice them. This way you do learn the vocabulary that's important for you.

[NancyL]

Yes, it really helps to have some goals in mind when learning Thai.  And while being able to chat up the girls in the bars may be of interest, there are other goals that may have more impact on your "survival", like learning numbers so you can go shopping in the market, learning the names of basic foods and meals so you can order for yourself in a restaurant and market, being able to tell time in Thai (it's more complicated than you think) so you can make appointments (and yes, Thai people often do arrive on time) and being able to give and understand directions. This is where having a GPS and listening to it in Thai vs. English is a help. For starters, the English language versions of the GPS always mispronounces the place names wrong while listening to the GPS in Thai will help you to learn the correct pronunciation for the roads and landmarks.

[EricTh]

On 9/13/2017 at 8:02 PM, RobFord said:

 

I've no interested in being tested. I'm slow. Any recommendations?

 

 

If you are slow, don't listen to Dante and don't go to YMCA , their course is quite intensive. A lot of things are covered in one month.  Payap university is very intensive.

 

You can request for an observation class so you can sit in for about 20 minutes in YMCA, Chiang Mai university, AUA.

 

I did a sit-in in all three places, the slowest is Chiang Mai university because they take one year to teach what other places take 3 months to teach. Chiang Mai university have cultural outings so it can be fun.

 

Do note that the course they teach is different from the Lanna language that Chiang Mai people speak.

Edited September 17, 2017 by EricTh

[EricTh]

On 9/14/2017 at 6:42 PM, NancyL said:

This may be more of a time investment than you care to make, but the tones didn't "make sense" until I learned to read Thai.  Yes, learning to read Thai and the same time you're trying to speak (or at least learning to listen) can make the process more drawn out, but in the end, it sticks with you.  I find that having the ability to read Thai pays off almost everyday, in the stores, the hospital, while figuring out a new appliance, on the roads, etc.  Heck, I even read Thai subtitles on the TV when we have the volume turned down for some reason.  (I do wish they'd leave the subtitles up on the screen a bit longer, however)

 

And for those of you who say you're "tone deaf" because of age or whatever, you're never too old to learn to read Thai.  Actually, it's a pretty cool written language. 99% of the words follows the same rules, unlike English, with every letter,  or letter grouping having just one correct pronouncation.  (Can you say that about English?  Nope.)    Yeah, it would be nice if they put space between the words, but you get over it.  

 

 

 

Written Thai doesn't correspond to the spoken Thai 20% of the time. It maybe written as short vowel but Thai speak it as long vowel.

 

You don't need to learn to read Thai which is based on Indic script, YMCA IPA transcription is good enough.

 

 

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

 

 

You don't need to learn to read Thai which is based on Indic script, YMCA IPA transcription is good enough.

 

 

Learn Thai script, all the transliteration systems just add to the confusion.

[Genericnic]

17 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Learn Thai script, all the transliteration systems just add to the confusion.

And learning Thai script is easier than learning IPA.

 

David

 

[Dante99]

And when you learn it, you can start to read!!! What a big bonus.

[XGM]

I speak Thai every day for over 10 years now and I'll be the first to admit the level of my Thai is far from being good.

 

I did work interviews and instructed Thai staff in Thai, sat with clients and had formal conversations that were 100% in Thai, attended lectures in different subjects that were taught in Thai, and yes, my Thai still sucks.

 

My reading is very basic, and my vocabulary grows at a pace of maybe a couple of words a month these days. I agree that reading is important to understand how words should really sound.

 

Sometimes just paying more attention is all you need in order to improve. For example, sitting on the plane a few days ago, I made it a point to intently listen to the safety instructions in Thai, trying to pick up some of the unknown vocabulary, words that I normally don't use or hear in every day conversations.

 

My pronunciation is mostly reasonable, I believe, but there are sounds I will probably never manage to get right - ง at the beginning of a word is one of them.

 

It is hard.

It is very hard.

But if you live here it's certainly worth your while.

Edited September 17, 2017 by XGM

[Damrongsak]

2 hours ago, XGM said:

My pronunciation is mostly reasonable, I believe, but there are sounds I will probably never manage to get right - ง at the beginning of a word is one of them.

 

Not sure if this would be proper Thai, but it would be roughly "Picking up a crooked, lazy, sleepy snake , it's easily surprised."  I don't have the patience to try and get more than 11 NGs in one sentence.

 

lifting    เงื้อง่า    ngeuuaH ngaaF    verb    to raise; lift up
snake งู     nguuM    noun    snake
crooked   เงี้ยว    ngiaaoH    (noun    snake);  crooked  adjective    [is] crooked; tortuous; bent; curved
lazy    เงื่องหงอย    ngeuuangF ngaawyR    adjective    [is] slothful; sluggish; slow; inactive; tardy; indolent
sleepy  ง่วงงุน    nguaangF ngoonM    adjective    [ง่วงงุน] [is] sleepy; drowsy
surprised งงงวย    ngohngM nguayM    adjective    [งงงวย] [is] stunned; astonished; perplexed; bewildered; flummoxed
easy ง่าย     ngaaiF    adjective    [is] easy; not difficult; simple

 

NG isn't so hard if you try to pronounce "SING" without vocalizing the "SI" part. ง่ายง่าย.  Up to you.  :)

 

[XGM]

7 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Not sure if this would be proper Thai, but it would be roughly "Picking up a crooked, lazy, sleepy snake , it's easily surprised."  I don't have the patience to try and get more than 11 NGs in one sentence.

 

lifting    เงื้อง่า    ngeuuaH ngaaF    verb    to raise; lift up
snake งู     nguuM    noun    snake
crooked   เงี้ยว    ngiaaoH    (noun    snake);  crooked  adjective    [is] crooked; tortuous; bent; curved
lazy    เงื่องหงอย    ngeuuangF ngaawyR    adjective    [is] slothful; sluggish; slow; inactive; tardy; indolent
sleepy  ง่วงงุน    nguaangF ngoonM    adjective    [ง่วงงุน] [is] sleepy; drowsy
surprised งงงวย    ngohngM nguayM    adjective    [งงงวย] [is] stunned; astonished; perplexed; bewildered; flummoxed
easy ง่าย     ngaaiF    adjective    [is] easy; not difficult; simple

 

NG isn't so hard if you try to pronounce "SING" without vocalizing the "SI" part. ง่ายง่าย.  Up to you.  :)

 

I'll try it next time I'm at the dentist. He might need to unwind the mess my mouth will be at if I try to say that :-)

[EricTh]

On 9/16/2017 at 12:06 PM, RobFord said:

 

555. That's what the GF said when I told her I was taking lessons.

 

"Good Luck."

 

At this point I'm also interested in how the language works.

 

Click the link below for language difficulty ranking for English speakers.

 

http://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty

 

Thai is the second most difficult language to learn for English speakers.

 

The most difficult is Chinese.

 

In fact, all tonal languages are most difficult for European speakers.

Edited September 18, 2017 by EricTh

[pigeonjake]

as daft as it sounds google is good, speak to your phone it speaks back in thai,

[Ruffian Dick]

13 hours ago, EricTh said:

Click the link below for language difficulty ranking for English speakers.

 

http://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty

 

Thai is the second most difficult language to learn for English speakers.

 

The most difficult is Chinese.

 

In fact, all tonal languages are most difficult for European speakers.

I don't mean to quibble, but, well, accordion to that, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese are harder than Thai, and about 40 are equally ranked.

I've tangled with Japanese, and I don't find it that difficult, unless you count the three different systems of writing.

Perhaps it boils down to the fact that every language is difficult in its own way.

Paul at LangFocus has some perspectives on this:

http://langfocus.com/language-features/what-is-the-easiest-language-to-learn-for-english-speakers/

Although he hasn't done any feature videos on Thai yet...

Edited September 18, 2017 by Ruffian Dick

[Ahab]

I cannot help with you quest for Thai language instruction in Chiang Mai, but it is an excellent idea to learn a bit of the language in the country where you reside. I live in Buriram and have been taking language classes for the last couple of months. I now know the alphabet and all the vowels and am starting to be able to read Thai script. I have been living here 7 months an my vocabulary is getting better and I can form simple sentences. Still a long way to go but as someone one said "the longest journey begins with a single step".

 

I also like "How do you eat an entire elephant? The answer is one bite at a time.

[Damrongsak]

30 minutes ago, Ahab said:

I also like "How do you eat an entire elephant? The answer is one bite at a time.

If the question is asked in Thai, the answer would be "with lao cao and lots of hot sauce.

[EricTh]

2 hours ago, Ruffian Dick said:

I don't mean to quibble, but, well, accordion to that, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese are harder than Thai, and about 40 are equally ranked.

I've tangled with Japanese, and I don't find it that difficult, unless you count the three different systems of writing.

Perhaps it boils down to the fact that every language is difficult in its own way.

Paul at LangFocus has some perspectives on this:

http://langfocus.com/language-features/what-is-the-easiest-language-to-learn-for-english-speakers/

Although he hasn't done any feature videos on Thai yet...

 

That ranking includes ability to read and speak the language and not just to speak.

 

Japanese has no tones so it is easier to speak and it doesn't have as many difficult vowels as Thai.

 

If the ranking is just based on spoken language alone, Japanese would be easier than both Thai and Chinese.

Edited September 19, 2017 by EricTh

[Ulysses G.]

7 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Japanese has no tones so it is easier to speak and it doesn't have as many difficult vowels as Thai.

 

If the ranking is just based on spoken language alone, Japanese would be easier than both Thai and Chinese.

I have been told that initially Japanese is easier, but more difficult than Thai after the remedial lessons. A little bit, to get around, really is easy to pick up though.

[EricTh]

By the way, I was at Bangkok Bank in Kad Suan Kaew yesterday.

 

Lo and behold, suddenly an older guy with an American accent shouted loudly at the counter staff for NOT understanding his English.

 

This is what he said 'Nobody here seems to understand any English, I said PAY IN'.

 

The poor girl at the counter was shaken with fear and didn't dare to look at him in the face.

 

In the first place, this is NOT America so he shouldn't expect people to know English well.

That would be like someone going to America and shout at Americans for NOT knowing Chinese.

 

He should learn to speak Thai well instead and most importantly how to behave in a civilized manner.

Edited September 19, 2017 by EricTh

[XGM]

10 minutes ago, EricTh said:

He should learn to speak Thai well instead and most importantly how to behave in a civilized manner.

 

He should behave, yes, but maybe better he sticks to his English rather than try to say "pay in" or "deposit" in Thai. The word is "Faak".

Edited September 19, 2017 by XGM

[amexpat]

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

In the first place, this is NOT America so he shouldn't expect people to know English well.

That would be like someone going to America and shout at Americans for NOT knowing Chinese.

 

Heavy, man.  Deep thoughts.

[Dante99]

4 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

This is what he said 'Nobody here seems to understand any English, I said PAY IN'.

 

 

 

In 75 years I have never heard an American say "Pay In" when they wanted to make a deposit.

[rijb]

4 hours ago, EricTh said:

American accent

Brooklyn, West Virginia, Texas, or Maine accent?  What kind of gun was he wearing?

[Ruffian Dick]

7 hours ago, Dante99 said:

In 75 years I have never heard an American say "Pay In" when they wanted to make a deposit.

You and me both, cowboy. That ain't right.

[JannerBoy]

http://lannalanguage.com/

https://www.facebook.com/lannalanguageschool/

 

I go to Lanna Language School. They have Private and Group classes. Also can assist with getting a visa. Worth checking them out. 

[scottiejohn]

On ‎19‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 11:41 AM, XGM said:

The word is "Faak".

He was "f**ked" if he could remember the correct word or phrase!

(try saying "Faak" in an Irish accent!)

 

And I thought it was only the English who shouted out loud to foreigners to make themselves better understood in a foreign country. 

 

(back in England they would just mutter "Tut Tut" to the offended 3rd party and loudly exclaim to any other English person in earshot "dammed foreigners shouldn't come here if they can't speak the proper Queen's English - Bah - Humbug!!

Edited September 20, 2017 by scottiejohn
'

[Trujillo]

Intensive Thai Program at Payap University

 

First two month learn the basics using Romanization. Third month learn the Thai alphabet and phonetics. After that, putting it all together. 

 

Do the homework, come to class, stick with it and you will be on your way. 

 

Unless you are a real self-motivator, one-to-one (or online) studies do not work. 

[EricTh]

19 minutes ago, Trujillo said:

Intensive Thai Program at Payap University

 

 

 

Thread starter isn't looking for an intensive program.

 

 

[Dante99]

1 minute ago, EricTh said:

 

Thread starter isn't looking for an intensive program.

 

 

And we are not looking for another mod.

[JanPeder]

I am from Sweden. We have to learn at least two language during our time in school. Language is the Key for knowing other ways of living. Other cultures.

Today I feel happy every day. Because I know more and more about this country and "khon Thai". I started 5 years ago and I dont speak good. 

Dont go to school. They learn to fast. But importent you listen to the tones. My advice will be:

 - Use free lessons on Internet

-  Or even better use smartphone and find apps "thai learn" (you will find 20 free apps) than you always have your lessons in your pocket...

-  One good on Youtube is  "Kruu Wee teach thai"

-  Books is importent and in the beginning you have to learn transcription. Buy the book (have CD or use smartphone) from  Benjawan Poomasaan. They are good.

 

It is very easy to learn this language - most difficult is when you passed 60 years old - memory short - and of course the tones

Good Luck and welcome to a new world