Suggestions for increasing Listening Skills

[connda]

My speaking and reading skills are way ahead of my listening skills.  I too often find that I'm holding a conversation with a Thai where they are understanding my spoken Thai, but I'm unable to understand their spoken Thai unless I have them write it for me (in Thai). 

My listening skills need serious work.  I'm open to suggestions.

[RichCor]

Does the issue you're experiencing involve tonal interpretation, or the speed of the spoken word.

 

One methods of increasing listening comprehension is to listen to a variety of prerecorded music or news programs ... and it's useful if you can turn the Karaoke or Closed Caption on/off.

 

[connda]

13 hours ago, RichCor said:

Does the issue you're experiencing involve tonal interpretation, or the speed of the spoken word.

 

One methods of increasing listening comprehension is to listen to a variety of prerecorded music or news programs ... and it's useful if you can turn the Karaoke or Closed Caption on/off.

 

I need to find some karaoke type music with the Thai written at the bottom.  The inter-province Air Con buses play them all the time.  Looked in Big C but couldn't find any that were Karaoke style.

[RichCor]

Take a look at YouTube. Lots of Thai Karaoke music with highlighted text videos posted there.

[Joosesis]

I am a big fan of lakorn. The plots are are so simple, and the acting so obvious that they are easy to understand. Watch them on you tube so you can go at your own pace. You will get hooked!

I also like game shows. Once you know the rules, you have predictive abilities to keep up with what they are saying.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[connda]

On 2/1/2018 at 12:15 PM, RichCor said:

Take a look at YouTube. Lots of Thai Karaoke music with highlighted text videos posted there.

Really!  Oh!  Just looked!  RichCor, you are a genius. 
Thank you immensely!

[connda]

On 2/1/2018 at 7:05 PM, Joosesis said:

I am a big fan of lakorn. The plots are are so simple, and the acting so obvious that they are easy to understand. Watch them on you tube so you can go at your own pace. You will get hooked!

I also like game shows. Once you know the rules, you have predictive abilities to keep up with what they are saying.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Having a hard time finding Lakorn with Thai subs.  Everything has english subs.  What I'm trying to do is pair my more advanced Thai reading skills with my weak Thai listening skills.  The Thai karaoke is just about perfect.  But if I could find Lakorn with Thai subs, that would be great too.

[Zooheekock]

It sounds like your knowledge of vocabulary and grammar is sufficient and it's just a matter of getting your ear used to the language, in which case, the only thing to do is a lot of listening. If you live in the countryside, is it talking to locals which causes a problem or is your listening weak across the board? If it's the latter, then just find some material you enjoy and listen the hell out of it. When I'm gardening, I listen to a few Thai podcasts -  Witcast, Omnivore, Nerd Loyalty and โปรดใช้วิจารณญาณในการฟัง (Witcast is often very good, the others are so-so) and political discussions which I download from youtube. In the past, I used to listen to the news on VOA (just because it's also available as a podcast, which makes it easier to sort out) and NHK (which has transcripts). ThaiPBS also has a daily show (downloadable) where they read serializations of novels, which is OK. On the other hand, if you have a problem with the locals but no problems dealing with standard pronunciation then I would suggest paying someone to make some recordings for you.
 

Quote

I need to find some karaoke type music with the Thai written at the bottom. 

That might help but it's unlikely to be the most useful or efficient method.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Zooheekock

[Zooheekock]

6 minutes ago, connda said:

Having a hard time finding Lakorn with Thai subs.  Everything has english subs.  What I'm trying to do is pair my more advanced Thai reading skills with my weak Thai listening skills.  The Thai karaoke is just about perfect.  But if I could find Lakorn with Thai subs, that would be great too.

If you can understand the Thai subs, just listen without. It's a slog and you'll have to re-listen over and over again but you'll get there.

[connda]

On 1/31/2018 at 9:54 PM, RichCor said:

Does the issue you're experiencing involve tonal interpretation, or the speed of the spoken word.

 

One methods of increasing listening comprehension is to listen to a variety of prerecorded music or news programs ... and it's useful if you can turn the Karaoke or Closed Caption on/off.

 

I'll give you an example.  A Thai working for us called my dog.  "Pooky Manii" is what I hear and it simply did not register.  I asked my wife what he said, "Pooky come here."  Oh!  Pooky Maa Nii.  If I saw that phrase written in Thai, I'd recognized it immediately.  So my mind simply is not wrapping itself around spoken Thai.  Slower is better.  But still, many word and phrases that I hear when spoken don't register with me, but I'd recognized them in writing as well as immediately recognizing the tonality.  The Karaoke will help.

Edited February 4, 2018 by connda

[Zooheekock]

^ I misunderstood your post. If you're at the level of not understanding มานี้ when you hear it, then my suggestions are going to completely wrong - you won't understand a single thing. Maybe think about getting a teacher. Have a look at italki.com - at 300+ baht per hour, it's not expensive.

[connda]

17 minutes ago, Zooheekock said:

^ I misunderstood your post. If you're at the level of not understanding มานี้ when you hear it, then my suggestions are going to completely wrong - you won't understand a single thing. Maybe think about getting a teacher. Have a look at italki.com - at 300+ baht per hour, it's not expensive.

You're not seeing the whole picture.  I can and do have conversations with Thais in only Thai.  What I need is practice and a lot of it.  This is where the pairing of written Thai with spoken Thai, via movies or karaoke would work very well. Also there are dialect difference.  Even my wife who is from this region of Northern Thailand, but who lived and worked in Bangkok for years has told me that many Thais from BKK may have problems understanding the locals from our village.
Thai teachers are hit and miss.  Most I've worked with are stuck on 'rote learning' techniques that bore me silly.  I'm going to work the karaoke angle.  I think I can get some traction there.

Edited February 4, 2018 by connda

[Zooheekock]

Quote

You're not seeing the whole picture. 

I'm just responding to your posts. You made it sound as if you have a fairly high degree of fluency but not understanding มานี้ in the context of seeing someone call your dog makes it sound more like you're firmly in the beginner camp. However, if you want to use karaoke, go ahead. Unless you already have an interest in Thai music, it's not something which I would particularly recommended as a language-learning strategy but that's your decision.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Zooheekock

[connda]

2 hours ago, Zooheekock said:

I'm just responding to your posts. You made it sound as if you have a fairly high degree of fluency but not understanding มานี้ in the context of seeing someone call your dog makes it sound more like you're firmly in the beginner camp. However, if you want to use karaoke, go ahead. Unless you already have an interest in Thai music, it's not something which I would particularly recommended as a language-learning strategy but that's your decision.

I think I am solidly in the 'old farts over 65' camp where often I don't understand what someone, speaking in perfect English, is saying to me. Which also includes hearing problems.   No, I"m not in the beginner camp.  I live in a part of rural Thailand where there essentially are no farang. Just me!   So to communicate, I have to communicate in Thai. 

[gerryBScot]

What might help is to try to find audio 'recordings' in Thai which have an accompanying text in Thai. Perhaps you could engage the help of a Thai friend who could transcribe the recordings in Thai for you, perhaps conversations. Then when you have a written script and audio recording, work on the written script first, making sure you know the meaning of everything; write out the text. Finally listen to the audio ... go back and do this as often as necessary and build up a supply of texts and recordings.