Learn Thai at Thai University?

[MartynMcfly]

I am looking to come over to Thailand on an education visa to learn some Thai. I have a UK degree and may well want to perhaps get a job teaching English.

 

Currently looking for good recommendations of places to attend and rough costs. I am over 40 so this won't be  a backpacking trip at all.

 

 Chiang Mai appeals but open to suggestions.

 

[Percy Penguin]

I was at AUA in CM for a while and one of the guys in the class had previously taken a course at the university. I forget exactly what he said now but the overall impression wasn't so good. AUA will do visas. The course I did there was nothing special but it was OK and pretty cheap. I also took a course at one of the schools in Pantip Plaza (this is still in CM). I think they called themselves TSL. AUA was better IMO.

[CMoldie]

I am currently undertaking a course at Payap University. Payap is a well respected, long established, private University in Chiang Mai. The courses offered are intensive: there are a total of 8 levels, with each level being 5 weeks long, 4 days per week, 3 hours per day (60 hours per level in all). I am currently in level 2.

Levels 1-2 are designed to get you basically competent in spoken Thai with 3 and 4 adding written Thai. The higher levels are more specialised.

If you book 2 or more levels at a time, they have a package that includes visa assistance.

It's not possible to give an absolute recommendation because the course content and teaching style that suit on person may not suit another. I have found it good compared to others I have tried.

At baht 8000 per level the price is not cheap, but competitive.

https://inter.payap.ac.th/certificate-programs/intensive-thai/

https://lec.payap.ac.th/thai-courses/

 

 

[mania]

I learned to read & write at Payap & highly recommend them.

 

In hindsight you really come to realize how important reading & writing is to

learning the Thai language.

 

Instead of learning Thai via transliteration to English which will never be right

[CMoldie]

8 hours ago, mania said:

Instead of learning Thai via transliteration to English which will never be right

Unfortunately (from my point of view) Payap have now adopted transliteration for the first two modules(intensive Thai 1 and 2). I can't wait to move on to module 3 and so see the back of it.

[THAIJAMES]

You got me interested in the subject and I found a good link that reviews all the schools

http://www.chiangmailocator.com/wiki-best-thai-language-schools-and-effective-ways-to-learn-thai-in-chiang-mai-p154

[mania]

14 hours ago, CMoldie said:

Unfortunately (from my point of view) Payap have now adopted transliteration for the first two modules(intensive Thai 1 and 2). I can't wait to move on to module 3 and so see the back of it.

Bummer ☹️

 

I did start with level 3 so did not know that

 

I don't know if they still do the entrance test? But they did for me & they put me in level 3 to start back then

 

I would advise anyone who is thinking of studying to go ahead & learn the alphabet & vowels on your own

It is not hard & there are many free apps for your phone or tablet

 

It will help a lot once you have started

 

 

[THAIJAMES]

Went to Chiang Mai University language institute to inquire about Thai language courses.

I spoke Thai to them and they told me right away we don't have anything to offer you it's only for beginners.

They don't provide any reading or writing courses which I was interested in.

The whole thing looks pretty unprofessional.

I guess it has nothing to do with chiangmai  university and it's just a private school that rents an office there.

[CMoldie]

3 hours ago, mania said:

I would advise anyone who is thinking of studying to go ahead & learn the alphabet & vowels on your own

It is not hard & there are many free apps for your phone or tablet

 

I agree completely and I wish I had.

They only do the entrance test if you apply to start with a module above level 1. I am told that, until recently, they did not use transliteration at all, not even for modules 1 and 2. I wish they had kept with that.

[Jane Dough]

I did the University of Life along with a book or two. 

 

Many branches in Thailand and it is free (excluding possible bar fines).

 

Rooster

[BritManToo]

On 4/29/2019 at 12:59 PM, MartynMcfly said:

Chiang Mai appeals but open to suggestions.

Chiang Mai people speak Lanna Thai, all the schools teach Central Thai.

Best to learn Central Thai in Bangkok where many people speak Central Thai.

[jackdd]

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Chiang Mai people speak Lanna Thai, all the schools teach Central Thai.

Best to learn Central Thai in Bangkok where many people speak Central Thai.

Most Thais are able to adapt to the dialect/language of the other person, some might not understand this at first, but will switch if asked to. We are talking about a very low percentage of Thais who have problems to stick to speaking central Thai in a conversation. With foreigners it's even easier for them than with other Thais. So actually problems will only arise in situations when Thais speak with Thais and you want to understand them, but there are so many Thais from other provinces in Bangkok, you might run into this problem there as well.

[CMoldie]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Chiang Mai people speak Lanna Thai, all the schools teach Central Thai.

Best to learn Central Thai in Bangkok where many people speak Central Thai.

In Chiang Mai City itself I doubt that more than 50% of the population can speak Lanna Thai. They come from all over and Central Thai is the lingua franca.

As you say, all schools teach in Central Thai so pretty well everybody is a native speaker of Central Thai from a very early age. The huge majority of people who can speak Lanna are, in fact, bilingual in Lanna and Central Thai.

[BritManToo]

24 minutes ago, CMoldie said:

As you say, all schools teach in Central Thai so pretty well everybody is a native speaker of Central Thai from a very early age. The huge majority of people who can speak Lanna are, in fact, bilingual in Lanna and Central Thai.

The point being they don't chat in central Thai.

My family chat in English, Lanna, and some totally different village language with grandma, never central.

Sure they can do business speaking central Thai, but you won't have any chance of socialising in a group with them.

If you're happy enough to just want the Thai to do a bit of shopping fine, but in a group of Thais you'll be entirely left out.

 

What you say is repeated by people who have no Thai language skills at all, in reality the first ten minutes two Thai people meet, they discuss relative ages and negotiate a common language for conversation. As you've already admitted, you've yet to pass tourist transliterated Thai.

 

Wait to give advice on learning Thai until after you've studied the first 2-3 years of Thai reading and writing. 

Then you'll understand how much time you've wasted learning a language nobody uses socially.

Edited May 1, 2019 by BritManToo

[THAIJAMES]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

The point being they don't chat in central Thai.

My family chat in English, Lanna, and some totally different village language with grandma, never central.

Sure they can do business speaking central Thai, but you won't have any chance of socialising in a group with them.

If you're happy enough to just want the Thai to do a bit of shopping fine, but in a group of Thais you'll be entirely left out.

 

What you say is repeated by people who have no Thai language skills at all, in reality the first ten minutes two Thai people meet, they discuss relative ages and negotiate a common language for conversation. As you've already admitted, you've yet to pass tourist transliterated Thai.

 

Wait to give advice on learning Thai until after you've studied the first 2-3 years of Thai reading and writing. 

Then you'll understand how much time you've wasted learning a language nobody uses socially.

In 32 years of living in Thailand I have never been anywhere where I could not use Central Thai.

Yes you will be much better accepted if you also speak the local dialect but that could be Lanna, muang, lue or any of the Hill tribe languages.

It really depends if you will spend most of your life in a village or not.

in the city with most people coming from other parts of Thailand you would have problems using one of the dialects.

 

 

[MrBrad]

Standard or Central Thai is the only way to go.  Actually, I know of no place in Chiang Mai or elsewhere where one can study Lanna Thai.  Oftentimes I have wished that there were a school which taught Lanna Thai, but there isn't.  Locals here by and large all speak Lanna Thai, but very very few can read or write it; it isn't taught.  This is much like a 3- or 4-year-old who can speak very well, but cannot read or write.

 

All schools teach standard Thai to the children enrolled there.  Mass communication with radio, TV, movies, newsprint, and Facebook are all in Standard Thai.  Computer keyboards are in Standard Thai.  There are very few examples of written Lanna Thai, though you can see the names of some temples written in Lanna Thai as well as Standard Thai and sometimes Roman letters.

 

Here is a multilingual sign for Wat Phra Kaew with Lanna at the top.

[NancyL]

When educated, professional Thai people, even those resident in Chiang Mai get together socially they speak Central Thai.  Often some in the group are originally from Bangkok and/or were educated there.  I find little problem in understanding and joining in the conversation, having learned Central Thai, although I do better in Bangkok where people speak more slowly than they do in the north.

 

The only time I've experienced educated Thai people switching to Lanna (muang) was when a few people in the group wanted to exclude others, especially the foreigners who understand central Thai, from understanding their side conversation.  It's not polite and even other Thai people in the group agree.

[cmsally]

I think you will find a lot of people slip into Lanna Thai without realising, when they start talking to people who use the same dialect. Myself included!

If you are used to communicating with certain people in CM dialect, it seems very weird and rather rude to talk to them in Central Thai.

AUA used to run a course in Lanna Thai.

[Wandr]

Going back to the original topic, is there a school in the Hang Dong area for learning Thai?

I don't need a visa .... just the language.

[EricTh]

On 4/30/2019 at 11:46 AM, mania said:

I learned to read & write at Payap & highly recommend them.

 

In hindsight you really come to realize how important reading & writing is to

learning the Thai language.

 

Instead of learning Thai via transliteration to English which will never be right

 

I don't quite agree.

 

You can easily write Thai with IPA symbols. Thai writing is based on Indic script and doesn't really match well with Thai phonetics.

 

Furthermore, Thai writing doesn't match with actual spoken sounds. Using IPA will give you the actual sound.

 

There are so many ways to write the same sound using Thai alphabet that it even confused native Thai.

Edited May 3, 2019 by EricTh

[EricTh]

On 5/1/2019 at 2:08 PM, THAIJAMES said:

Went to Chiang Mai University language institute to inquire about Thai language courses.

I spoke Thai to them and they told me right away we don't have anything to offer you it's only for beginners.

They don't provide any reading or writing courses which I was interested in.

The whole thing looks pretty unprofessional.

I guess it has nothing to do with chiangmai  university and it's just a private school that rents an office there.

 

Yes, it's just for beginners and an introduction to Thai culture. It's for slow learners.

 

Not sure whether it's part of the univ or private?

Edited May 3, 2019 by EricTh

[EricTh]

On 4/30/2019 at 12:39 AM, Percy Penguin said:

I was at AUA in CM for a while and one of the guys in the class had previously taken a course at the university. I forget exactly what he said now but the overall impression wasn't so good. AUA will do visas. The course I did there was nothing special but it was OK and pretty cheap. I also took a course at one of the schools in Pantip Plaza (this is still in CM). I think they called themselves TSL. AUA was better IMO.

Why did you think AUA was better? Any details?

[EricTh]

On 4/30/2019 at 8:10 PM, CMoldie said:

Unfortunately (from my point of view) Payap have now adopted transliteration for the first two modules(intensive Thai 1 and 2). I can't wait to move on to module 3 and so see the back of it.

That's the right approach. 

 

Beginners have a hard time pronouncing the Thai sounds and tones. They don't need the complicated writing to mess them up.

 

I know of quite a few who have been in Thailand and studying Thai for more than 5 years who still can't get the tones correct.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2019 by EricTh

[Dante99]

10 hours ago, EricTh said:

That's the right approach. 

 

Beginners have a hard time pronouncing the Thai sounds and tones. They don't need the complicated writing to mess them up.

 

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, EricTh said:

I know of quite a few who have been in Thailand and studying Thai for more than 5 years who still can't get the tones correct.

 

It really does not matter much unless you are anal about it.  Context and listener understanding speaker's weaknesses make communication easy even if tones are incorrect, usually.  Another nice thing about Thailand.

 

 This is not France.

[mania]

13 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

I don't quite agree.

 

You can easily write Thai with IPA symbols. Thai writing is based on Indic script and doesn't really match well with Thai phonetics.

 

Furthermore, Thai writing doesn't match with actual spoken sounds. Using IPA will give you the actual sound.

 

There are so many ways to write the same sound using Thai alphabet that it even confused native Thai.

This has not been my experience

 

Thai writing always helped me with proper pronouncing where transliteration usually was wrong especially for some sounds/letters

 

I find writing does in fact match the spoken sound as it "should" be but many foreigners are accustomed to the wrong sound

due to various reasons

 

As for so many ways to write the same sound...well of course but there is only one right way to write it

Same as any language....Fone/Phone etc But Thai has the tone marks so you know what it is

Edited May 4, 2019 by mania

[BritManToo]

12 hours ago, EricTh said:

There are so many ways to write the same sound using Thai alphabet that it even confused native Thai.

No, there isn't.

[mania]

12 hours ago, EricTh said:

Beginners have a hard time pronouncing the Thai sounds and tones. They don't need the complicated writing to mess them up.

 

I know of quite a few who have been in Thailand and studying Thai for more than 5 years who still can't get the tones correct.

 

 

As Dante99 mentioned many times it does not matter if the person your talking to is understanding your context/subject they will know what you mean

 

But.....more importantly tone marks in writing are there for a reminder of what that is

Secondly only foreigners learn Thai this way

 

Truth is Thai kids are not taught tones they are told the word & repeat it as it is spoken

not with a long drawn out explanation of this is a rising tone or a falling tone etc

Maa with a high tone is Horse

Maa with rising tone is dog

Maa with medium or flat tone is come

That is how foreigners learn...very complicated

 

Yet Thai's are not taught that

They are taught the word & each one sounds different as it should

They learn it without question of tone

 

They learn consonants & vowels

The tone marks are there in spelling but not taught as foreigners are

This is also why when you ask most Thai's to explain the tones to you they just wonder what you mean.

Edited May 4, 2019 by mania