I know there are several theads on learning spoken Thai in Chiang Mai. My son will be in-country for several months this summer after graduation from high school in the US. His conversational Thai is quite good. He wants to study somwhere while in town to become literate in Thai. He is also looking to meet up with others young adults, both Thai and others, as many of his lifelong pals from the village have moved out, gotten jobs, or gotten prematurely married. And yes, I suppose I could try to teach him, but I don't remember the rules and besides, no kid wants to have dad as their teacher.

Are there any such classes aimed at non-literate Thai speakers and similar luuk khreung at AUA or Phayap or elsewhere? And by the way, does John still run AUA?

The YMCA has a two- or three-course programme for learning to read Thai. I took the first course earlier this year and thought it well-organized and well-run. Each course goes for about five weeks, for two hours a day, three days a week. Most of those in the class I took were non-native speakers of Thai, but there was one student who had a Thai mother and who was at least very close to being a native speaker. The class seemed at times to be a little slow for her, but she stayed until the end of the course and apparently found it useful.

Learning to read and write is not that hard, did it myself over a period of a few weeks and am now OK with standard stuff - there are enough exceptions to trip me up.

I learnt the consonants - writing, sound and ending sound. Then the simpler vowels, added the vowel clusters and the rarer vowels. I have yet to master the rules for the tones

So now I can read and write Thai - but often don't know what it means!

So now I can read and write Thai - but often don't know what it means!

Sounds like you’ve gone native – makes me jealous – well done! Maybe I'll achieve the same over the next decade or two

Unlike spoken Thai, it's quite possible to learn written Thai from a book.. So that's another option. I'm not sure if there's courses that focus ONLY on written Thai?

Unlike spoken Thai, it's quite possible to learn written Thai from a book.. So that's another option. I'm not sure if there's courses that focus ONLY on written Thai?

If my son was patient enough, I could teach him to read Thai, but as many fellow dads know, sometimes acting as both father and teacher just does not work out too well. I think the YMCA suggestion might be the most convenient and the most flexible given his few months in-country and his desire to expand his social horizons towards the city.