Learning Thai

[EricTh]

On 5/26/2021 at 1:55 PM, youreavinalaff said:

Learning by doing. Get out and speak Thai. Try to avoid speaking English if you can. Go shopping alone, avoid places where there are many expats and integrate into your local community.

 

That's how I did it. You should be quite good within 6 months.

The problem with this method is that if you speak wrongly, nobody will correct you.

 

I've seen many foreigners using the wrong grammar or pronounce incorrectly but Thai can still understand.

 

It's just like Thai people speaking 'I no hap' which is grammatically and phonetically incorrect but we can still understand.

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by EricTh

[Aforek]

Starting from the beginning, for me you should have an idea of grammar, how sentences are built , past, present, adjectives, plurial etc 

learning phrases without knowing grammar is IMHO uncomplete

 

it's much more easy than our languages ; and also, as said above, learning to read in the  same time will learn you very much 

 

and speak with you thai wife ! I only speak Thai with my wife ( who anyway doesn't speak English ) and I can tell you that now I can have real conversations 

[dddave]

On 5/25/2021 at 7:28 PM, sirineou said:

Writing down , is not a bad idea, When I was in University (yes written language was invented back then) . I used to write down passages I wanted to remember, because when you do so, you use a different part of your brain and it helps to reinforce memory.

But aside from  remembering words and fraises with out context, I like to learn some of the basics so that I understand rather than just remembering sounds that help me get things. 

Get a white board and do a simple phrase every few days like: "I want to go to the store" and try to learn all it's parts and how they work.  Learning individual vocabulary words is almost useless without knowing how to put them into contest so learning how simple phrases work will make learning simpler.

[youreavinalaff]

2 hours ago, EricTh said:

The problem with this method is that if you speak wrongly, nobody will correct you.

 

I've seen many foreigners using the wrong grammar or pronounce incorrectly but Thai can still understand.

 

It's just like Thai people speaking 'I no hap' which is grammatically and phonetically incorrect but we can still understand.

 

On the contrary. I found the local people very facilitating in correcting my pronunciation and grammar. I learned far more than I ever would have done by attending classes or using books, not that it was ever an option where I lived 22 years ago.

 

My wife did not speak English at the time we met. She had never even spoken with a foreigner. That allowed me to progress my Thai and also to help her develop her skills in English.

 

I have continued to progress and still go shopping alone. It is I who deals with any tradesmen when we need work doing at home, I go to immigration alone and I used to deal with my daughter's school. It is easier for a Thai speaking expat to get things done as Thai ladies tend not to push for what they really want.

 

For me, learning a language when living in a foreign country is a no brainer. Also a no brainer is learning it the way we all learned our native tongues. By speaking, listening and remembering. The immersion method.

Edited May 29, 2021 by youreavinalaff

[Chris.B]

3 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

On the contrary. I found the local people very facilitating in correcting my pronunciation and grammar. I learned far more than I ever would have done by attending classes or using books, not that it was ever an option where I lived 22 years ago.

 

My wife did not speak English at the time we met. She had never even spoken with a foreigner. That allowed me to progress my Thai and also to help her develop her skills in English.

 

I have continued to progress and still go shopping alone. It is I who deals with any tradesmen when we need work doing at home, I go to immigration alone and I used to deal with my daughter's school. It is easier for a Thai speaking expat to get things done as Thai ladies tend not to push for what they really want.

 

For me, learning a language when living in a foreign country is a no brainer. Also a no brainer is learning it the way we all learned our native tongues. By speaking, listening and remembering. The immersion method.

 

What, you had no books where you lived 22 years ago? Was you up a mountain or something? ????????

 

 

 

 

[youreavinalaff]

10 hours ago, Chris.B said:

 

What, you had no books where you lived 22 years ago? Was you up a mountain or something? ????????

 

 

 

 

None of the books shown in this thread that facilitate learning Thai as an English speaker. Please try to keep up with the topic.

 

There may have been a couple of English books that would have explained the use of "Was" and "Were" with the pronoun "you".

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by youreavinalaff

[Chris.B]

2 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

None of the books shown in this thread that facilitate learning Thai as an English speaker. Please try to keep up with the topic.

 

How about this then, first published 26 years ago....

 

 

No books available in the dark years of 1999 ehh? ????????

 

[youreavinalaff]

26 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

 

How about this then, first published 26 years ago....

 

 

No books available in the dark years of 1999 ehh? ????????

 

As I said, not where I was living. The book may well have been published in 26 years ago but not available in the one and only book shop near to where I lived.

 

This is the Issan forum. If you lived in an out of the way area of Issan in 1998/9 you will understand.

Edited May 30, 2021 by youreavinalaff

[Aforek]

Because we speak of books, here is the one which helped me to learn  Thai language ; it's really the " fundamentals " of Thai language 

 

may be 60 years old, but there is everything ( doesn't exist anymore, only online ) 

 

The Fundamentals of the Thai Language (lyndonhill.com)

[Chris.B]

1 hour ago, Aforek said:

Because we speak of books, here is the one which helped me to learn  Thai language ; it's really the " fundamentals " of Thai language 

 

may be 60 years old, but there is everything ( doesn't exist anymore, only online ) 

 

The Fundamentals of the Thai Language (lyndonhill.com)

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Thai-Language-Fifth/dp/B003FQQX6Q

 

[Aforek]

19 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Thai-Language-Fifth/dp/B003FQQX6Q

 

Yes, but it's " used "; it doesn't exist anymore "new "  , but to have the real book is better than "online " ; I had the original  in 1976; then I bought an other one "used "  in 1995 : still for me " the Bible " of Thai language 

[starky]

On 5/30/2021 at 1:12 PM, Chris.B said:

 

How about this then, first published 26 years ago....

 

 

No books available in the dark years of 1999 ehh? ????????

 

Yep my first trip was 98 and there heaps of Thai and Lao phase books. Tbh I don't think they help you learn the language beyond memorising a few rote phrases. Also they probably weren't so readily available in deepest darkest Isaan.

[youreavinalaff]

4 hours ago, starky said:

available in deepest darkest Isaan.

I wouldn't say that exactly. What I would say is retailers generally want stock that they can sell. With a head count of approximately 4 foreigners in town, it would be unwise to have a large stock of Thai Language books for foreigners to learn Thai. That is how it was in 1998/9.

 

Roll on a few years, the one and only book store did have a stock of such books, some of which he sold. I did not buy one as I had already become proficient in Thai by using the immersion method.

 

I did have a couple of 15/20 minute reading classes early on. Having asked the teacher for permission, I sat in a classroom of 4 year old Thai kids when they were learning Thai. That was fun.

[RafPinto]

On 5/25/2021 at 7:05 PM, 1FinickyOne said:

one word at a time...

 

It is an issue you will get many different answers to... we all learn differently and different methods work for different people... the general answer is repetition - make some flash cards... I am guessing you want to learn for practical, getting along, purposes... not as a scholarly pursuit... 

 

There are lots of decent tools out there, translation apps for your phone etc.. they are not always correct but a place to start... pm me if you want a brief phonetic guide to help you get started... 

 

I did this for a week.

At day 8, I couldn't remember the one from day one????

[RafPinto]

On 5/25/2021 at 7:27 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Find an innocent Thai girl who knows no English. And then meet her and talk to her. ???? 

Innocent?

Location please.

[RafPinto]

On 5/25/2021 at 9:32 PM, Simple Jack said:

I learned alot from Thai songs with subtitles. Also movies. Untill i met my wife who taught me the more complex stuff.

 

Repetition,repetition & more repetition. I had a weird system that worked for me. Where i would write stuff down in Eng. As it sounded to me in Thai. Being a jock that was easy.

 

All i would say is don't be discouraged. If i can do it. So can you! They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a craft. 30 mins a day you will be well on you're way.

 

Grettings from Khon kaen. ????

 

10,000 hours? Oh dear. Have to drop Thaivisa and focus now.

[1FinickyOne]

10 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

I did this for a week.

At day 8, I couldn't remember the one from day one????

yeah, the idea is to review the previous days work and do it many days until it is so easy, then cancel that word, keep adding words, keep reviewing... 

[BKKBike09]

Learning to read is a very good idea. I'll show my age here and throw in Gordon Allison's 'Easy Thai' as another possible starting point. Mary Haas's classic Thai-English Students Dictionary is well worth having but is hard to find these days. 

 

Being able to read means that someone might write down for you the word for 'chew' (เคี้ยว) and then if you look it up you can see what it might mean if you pronounce it wrong (eg เคียว เคี่ยว). 

 

Plus, if you can read, then when you use the 'speech to text' function in Thai on Line / WhatsApp etc you can see if what comes out makes sense before you send it. This function is also a good way of checking your pronunciation / tones because if you don't speak clearly, then what gets typed will show that ...

 

 

 

 

[lanng khao]

There's only one way to learn to speak Thai like a Thai, download tiktok.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, RafPinto said:

Innocent?

Location please.

I met a couple of almost innocent girls in Bangkok who told me they are from Buriram. So Buriram seems to be a good starting point. ????

I guess to be sure better check the DoB.

 

and be aware that many of them will have brothers...

 

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by OneMoreFarang

[Chris.B]

20 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I met a couple of almost innocent girls in Bangkok who told me they are from Buriram. So Buriram seems to be a good starting point. ????

I guess to be sure better check the DoB.

 

and be aware that many of them will have brothers...

 

 

Your on dangerous ground here showing pictures of underage school girls....

 

[OneMoreFarang]

7 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

Your on dangerous ground here showing pictures of underage school girls....

I thought this thread is about learning Thai, or not?

And just to be sure I wrote above: "I guess to be sure better check the DoB."

Edited June 4, 2021 by OneMoreFarang

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

On 5/25/2021 at 10:15 PM, 1FinickyOne said:

great method to use... there are so many phrases like that...

rongreiyn = school

rongngan = factory

rongnang = cinema

ronglahkon = theater

rongphaiyaban = hospital

rongraiem = hotel

rongchamnam = pawn shop

rongahan = canteen/cafeteria

ranahan = restaurant

tamahan = to cook

 

hongreiyn = classroom

hongsmud = library

hongnon = bedroom

hongnam = bathroom

hongraw = waiting room

[Denim]

I learnt Thai using this book and using a Thai person to read everything into a tape recorder so I would hear it all spoken. I then practiced repeating it all trying to get the same inflection as the speaker. 

If you apply yourself and work through each lesson you will be pretty fluent by the end. 

Every lesson is simple to understand and it starts of with the most common words and a short sentence to illustrate the syntax.

 

Somebody stole my copy which was a shame. 

 

[youreavinalaff]

8 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

rongreiyn = school

rongngan = factory

rongnang = cinema

ronglahkon = theater

rongphaiyaban = hospital

rongraiem = hotel

rongchamnam = pawn shop

rongahan = canteen/cafeteria

ranahan = restaurant

tamahan = to cook

 

hongreiyn = classroom

hongsmud = library

hongnon = bedroom

hongnam = bathroom

hongraw = waiting room

This post is a classic example of why, at some point, learning to read Thai helps so much. 

 

Transliteration of Thai to English is so difficult and many people will have their own way of doing it.

[ozimoron]

11 minutes ago, Denim said:

I learnt Thai using this book and using a Thai person to read everything into a tape recorder so I would hear it all spoken. I then practiced repeating it all trying to get the same inflection as the speaker. 

If you apply yourself and work through each lesson you will be pretty fluent by the end. 

Every lesson is simple to understand and it starts of with the most common words and a short sentence to illustrate the syntax.

 

Somebody stole my copy which was a shame. 

 

 

 

I bought the same book from Asia Books on Sukhumvit around 1982. I loaned it and never got it back but my Christmas present to myself last year was a second hand copy purchased on Amazon. It cost AUD $137 delivered to Australia.

[1FinickyOne]

21 minutes ago, Denim said:

Somebody stole my copy which was a shame. 

 

mee kon kermoy nungseu... que lastima!

[OneMoreFarang]

29 minutes ago, Denim said:

I then practiced repeating it all trying to get the same inflection as the speaker. 

I often think I have repeated a word the same way a Thai person pronounces it.

But then they look at me like: which word was that supposed to be? ???? 

[Denim]

17 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

I loaned it and never got it back

 

Snap. The borrower swore to return it as I was reluctant to part with it.

Never saw the bludger again.

[Denim]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I often think I have repeated a word the same way a Thai person pronounces it.

But then they look at me like: which word was that supposed to be? ???? 

 

Fortunately ,when used in a sentence even

 a mispronounced word is easier to understand.