Am I That Slow ?

[waldpyk]

The last 6 months i'm trying to learn myself Thai (pimsleur, books,cd 's)

Almost every day about an hour , but i have a feeling that it goes very slow

Reading (Manee and friends) and talking like a 4 year old (except for the pimsleur sentences that suddenly pop-up and flow seemingly effortless from my mouth to my own amazement.But mostly it is still very difficult to follow what they are talking about or even what's the subject is they are talking about , especially in a group of people

Anyway what's your experience , am i really that slow : how long did it take you before you could take part (more or less ) in casual conversations and read the newspaper a bit

info : i'm 63 and 2-3 times a year a month in Thailand , mostly at my sons place

[dsfbrit]

No you are not slow. Every one has their own pace.

I have been learning Thai with a teacher for 3 years now and am still not fluent. Each time I think I have 'cracked' it I meet someone I just dont understand at all.

I read and write Thai quite well, but often have a problem understanding what some people say.

Just don't give up - treat it as fun - a long term hobby.

I find that when I have practised a sound and no one still understands the word I am saying I ask them to help me pronounce it - it can become a game of sorts. Best not to try this at the Immigration Office though I discovered!

By the way, my wife and her family do not speak any English so I have to make myself understood at home anyway. I am not sure this helps though as for a while I used to speak a special brand of Thai which included all our silly ThaiGlish phrases !!!

Good Luck

[TheChiefJustice]

Take it slowly,and have fun. I have been in Thailand for 17 years and I still come across a word now and then that I do not understand.

[nidge]

I've been learning for 6 years and i'm still rubbish. At least i'm better than my father in law learning english. He can say, "good morning", "Sit down" & "Dink Beer" but i guess that's enough right?

[meadish_sweetball]

The last 6 months i'm trying to learn myself Thai (pimsleur, books,cd 's)

Almost every day about an hour , but i have a feeling that it goes very slow

Reading (Manee and friends) and talking like a 4 year old (except for the pimsleur sentences that suddenly pop-up and flow seemingly effortless from my mouth to my own amazement.But mostly it is still very difficult to follow what they are talking about or even what's the subject is they are talking about , especially in a group of people

Anyway what's your experience , am i really that slow : how long did it take you before you could take part (more or less ) in casual conversations and read the newspaper a bit

info : i'm 63 and 2-3 times a year a month in Thailand , mostly at my sons place

Just keep going at your own pace, and don't lose heart. It takes lots of time for most people.

As a contrast, after one year of formal studies (=a good deal more than 1 hour per day) I still found it very difficult to hear what Thai people were saying when they were talking at normal speed. I had learned basic grammar, to spell my way slowly and painstakingly through a Thai text (with mistakes when I encountered irregular words) and also to speak the tones and basic sounds fairly clearly. Outside of the university course, I bought and studied the book 'Teach Yourself Thai' by David Smyth, and memorized the sentences in it, because they were clearly focused on everyday situations for a foreign tourist in Thailand.

The result was that I spoke very clearly, but knew very little about Thai culture except in theory, and was unused to street Thai. The Thais I met were not used to hearing the formal Thai I spoke but figured that since I spoke so clearly, they would be able to speak to me at normal speed... which meant I had to keep asking people to slow down. So I made myself understood well, but found it really hard to understand anyone else.

To feel reasonably confident in speaking and interacting in Thai, it took me about 3 years of study. I am now in on my tenth year since I started to study Thai, but I have not studied actively for the last 6 years, although I speak it daily. I do ok as it is, but I could definitely do with another course to get to the next level and learn to speak correct Thai for more formal occasions.

[waldpyk]

thank you all for info and encouregement

i will let you know where i "stand" in half a year

in the mean time : this slow mover greets you

[JimmyTheMook]

To feel reasonably confident in speaking and interacting in Thai, it took me about 3 years of study. I am now in on my tenth year since I started to study Thai,

That is inspiring to read as I was always impressed with your Thai writing ability, guess it does take some dedicated time to really get somewhere with it as I have given up "trying" to learn how to read and write the language.

My spoken Thai is very good , at least that is what Thai people tell me.

What do you recommend as the best method of learning to read and write Thai?

[dsfbrit]

To feel reasonably confident in speaking and interacting in Thai, it took me about 3 years of study. I am now in on my tenth year since I started to study Thai,

That is inspiring to read as I was always impressed with your Thai writing ability, guess it does take some dedicated time to really get somewhere with it as I have given up "trying" to learn how to read and write the language.

My spoken Thai is very good , at least that is what Thai people tell me.

What do you recommend as the best method of learning to read and write Thai?

My first Thai teacher made me learn the alphabet.

- Write every letter over and over and over and over again

- Say it out loud. Gor Gai, Kor Kai etc...

- Say its class.

It was painful, but a very worthwhile experience.

[Spee]

Just keep going at your own pace, and don't lose heart. It takes lots of time for most people.

As a contrast, after one year of formal studies (=a good deal more than 1 hour per day) I still found it very difficult to hear what Thai people were saying when they were talking at normal speed. I had learned basic grammar, to spell my way slowly and painstakingly through a Thai text (with mistakes when I encountered irregular words) and also to speak the tones and basic sounds fairly clearly. Outside of the university course, I bought and studied the book 'Teach Yourself Thai' by David Smyth, and memorized the sentences in it, because they were clearly focused on everyday situations for a foreign tourist in Thailand.

I couldn't agree more with these statements. I'm just finishing the third of three terms of Thai Beginners at U of London SOAS. Each term used the Smythe book and it took three full terms to cover the entire book. I'm behind most people in the class because my work has interferred with my studies, but the level of achievement is familiarity with the alphabet, basics of tones, reading, writing and grammar, and familiarization of conversation for many common situations. Looking back, it really is a huge amount of material to cover in a year. Although I still only get about 50% of my speech out the right way, that 50% today is bigger that the 50% that I had last year. More importantly, my level of comprehension when listening is much better. I still lose a lot but I pick up a lot more than I used to.

The only suggestion I have is use the transliteration as long as you feel you need to, but no longer than you feel you need to once you think you have the alphabet down pat. Although the Smythe book uses transliteration all the way through, several of my classmates and I found it confusing the more we moved along. It became more of a distraction as we tried to concentrate on reading and speaking using the written Thai script.

IMHO, the most important thing is to enjoy it and at the same time accept that even advanced beginner to intermediate skills take a lot of time and effort to achieve. As many books suggest, it is much better to study and practice 20-30 minutes a day than a couple of hours one day a week. That is what makes this particular forum so great. If one thread is at too high or too low of a level, then there are many others to look at. Good luck, have fun, enjoy!

[TheChiefJustice]

I have been writing a daily journal in Thai for the past 5 years or so. I never miss an entry, even if it is only a sentence or two. If you do anything regularly you will get good at it. Good luck to you!

[gampaan]

IMHO, the most important thing is to enjoy it and at the same time accept that even advanced beginner to intermediate skills take a lot of time and effort to achieve. As many books suggest, it is much better to study and practice 20-30 minutes a day than a couple of hours one day a week. That is what makes this particular forum so great. If one thread is at too high or too low of a level, then there are many others to look at. Good luck, have fun, enjoy!

Yes, I think the most important thing is to WANT to learn. If it is a chore, you won't take the time needed. 30 min. a day is definately better than 2 hours on the weekend. Learn the alphabet and how to read and write simple words. If you take the time to do this, you will be thankful in a short period of time. I have used all the Becker, Smythe etc. materials people have recommended and they are very good. The best CD I have found for learning the alphabet is from Courage Software, called Thai Interactive Language System. It has excercises and tests with all the letters and vowels. Also has 99 chapters, 2900 phrases, 11,000 vocab. words, 26 quick reference catagories, 15 reference tables, 36 excercises, 5 crossword puzzle generators, and 8 print activity engines. In a week you should be able to know all the letters, the vowels take a bit more time... but this is by far the best I've seen yet.