Thai Language - how long did it take you to read, write, listen and speak Thai well?

[AlexRich]

I'm embarking on learning Thai and I'm focusing initially on learning how to read and write Thai, with less focus at the moment on listening and speaking. I'm not in a rush and view this as a long term project, but I am doing this from home in the UK, although I'm considering taking a language course in Bangkok for a couple of months each time I visit Bangkok. 

 

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to reach a decent level in Thai, both spoken and written? And what methodology did you employ? 

[Utalk2mutt]

Speaking I can hold a reasonably good conversation with a Thai person and reading I’m ok at although I am upping my reading as I feel it will enhance my vocabulary when speaking. The writing side has fallen by the wayside to be honest as it’s the least part of the language I use. I don’t write letters or little notes so I don’t see it as being entirely necessary. I may change my mind at a later date so I have the complete Language package so to speak.
 

If you do decide to learn at a language school when you get to BKK I can thoroughly recommend ( and I hope I won’t get into trouble for saying this) Duke Language School located in the Trendy building. I learnt the basics there and they are a fantastic group of teachers with lessons that are informative and interactive.

 

i have been in Thailand now for just over 8 years and I can get by in most situations I do consider that I still have a long way to go though.

 

Good luck with your studies.

[AlexRich]

6 hours ago, Utalk2mutt said:

Speaking I can hold a reasonably good conversation with a Thai person and reading I’m ok at although I am upping my reading as I feel it will enhance my vocabulary when speaking. The writing side has fallen by the wayside to be honest as it’s the least part of the language I use. I don’t write letters or little notes so I don’t see it as being entirely necessary. I may change my mind at a later date so I have the complete Language package so to speak.
 

If you do decide to learn at a language school when you get to BKK I can thoroughly recommend ( and I hope I won’t get into trouble for saying this) Duke Language School located in the Trendy building. I learnt the basics there and they are a fantastic group of teachers with lessons that are informative and interactive.

 

i have been in Thailand now for just over 8 years and I can get by in most situations I do consider that I still have a long way to go though.

 

Good luck with your studies.

 

 

Thanks very much for the feedback. Duke was on my list of possible schools, and it's possible to learn there in chunks of one month (per course). A US guy has done a number of YT videos of his experience there and he was very complimentary. I'm in Bangkok next month and will pay them a visit, although I won't be signing up for anything this trip. 

[Equatorial]

9 hours ago, AlexRich said:

I just finished a book on reading and writing Thai

 

Which one? 

[AlexRich]

3 hours ago, Equatorial said:

 

Which one? 

Reading and Writing Thai by Jintana Rattanakhemakorn, by Tuttle Publishing. 
 

I’d also recommend an Udemy course online … I think it’s called Learn Thai from an American Guy. The course notes are really excellent and he goes through each step very carefully. But at the end of it everything makes sense. It is in lectures of around 30 mins, and covers 7.5 hours of teaching. 
 

But that’s the beginning … now I have to start building up sentence structures and vocabulary. 

[chawbdurian]

First of all congratz on starting your journey. It's hard to estimate how long things will take because it really depends on your lifestyle.

 

For me it took 2-3 months to where I could comfortably go about my routine in the city. About 6 months in people really started to be impressed and most would continue the conversation in Thai. Im now 8 months in and in a weird stage of understanding a lot but also misunderstanding a lot. To my farang peers, I speak Thai, but really I'm far from being as fluent as I want to be. 
 

My methods were:

1. Daily vocab and phrases flashcards on my phone (Anki app)

2. Watching a lot of unsubtitled Thai media

3. Speaking to everyone I could about anything

 

You can probably learn to read in as little as 7 tortuous days. I chose the lazy route and just memorized the consonants/vowels, then brute forced my way through text messages, menus, and signs based on context.

 

some random tips:

1. Really focus hard on tones, just don't be frustrated that it takes a while. It took me probably 4 months to "get it". I honestly think tones are more important than constants. I garble a lot of consonants but never ever tones and am understood well.
2. Record yourself on your phone and listen back. It's a very humbling experience but worth it. 
3. Try shadowing media you consume. This means repeating back what is said as best as you can. This will feel impossible at first but just keep doing it.

4. I would recommend getting a private tutor over a group class, other students will just hold you back.

 

 

 

 

[ColeBOzbourne]

3 hours ago, chawbdurian said:

For me it took 2-3 months to where I could comfortably go about my routine in the city. About 6 months in people really started to be impressed and most would continue the conversation in Thai. Im now 8 months in and in a weird stage of understanding a lot but also misunderstanding a lot. To my farang peers, I speak Thai, but really I'm far from being as fluent as I want to be. 
 

My methods were:

1. Daily vocab and phrases flashcards on my phone (Anki app)

2. Watching a lot of unsubtitled Thai media

3. Speaking to everyone I could about anything

Nice job, you are making very quick progress. I'm wondering approximately how many hours per day you devote to your study program.

[Ralf001]

On 7/30/2025 at 5:33 AM, AlexRich said:

Thai Language - how long did it take you to read, write, listen and speak Thai well?

 

About 12 months.

[AlexRich]

19 hours ago, chawbdurian said:

First of all congratz on starting your journey. It's hard to estimate how long things will take because it really depends on your lifestyle.

 

For me it took 2-3 months to where I could comfortably go about my routine in the city. About 6 months in people really started to be impressed and most would continue the conversation in Thai. Im now 8 months in and in a weird stage of understanding a lot but also misunderstanding a lot. To my farang peers, I speak Thai, but really I'm far from being as fluent as I want to be. 
 

My methods were:

1. Daily vocab and phrases flashcards on my phone (Anki app)

2. Watching a lot of unsubtitled Thai media

3. Speaking to everyone I could about anything

 

You can probably learn to read in as little as 7 tortuous days. I chose the lazy route and just memorized the consonants/vowels, then brute forced my way through text messages, menus, and signs based on context.

 

some random tips:

1. Really focus hard on tones, just don't be frustrated that it takes a while. It took me probably 4 months to "get it". I honestly think tones are more important than constants. I garble a lot of consonants but never ever tones and am understood well.
2. Record yourself on your phone and listen back. It's a very humbling experience but worth it. 
3. Try shadowing media you consume. This means repeating back what is said as best as you can. This will feel impossible at first but just keep doing it.

4. I would recommend getting a private tutor over a group class, other students will just hold you back.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that. I’m in the UK most of the year but will be focused on words and structure of the language to build up a knowledge bank. I agree that tones are important, so I will be trying to get them right. I can identify the tone in written Thai but I need practice at applying it to speech. My target is 3 years to have a good grasp at the language. 

[Photoguy21]

On 7/30/2025 at 5:33 AM, AlexRich said:

I'm embarking on learning Thai and I'm focusing initially on learning how to read and write Thai, with less focus at the moment on listening and speaking. I'm not in a rush and view this as a long term project, but I am doing this from home in the UK, although I'm considering taking a language course in Bangkok for a couple of months each time I visit Bangkok. 

 

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to reach a decent level in Thai, both spoken and written? And what methodology did you employ? 

First you have to define "well". I assume you mean to talk with a local in Thai. To be honest I cant give you how long it took me as I was studying Thai whilst in Saudi but lets say a year.

[DrJack54]

Several posts in Thai removed. 

@MalcolmB Stop. 

[MalcolmB]

On 8/7/2025 at 4:02 AM, AlexRich said:

Reading and Writing Thai by Jintana Rattanakhemakorn, by Tuttle Publishing. 

Apparently we are forbidden from reading and writing Thai here. 
It is going to make learning it hard. 
The best way to learn Thai is to actually use Thai. 
It is a bit like golf, you can talk about it all day long but unless you actually physically play it you won’t ever know how to do it. 

[Ralf001]

10 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Apparently we are forbidden from reading and writing Thai here. 
It is going to make learning it hard. 
The best way to learn Thai is to actually use Thai. 
It is a bit like golf, you can talk about it all day long but unless you actually physically play it you won’t ever know how to do it. 

 

Cmon mate, copy and pasting from google translate is hardly reading and writing Thai.

[MalcolmB]

1 minute ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Cmon mate, copy and pasting from google translate is hardly reading and writing Thai.

It is very easy to see when people use google translate that doesn’t translate very well at all.

[marin]

15 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Apparently we are forbidden from reading and writing Thai here. 
It is going to make learning it hard. 

How do you figure that?  You are the only one using it. 

 

2 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

It is very easy to see when people use google translate that doesn’t translate very well at all.

Indeed that is the case. 🙃

[Ralf001]

25 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

It is very easy to see when people use google translate that doesn’t translate very well at all.

 

Thats how we know you are using it.

[MalcolmB]

48 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Thats how we know you are using it.

You are lying.

You just exposed yourself as doing what you accused me of doing.

If you could actually read you would see my spelling was kindly corrected by another poster. I doubt google spell words wrongly.

 

That is what this language forum could be about, people helping people.

 

But it seems it triggers those who can’t read Thai.

Much like it triggers farang husbands who can’t speak Thai when I talk to their wives in Thai as if somehow it is my fault they are stupid and lazy.

[GarryP]

24 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

You are lying.

You just exposed yourself as doing what you accused me of doing.

If you could actually read you would see my spelling was kindly corrected by another poster. I doubt google spell words wrongly.

 

That is what this language forum could be about, people helping people.

 

But it seems it triggers those who can’t read Thai.

Much like it triggers farang husbands who can’t speak Thai when I talk to their wives in Thai as if somehow it is my fault they are stupid and lazy.

Google translate is not bad but quite often uses the wrong words or mistranslates the phrasing. Sometimes it is unintentionally quite funny too.

[MalcolmB]

Just now, GarryP said:

Google translate is not bad but quite often uses the worng words or mistranslates the phrasing. Sometimes it is unintentionally quite funny too.

It always uses the female pronoun ฉัน which is giveaway when speaking to a male. 
Thais often drop pronouns when not necessary which is also an issue and it can completely change the meaning.

 

It isn’t good enough to use in real life for most things.

 

It gets tenses wrong also.

 

Ralf is dreaming if he thinks he can get by with it. 
 

It would be good if we could use it on this forum but I think non of the mods can read Thai so it gets them paranoid we are breaking forum rules.

 

It would be great if the did get someone who could then we could actually learn Thai here instead of just talking about it.

 

[CharlieH]

If you can't observe forum rules this will be CLOSED