How Are You Learning Thai?

[Misty]

Thanks Misty. I'm not religious but maybe that's a good way to learn Thai without bar chat.

As I remember there wasn't anything religious in the lessons, and I believe many or most of the teachers were Buddhist. Some of the students were missionaries, but from a variety of religious backgrounds and definitely not all were Christian missionaries. There were some religions from Japan that I'd never heard of, and from my perspective some of these were relatively obscure maybe derived from Shintoism. Many of the students were not missionaries (in that way like me). I only learned about their backgrounds during breaks, and as many of the Asian students didn't speak much English, we resorted to trying to communicate in Thai.

The course work will be helpful in making a decision, but to get a really good idea of the value, you might want to just observe a class. I remember the Union teachers as really pushing us to talk among ourselves about a variety of topics. Students were from all over, all ages, male and female. Many did not speak much English. Some of the more interesting classes involved various Asians discussing the differences between their cultures and countries (try relatively young Korean and Japanese discussing WWII events in Thai) or current world events--WTC event on 11 Sep 01 occured around that time, lots of discussion about the US, Europe terrorism, etc. All discussions were kept in polite terms, and facilitated by the teacher. Students were motivated to find words and ways to express themselves using what Thai they had. These sorts of discussions weren't possible in the Levels 1 and 2, and really kicked in in the classes I had at Levels 4/5. My husband continued on to the newspaper reading class, and that apparently was extremely interesting.

A really worthwhile way to learn, but unfortunately, none of those class discussions would be captured in any text you might purchase. In fact, some of the written materials were kind of boring (classic ex: a story on the many types of bananas in Thailand).

Here's Union Union Language School contact details (they don't have a website apparently):

Union Language School

CCT Building

109 Surawong Road, Bangkok

tel: 02 2334482

fax: 02 2334482

email: [email protected]

[desi]

That really does sound interesting, especially the Thai conversation amongst the classmates. Today was the first time we did any free speaking so I can certainly see the benefits. Learning by rote is just not my style as I get bored rather quickly and just parrot back, not taking anything in.

And thanks for the address! I'll check it out.

[girlx]

Children are really the best ones to get you started.

i agree with this! when i hung out with my ex boyfriend's nieces and nephews i learned a lot! and i am not so embarassed to practice speaking with children. i have been thinking of volunteering at an orphanage while i am in bangkok, so i can kill 2 birds with one stone!

i went and looked at a couple of language schools today. i took a class once from AUA in chiang mai and it was great- the teacher forced me to speak only in thai and she spent a lot of time correcting me and explaining grammar etc. i was surprised to find at the AUA bangkok there is no speaking in class! only listening! that is contradictory to everything i have ever heard about the best way to learn languages! so i went to the Walen school, at Times Square, and took an intro class for free.... it was ok but everyone in the class was at totally different levels and it was quite frustrating spending long periods of time waiting for a beginner to hack out a single sentence when the rest of us were ready to move on... not sure if the group classes are for me, i think i will look for personal lessons... if anyone has any suggestions let me know!

[alaina]

Rosetta Stone - very good course material, and uses computer. Photos/repetitions to learn Thai. Highly recommend it, however quite expensive if you buy the legit software.

I've heard good things about this program and it is made in just about every language out there. It probably wouldn't have any nonsense BG conversation in it, but do they tell everybody to say "krap"?

[desi]

i was surprised to find at the AUA bangkok there is no speaking in class! only listening! that is contradictory to everything i have ever heard about the best way to learn languages! so i went to the Walen school, at Times Square, and took an intro class for free.... it was ok but everyone in the class was at totally different levels and it was quite frustrating spending long periods of time waiting for a beginner to hack out a single sentence when the rest of us were ready to move on... not sure if the group classes are for me, i think i will look for personal lessons... if anyone has any suggestions let me know!

I'm taking private lessons from a former AUA teacher (drop me a line if you'd like her number). She teaches direct from the course books, not how they do it at AUA, Bangkok. Just listening for a year would drive me bonkers! I'm not saying I wouldn't learn, I just wouldn't give them the chance as I'm too impatient.

Problem is, the books have a mostly male focus. And with me being so stubborn, I won't budge until all the crap has been edited sufficiently ;-)

Today I mentioned using the Beginners book but my teacher just wasn't on for it (it's not the book she was taught from so I imagine she doesn't feel comfortable). So I checked through the coming lessons on AUA and it'll be a matter of changing bits here and there in advance.

[devona]

I learnt Thai with an ex teacher from Union Language school and she used their materials, which were really good for the first few modules. They don't teach you the alphabet and reading until module 4 once you can speak some Thai. That's when I got a bit fed up, though, because it was all reading and writing when I wanted to continue improving my conversation skills.

The best thing that happened for me was finding a Thai boyfriend who couldn't speak English. Before that I'd learn words and forget them because I wasn't using them, but now I speak Thai every day I've improved so much. I'm also learning new vocabulary all the time.

[desi]

I learnt Thai with an ex teacher from Union Language school and she used their materials, which were really good for the first few modules. They don't teach you the alphabet and reading until module 4 once you can speak some Thai. That's when I got a bit fed up, though, because it was all reading and writing when I wanted to continue improving my conversation skills.

I love how the Thai alphabet is similar to art so I'm more driven to write than converse. It's a problem as you can imagine. I really need to get the lead out and start speaking. With today being my first attempt though, I'm pretty chuffed so feel comfortable continuing.

The best thing that happened for me was finding a Thai boyfriend who couldn't speak English. Before that I'd learn words and forget them because I wasn't using them, but now I speak Thai every day I've improved so much. I'm also learning new vocabulary all the time.

Ah, of course. What one doesn't use, one looses.

[sbk]

Isn't that the truth! I have to re-learn certain words and phrases over again --for example, it took me years to remember all the funeral words because I only went and got involved in a funeral occasionally (when a relative died). But, stick they finally did.

What worries me about taking courses is I know the teacher will try to stomp the Southern out of me I have an accent and it is obvious to all Thai people when I speak apparently. I don't mind having an accent and don't want to lose that. (Southern tones are different in many cases). But, I have a terrible time finding the time to study, don't have someone to help push me (hubby is a disastrous teacher ) --my sister-in-law moved away from next door so I don't see her so often. I do speak Thai with our staff but they also speak English so if I get lost or don't know the word I can be lazy and speak English. I might get my neighbor's daughter (further down the beach) to help me with Thai. I have hit a plateau most definitely and also fallen into the "well I can speak well enough" mindset that I am getting lazy.

Perhaps all of you will help me get off my butt and get moving again

[britmaveric]

Rosetta Stone - very good course material, and uses computer. Photos/repetitions to learn Thai. Highly recommend it, however quite expensive if you buy the legit software.

I've heard good things about this program and it is made in just about every language out there. It probably wouldn't have any nonsense BG conversation in it, but do they tell everybody to say "krap"?

Not that I have noticed, mind you krap/ka are just formal speak.

[Ave]

Isn't that the truth! I have to re-learn certain words and phrases over again --for example, it took me years to remember all the funeral words because I only went and got involved in a funeral occasionally (when a relative died). But, stick they finally did.

What worries me about taking courses is I know the teacher will try to stomp the Southern out of me I have an accent and it is obvious to all Thai people when I speak apparently. I don't mind having an accent and don't want to lose that. (Southern tones are different in many cases). But, I have a terrible time finding the time to study, don't have someone to help push me (hubby is a disastrous teacher ) --my sister-in-law moved away from next door so I don't see her so often. I do speak Thai with our staff but they also speak English so if I get lost or don't know the word I can be lazy and speak English. I might get my neighbor's daughter (further down the beach) to help me with Thai. I have hit a plateau most definitely and also fallen into the "well I can speak well enough" mindset that I am getting lazy.

Perhaps all of you will help me get off my butt and get moving again

When I get in a situation like yours I start by noting down a new word or expression every day, spelling it in Thai as well as in 'karaoke' writing. It's slow but it seems to work.

The southern accent is throwing me completely. As you said, even some tones change!

I like it a lot though, more than the eastern one. It's sweet!

When I learned English I was picking up an accent that most other foreigners couldn't understand.

I then decided to go for a neutral accent which was a wise choice for me because my students can understand me very well.

[sukhont]

I learn Thai since I was young because I'm Thai.

When I learn English, people told me that it's good to find opportunity to talk with native English speakers.

However, if I cannot find one, there are some meterials like listing to news, movies, cartoon and so on in English.

I think it does work well.

there are some books teaching Thai as well.

If you want to learn Thai, just try to talk some Thais in your workplaces or we can be friend.

[Ananke]

I really admire you non-Thai people who have learned the language - doubly so those who have learned to read and write it!!! Can't be easy ...

I grew up bilingual, and can only imagine how hard it must be. I did try to teach my husband years ago - it was very frustrating (well, amusing for me and frustrating for him ). You can often tell when a farang man has learnt his Thai form a woman, as his intonations are all wrong and too feminine somehow. (So you chaps reading this thread, take note ...) We live in the west, so eventually I gave up .

Just wondering, how long did it take you to be able to learn enough Thai to go and have a basic conversation with someone? Was that alone or in a Thai environment?

[clausewitz]

ones I use:

http://www.thaisolutions1502.com/ about 9200 baht for 30 hours of private lessons. Good for tones and reading. Near sukumvit soi 5

kassie - comes to my house, private lessons. 300 baht/hour - good for conversation Thai and vocab ph 087-0478403

http://www.sanithaiteach.com/ very cheap, near BTS surasuk. Private lessons

[desi]

private lessons. 300 baht/hour - good for conversation Thai and vocab

That's a decent price. A lot cheaper than I'm getting anyway.

Is your teacher trained?

[clausewitz]

private lessons. 300 baht/hour - good for conversation Thai and vocab

That's a decent price. A lot cheaper than I'm getting anyway.

Is your teacher trained?

Nooo. But she speaks excellent English and is very intuitive about what a student needs. She uses a computer to write on while explaining that Thai and later sends you it as an email attachment.

[jingjingna]

I agree with Sbk about learning through the young ones. That is my line of business anyway. In the five odd years that I have been here I have never made a conscious effort to learn the language because I don't want to end up teaching my kids Tinglish! Now I can speak Thai like a native and because of my olive skin people think I am Thai. It's not a 100 %, but enough to talk 'daily stuff'. As for reading Thai, well I just don't have the time and perhaps I am lazy?

Spent 4 years working for Amex in Belgium, picked up the French but Dutch was a problem for me because it sounded ...how should I phrase this...uncharming?

For me it's all about listening, no boring books or audio tapes. For others it might be a differnt case of course. Anyway, hope you're able to get the nag of the language soon.

[Jorinda]

Rosetta Stone - very good course material, and uses computer. Photos/repetitions to learn Thai. Highly recommend it, however quite expensive if you buy the legit software.

Eh, I think it works more for romance languages than asian languages. I've started on it, and sometimes it's just confusing. Like in the first lesson you have a picture of a girl and a boy and it says "depoying let depochai". I can not for the life of me figure out if let is "with" or "and"

Also the sentences are hard to understand and pick out individual words, and I can only tell a really minor difference in the sentences "girl is jumping" and "girl is walking".

[ChiangMaiAjarn]

My apologies for being a man... but I have made use of lots of different materials in my Thai learning journey (that is far from over...). Here's my two penneth worth!

Lessons, preferably in a small group for me, are really valuable and dramatically improve your rate of learning - but I have a full-time job and a small child, hence I mostly study by myself whenever I can and practice speaking with friends! My recommendations for self-study are:

• Rosetta Stone Beginners Thai for use on the computer is great for building vocabulary and simple sentence structures - repetitive, but this works for me! The software, however, only uses Thai characters (no transliteration) so is useful to beginners who can at least read a little! I came upon this only recently (I regard myself as lower intermediate) and have found it very useful at this stage of my language learning. They also do an English version (2 actually, one USA and one UK English) - useful for your Thai friends.
  
• Pimsleur Thai (30 half hour MP3 files) are a great place to start for beginners, and focus a lot on correct pronunciation - they take the words apart and teach them from the end syllable by syllable, also they come back to words and structures as the lessons progress. Very well considered lessons in my opinion. Great for those who spend time traveling to and from work, so long as you don't mind gibbering in public as you practice speaking!
  
• Linguaphone - don't waste your time and energy (I did, far too much - almost put me off learning Thai!) - appalling! Has its own bizarre and horrible transliteration system and no sensible learning structure. Yuk.
  
• Colloquial Thai (book and audio set, published by Routledge) - A complete beginner course. I learnt a lot from this, but I think the title is misleading; If you know no Thai at all it will quickly become too difficult - It would be better to complete the Pimsleur audio lessons first, then use this book. I liked this because it is all about questions and responses, forcing you to think about the language and not just repeat like a parrot (Linguaphone styley!). On a negative note there is no use of Thai characters and it uses a phonetic system peculiar to this book only (as far as I can see).
  
• Banjawan Poomsam Becker's series of books/CDs/Computer materials/dictionary/Palm software (Paiboon Publishing). My personal favourites, and a great place to start, although I think using a variety of different materials gives you a more interesting learning experience.
  Here's why I like this set of materials: They use a well considered and consistent transliteration system throughout (making it worth you while learning the sounds of the few strange characters); they build logically; they use both Thai characters and transliteration (although they don't do much of a job of teaching you to read Thai characters: see below for a better method of dong this).
  On the negative side: some chapters are tedious, particularly in the intermediate book (beginners less so), and I pick and choose what I use - not perfect then, but better than most other materials. The consistency between books and dictionary is very valuable to me. The dictionary has red, blue and white stripes on the cover and I thoroughly recommend it. They also do an electronic version for Palm (small handheld computer) and I have recently bought a Palm just to install the dictionary - far better for foreigners than Cyberdicts (they are aimed at Thais learning English) - and now carry that with me everywhere. The case is also my wallet so I have to carry it! I even paid for this software (45 dollars from their website)!
  
• Lastly, but not least (I'm getting tired!) don't learn Thai without visiting www.learningthai.com
  They have a huge amount of stuff to help you on your journey, but, in my opinion, the most valuable thing they offer is a foolproof way to learn to read Thai without the need for a teacher. What it teaches you (over a series of 22 lessons, each with listening, speaking and reading components) is how to read most vowels and the most common 23 consonants. After that you are on your own, but can already read most signs, menus etc. Great and free - full respect to the people who made this (Thai Department at Sriwittayapaknam School) who state on their website "One of the most popular Thai Readers for primary students for many years has been "Manee and Friends". The book has been long out of print in Thailand. When we first proposed doing this internet edition, many of our teachers were very excited as they have fond memories of these characters. We are pleased now to share this book with our foreign friends who have so graciously decided to make an attempt at learning our national language." Gotta love 'em! Go to www.learningthai.com/books/manee/
  
  
• Okay - really lastly - I'm now learning the alphabet (in it's proper order, like I know the English one) using a series of 4 foam jigsaw thingys from Tesco. Splitting it into four section, and playing with the puzzles (not really a jigsaw; putting shapes into holes) with my son makes it really manageable!
  

Good luck everyone. I hope my ramblings are useful to somebody out there, and give you a more direct route to learning the language than I have used. Other people's opinions/ideas very welcome. Please!

[tygerstar]

Other schools that use the Union system/were started by ex-Union teachers:

http://www.aaathai.com/

http://www.piammitrschool.com/

http://www.utl-school.com/english/home.php

Edited July 10, 2008 by tygerstar

[desi]

Good luck everyone. I hope my ramblings are useful to somebody out there, and give you a more direct route to learning the language than I have used. Other people's opinions/ideas very welcome. Please!

Impressive. Thanks! I have access to most of those (just not the palm).

I also bought two books on learning languages. I'll try The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast first, then the other.