Learning At Baan Phassaa Thai...

[Shola]

Next week I'm finally getting off my ars to learn Thai properly at Baan Phasaa Thai in Chit Lom.

It's 8000 Baht for 30 hours or so with a one on one tutor.

Does anyone have any experience of this place or has been to a good language school in Bkk that they'd recommend?

To be honest I wanted to learn in a group setting with other farang, but they don't have any students for groups at the mo, just one on ones.

So any recomendations/info on other schools appriciated.

[Shola]

OK!

Had my first lesson at Baan Phasaa Thai today!

All pretty nice, private air con room, very sweet teacher named K. Air.

I did start with the beginers book as although I know a fair amount of Thai, I have gaps in silly places like not knowing the days of the week! Don't ask me how I never learnt those!

Anyhow, it was all good apart from the fact that all Thai is written in a made up form of 'Thailish' they using made up charectars to signify certain Thai sounds.

I said that this was no good for me as if I'm going to learn to read and pronounce words correctly I need to see them written in Thai, not some wierd made up language that I'll never come accross in real life . K.Air was ok with that and said she would sort it out for me.

So all in all a good experience

I can skip all the stuff I know already and concentrate on the bits I don't, the main thing in the beginers book for me is learning all the vowels properly which I have trouble with, and my terrible pronounciation .

So I will keep all informed of my progress, next lesson thursday!

I shall be spouting perfect Thai here soon enough!

[toastwars]

Well done shola, the phonetic characters are a standard way of teaching they are just working on your pronunciation, I just started teaching myself to read and write it really helps and my vocabulary started to improve so quickly even after just learning a few characters and their sounds, you will amaze yourself once you get going.

ps. I know my days of the week but I never know what day it is anyway

[Shola]

Well done shola, the phonetic characters are a standard way of teaching they are just working on your pronunciation, I just started teaching myself to read and write it really helps and my vocabulary started to improve so quickly even after just learning a few characters and their sounds, you will amaze yourself once you get going.

ps. I know my days of the week but I never know what day it is anyway

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ha! Join the club!

I can actually read most Thai, I just dont understand what I'm reading! so I would rather see a Thai charecter on a page to indicate a sound rather than one that they've made up

Like thay use a backwards 33 for the Orr Ann (อ) sound, it's just confusing.

I spose if you don't know the Thai alphabet it's a good way to learn, but I already learnt it reading kindergarden books!

Thanks for the encouragement, Twars, let me know any simple books you've read in Thai that might help me!

[SEAtramp]

Lot of useful info on this site

Loads of links etc.

[Shola]

Lot of useful info on this site

Loads of links etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow! Excellent site! Click on the vowels ect and you get the pronounciation!

Will be a great help!

Good one SEAtramp Thanks!

[SEAtramp]

Your welcome shola.

How about this..Has many varied uses once you get the hang of it.

[easyb]

Just got a mail from Baan Phaasaa Thai while I was reading this post. Thanks to Shola for the post. I have a free a week in Thailand coming up and think I'll see if someone wants to beat Thai into my thick head for six or so hours a day. Looked at Berlitz but they are expensive. Had a tutor in the states for a couple of sessions before she went back to Thailand and she had Berlitz training which I did like – hard core drill, drill, drill in Thai with no let up. But expensive so checking out Bann Phaassa Thai and Peeraya Thai house (and feedback on them??)

I have been working on picking up some Thai since I started preparing for a visit in November. Went through all the Pimsler tapes which I do recommend. Different people learn in different ways and for me I just need to see the word – then I see it when I say it. All the different transliterations drove me nuts to remember and I found that I was spending time remembering parts of some and parts of another that made sense to me. After another visit in January I just decided to learn the alphabet. I’d say it’s taken 20 hours of drill work so far, maybe another 5-10 to have it cold. I know by heart all consonants and vowels, can recognize all of them and starting to be able to sound out words (who knows what they mean…). There’s a lot of work ahead to get down the classes, tone rules, live/dead syllables etc. – to read. But at this point I’m starting to think of a sound or word associated with the Thai alphabet. In English there are so many ways “a” or “e” could be pronounced – now I just think of the Thai letters and exactly how that is pronounced. I got a first grade work book on writing the alphabet and have found writing out each letter many times, saying it out loud has helped it stick, (why are people glaring at me on airplanes??) the differences between letters became really clear as I wrote them and made it quicker to recognize them. Wrote a postcard to my GF today in Thai, that was a nice start. So for me what looked hard wasn’t really that tough and now I feel less dependent on a crutch.

I’m using the Thai for Beginners software which I think is good for drills I also have their CD and book combo which I think is weak. For me to get a list of 20 words, say each one once and go on isn’t going to stick. The Pimsler method of adding in increments and drilling around that worked for me - but different strokes for different folks.

Shola – keep us posted on how it goes. Interested in any other experiences with this or other schools.

[mas]

I have been studying at Ban passaya thai (BPT) for the past 1.5 month. My overall experince has been good, not great. The teacher is excellent,. She has taught me to read (very well), wite (so-so) and speak (much better than before). However, the school owner (k. Yarowat) is a little strange. Every week or so, she trys to change my tecaher without asking me. This i find annoying and unprofessional. It has become such a nuciance I am thinking about switching schools starting next week. There is a new school nearby formed by 3 college language graduates (all very cute also). I will give them a try for my next course. let me know if anyone has any questions or needs more info. For the orignal posters (ezybee, seasia tranp, and shola) who are around we can get together one day for lunch. any thoughts?

[Shola]

I have been studying at Ban passaya thai (BPT) for the past 1.5 month. My overall experince has been good, not great. The teacher is excellent,. She has taught me to read (very well), wite (so-so) and speak (much better than before). However,  the school owner (k. Yarowat)  is a little strange. Every week or so, she trys to change my tecaher without asking me. This i find annoying and unprofessional. It has become such a nuciance I am thinking about switching schools starting next week. There is a new school nearby formed by 3 college language graduates (all very cute also). I will give them a try for my next course. let me know if anyone has any questions or needs more info. For the orignal posters (ezybee, seasia tranp,  and shola) who are around we can get together one day for lunch. any thoughts?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmm, thats interesting to know, BTW who's your teacher?

I've got a sweet girl named K.Air! Well she's probably about 30, but you know Thai women they all look so young!

[mas]

My Tecaher is K. Gate, very nice girl. waht to meet up this friday? did you know that your teacher loves to party?

[mas]

anyone know k. belwel?

[Shola]

I'm really in to this learning now! I should've done it blo0dy years ago!

Gotta work on my vocab alot and reading so today after lessons I bought one of those Thai kids books where you trace the alphabet and then do it yourself! Haha! Its just that my Thai writting is so not 'Suay'! And I still get certain charectars confused. Also bought 2 kindergarden stories to read! The Thai newspapers still a bit much for me!

I don't learn on Fridays Mas! I'm there on mon/tue and thursdays, but if your there then and K.Air likes to party, well maybe we can all go 'gin kow' or something!

[mas]

I just decided to continue my classes at Barn Passaa thai (BPT). The key point was my excellent teacher. I believe that no matter what about the school (location, cost, envirnment, etc), the key is to find a teacher that suits your own study routine. This goes a long way towards having a sucessful experience in learning to speak, read, and write Thai (any subject for that matter). The teachers I have met at BPT seem to be very good. My comments on the school owner still apply, but I guess she has a business to run and this explains her trying to squeeze in as many students as possible. I hope in the future she can also focus more on the students needs.

Let me know if you have any questions. What time/days do you study? How about we first meet for lunch one day?

PS I think I got my comments mixed up about your teacher. Lets talk more when we meet.

[Shola]

I'm really happy with the way things are going at BPT, the only thing I've mentioned to my teacher is that I want to learn on Mon/Wed and Fridays when she gets the spare time, as at the moment I have to do Mon/Tue and Thurdays, so I need at least a full day to go over new vocab etc..

Mas, whats your schedule there?

[mas]

we can meet on monday at 10:30 if it is good for you?