A Brief Question On Learning Thai

[ianwuk]

I have been with my girlfriend for nearly two years yet I cannot really speak Thai and her family cannot really speak English. If we were to get married Thai style how would my lack of Thai affect things? What did everyone else do who got married into a Thai family who do not speak English? For some reason I seem to really find it hard to remember Thai. My girlfriend tries to teach me but the next day it is as if I was never taught because I just cannot remember it. Is it just my really bad memory or has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any tips for me on how to beat this? My girlfriend is pretty much adamant that I learn Thai and I feel bad that I just do not seem to be able to remember anything.

Can anyone offer me advice?

Many thanks.

Ian

[barrybankruad]

I have been with my girlfriend for nearly two years yet I cannot really speak Thai and her family cannot really speak English. If we were to get married Thai style how would my lack of Thai affect things? What did everyone else do who got married into a Thai family who do not speak English? For some reason I seem to really find it hard to remember Thai. My girlfriend tries to teach me but the next day it is as if I was never taught because I just cannot remember it. Is it just my really bad memory or has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any tips for me on how to beat this? My girlfriend is pretty much adamant that I learn Thai and I feel bad that I just do not seem to be able to remember anything.

Can anyone offer me advice?

Many thanks.

Ian

Stop drinking so much cheap Thai booze might help. It's called short term memory loss! Seriously though keep at it, it takes time, just listen to the locals speaking and you will be surprised how soon you will recognise the odd word or two. Persevere and good luck.

[sunholidaysun1]

I have been here 5 years and can only speak a few words, enough to get by . My wife also moans to me about learning and doesnt understand that I just cannot remember what I was trying to learn. So your not alone. What I did was teach my wife English , she could only speak a few words when we met but now speaks

very good english , so much so that I wish I didnt teach her , she curses me like nothing else and dam_n hurtful with her choice of words , too much of a smart arse.

[billd766]

I am 65 and been married for 9 years but my wife has always refused to teach me Thai so I plod on with the books and CD and after working offshore for the last year I am trying to get back into it again.

Not speaking or understanding Thai makes life a bit difficult and very frustrating at times such as this week when I went to my local hardware shop I couldn't remember the names of some of the things I want and I have been going there for years on and off.

On the family social side you will find that the family will talk all around you and you will always be asking your girlfriend "what did he/she/they say just then.

My wife speaks fair English but her family speak none at all I I quite often sit there reading a book and if a response is needed or I ask a question My wife will talk to me.

We are used to it now but I do so wish I could speak/read and write as life in Thailand is soooo much easier.

Just keep trying as I do. :D

[chiangmaibruce]

1. carry a notebook and write down each word as you learn it - spell it any way you like ... just to help you remember. aim for maybe 5-6 new words each day and review.

2. enrol in a serious course like AUA where you are given home work and can;t be a slacker ... force yourself ... it won't just sink into you .. you must really work at it

3. if you are super serious then tell your wife no more speaking english at home ... like 'survivor' ... you will sink or swim

on the broader issue of whether your life will be different - in terms of relating to others around you ... i just read a letter in the web site stickman bangkok just on that issue. google for the web site then go to "reader submissions" - go to the most recent page and see if you can see the paper i mean (sorry, but can't put in link here - against the tv rules)

[simon43]

The ability of an individual to learn a foreign language varies drastically! The ideal age to learn is when you are less than 10 years old, (kids soak up a second or third language...). Alas, I suspect that most of us are a lot older than 10 years

I think the best method to follow is 'a little at a time - often'. If you try to learn too much and too fast, then you will forget what you have just learnt, and will get frustrated. A little every day...

I know some people who seem totally incapable of learning a new language! Yet there are others who can grasp and remember new words very quickly. My late father was a professor of languages and told me that it gets much easier after the 10th language

I have recently started learning Burmese (self-taught, reading, reading, speaking). Although the letters bear a close resemblence to bubbles, it's all just 'squiggles' to me, just as Thai and Arabic are. So if I can learn to read/write Thai and Arabic, then learning another squiggle language should not be impossible....

Good luck in your studies and bravo for whatever level of competence you achieve!!

Simon

[Samuian]

once you understand the people, even with midlevel communicational skills -

one understands that there is not much to know, to learn, to find out - except the

advantage of being able to partake in conversations!

next one may find out that it takes a certain level of education to have an

interesting partner for a conversation too, otherwise it remains on the "hungry",

"movie", "how much do you earn, have, make" - small talk level anyway!

[cmsally]

For a start don't make up your mind that you can't do it or are not good at it.

"No such word as can't " - as my grandmother would say!

Start by learning some basic everyday vocab by rote and some basic questions and sentences and try and progress from there.

Your best friends are the ones that correct you all the time , not the ones that praise you for speaking Thai so well with your 10 word repertoire!

[G54]

I found that using www.thai-language.com/ I was able to sit and learn more words as I could play the sounds on my computer as often as I wanted to and sit there repeating the words back again.

This can help with fundamentals of learning but you7 have to remember different areas speak Thai differently so it is not going to be 100%

On the other hand, with s bit of spare time you can learn some new words and phrases every day and that is a help.

[jubby]

1. carry a notebook and write down each word as you learn it - spell it any way you like ... just to help you remember. aim for maybe 5-6 new words each day and review.

2. enrol in a serious course like AUA where you are given home work and can;t be a slacker ... force yourself ... it won't just sink into you .. you must really work at it

3. if you are super serious then tell your wife no more speaking english at home ... like 'survivor' ... you will sink or swim

on the broader issue of whether your life will be different - in terms of relating to others around you ... i just read a letter in the web site stickman bangkok just on that issue. google for the web site then go to "reader submissions" - go to the most recent page and see if you can see the paper i mean (sorry, but can't put in link here - against the tv rules)

I've been giving this some serious thought also. I'm absolutely useless at Thai. I learn a word and lose two more. I've tried the Sink or Swim method with the wife & kids and sank into the abyss.

I'm trying to get them to speak english again so I can get to know who my Kids are again.

The Notebook method with a bit of revision will probably work for me.

Why can't everyone communicate in binary or machine code

[thaijasmine]

The ability of an individual to learn a foreign language varies drastically! The ideal age to learn is when you are less than 10 years old, (kids soak up a second or third language...). Alas, I suspect that most of us are a lot older than 10 years

I think the best method to follow is 'a little at a time - often'. If you try to learn too much and too fast, then you will forget what you have just learnt, and will get frustrated. A little every day...

I know some people who seem totally incapable of learning a new language! Yet there are others who can grasp and remember new words very quickly. My late father was a professor of languages and told me that it gets much easier after the 10th language

I have recently started learning Burmese (self-taught, reading, reading, speaking). Although the letters bear a close resemblence to bubbles, it's all just 'squiggles' to me, just as Thai and Arabic are. So if I can learn to read/write Thai and Arabic, then learning another squiggle language should not be impossible....

Good luck in your studies and bravo for whatever level of competence you achieve!!

Simon

I know I'm not hopeless at learning languages because I managed to learn to speak

Russian a few years ago.

And I have no trouble learning the Thai vocabulary, but my biggest problem all along has been

my inability to speak with the correct tone and that of course is just as important.

Sometimes they just don't allow any margin for error whatsoever in the tone.

They don't seem to react by thinking now what is the closest word this farang

is trying to speak within the context of his sentence ?

As an experiment I learnt Cambodian ( which doesn't have tones ) solidly for one month

and went back to Phnom Penh for a visit and to my amazement people could actually understand me ?

Whereas here in Thailand people say things like " its better for farang not to try

to learn to speak Thai if they cannot speak well " - I mean what kind of encouragement

is that? It kind of spoilt my self-confidence and enthusiasm. How come we allow

so much tolerance when they are speaking English to us and yet we repeatedly get

discouraged not to speak Thai.

Edited August 11, 2009 by thaijasmine

[jubby]

The Tone thing has got to be the biggest hurdle. I know a few guys who speak thai in monotone and seem to get away with it. Its just so easy to say it wrong and insult someone. Its water off a ducks back when I insult the mother-in-law unintentionally but sometimes people are touchy.

[steveromagnino]

They don't seem to react by thinking now what is the closest word this farang

is trying to speak within the context of his sentence ?

As an experiment I learnt Cambodian ( which doesn't have tones ) solidly for one month

and went back to Phnom Penh for a visit and to my amazement people could actually understand me ?

Whereas here in Thailand people say things like " its better for farang not to try

to learn to speak Thai if they cannot speak well " - I mean what kind of encouragement

is that? It kind of spoilt my self-confidence and enthusiasm. How come we allow

so much tolerance when they are speaking English to us and yet we repeatedly get

discouraged not to speak Thai.

Most Thai people, almost without exception really do try to listen to foreigners speaking Thai; however poorly; if you want to know what it is like to get looked down on for speaking poorly go to Beijing ;-)

The thing with the tones - long and short vowels + 5 tones means that it is quite possible to butcher the language beyond recognition; even as a Thai and english speaker knowing what mistakes foreigners tend to make, sometimes I am completely mystified as to what someone is trying to say....

kind of like the Thai guy yelling out to Stevie Wonder, Stevieeee play a jazz chord* it is so easy to be totally flumoxed with what someone is trying to say with only what seems to be minor changes.

The tones aren't hard IF you know what you are aiming for. You just need to know what they are and then have some system to remember which is which. 5 tones. mid low falling high rising, always in that order. 1.2.3.4.5. For any given word, especially if you can read and write, you can always ask mai mai mai mai mai (the 5 tones) - which one - and someone will answer you. If you have never heard this, I don't know how to explain without hearing, but this is a building block of the language as important as ABC in english. Without mastering this, people staring at you totally puzzled will be commonplace, it would be the same as speaking english but converting all vowel sounds to A. Every new word, is one of those 5 tones, and so you need to try to associate the two together; the only way is to know instinctively what the 5 tones are and sound like.

Don't lose hope; I have yet to meet a circumstance other than hanging around with all international student types that speaking Thai was not encouraged. The steps are:

- spend time listening - active listening

- try to set aside at least an hour every day dedicated to actually learning the language - vocab, pronounciation, anything

- listen to only Thai music, Thai TV; wean your brain off english as much as possible for as long as possible; otherwise you confuse yourself between the two

- get some formal training at a minimum to master: 5 tones, additional sounds (dtor dtao, bpor bplah in particular, ngor ngoo another tricky one), vowel lengths

- use a notebook

- practise a bit everyday; try to use what you know in surroundings that you repeat the same conversations again and again; taxi, restuarant, etc - master the basics then add on from there

At a certain point, you know enough to then be understanding and asking every once in a while what does this word mean, how is that funny etc.

Of course...always easier to blame others that they don't want you to learn, etc, or to feel the self pity that I cannot learn a language - to get anywhere in language or much else in life, requires the effort and it is f&*king hard and frustrating and you will look like an idiot. That's why kids tend to learn stuff more effortlessly; aside from brain wiring which makes learning harder in some areas as we get older (if we believe developmental pyschologist research) we also tend to become more full of pride and ourselves - so that makes being a beginner again so much hard at 40 vs. 4.

But to live here, seriously, or to have a Thai partner, it is giving up a lot not to speak Thai at least at an intermediate level.

* what the guy was trying to say was Stevie play I just called

[garro]

I think that it is far more important if you live here and even more important if you have children here. After a few years many people start to become a bit negative about Thailand (just check this forum) if you can speak Thai you will feel less alienated from the culture what it happens; and this form of delayed cultural shock happens to almost everyone apparently. I would hate the idea of my child speaking a language that I couldn't understand.

[garro]

This is what I would consider the different levels of learning Thai from my own experience and based on the work of Dreyfus & Dreyfus

Novice- can say less than 10 words badly.

Beginner - a few phrases you pick up along they way; most people seem happy to stay here.

Advanced beginner - can speak some sentences and often make themselves understood but not always. Many people at this stage claim to be fluent; probably because they are comparing themselves to the beginner and novice.

Competent - can understand most things but sometimes gets lost in a conversation.

Advanced- understands everything but still relies on remembering vocabulary and grammar rules

Expert- speaks excellent Thai effortlessly

I would put myself as competent here.

[a2396]

I am 65 and been married for 9 years but my wife has always refused to teach me Thai so I plod on with the books and CD and after working offshore for the last year I am trying to get back into it again.

Not speaking or understanding Thai makes life a bit difficult and very frustrating at times such as this week when I went to my local hardware shop I couldn't remember the names of some of the things I want and I have been going there for years on and off.

On the family social side you will find that the family will talk all around you and you will always be asking your girlfriend "what did he/she/they say just then.

My wife speaks fair English but her family speak none at all I I quite often sit there reading a book and if a response is needed or I ask a question My wife will talk to me.

We are used to it now but I do so wish I could speak/read and write as life in Thailand is soooo much easier.

Just keep trying as I do. :D

Why do you think your wife has refused to teach you Thai? Not exactly a high interest in communication on her part, considering she only speaks fair English after 9 years. In my 5 years here I have not really found anyone who is interested in teaching me Thai. Most of them would rather learn English (the smart ones). I think some prefer you not speak Thai, because you would know to much and they think you could cast the net for more ladies. I perefer English in any case, becasue I think it is a more precsie language and much more difficult for people to be evasive with.

[sunholidaysun1]

I am 65 and been married for 9 years but my wife has always refused to teach me Thai so I plod on with the books and CD and after working offshore for the last year I am trying to get back into it again.

Not speaking or understanding Thai makes life a bit difficult and very frustrating at times such as this week when I went to my local hardware shop I couldn't remember the names of some of the things I want and I have been going there for years on and off.On the family social side you will find that the family will talk all around you and you will always be asking your girlfriend "what did he/she/they say just then.

My wife speaks fair English but her family speak none at all I I quite often sit there reading a book and if a response is needed or I ask a question My wife will talk to me.

We are used to it now but I do so wish I could speak/read and write as life in Thailand is soooo much easier.

Just keep trying as I do. :D

It was fork handles and four candles

[caf]

1. carry a notebook and write down each word as you learn it - spell it any way you like ... just to help you remember. aim for maybe 5-6 new words each day and review.

2. enrol in a serious course like AUA where you are given home work and can;t be a slacker ... force yourself ... it won't just sink into you .. you must really work at it

3. if you are super serious then tell your wife no more speaking english at home ... like 'survivor' ... you will sink or swim

on the broader issue of whether your life will be different - in terms of relating to others around you ... i just read a letter in the web site stickman bangkok just on that issue. google for the web site then go to "reader submissions" - go to the most recent page and see if you can see the paper i mean (sorry, but can't put in link here - against the tv rules)

I've been giving this some serious thought also. I'm absolutely useless at Thai. I learn a word and lose two more. I've tried the Sink or Swim method with the wife & kids and sank into the abyss.

I'm trying to get them to speak english again so I can get to know who my Kids are again.

The Notebook method with a bit of revision will probably work for me.

Why can't everyone communicate in binary or machine code

There are 11 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't

[sanook2me]

I know I'm not hopeless at learning languages because I managed to learn to speak

Russian a few years ago.

And I have no trouble learning the Thai vocabulary, but my biggest problem all along has been

my inability to speak with the correct tone and that of course is just as important.

Sometimes they just don't allow any margin for error whatsoever in the tone.

They don't seem to react by thinking now what is the closest word this farang

is trying to speak within the context of his sentence ?

As an experiment I learnt Cambodian ( which doesn't have tones ) solidly for one month

and went back to Phnom Penh for a visit and to my amazement people could actually understand me ?

Whereas here in Thailand people say things like " its better for farang not to try

to learn to speak Thai if they cannot speak well " - I mean what kind of encouragement

is that? It kind of spoilt my self-confidence and enthusiasm. How come we allow

so much tolerance when they are speaking English to us and yet we repeatedly get

discouraged not to speak Thai.

Thats funny because my Thai is often misunderstood or so terrible i don't bother unless really forced too but on a recent holiday to Loas the waitress in the resort could not speak English and understood all of my Thai

Truly baffling that it appears native Thais cannot understand me but a Loas person can (before the posts of who taught you etc)

I have been on 2 Thai language courses in Bangkok studied for years from linguaphone and from many other main stream books, cds, internet sites. Plus wifey is a Bangkokian....

[flying]

Can anyone offer me advice?

Yes just hang in there it is worth it.

Dont worry about perfection initially although many teachers will give you hel_l about the tone. Do what works for you but most importantly DO IT

Set aside a minimum amount of time EVERYDAY

Different things work for different folks. My wife while not a teacher is patient when I ask her to do things (post it notes) or explain concepts to me. I have used books & disks to learn.

Pimsleur Thai is good & you can find the 30 lessons for free if you look. So is Rosetta in its own way. Also a good book available in Thailand is Thai for beginners by Benjamin Poomsan Becker. Teaches you reading & writing too.

Just start get something going & work from there.

I can tell you a little thing I did long ago & it helped me a lot.

I had my wife go all around the house with little post it notes. She put one everywhere like the door to each room. It shows the name also on the cupboards telling me in Thai what was inside. Same in the bathroom a post it above the toilet...next to the towels. Stove. Fridge eveerything

Looked odd but who cares it worked great for me. Later when I had a vocabulary I took private lessons in Thailand one on one. That fixed the tone mistakes.

Good Luck but just start it will be on going but you will really feel good when you start stringing together sentences.

On last thing is speaking is not a garantee for understanding when Thai's speak to you. Man that takes time & you see why many Thai's say we talk too fast when they are trying to learn English Thai tv helps a lot with that or Thai music.

Good Luck!

[PeaceBlondie]

Maybe not knowing Thai makes a big difference; I can't tell what I'm missing, after 6 years.

[apetley]

1. carry a notebook and write down each word as you learn it - spell it any way you like ... just to help you remember. aim for maybe 5-6 new words each day and review.

2. enrol in a serious course like AUA where you are given home work and can;t be a slacker ... force yourself ... it won't just sink into you .. you must really work at it

3. if you are super serious then tell your wife no more speaking english at home ... like 'survivor' ... you will sink or swim

on the broader issue of whether your life will be different - in terms of relating to others around you ... i just read a letter in the web site stickman bangkok just on that issue. google for the web site then go to "reader submissions" - go to the most recent page and see if you can see the paper i mean (sorry, but can't put in link here - against the tv rules)

I've been giving this some serious thought also. I'm absolutely useless at Thai. I learn a word and lose two more. I've tried the Sink or Swim method with the wife & kids and sank into the abyss.

I'm trying to get them to speak english again so I can get to know who my Kids are again.

The Notebook method with a bit of revision will probably work for me.

Why can't everyone communicate in binary or machine code

There are 11 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't

Shouldn't that be 10?

[maxjay]

Beginner - a few phrases you pick up along they way; most people seem happy to stay here.

Advanced beginner - can speak some sentences and often make themselves understood but not always. Many people at this stage claim to be fluent; probably because they are comparing themselves to the beginner and novice.

I'm somewhere in between Beginner and Advanced beginner.

I'm also married and my wife speaks passable English. We do OK.

Also, I have spent countless hours and a lot of money attempting to learn Thai, without much success.

once you understand the people, even with midlevel communicational skills -

one understands that there is not much to know, to learn, to find out - except the

advantage of being able to partake in conversations!

next one may find out that it takes a certain level of education to have an

interesting partner for a conversation too, otherwise it remains on the "hungry",

"movie", "how much do you earn, have, make" - small talk level anyway!

In my 10 years experience living here, the only Thais I've met, that I have interesting and perhaps even thought provoking discussion with, are the highly educated Thais who speak English fluently. The rest of them don't have much to offer in the way of stimulating conversation, IMO.

I have a few single male friends who are fluent in Thai. They say speaking Thai adds a whole new range of Thai women they are able to meet and date. And from the looks of some of their companions, I'd have to agree.

Edited August 12, 2009 by maxjay

[Tod Daniels]

If someone is planning on living in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" in and amongst the ever smiling, yet diminutive natives here, I think learning to speak and understand simple conversational thai is important. (Unfortunately the number of long-stay expat’s I’ve met here who’ve failed miserably at even “two-word-tourist-thai seems to be a very high number indeed.)

People, who say they can't learn thai, haven't been exposed to the correct environment which triggers their learning process. In my spare time I've toured 20+ thai language schools in the Bangkok Metro area. Mostly I go to try to steal their workbooks, talk to the students, and just spy on them for my own interests). As one would expect; teaching methodology varies greatly, as does the quality of the teaching staff. Simply being a native thai speaker doesn't necessarily mean a person has the slightest idea and/or qualifications of how to teach language acquisition. (This observation is mirrored in the lemming like hordes of poorly educated, ill-trained, yet 'native english speakers' who are in the trade of teaching 'engrish' to thais). I concur with what a previous poster said; “Different people learn differently”. What may work for me, might not for you, and vice versa.

Also keep in mind, the vast majority of the population in this country are quite poorly educated. Most up country people older than 50, stopped school at ป.๓ (3rd grade), and most people younger than 35, stopped at about ม.๓ (9th grade) if even that It is only the younger generation that has the luxury of the full 12 years of school, and perhaps further education as in university. (I purposely left out hi-so and/or upper middle class from my observation, as they make up such a small number of thais population wise).

Given the above stated facts, your grasp of the language need not be at the level in which you could converse with a university professor. Actually in day to day interaction, your level of speaking can be quite low, yet still achieve understandability, and mutual communication.

It can be vexing to see thais pull that moronic blank face when a foreigner mispronounces a word. It almost seems like they won't put the effort into working out by sentence context which word the foreigner actually meant to say but didn’t quite get it out correctly. When they hear the wrong word their ears "close" automatically. Learning the simple sentence "I don't speak the thai language clearly." will often lighten them up and can actually enhance their listening skills. Long ago I tired of the old pat phrase of "please speak thai slowly" and changed it to "speak slowly or I will compel you to speak in english". It is not subtle, nor polite in the least, but certainly gets the point across. You'd be surprised how many thais will actually slow down their speaking speed when faced with that choice. Then again I never ever strived to speak thai like a thai, only to speak thai like I speak english; blunt, direct, to the point and certainly without any of the overt brainwashed politeness thais use in their conversations with one another.

As far as the tones; it is true the thai language has 5, although for colloquial conversation, I'd give a pass to initially learning the low, middle and high tones. They can be left out as they are so similar in normal spoken thai. Sometimes when I hear thais speaking to foreigners it sounds as if they are trying to sound pretentious (or taking the piss) when they trill their r's, or over enunciate their toning.

Sadly the same cannot be said for the two most difficult tones for a foreigner to master; the low/rising tone and the high/falling tone. The are the ones which in spoken thai cause most foreigners to "go off script”. Several words immediately spring to mind; 'ghost' - ‘elder sibling', 'white' - 'rice', 'tiger' - 'shirt'.

I continually hear about thai women married to foreigners who refuse to even attempt to teach them thai. One would think, or at the very least believe; communication in the wife's native language would be quite high up on the list of important things. Alas, it seems that is not the case in more instances than I even care to count.

I will state learning to speak thai, understand thai and even read thai (something I feel is FAR easier than speaking), are very important skills to have, especially attempting to live here in and amongst these people.

However, the majority of things you're likely to hear are gossip, talk about the weather, and most conversations are mundanely shallow in both scope and actual content. It's always beneficial to be able to eavesdrop in on chattering thais to see if you are the subject of a conversation. I know this will come as a shock to most foreigners living here but. .. You'd be surprised just how insignificant and unimportant we are here in regards to most thais day to day existence.

While I am no fan of Benjawan Poomsan Becker, (other than to acknowledge her shrewd business skills as well as single-handedly exposing more foreigners to the thai language than probably any other thai national. Her books are well thought out, well structured, and the c/ds that accompany them are quite good learning tools. Realize too that most books designed to teach thai to foreigners rely on phonemic transcription, which is; writing thai words with a combination of the english alphabet and unique characters to impart the tonal difference which occur in the thai language. It can give quick results in spoken thai, although initially you must front load a block of time into learning each authors transcription method, and once you can read even basic thai, it becomes a valueless trait as nothing here is written that way.

Don’t give up, and certainly don’t fall into the old foreign stand-by answer of “I am too old, too stupid, or too (insert your negative adjective here) to learn thai. Use the internet, as there are a plethora of resources out there for free.

(edited for a sa-pelling mistake)

Edited August 12, 2009 by tod-daniels

[ianwuk]

Thanks for all the replies

I mentioned to my girlfrend that I was interested in enrolling on a proper course and she got all upset that I did not want her to teach me. When she does try to teach me she gets angry that I cannot pronnounce a word correctly or in the correct tone. I work for an international company so I do not need to speak Thai at work.

When I get home the last thing I want to do is study Thai. Especially if my girlfriend grills me about what I am learning. I just lose all confidence and forget it all again.

What are good books or CDs I can buy?

Who is Benjawan Poomsan Becker? Where can I get her books from?

By the way, I don't drink.

Thanks for your help.

Ian

Edited August 13, 2009 by ianwuk

[PeaceBlondie]

Bejawan is a teacher of Thai whose books are widely available

[flying]

What are good books or CDs I can buy?

Who is Benjawan Poomsan Becker? Where can I get her books from?

By the way, I don't drink.

Thanks for your help.

Ian

I dont know where you are so hard to say.

But even in the Robinsons Department store they have a book shop upstairs that carries them.

Also try to find Pimsleur Thai a 30 lesson set on CD very good.

As I said with a little searching you will find it free online.

The nice things with Pimsleur is you can burn CD's for the car. 2 lessons fit on one CD

Then listen when your driving. Pimsleur is a very good system by the way

You can take your time. At first the first two lessons may take awhile. Then you will pick up speed.

Good Luck to you!

Edited August 13, 2009 by flying

[WaiWai]

As far as the tones; it is true the thai language has 5, although for colloquial conversation, I'd give a pass to initially learning the low, middle and high tones. They can be left out as they are so similar in normal spoken thai. Sometimes when I hear thais speaking to foreigners it sounds as if they are trying to sound pretentious (or taking the piss) when they trill their r's, or over enunciate their toning.

Agree.

(Largely untrained) Thai teachers who don't recognize other more important language features will vastly overemphasize both the tones and differences between phonemes. Gives them & you a feeling of "know how", for which you pay. I advise giving more trust to your own "ear".

The very best advice when unsure of tones or sound distinctions may be the use of a rapid monotone. Try it .

Don’t give up, and certainly don’t fall into the old foreign stand-by answer of “I am too old, too stupid, or too (insert your negative adjective here) to learn thai. Use the internet, as there are a plethora of resources out there for free.

Agree again, but by no means everyone needs to or desires to acquire skills in Thai. It's an interesting language but it's never going to be a world language. Personal circumstances, especially other commitments, age, health and so on affect motivation to learn another language rather vastly.

No need for language one-up-personship here. How's your esperanto?