Efficient Way Of Learning Thai Language?

[kguanz]

Hi guys,

i'm new to this forum, so please guide me along =)

After visiting Thailand i think that it have beautiful culture and nice people in the country which simply make me fall in love with it. haha.

Okay the main point is, i'm keen on pickin up thai language and wanted to know which method would be recommended. I know the fastest way is stay in thailand which i will get lot of opportunities to practice it but i do not think that i'll stand a chance doing so.

Therefore i thinking of buying some english-thai language book to practise on my own, and visiting some websites. Any good recommendation?

Appreciate if anyone could help.

[babuhavas]

you can also learn with thai language CDs,a lot available in market.

[Rikker]

I'd start by going through this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Online-Dicti...age-t64769.html

But the true mother of all lists for free online Thai language resources is undoubtedly this one:

http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/resources/learning-thai/

[aussiebebe]

I lived here for three years, trying to learn from my girlfriend (now my wife) and using Books and CDs. I made little progress. Although it was expensive (for me, considering) I learnt at a Thai language school for a month and wish I'd done it sooner. So efficient and quick. I learnt at one called UTL near Asoke, but I couldn't recommend it as I haven't tried others. All I could say is that I found learning Thai with an experienced teacher, familiar with foreigners and a proper course book was more effective than anything else I tried previously such as Books, CDs, DVDs, speaking with neighbours, my wife, or by watching TV or Thai movies or listening to the radio.

What worked for me was having a good teacher (BIG difference between teacher and non-teacher IMHO!) who speaks slowly, corrects you as you speaks, and constantly 'forces' / encourages you to use your Thai is real, relevant situations. That's the short-coming of books and CDs I reckon, the listen and repeat BS never gets you far.

Try a language school, any language school - most efficient!

[worldfun]

umm study & immerse in the language be it alone, in schools or uni's etc

[sukhont]

Find Thai friends or friends who u can speak or practice Thai with them(not only Thais).

I think it should be the same as I was trying to learn English language and all my teachers told me that we should find more opportunity to use English.

You can learn from books as well but you need to choose ones having CD/DVD.

I think Thaivisa website is good for people who is studying Thai language as well.

[kguanz]

Thank for the reply.

Another thing to question. When we learn thai, basically we start from the alphabet first or? is it like english?

[Rionoir]

Most courses do not start with the alphabet first... you should familiarize yourself with the tones for a while first.

[SoftWater]

I'm not quite sure from your post if you are in Thailand or not. Depending on which is the case, either

A

i. If you are not in Thailand, your first step should be to get B P Becker's 'Thai for Beginners' books 1 & 2.

Start with those, then use the internet resources (see the link provided by Rikker above) for consolidation. I think it's thailanguage.com (but i'm not sure, a bit of searching will give you the answer) that has supplementary exercises for the Becker books, but the main reason I recommend them is they will give you a structured self tutorial course with clear progression and achievable goals. They are also pretty cheap. Make sure you get the cds to go along with them.

ii. After you've done Becker, books 1 & 2, get David Smyth's 'Teach Yourself Thai'. This will consolidate and expand much of the stuff you learned in Becker. It will also teach you the basics of writing and tone rules if you're interested in that, but you can skip those parts if you're not. Don't rush from Becker into something more advanced or you'll forget much of what you learned there (well, I did anyway.. )

iii. Come to Thailand as much as you can and practice with anyone who'll listen (the cost of a drink in any bar will normally find you a 20-minute language partner).

If you're in Thailand for any length of time, the answer is simpler and better:

B. Go to a language school from the beginning. Avoid all the aggressive advertisers on Thaivisa and google search the Union schools. Don't waste time self-teaching if you can get to a school. I have met many people who only taught themselves (though usually with the unacknowledged aid of a girlfriend) and never went to a school, so yes it's possible. But all the people whom I've met that went to a good school have advanced in one year as far as I have in nearly six. Unless you are an extremely self-motivated learner, the main advantages of a school are the regular practice and structured challenges. Repetition IS key, but you will never repeat enough or in the right ways sitting at home on your own.

Good luck. And when you get good, come back to TV and answer some questions for others!!

Edited September 14, 2009 by SoftWater

[worldfun]

sw, pretty good summary there. can only agree although I don't have experiences with those 2 books mentioned.

however perhaps a bit like yourself I've gone the 'unstructured route' for years mixed in with the odd 80 hours language course which however as it turned out (verified by 2 different schools) over time has put me back to square 1 (basic/beginners level 1)

so that's why I'm quite 'picky' in ensuring that my most 'ambitious' attempt at climbing the thai fluency ladder as quick as possible will be a succesful one

cheers (maybe see you around in one of the schools LOL)

[SoftWater]

sw, pretty good summary there. can only agree although I don't have experiences with those 2 books mentioned.

however perhaps a bit like yourself I've gone the 'unstructured route' for years mixed in with the odd 80 hours language course which however as it turned out (verified by 2 different schools) over time has put me back to square 1 (basic/beginners level 1)

so that's why I'm quite 'picky' in ensuring that my most 'ambitious' attempt at climbing the thai fluency ladder as quick as possible will be a succesful one

cheers (maybe see you around in one of the schools LOL)

If I wasn't working there would be only one choice for me, and that's the intensive Thai course at Chula university. Particularly for people like us, who have forgotten half as much as we know, this looks like an ideal course. However, as someone in full-time employement and with a couple of little 'uns, it's a no-goer for me. I'll probably got back to AAA Pasawes at Chit Lom as I thought they were pretty good, or Nisa (I've only heard good things about them), but if that one at Chong Nonsi looks decent I'll try there first cos like I said its on my way home and that's a big factor in this city at rush hour times (the only times I'm ever travelling!)

Let us know if you find any other good options!

[Johpa]

There is no one "efficient" or "best" way to learn a language. Different people have different learning styles. Some prosper by taking classes and others prosper just by exposure. And even within organized classes there are differing teaching methodologies.

If you do not have the time or inclination to take a class, then start by focusing on common words and nouns. Tape a transliteration of a thing onto it, such as a note on the door with "pratuu" written on it, the Thai word for door. And focus on comprehension in the beginning rather than production, but don't avoid trying to speak. I am a firm believer in Buddhist path to linguistic success: right understanding, right thought, right acts (speech production).

[keestha]

I learned Thai by simply learning 10 new words every day, and rehearsing the words I had learned already. Every time I started studying by thinking: What new words would I like to know? In the beginning you learn every day words like street and food, and 3 months later you are learning words like stability and democracy, that you don't need so often. I studied that way every day for 4 months, and after that another year and a half only saturdays and sundays. Only years later (stupid!), I learned to read Thai.

This way I made a base, which enabled me to gradually improve my Thai as years passed by. But maybe a good teacher could enable you to learn quicker, and use the language more correctly.

[SoftWater]

There is no one "efficient" or "best" way to learn a language. Different people have different learning styles.

Although I agree, to an extent, with where Johpa is coming from, the fundamentals of second-language acquistion in adults is quite well understood. Although learners do differ in what works for them, there are not that many different learner behaviours, and there are some principles that apply to (almost) everyone (the exceptions I have in mind are those rare "geniuses" - Stu Jay Raj?? - who appear to be ,by nature or nurture, wired differently from the rest of us).

The reason why there is so much confusion and misinformation in this area is simply a function of the fact that 2nd language learning is a huge commercial enterprise, and providers everywhere are trying to distinguish themselves in the market from competitors. That means some just talk rubbish, and others overemphasise in their promo material one point over another. Most, if they are decent, all pretty much do the same thing once they've secured your cash.

The basic princples are

i. frequent repetition, both of study in general (i.e, you'll learn more if you study 5x times a week for 30 mins that once a week for 150mins), and in particular(i.e, you need to go over material you have already learned at regular intervals)

ii. balance production with acquisition (i.e, if you study lots but don't use it you'll never be able to communicate or understand even though you 'know' a lot of language; on the other hand, if you use what you learn but don't study futher, you will experience a lot of 'communicative failure'. You will also probably remain illiterate, which leads to

iii. learn to read and write at an early stage. Literacy will increase your access to authentic language materials, anything from road signs and supermarket displays to poems, stories, newpapers and academic articles. It will also make you a more independent learner and give you another source of motivation and variety in your quest to acquire your target language.

iv. Find as many native speaker language 'partners' as you can. Whether its a teacher, girlfriend, pal or whatever, you cannot learn a foreign language in isolation from the people who speak it. The more native speaker partners you have, the better and faster you will learn.

v. Immersion - a truly difficult thing to do if you live in any 'expat' part of Thailand. But the principle of immersioin is simple - put yourself in positions where i. you have a need to communicate and ii. your target language is the only possible means of communication. You can do this on the internet (once you reach a decent level of literacy) by joining thai-language only chats and forums about something that interests you, but by far the easiest way to do it is to join and attend a school regularly. If you learn in a group, force yourself to never speak to the other students in English. You're wasting your money and theirs. Your classmates might think you're being a smart-arse at first, but they'll soon appreciate it if you can get them to play along (one of the main reasons why Thai students don't benefit as much as they should in English classes is because they mostly refuse to stop speaking Thai to each other. Its understandable, but also disastrous from a learning perspective.)

As Johpa says there are schools that use different methods, so don't give up if the first one doesn't suit your style. Try another. Schools that regularly come up on this forum with positive responses from former students are

i. AAA

ii. Berlitz

iii. Chula

iii. Nisa

v. ProLanguage

vi. Thammasat

vii. Utl/Unity

I'm not saying these are the only good ones, or even the best, but they certainly are the regular recommendations (and occassionally a few people say negative things about them too). Search the forum for yourself. Balance the advertising claims with your needs - if you find a school promoting visas as a main plug then maybe they aren't serious enough about the language content for you. None of the above schools, last time I checked, make a big deal of selling Ed visas, but they all DO offer them, as does any gov't approved thai language school.

A school is not the 'be all and end all' - as I regulary tell my English-language students, you cannot acquire a language sitting in a classroom. What you can do is learn the basic structure of a language that will give you a springboard to self-learning.

vi. From here on in, you need to work on fluency and accuracy, and that means doing things like giving yourself 2-minute speaking topics for fluency ('what i did at the weekend', 'how to get to the airport' etc), you can record them, practice them with a native, or just talk to yourself as you walk down the street, and for accuracy listening and repeating as much as you can stand the boredom of it to audio files or a (very) patient native speaker. There are lots of materials on the net now with audio, look in the online resources pinned thread.

Edited September 15, 2009 by SoftWater

[dvc]

There is no one "efficient" or "best" way to learn a language. Different people have different learning styles.

Schools that regularly come up on this forum with positive responses from former students are:

i. AAA

ii. Berlitz

iii. Chula

iii. Nisa

v. ProLanguage

vi. Thammasat

vii. Utl/Unity

I'm not saying these are the only good ones, or even the best, but they certainly are the regular recommendations (and occassionally a few people say negative things about them too). Search the forum for yourself. Balance the advertising claims with your needs - if you find a school promoting visas as a main plug then maybe they aren't serious enough about the language content for you. None of the above schools, last time I checked, make a big deal of selling Ed visas, but they all DO offer them, as does any gov't approved thai language school.

Can anyone tell me which, if any, of the schools listed above, have their entire syllabus available in Thai script? The reason I ask is, I can already read and write Thai, but would like to begin study from beginner level so as to fill the gaps in my rather shaky, entry level, intermediate, (this is a self-assessment), spoken Thai.

I have no need of phonetic scripts, and studying for two or three months via such a script, (to get to the point where proper written Thai is introduced in the syllabus), seems like a waste of time and money to me.

[SoftWater]

There is no one "efficient" or "best" way to learn a language. Different people have different learning styles.

Schools that regularly come up on this forum with positive responses from former students are:

i. AAA

ii. Berlitz

iii. Chula

iii. Nisa

v. ProLanguage

vi. Thammasat

vii. Utl/Unity

I'm not saying these are the only good ones, or even the best, but they certainly are the regular recommendations (and occassionally a few people say negative things about them too). Search the forum for yourself. Balance the advertising claims with your needs - if you find a school promoting visas as a main plug then maybe they aren't serious enough about the language content for you. None of the above schools, last time I checked, make a big deal of selling Ed visas, but they all DO offer them, as does any gov't approved thai language school.

Can anyone tell me which, if any, of the schools listed above, have their entire syllabus available in Thai script? The reason I ask is, I can already read and write Thai, but would like to begin study from beginner level so as to fill the gaps in my rather shaky, entry level, intermediate, (this is a self-assessment), spoken Thai.

I have no need of phonetic scripts, and studying for two or three months via such a script, (to get to the point where proper written Thai is introduced in the syllabus), seems like a waste of time and money to me.

I totally understand where you're coming from on this - it's what kept putting me off going to a school in the first place. I didn't want to go in at a level that was either more advanced than my speaking level nor one that was lower than my literacy level. The only answer I think is to take one-on-one classes where the teacher can cater to your individual needs. I went to AAA and found them very good at doing this. The individual tuition is only available from 7-8.30am and/or 4.30 - 6.00pm (cos the teachers are taking the regular group classes between 9 and 4). If you're working like me that actually quite suits, but if you're not it might be a bit of a pain. I can't remember about weekends, but I think they do home visits too.

Edited September 16, 2009 by SoftWater

[dvc]

There is no one "efficient" or "best" way to learn a language. Different people have different learning styles.

Schools that regularly come up on this forum with positive responses from former students are:

i. AAA

ii. Berlitz

iii. Chula

iii. Nisa

v. ProLanguage

vi. Thammasat

vii. Utl/Unity

I'm not saying these are the only good ones, or even the best, but they certainly are the regular recommendations (and occassionally a few people say negative things about them too). Search the forum for yourself. Balance the advertising claims with your needs - if you find a school promoting visas as a main plug then maybe they aren't serious enough about the language content for you. None of the above schools, last time I checked, make a big deal of selling Ed visas, but they all DO offer them, as does any gov't approved thai language school.

Can anyone tell me which, if any, of the schools listed above, have their entire syllabus available in Thai script? The reason I ask is, I can already read and write Thai, but would like to begin study from beginner level so as to fill the gaps in my rather shaky, entry level, intermediate, (this is a self-assessment), spoken Thai.

I have no need of phonetic scripts, and studying for two or three months via such a script, (to get to the point where proper written Thai is introduced in the syllabus), seems like a waste of time and money to me.

I totally understand where you're coming from on this - it's what kept putting me off going to a school in the first place. I didn't want to go in at a level that was either more advanced than my speaking level nor one that was lower than my literacy level. The only answer I think is to take one-on-one classes where the teacher can cater to your individual needs. I went to AAA and found them very good at doing this. The individual tuition is only available from 7-8.30am and/or 4.30 - 6.00pm (cos the teachers are taking the regular group classes between 9 and 4). If you're working like me that actually quite suits, but if you're not it might be a bit of a pain. I can't remember about weekends, but I think they do home visits too.

Thanks so much for the reply. I had a feeling that the one-on-one approach was probably best suited to my needs, however, I thought I'd check on the availability of a full, Thai based syllabus, (for group teaching environment), first.

It's possible that someone else may have the information I'm looking for. Failing that, I'll visit each school in turn and check on the situation first hand.

[worldfun]

http://www.everyday-thai.com/teachingmaterials.html have reading materials entirely in thai for their read/write courses while on the other hand they also have a 'unique' mixed speak & read class where I guess they both use the thai script & fonetics books at beginner level(s) until everyone has learnt the script adequetely...

so this school might be a decent choice for your situation, but then again you may need to resort to individual classes which here go at 350bt/hour I believe (not bad).

also as this is a new school they dont have many students yet so you may be the only 1 or 2 students in group class (and they wont cancel it regardless of participants!), so you could end up in a bargain sole group class course LOL.

for level 1 (morning/speak+read starting 18sep) I understand only 1 student has registered & I may be 2nd one so give them a call to check out your options...

else walen does everything including books entirely in thai if their (callan) method is to your liking & their level of intensity etc.

cheers!

[malomker]

I learned Thai by simply learning 10 new words every day, and rehearsing the words I had learned already.

I just started the course from HighspeedThai and it uses the same philosophy--a flash card program that drills you and then reviews at a later date based on how difficult the word was for you. Seems like a smart approach.

[courtenayjade]

Try going to www.learningthai.com first and start learning the Thai alphabet.

Then purchase the 'Becker' book range and find a Thai friend in which you can practice with.

My husband is Thai and I learned to read on the website first and then I got the Becker range and I could read and write Thai before I even met him.

So I really recommend the website

Practice,Practice and Practice.

Best of Luck!!

[poldebol]

I have spent some time learning Thai. I followed some lessons at KK university. Had a few great teachers but also found that they do not have a real didactic method, something a Thai section at the university might be in need of. Unfortunately I do not live in KK anymore.

This is how I learned the letters.

I bought three sets of the two posters of the Thai alphabet. The consonants and the vowels (+accents). You will find them in many stationery shops. The back side of the posters must have the black and white version of the letters and show how to write them. Make sure the poster with the consonants shows the class of the consonants on the front side. This is usually done by a background color (e.g. green, beige, blue) for high, middle and low class. Do not buy them to big. In my posters one letter is about 6 bij 3,5 cm (the letter and the object it is associated with) or 2 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch.

A friend in a copy shop cut out two of each posters. Then he put the colour and the b/w version of each letter back to back and laminated them. Price for one set about 350 THB.

Now I have a set of cards I can play with.

All cards colour side up: cover left side of the card with your hand, only object (tree, monkey, bottle etc.) is visible. Guess name of the object, sound and class of the letter.

Use you imagination and some of these cheap writing books Thai children use to learn to write. You will find that in this computer age, learning to write Thai letters, exactly as it should be done, can have a therapeutic effect.

When in the car with my wife, I try to read the two letters on the licence plates. Sometimes I can read the names of the provinces as well (some guessing there).

Now I can read most road signs. The progress stopped when I was not able to copy the tones. Really amazed why nobody makes a small computer program that shows on the left side of the screen the graph of a correct pronunciation and on the right side, my pronunciation.

Anybody?

When I go around on my bike, I can have very small conversations. Thai people love it. They all say I speak very good Thai, I know they like to flatter. I have T-shirts printed with อยากรู๊ (curious) and ฟรังบีันก (foreigner like bird sh.t). I usually get a lot of help from Thai people I meet, but not one has told me the translation of the bird sh.t, they think it is a bad joke from my wife (who does not like I wear the T-shirt when we go somewhere together).

[languageexpress]

Can anyone tell me which, if any, of the schools listed above, have their entire syllabus available in Thai script? The reason I ask is, I can already read and write Thai, but would like to begin study from beginner level so as to fill the gaps in my rather shaky, entry level, intermediate, (this is a self-assessment), spoken Thai.

I have no need of phonetic scripts, and studying for two or three months via such a script, (to get to the point where proper written Thai is introduced in the syllabus), seems like a waste of time and money to me.

I can’t speak for other schools, but Language Express core textbooks have both Thai and a transliterated roman script. The later uses the same format as PB Becker, since we use these books as supplementary texts.

Given the fact you can already read and write, you’d be better of skipping skip the first 8 weeks of our course since we primarily use this to teach the Thai alphabet and tones (+ a few basic dialogs).

Learning the Thai alphabet is a no brainer for me, however there are an awful lot of students who insist they don’t want to learn to read Thai, but, as many posters have noted, it’s better to put the work in and get literate early on, as it pays big dividends down the track.