One Guy's Effort To Learn Thai In 8 Weeks

[irishpolyglot]

So many confused people here...

I didn't start this thread, so I never claimed to "learn Thai in 8 weeks" as the title suggests. I was always dipping my toes in the language and was very clear from the beginning that I just wanted to get a basic grasp of reading and speaking. I called it "read and speak in 8 weeks" as a playful joke on what people count as speaking a language nowadays and I was actually on holiday in Thailand. I never promised anything, because this was always an EXPERIMENT for me. I didn't reach my target of reading aloud to a native, but I achieved everything else that I had initially stated on my blog. If you think that haggling prices with some English "no no" thrown in, ordering food and introducing the video like I did doesn't count as "basic Thai" then you are deluded.

The targets were modest because I was TAKING A BREAK from immersion. This was never a "fluent in 3 months" experiment and people who think I am exaggerating my claims to what I achieved have probably never read the blog itself where I was clear from the start about my goals.

Being public about language learning progress is something that I do to help relate to others going through the same struggle, but the comments I got here for being public about my 15-20 hours of work on Thai have been unnecessarily vicious.

I had mentioned somewhere in this forum that I "would like" to have done more, but I was working 65 hours a week for my last 3 weeks straight due to financial problems so I had to focus on that. If any of you have had serious financial problems, then you would understand the pressure I was under and the negativity from this forum certainly didn't help.

I don't get why everyone here is being so negative; I was a little ambitious with what I wanted to achieve, but am still very proud with the results. That video isn't the result of 8 weeks of work, I learned how to speak like that in ONE DAY. Before that video I couldn't speak any Thai at all. Maybe that progress is not good enough for you, but frankly I don't care. I shared my progress with you for some advice and support. Criticism is fine, but this thread has turned into nothing less than ridiculous. So many responses here show that you don't have the slightest clue what I was even aiming for in the mission. Not fluency in Thai, but basic familiarity with the feel of an Asian language. I succeeded in that as I had planned. When I try again with full immersion rather than 15-20 hours over 8 weeks then I'll achieve much more, just like anyone else truly committed would.

Despite any shortcomings of what I tried to achieve, I've received dozens of e-mails from people saying that I've inspired them to focus better on their Thai and attempt to make fast progress using some of my tips on mentality and immersion. I'm trying to spread a positive message that you can indeed achieve a lot in a language if you apply yourself. I didn't fully apply myself this time, but despite that lots of people have changed their approach and started speaking. The nastiness of this thread is doing nothing to help anyone.

Please let this thread just die, all that it's producing any more are pointless attacks. I didn't reach a fantastic level of Thai in 8 weeks, get over it.

[SoftWater]

I agree with Benny on this: perhaps its time for the mods to close this thread?

Edited March 26, 2010 by SoftWater

[meadish_sweetball]

Fair enough. Closed.