My Way To Learn Thai Todd's Method

[bangkokbanks]

Learning Thai – Todd’s Method

Learning Thai is a process, a process that is enjoyed along the way. What makes it frustrating is not making progress or having a measure to how well you are doing. I tried it for years until I figured out a simple method. I do ask that you commit at least 30 minutes to working with a teacher a day, but not more than an hour and only for 5 days a week. I explain more below. Scrap all the books accept a few good ones from the past, read on.

RULE: The teacher is never to let you under any circumstances pronounce a word incorrectly. This will slow you up but later it will pay off. You must insist even if correcting you will at times make you mad at your teacher but be patient, he needs the money and you need the Thai, so get it right.

RULE: You will learn to read, it will be fun and you will not be too frustrated because it is like a game. All of this stuff starts to fit together anyway but in the beginning you need to develop some kind of structure in order to build a base.

RULE: Repetition, repetition, repetition. That is how you are going to learn Thai. The sooner you get used to it the better. With Sports or Musical Instruments you always heard practice makes perfect. The same applies for Thai.

GOOD IDEA: Current new words you are working on, make flash cards…in your down time like BTS, Taxi, waiting for anything - get them out and flip through them once, but not too much.

Materials you will need to learn Thai

First highly recommended ***

1). A good note book, just one that you put all of your notes. I have three of them filled by now and still use all of them all.

2). EASY THAI by Gordon Allison circa early 60s but still in print. (THIS BOOK IS KEY***)

3). Jumbo English Thai Dictionary Gordon Allison ISBN 974 277 021 2

4). Thai –English Dictionary by Domnern – Sathienpong (yellow book cover),

Second, after a month of Easy Thai you are ready for -

5). AUA Thai Course book 1 (later books 2, 3) [note; it’s addicting you’re going to want them].

6) A private Thai teacher available for 1 hour max five days a week only. You can do it in 30 to 45 but no more than an hour. The cost should not exceed 300 baht per day, lessons Mon. through Friday if you can.

7). Thai Consonant Chart (you will repeat after your teacher each consonant before every lesson). You want to start this when you begin the Easy Thai Book, and for the rest of the years you study Thai say it once a day with a Thai person or your teacher. You are going to love me for this one, it’s amazing how fast you start speaking every Thai consonant perfectly.

8). Thai Vowel Chart (you will repeat after your teacher each vowel combination before every lesson) The same applies for the vowels that it does for the Thai Consonant Chart. You are going to double love me for this. Once you start remembering this combinations and speaking them perfectly, suddenly without much effort you can read man! And guess what, because you know the vowels perfect and the consonants perfect after a few months, maybe more? But you get the idea, soon enough you will be able to spell Thai. This bloody works; of course there are exceptions here and there, but by using the AUA methods and soon enough dictionaries, you are on your way. Now it’s really focusing on the AUA, getting right and your new best friend; your Thai teacher.

You are going to have a great time, the world around you changes. Sometimes you are having such a great Taxi ride you don’t want to get out, or the person selling you a book or making you coffee gets curious because your Thai is not only good it’s clear.

Third

Immerse yourself. Be curious about everything; ask questions but not too many, just accept. Kids don’t ask why they just learn the word or phrase. Try to read as much as you can. I walk around with my note book or simply snap a sign I do not understand with my Mobile phone. I keep good notes, review those notes.

Finally

I recorded over 50 pages of my lessons on to MP3 digital. They really help because I listen to them in the morning whilst showering and getting ready for the day. Each audio is only 3 to 5 minutes long I recorded with my teacher. I said the English word he spoke the Thai. This actually launches you level after level month after month. Thai does not come quickly, it’s a process.

You have to accept that this is a process. Enjoy every stage, why rush? You will enjoy every step because you put effort into it. But not like so many that say they study and study and never get anywhere, trust me in the AUA method, the Easy Thai and the speaking of the Consonants and Vowels. And never let your teacher get away with letting you slip up, what’s the purpose?

So I kindly disagree with many that Thai is impossible to learn or that it is boring. It is the very opposite of boring. But you do not need an expensive school or some fancy course books. It’s all right there for you in the time tested ways of the past that just aren’t so polished with pictures and fancy covers like you see in the books stores.

Last

I have tried them all, got frustrated and reverted right back to what I have explained to you above.

Good Luck.

Todd Banks

Reference:

[Got to haves]

JUMBO ENGLISH THAI DICTIONARY. 195 baht ISBN 974 277 021 2

Thai –English Dictionary by Domnern – Sathienpong (2^nd edition) ISBN: 974 272 096 7

A.U.A. Language Center

Thai Course

Book 1 [2] [3]

Prepared by J. Marvin Brown

Cornell University Southeast Asia Program

Ithaca, N.Y. 1991

ISBN: 0-87727-506-8

(I cannot say enough good about this course)

A bit more advanced

These books are like gold to me

Thai Reference Grammar, The structure of Spoken Thai

James Higbie & Snea Thinsan Orchid Press ISBN: 974 8304 96 5

These guys are amazing, incredible book.

Thai English Students Dictionary

Mary R. Haas

Stanford University Press

ISBN: 0-8047-0567-4

P. Sethaputra

English – Thai Dictionary of Contemporary Usage

Desk Edition

Nanmeebooks

ISBN: 974 9907 67 1

New Model Thai – English Dictionary

Compiled by So Sethaputra

Two volumes

ISBN: 974 08 4743 9

( I love these two volumes, they are special) [and expensive]

COURSES

A.U.A. Language Center

Thai Course

Book 1 [2] [3]

Prepared by J. Marvin Brown

Cornell University Southeast Asia Program

Ithaca, N.Y. 1991

ISBN: 0-87727-506-8 [250 baht at AUA book store in Bangkok]

(I cannot say enough good about this course)

EXTRA that I like and think they are not a waste of time

Reading and Writing Thai

Somsonge Burusphat

ISBN: 974 94803 0 9

Institue of Languge and Culture for Rural Development

Mahidol University 2006

Sabai Sabai

An Elementary Thai Course

With a Thai Grammer Precis

ISBN: 978 974 11 1005 6

Assoc. Prof. Nopporn Prachakul

Mahidol University

International Collage

[desi]

Fantastic that you found your learning style.

For the recordings, did you just record the vocabulary? Or select conversations too?

I started with AUA. First I recorded (up to lesson 7). Then I retyped (ditto) because I didn't like their transliteration style. It was awhile before I realised that I don't learn from transliteration, so I wasted a lot of time converting my lessons to a style I believed I could use. I gave up with AUA after lesson 7 because it was too much work redoing the materials to suit what I needed.

Turns out, I need to read Thai script while listening to spoken Thai. So simple, but it took me forever to figure out. But first, learning the alphabet was a must.

The Thai alphabet charts didn't do anything for me so I went in search of what did. 60 Min Thai kick-started me into remembering the shapes and HML. I then switched to Reading Thai is Fun to practice writing and to solidify the alphabet into my head. Once I had my alphabet down easy, Reading Thai For Beginners came into it. I chose that course because there is no transliteration. Recently (just this January) also added anther method - reading while listening, repeating, and then writing down what I hear. I'm not a fast learner, but this all is working for me.

I've read a lot of praise for Easy Thai. Out of curiosity, I purchased a copy. I'll have to go back over it to see why it's so good.

Edited February 22, 2010 by desi

[Tod Daniels]

The other two AUA books in that series are also of note; Reading & Writing (One is a blue book with a W on it which says "Workbook (mostly writing)", and the other is an orange book with an R on it which says "Text (mostly reading)". The only draw back is they both use a wickedly small and sometimes hard to decipher 'handwriting style' font. It's definitely helpful in learning to read thai script though, but in the beginning I found it a tough slow slog.

I also found value in a book I'd passed over many times in Kinokuniya Books only because of its title (and the goofy picture on the cover) called; "Everyday Thai for Beginners" by Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs. It is a book and C/D which much to my surprise has NO transcription in it at all. You must read basic thai to even follow along. It is a grammar structure heavy book and will get you dialed in to proper word order in commonly used thai sentence constructs for many situations.

In the same genre as the book; "Thai Reference Grammar is one called; "Thai an Essential Grammar" by David Smyth. Both are books with examples of usage/structure of thai.

I don't have the book Easy Thai, but it may be worth me picking up (or having someone let me copy theirs ).

I too concur, learning thai is NOT boring, but early on especially learning to read thai FIRST, it is a slow go with very little perceived ‘bang-4-the-baht’ to a new student. I think that is why so many schools (Walen & AUA the exceptions) teach reading thai via phonemic transliteration FIRST to get a student speaking, and then introduce them to reading thai.

Great post. ..

BTW; the O/P who uses Todd as his name is in no way me , as I use Tod for my name (even though my name's really spelled Todd too ... I just couldn't take the thais calling me Toddy so dropped a d).

[desi]

"Everyday Thai for Beginners" by Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs.

I absolutely love Everyday Thai for Beginners. Some of the audio is unneeded, so I edited them out. My Thai teacher now uses the book for her students who have gone through the AUA materials.

I don't have the book Easy Thai, but it may be worth me picking up (or having someone let me copy theirs ).

I ended up with two copies. One from the original run (?), the other from 2000 (it has Thai script across the bottom). And I guess I do owe you

[bangkokbanks]

Fantastic that you found your learning style.

For the recordings, did you just record the vocabulary? Or select conversations too?

I started with AUA. First I recorded (up to lesson 7). Then I retyped (ditto) because I didn't like their transliteration style. It was awhile before I realised that I don't learn from transliteration, so I wasted a lot of time converting my lessons to a style I believed I could use. I gave up with AUA after lesson 7 because it was too much work redoing the materials to suit what I needed.

Turns out, I need to read Thai script while listening to spoken Thai. So simple, but it took me forever to figure out. But first, learning the alphabet was a must.

The Thai alphabet charts didn't do anything for me so I went in search of what did. 60 Min Thai kick-started me into remembering the shapes and HML. I then switched to Reading Thai is Fun to practice writing and to solidify the alphabet into my head. Once I had my alphabet down easy, Reading Thai For Beginners came into it. I chose that course because there is no transliteration. Recently (just this January) also added anther method - reading while listening, repeating, and then writing down what I hear. I'm not a fast learner, but this all is working for me.

I've read a lot of praise for Easy Thai. Out of curiosity, I purchased a copy. I'll have to go back over it to see why it's so good.

Hello everyone. Thanks for replying to my post. Well I have to stick by what worked for me and I know the other material you are refering to. Regarding the recordings I wrote about. I need to clarify, I kept very good notes often those notes during my class sessions would turn into much more soon I had a lot of material such as vocabulary words beyound my AUA, and phrases I was learning, this all worked well with AUA since the lessons themselves sparked the idea for what ever I needed to know. Soon I had 50 5 minute lessons I made into MP3. I can share them with everyone, but I have to figure out how to do it. They are incredibly useful, I still listen to them today. They have an audio script in English and Thai that follow the audio but sorry no transliteration, I never learned how to read transliterated Thai, I only learned how to read Thai. Say and that brings me back to a few things; One gets nothing at all out of AUA until you learn to read Thai at a basic level, that's where the Easy Thai came in, take a month out and do it. Then on to AUA. AUA will build the base I was speaking about. I did not mention the reading and writing books that AUA has becuase it is not necessary to get into those until you have done through book 3, some will disagree with me, but I found it became too much. AUA does have a nice book called Small Talk that is nice but simple. I stand by what I wrote before, and the reference material. I am very familar with the other materials, but each to his own. I wanted to share what worked in my case. And by the way, I am a student of Thai I think I always will be. People that say they are fluent in this langague unless a native speaker, I beg to differ. I like reading the replies to this post, keep em coming.

[desi]

Soon I had 50 5 minute lessons I made into MP3. I can share them with everyone, but I have to figure out how to do it. They are incredibly useful, I still listen to them today. They have an audio script in English and Thai that follow the audio but sorry no transliteration, I never learned how to read transliterated Thai, I only learned how to read Thai.

I would love to see what you've come up with.

Suggestion - upload the files to http://rapidshare.com ...Then share the urls...

I never learned how to read transliterated Thai, I only learned how to read Thai.

Transliterated Thai was such a bane for me... I know the theory, that one must learn transliterated first, but with every Tom Dick and Harry creating their own version, sigh...

[bangkokbanks]

Hi

I beg to differ regarding getting up and speaking using transliterated Thai first. I base that premise not only on my own experiance but on that of how several of my freinds who are as good as Andrew Biggs at speaking Thai. They said you have to walk before you can run, you have to learn to read and learn how to pronounce Thai properly. As stated, it will slow you up at first; then you are propelled forward while the other guys are still struggling with the basics. When I get books that have tranliterated Thai, I am rather irritated by it. This is not some badge of honor; that's bull. But please I cannot stress enough the importance of learning it at least on some rudimentary level. The Easy Thai will get you there and it's sort of fun as well.

Thank you for the link for the Easy share. I will give it a try but am a bit afraid of getting ridiculed or put up as some sort of idiot. These useful lessons and script were meant for me not public distribution and some I am afraid will not keep that in mind. Perhaps you can email me on [email protected] that is an email I use for all public websites. I can then share them with you that way.

Cheers