Thai Wanting To Take A Basic English Language Course

[Evergreen]

Hi,My apologies if this should be posted elsewhere but it's the only language topic i could find.My mate told me his Thai girl wants to take a basic English learning course as from what i understand she talks very little if any English! (yes i know, it's mad going out with a girl who you can't even talk to but i suppose that's been done before on another forum, lol)Now she has told him she has found a place and it's 25,000 THB, approx £500 for a 15 day basic English course! I almost choked on my pint when he told me this yesterday as it seems way too steep or is this a genuine cost to learn English around Bangkok?I said to wait and check up 1st as me being ever so cynical i think she may just be tryiing to con him for the money and of course he'll never see or hear from her again once he sent her the money! He doesn't believe me and i've tried to tell him what can happen and has happened to so many guys but he's adamant that "my girl is different"...ha ha ha.So, basically does anyone have any idea as to what a basic English course would or should be? I told my mate i knew about this forum as i read lots on it so i'd try and find out from any of the more experienced Thai long stayers if you have any idea?Thanks in advance for any info, i'm just trying to make sure another person doesn't fall into a trap and get conned out of lots of money,

[Rumblecat]

That sounds very steep. For another five thousand baht she could do a semester of a BA in English at a university. So for a fifteen day course...

Simple solution of course is to get him to ask her what the name of this course / company is so he can google it and call them up himself and check.

[Evergreen]

Yeah, i thought it seemed mega steep just for a basic English course hence i told him to wait before sending the money.

I'll get him to find out the actual details and check himself direct....that's if there are any details at all of course, lol. I and probably you also know what some can be like with their stories about money;)

Cheers.

That sounds very steep. For another five thousand baht she could do a semester of a BA in English at a university. So for a fifteen day course...

Simple solution of course is to get him to ask her what the name of this course / company is so he can google it and call them up himself and check.

[SoftWater]

It's not steep - it's a lie.

I've been an EFL teacher in BKK for seven years; I know the prices of most schools as many of my students discuss them. I also know many other foreign and Thai English teachers and schools. Nobody charges this amount of money (and more importantly no-one would pay it). The only way you could get away with a price like this would be for in-house corporate classes (like for Toyota staff or something).

Also, I'd point out to "your friend" that learning a language is not like driving a car in this respect: you cannot take a crash course and suddenly be communicatively competent in 15 days. Even if some rip-off company is trying to sell her a 15 day course at this price (perhaps that excuse is easier to swallow than the one that she's playing you him for a fool...) it would be a complete waste of money.

If she really wants to learn English, send her to EEC or AUA; they're about 5000 baht/30 hr course.

It's not often I get the chance to be 100% certain in the Thai language forum , but this is one of them.

Edited August 7, 2010 by SoftWater

[Goinghomesoon]

My guy did very well with AUA (he was in the lowest class upon joining). They have many mixes of classes, from 5 lessons a week down to 1 or 2 lessons a week. A good variety among the student group too, at least at my hubby's level - there was everything from uni students through to Japanese housewives and quite a few women with farang husbands or boyfriends. It was only a few thousand baht for the 3-day-a-week course from memory.

[Evergreen]

It's not steep - it's a lie.

I've been an EFL teacher in BKK for seven years; I know the prices of most schools as many of my students discuss them. I also know many other foreign and Thai English teachers and schools. Nobody charges this amount of money (and more importantly no-one would pay it). The only way you could get away with a price like this would be for in-house corporate classes (like for Toyota staff or something).

Also, I'd point out to "your friend" that learning a language is not like driving a car in this respect: you cannot take a crash course and suddenly be communicatively competent in 15 days. Even if some rip-off company is trying to sell her a 15 day course at this price (perhaps that excuse is easier to swallow than the one that she's playing you him for a fool...) it would be a complete waste of money.

If she really wants to learn English, send her to EEC or AUA; they're about 5000 baht/30 hr course.

It's not often I get the chance to be 100% certain in the Thai language forum , but this is one of them.

Hi,

thanks for the reply, some of which is quite helpful....and other parts are just what i should have known i'd get from actually posting on here!!... I will tell him to look into the AUA courses if she really is serious about doing a course (which i have serious doubts about and have already told him this)

The bit putting "your friend" in quotes is not needed and then the clear insinuation that you think this girl whom i do not even know is playing ME for a fool!! Well, you are the fool i'm afraid as she has got nothing at all to do with me and i do not know her or have i ever met her..

As usual, a very simple question gets torn to shreds when all i was wanting was a bit of advice for a mate as to a realistic price for this course instead of the ridiculous 25,000 THB she's said she needs from him.

I and my mate also know that you cannot take a crash course and be competent in 15 days so please don't talk as if i am some sort of 12 yr old dumbass kid ok, less of the silly comments and your reply would've been fine, no problems but by adding those couple of things it's really riled me as you can probably tell now...lol.

[Evergreen]

My guy did very well with AUA (he was in the lowest class upon joining). They have many mixes of classes, from 5 lessons a week down to 1 or 2 lessons a week. A good variety among the student group too, at least at my hubby's level - there was everything from uni students through to Japanese housewives and quite a few women with farang husbands or boyfriends. It was only a few thousand baht for the 3-day-a-week course from memory.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. I've told my mate to try looking into this AUA place as now i've heard it's one of the better ones to use. He's now beginning to realise that his girl may not be all he seemed she was as asking for 25,000 THB was just ridiculous, lol.

Cheers.

[Tod Daniels]

Your ‘friend’ would do well to heed the poster known as “SoftWater” and his sage advice. I concur, there’s no 15 day crash course where she’s gonna go in cold and come out having anything more than the ability to parrot the same stuff foreigner’s parrot in thai after attending a 15 day ‘survival thai’ course. “How are you?” “I am fine thank you and you?”, “Where do you come from?” “Do you like thai food?” Etc, etc. ..

Certainly, she can provide your ‘friend’ with the name of the school, and he could correspond with them, and wire transfer the money directly to their account if he decided to go that oh-so expensive as well as ludicrous route.

In looking at the website of very well known engrish language school here in Bangkok called Wall Street Institute of English (whose website is here; http://www.wallstreet.in.th/en/index.asp). It would seem, (as I just called them and checked) that she could enroll in SIX months worth of classes (which she could attend EVERY DAY) based on their “Way-stage level method” for about 11K baht a month or 63,900 baht all in. Certainly that’d provide more bang-4-the-baht. All I did was call ‘em and ask how much they charged for a ‘6 month unlimited membership’.

And FWIW; that school ain’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Although having toured several of their branches they do seem to have a good program and seem serious in their efforts to impart engrish to the thais attending.

I agree with another poster who advocates AUA, they're very well known, reasonably priced and offer a quality program as well.

Sadly the story from your friend sounds just like what it seems on the surface; a fanciful story designed to extract maximum baht from your ‘friend’ in a minimum amount of time.

Then again, your ‘friend’ is unlikely to believe this because after all “she’s different”. He would do well to take off his ‘rose colored glasses’ and realize early on, that all things wild and wonderful here in the glorious “Land ‘O Thais” are NOT what they appear to be on the surface.

[Evergreen]

Your 'friend' would do well to heed the poster known as "SoftWater" and his sage advice. I concur, there's no 15 day crash course where she's gonna go in cold and come out having anything more than the ability to parrot the same stuff foreigner's parrot in thai after attending a 15 day 'survival thai' course. "How are you?" "I am fine thank you and you?", "Where do you come from?" "Do you like thai food?" Etc, etc. ..

Certainly, she can provide your 'friend' with the name of the school, and he could correspond with them, and wire transfer the money directly to their account if he decided to go that oh-so expensive as well as ludicrous route.

In looking at the website of very well known engrish language school here in Bangkok called Wall Street Institute of English (whose website is here; http://www.wallstree...th/en/index.asp). It would seem, (as I just called them and checked) that she could enroll in SIX months worth of classes (which she could attend EVERY DAY) based on their "Way-stage level method" for about 11K baht a month or 63,900 baht all in. Certainly that'd provide more bang-4-the-baht. All I did was call 'em and ask how much they charged for a '6 month unlimited membership'.

And FWIW; that school ain't cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Although having toured several of their branches they do seem to have a good program and seem serious in their efforts to impart engrish to the thais attending.

I agree with another poster who advocates AUA, they're very well known, reasonably priced and offer a quality program as well.

Sadly the story from your friend sounds just like what it seems on the surface; a fanciful story designed to extract maximum baht from your 'friend' in a minimum amount of time.

Then again, your 'friend' is unlikely to believe this because after all "she's different". He would do well to take off his 'rose colored glasses' and realize early on, that all things wild and wonderful here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" are NOT what they appear to be on the surface.

Hey,

Thanks for the reply, there's some usefull info there that i can pass on to my mate. I'll leave it up to him, i've said my bit to him that i think it's a total con and passed on my advice, it's entirely up to him.

Yes, softwaters reply was also helpful to a certain extent but why the smartass insinuations that this girl whom i have never even met is fooling ME and also when he types about my friend he feels the need to put it in quotes....which i notice you also do!!

I know full and well about the girls over there having also lived there for a time! I'm fully aware of the scams which is exactly the point of me asking what the REAL price for a course would be as opposed to the ludicrous 25,000 THB that this girl is trying to get from my mate for what i think is a non-existant 15 day course. Yes, he's naive 100% but it aint easy telling people the home truths that their lovely genuine, beautiful sweet girl aint quite all she seems!! I know full well what they're like and i learned very quickly about them...

Cheers.

[rgs2001uk]

Your 'friend' would do well to heed the poster known as "SoftWater" and his sage advice. I concur, there's no 15 day crash course where she's gonna go in cold and come out having anything more than the ability to parrot the same stuff foreigner's parrot in thai after attending a 15 day 'survival thai' course. "How are you?" "I am fine thank you and you?", "Where do you come from?" "Do you like thai food?" Etc, etc. ..

Certainly, she can provide your 'friend' with the name of the school, and he could correspond with them, and wire transfer the money directly to their account if he decided to go that oh-so expensive as well as ludicrous route.

In looking at the website of very well known engrish language school here in Bangkok called Wall Street Institute of English (whose website is here; http://www.wallstree...th/en/index.asp). It would seem, (as I just called them and checked) that she could enroll in SIX months worth of classes (which she could attend EVERY DAY) based on their "Way-stage level method" for about 11K baht a month or 63,900 baht all in. Certainly that'd provide more bang-4-the-baht. All I did was call 'em and ask how much they charged for a '6 month unlimited membership'.

And FWIW; that school ain't cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Although having toured several of their branches they do seem to have a good program and seem serious in their efforts to impart engrish to the thais attending.

I agree with another poster who advocates AUA, they're very well known, reasonably priced and offer a quality program as well.

Sadly the story from your friend sounds just like what it seems on the surface; a fanciful story designed to extract maximum baht from your 'friend' in a minimum amount of time.

Then again, your 'friend' is unlikely to believe this because after all "she's different". He would do well to take off his 'rose colored glasses' and realize early on, that all things wild and wonderful here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" are NOT what they appear to be on the surface.

Ah Tod, if only it were so simple,

"Certainly, she can provide your 'friend' with the name of the school, and he could correspond with them, and wire transfer the money directly to their account if he decided to go that oh-so expensive as well as ludicrous route."

Many fail to take into account just how unscrupulous both the girls and schools can be.

She wont be the first girl to go to a school and cut a deal with the administrator to split the fees that have been transferred.

Said farang wont be the first to arrive back in Thailand and find out "his girl" had been nowhere near the school in months.

Apart from the above you have nailed it.

[SoftWater]

No offence intended Evergreen, tho' I'm sorry you took the "insinuations" so hard, I was just messing. Wouldnt you admit it's a common phenomenon that people with embarrassing medical problems often go to doctors and say things like 'I have a friend who has this problem'?

In any case, I apologise for offending your sensibilities. You're quite right that it was totally unnecessary.

Sw

Edited August 11, 2010 by SoftWater

[Evergreen]

No offence intended Evergreen, tho' I'm sorry you took the "insinuations" so hard, I was just messing. Wouldnt you admit it's a common phenomenon that people with embarrassing medical problems often go to doctors and say things like 'I have a friend who has this problem'?

In any case, I apologise for offending your sensibilities. You're quite right that it was totally unnecessary.

Sw

Hey,

It's no problem ok. It just obviously riled me to think that you were thinking i was the one being totally gullible when it was definately not me, i was only trying to help a gullible mate out,

Just to update you.....i told my mate to find out exactly where this so called English "course" is, the place, name etc etc. He says he called her and tried to tell her he wanted the details of this place and she said she'd text or email him the details.......since then it's been silence from her and he says when he tries to call the phone's off!!

Looks like we've managed to "save" yet another guy from parting with silly amounts of money to a Thai girl and he's now feeling a bit silly now himself. I told him he's not the 1st and he unfortunately won't be the last! He now aknowledges that 25,000THB for this basic English course was ridiculous and once i got it confirmed for him from on here the realisation slowly set in, lol.

Cheers again ok, and no hard feelings for the mis-understanding previously,

[dobadoy]

It sounds like her English ain't that bad anyway...she obviously got the message loud and clear.

[Evergreen]

It sounds like her English ain't that bad anyway...she obviously got the message loud and clear.

Exactly....she's seemingly now admitted to him...via email that "some of the money was to improve her English and the rest was for her mother who was ill in hospital" I told him to bin the email, phone number, everything and forget her as the "mother in hospital" story is an old favourite they use on a regular basis...

My mate thanks not only myself but the others on here who have finally made him open his eyes as i knew that this basic English course was no way 25,000 THB but once i showed him the replies on here to my post it's made him see the light.....

Cheers.

[dobadoy]

Sounds like the Thai gf is the gullible one - those doctors at the hospital are asking for a bunch of money? Didn't she know Thaksin brought in the 30baht healthcare scheme 5 years or more ago?

Now, if your buddy were to tell her that bit of good news and wire her the 30baht, sounds like they could be back on the road to mutual bliss.

[Evergreen]

Sounds like the Thai gf is the gullible one - those doctors at the hospital are asking for a bunch of money? Didn't she know Thaksin brought in the 30baht healthcare scheme 5 years or more ago?

Now, if your buddy were to tell her that bit of good news and wire her the 30baht, sounds like they could be back on the road to mutual bliss.

I know, exactly...yet i still hear countless stories saying the exact same, lucky enough some of us are very wise to it all... Somehow i think my mate's "relationship" is quite simply doomed, lol.