What Do You Need To Learn To Speak Thai?

[HalfSquat]

Right, I want to learn to speak Thai. My reasons are to make things easier whilst living in Thailand and just because I want to accomplish something I've started for once!

I've been trying for about a year and at the moment I'm having one lesson a week and am doing stuff around that to prepare for the lesson. I talk a bit to taxi drivers but only a little and not that often.

What else should I be doing? Any tips much appreciated.

My end goal is to be able to order and food I want and anything else that might crop up in a service situation, share general greetings and observations, nothing too heavy or indepth for now.

My obstruction is not knowing any Thai people to practice with.

Thanks.

[desi]

<< My obstruction is not knowing any Thai people to practice with.

Skype lessons.

Learn in your own home. No time wasted on travel. Record your Skype lessons (additional software - easy to set up).

A good Skype teacher will tailor your lessons around what you request.

Google 'Learn Thai Skype' for more.

[HalfSquat]

Thanks will have a look.

[Ciaphas]

When I learnt Thai I found a Thai person who wanted to learn English on the Gumtree website and we would meet up once a week for a couple of hours, I would speak Thai they English and helping each other as we went. I'm not sure how established Gumtree is here in Thailand or if they have a similar website. But it's worth doing if you are keen to improve your language skills.

[Colabamumbai]

Take it to the streets and speak Thai to every vendor that is not busy, they will correct you, I was in a similar situation, no one to talk too, so anyone became game the motochais near you, the local stores and in the restaurants.

[tgeezer]

Get a good phrase book and learn it parrot fashion, all the 'high value' constructions are there. When you know all that you just need a bigger vocabulary and you will be fluent. If you can try to mix with as many native speakers as possible it will certainly help to sound natural.

[meadish_sweetball]

Good suggestions so far.

Shortly these things will help you progress:

- Listening to Thai native speakers in conversations, and emulate them. Tgeezer's suggestion is good: learning dialogues by heart from phrase books, for the type of situations you want to be able to handle. Cram until you know the entire conversations by heart. Focus on the listening part, do not focus on the text to go along. You are learning how to speak, and the karaoke will not be much use in real life. If you need to read menus, learn to read and write. Combining reading and writing practice with pronunciation practice can be a good idea, since it is easier for your brain to accept that a new sound belongs with a new letter, than to assign a new sound to a letter you already have assigned a sound to.

- Pronunciation practice - becoming aware of what Thai sounds should actually be like. This involves some theory. Some people hate theory and would prefer to skip this part. For me personally, I would not have progressed to the point I am now without getting a solid foundation in phonetics, actually working actively with pronouncing individual sounds, and understanding which part of the sounds are important for a Thai who is listening.

-- Learning to pronounce the new, specific vowel and consonant sounds in Thai that you do not have in your native language. This will require a native speaker of Thai or highly proficient foreigner who can correct you. Your brain can not be trusted in this, as it is likely to try to take shortcuts using sounds that you already know. This will produce an accent that is difficult to understand for all Thais who are not used to your way of speaking.

-- Learning which sounds are identical or close to sounds you already know.

-- Tones (drilling with a tape, then with a native speaker who corrects you). Listen, repeat, listen repeat. Unless you are truly tone deaf this will pay off, as boring as some may find it.

-- Understanding and paying attention to vowel length. This is crucial info in Thai, and most Thai written in Latin letters does not show vowel length consistently and properly. If you are not going to learn reading and writing Thai, you should at least learn a transcription system that is clear and unambiguous.

- Lastly, and most importantly - speak as much as you can. Speak as much as you can, in all situations. Learn to laugh at your mistakes because there will be many, and each one can teach you something if you pay attention.

In fact, only speaking and listening without any formal training can also yield desired results. It will just be (much) more confusing at first, and requires more patience.

When I was at the beginner stage, I would strike up conversations with lots of people. I found that using the method tgeezer suggested is good - if you know proper grammatical sentences many Thais will inevitably compliment you on your Thai (even if it is not very good yet, but they appreciate the effort). You should focus on people who have the time to do this. For example, many restaurants and coffee shops, etc. have quiet periods in the afternoon. Make a point of finding such places and go there during off hours. Be friendly and relaxed, give a bit of a tip and don't forget to give compliments on various things (just don't get creepy) like the Thais do so well themselves.

[SamBolsty]

There are always people willing to talk to you in Thailand, meadish is correct, you can always talk to street vendors. Thai people always appreciate a foreigner attempting to talk Thai and, altough they may find you funny do not be discouraged as this is just the happy Thai nature we have all come to love.

[HalfSquat]

Thanks, will try and make more of an effort to get out there and chat.