Study For Free At Language Express Bangkok

[languageexpress]

>>>>>>SPECIAL FEBRUARY OFFER<<<<<<

STUDY THAI FOR FREE AT LANGUAGE EXPRESS FOR 1 WEEK.

>>>>>>SPECIAL FEBRUARY OFFER<<<<<<

1. CALL BEFORE THE END OF FEBRUARY

2. QUOTE LXTHAIVISA AND RECIEVE YOUR 1 WEEK FREE STUDY TICKET

3. START LEARNING THAI WITH OUR EXPERIENCED AND TRAINED TEACHERS FOR FREE!

WWW.LANGUAGEEXPRESS.CO.TH / [email protected]

02-675-3915

Hello All!

If anyone is interested in learning Thai in Bangkok but are unsure about where to start why not come down to Language Express at any point before the end February and join our Thai course for absolutely FREE for one week. Simply quote LXTHAIVISA and you will recieve a one week unlimited study voucher that will be valid from the moment you start studying with us. Our course caters for all levels from beginner emergency Thai through to advnaced speaking and writing skills. We have designed our own materials to specifically suit the needs of students wanting to learn Thai.

If anyone would like to read an impartial review of our school please click here - http://www.thaivisa....79#entry4118779. This was written by a long standing member of Thai Visa (1500 posts over 5 years) who has regualarly taken the time to visit most of the Thai language schools in Bangkok and write about his experiences there. We are very proud of the kind words he wrote, please have a look and judge for yourself.

"I strongly urge ANYONE who is serious about learning the thai language to stop in at Language Express, take their level testing, look at their material, and decide for yourself. I am far from easily impressed by thai language schools. However, this material is some of the best stuff I’ve EVER come across in ALL the schools I’ve toured!"

- Todd Daniels (Thanks very much Todd!!)

For more information please call - 02-675-3915 or come and visit the school, we are 1 minute from Ploenchit BTS station right outside exit 2.

We look forward to seeing from you soon!

Cheers,

Jez

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Why study at Language Express?

• Fast effective learning
• Experienced, professional teachers
• Affordable prices
• 3 year education visa available
• Classes designed to get you talking from day one
• Well resourced & comfortable learning environment

Language Express specializes in Thai language education. The school offers courses in Thai and English, as well as specialist courses in IELTS Preparation, Accredited TESOL Certificates and Business English. Our Thai Language Course requires 4 hours study each week, and this can be take in 2 x 2 hours blocks on weeknights, or a single 4 hour block on Saturdays. Students who take a year long course (192 hours) are eligible for a Thai Education Visa. It is also possible to take the Thai Course in smaller units for those who only wish to improve their conversational abilities or learn how to read and write.

Language Express is not into educational fads or gimmicks; the two owners are qualified teachers in their home countries, each with around twenty years teaching experience in universities, language centres and high schools. They have taken the best of their Australian and Japanese schools and fitted them into a state of the art facility only metres from the escalators at BTS Ploenjit station. Language Express has a strong emphasis on quality. The school uses its own textbooks supplemented by commercially published texts such as "Thai for Beginners". These textbooks all feature Thai script, transliterations and translations. Our Thai teachers are university qualified native speakers selected for their energetic and professional approach, who receive ongoing training and development.

Students learn in a fast, effective manner using the Step System which is based on the tried and tested Communicative Approach - with an emphasis on memorizing and using grammatical structures with practical vocabulary and correct pronunciation. A critical part of our lessons is the 'production' segment, where students practice speaking using the language they have just studied, while integrating it with other Thai they know. On the Thai Course you'll acquire solid skills that let you communicate with Thai people as fast as possible. You will literally be speaking right from your very first lesson, then building on this step by step.

If you're thinking of learning Thai or taking a Thai Visa Course, please visit us when you make your enquires. We are always happy to outline our language programs, and are confident that once you compare the alternatives, you'll note a real difference in professionalism and quality.

CALL: 02 675 3915

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.languageexpress.co.th

Edited February 6, 2011 by languageexpress

[edwardandtubs]

An unlimited study voucher for one week you say? So if I want to study with you for 10 hours a day for 7 days, that will be fine will it?

[languageexpress]

An unlimited study voucher for one week you say? So if I want to study with you for 10 hours a day for 7 days, that will be fine will it?

My appologies I should qualify 'unlimited' - each level has 12 classes per week, so you can study all 12 during the week. The level test is free as well.

Please give Language Express a buzz if you would like any more info.

Thanks

Jez

[Rumblecat]

Good offer, if I have time this month I'll definitely take them up on it.

Sorry for being cheerful about it.

[Ijustwannateach]

If any member has an issue over forum rules, the proper approach is to PM a mod or Admin, to email [email protected], or to use the REPORT button in the case of a individual post which needs attention. It is NOT permitted to post complaints or discussion of moderation (or policies) publicly (that is written clearly in the forum rules).

Several posts have been removed and a warning has been issued.

[thaimickeymouse]

wow, what a marketing strategy. I have seen you are doing all at your school.

IGCSE (whatever it is)

IELTS

TOEFL

GED

SAT

TU-GET

CU-TEP

CU-AAT

Copied from your website. You strike me as a highly specialized establishment. And on top of that all you are contending for the position of the best Thai language school. I take my hat off. Wow, really impressed.

Dont we all love those restaurants that at the same time do Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Thai, Malaysian etc food.

Must be a testimony to your effective business model. I have not heard of a school in Thailand and definitely not in Bangkok that offers a wider variety of courses than your almost brand new school.

Edited February 3, 2011 by thaimickeymouse

[languageexpress]

wow, what a marketing strategy. I have seen you are doing all at your school.

IGCSE (whatever it is)

IELTS

TOEFL

GED

SAT

TU-GET

CU-TEP

CU-AAT

Copied from your website. You strike me as a highly specialized establishment. And on top of that all you are contending for the position of the best Thai language school. I take my hat off. Wow, really impressed.

Dont we all love those restaurants that at the same time do Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Thai, Malaysian etc food.

Must be a testimony to your effective business model. I have not heard of a school in Thailand and definitely not in Bangkok that offers a wider variety of courses than your almost brand new school.

Hi Mr Mouse,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to this post. I genuinely appreciate you keeping this thread alive.

I think it's a bit unfair to suggest that because we offer a range of language courses we don't specialise in them. Broadly speaking we actually only offer two kinds of courses - general language courses, both English and Thai, and exam preparation courses, and these generally involve tutoring students in advanced language skills so that they meet the entry requirements of universities in both Thailand and overseas. We are a language school and as such we specialise in Language Development.

Our Thai course has been designed using established, well researched teaching techniques that we have developed and implemented over a 20 year plus career in language teaching and educational management. Furthermore, our previous schools in Japan and Australia (recently floated to great effect) continue to thrive because of our business model, which is simple – deliver high quality education. Of course we are contending to be ‘the best Thai language school’, why would we offer a Thai course if we didn’t want to excel at it? The reason I refer the members of this forum to the kind review made by Todd about our school (http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/429983-revisit-to-language-express/page__p__4118779#entry4118779) is that we are hugely proud of his words and we’ve worked hard to ensure our Thai course is worthy of the praise.

Of course all words are subjective, and in my case clearly so since I obviously work for Language Express. So why not take the time to visit our Language Express, rather simply visiting our website and doing cut and paste job on the courses we offer? You would be welcome to take the free 1 week trial we are offering above and then hopefully form a positive judgment based on actual experience. As I have said previously to other users of this website, if you're considering studying Thai then take the time and do research about the range of schools available, speak to the staff at the schools, speak to the students at the schools and take a trial lesson. I am confident if you do this you find that we are right up there on your shortlist.

All the best,

Jez

Language Express

www.languageexpress.co.th

02-675-3915

[Tod Daniels]

Here're the meanings of the abbreviations/acronyms. .. I took the time (a whole 5 minutes ) and Googled 'em, so everyone would know the meanings;

IGCSE - International General Certificate of Secondary Education

IELTS - International English Language Testing System

TOEFL - Test of English as a Foreign Language

GED - General Educational Development (called a high school equivalency in the US)

SAT - Scholastic Aptitude Test? Not sure if this is it, but it’s standard testing for almost every Uni in the US, (possibly other countries too but I dunno, not being all that edu-ma-cated in thingz like that .

The last three in the list are individual English proficiency and general aptitude exams given by LONG established VERY well known Thai Universities;

CU-AAT - Chula, Academic Aptitude Test

CU-TEP - Chula, Test of English Proficiency

TU-GET - Thammasat, advanced test of English language proficiency

As you can see from the meanings; they're almost all based around English proficiency. With L/E being a actual language school; I can't by any wild stretch of my imagination see by offering any of these programs they’re some how' out in left field without a glove' <-you gotta go look that idiomatic expression up yourself, sorry my free Googling is over, lol ..

Thanx for bringing it up! My interest is solely in thai language acquisition as a foreigner, so I didn’t know half the acronyms meanings but do now!

I also didn't know L/E offered such a diverse mix of English proficiency prep stuff, but it’s really good to know! Cheers for that!

[Tod Daniels]

Not to continue beating the drum. .. BUT

I swung by Language Express yesterday; especially after I saw on this forum they were offering a free week of schooling (and linked to my review too, ).

For me anything regarding thai language learning that’s offered for free by ANY thai language school near you should be utilized! I mean free is free, it only takes up a persons time, and you might learn something you didn’t know, already.

I wanted to;

2) Ask even though I know this is a public forum and anyone can link to any other post, a heads up woulda been nice.. To coin an engrish phrase popular in some areas of Bangkok; “Hey come on man! ..”

3) I also wanted to run the idea past them that perhaps dialing the “info-mercial-ish” feel of their posts down notch or three would go a long way to lending credibility to what ever it is they're trying to say.

4) Additionally I wanted to see if they'd be interested in being more than just a sponsor; perhaps having their thai teaching staff make profiles (yet clearly marking them as being employed at L/E in their About Me page); maybe answering thai language questions, helping to translate things thai to english, english to thai, etc.

Although I have no right to do so; I asked them to be more of a “forum participant” then just a sponsor. A little time out of their staff’s day helping people who have language questions on this forum wouldn't be all that bad.

FWIW: They were very open to my suggestions. Time will tell if the 'seeds I planted' yield fruit or not, but it seemed they were planted in ‘fertile ground’.

I also sat both level 4 and 5 yesterday at Language Express. Yesterday was 'mid-term' where you're tested on the material you've previously learned. I took level 4's mid-term. Sadly I failed the portion where you take an English sentence, translate it into and write it out in Thai. I just don’t have the occasion to actually hand write Thai that much, (and most words in Thai printed media are already spelled correctly, lol). Nor did I learn to write Thai when I went to Thai language school for a year. My hand written Thai is truly horrific; full of misspellings (wrong ending consonant, tone marks, and the like). However, I only missed two questions on the other portions of the test, so all in all, I felt sort of okay about my reading comprehension level.

For the conversational portion of the lesson I sat in on level 5 and it was challenging!

Not so much in that I didn’t know the vocab, or meanings, etc, (as I did). That level definitely 'stretched' my spoken Thai ability as far as more complex sentence constructs, making questions/answers up on the fly (in a reasonable amount of time), and understanding a wide variety of foreign accented thai too!

I think it's pushing the boundaries which increase someone’s ability; NOT underutilizing your knowledge base.

I apologize if this post sounds “info-mercial-ish” too. Hey wait a minute; this is after all a thread about Language Express isn’t it? Or am I in the worng <sic> err wrong thread again?

FWIW: I am NOT employed by NOR receive financial remuneration from ANY thai language school I’ve ever reviewed. And as I said, I’ll take a week worth of free lessons at any school out there. If any school owners out there are reading this, send me a P/M if you decide to take me up on it, 555+!

I urge ANY readers of T/V to go take a sample class at EVERY thai school you’re considering attending BEFORE you pay anyone a satang’s worth of baht!!

TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY is a good motto to follow in the private thai language business!!

[DavidHouston]

Brilliant idea, Tod! Asking the two or three commercial advertisers on this site to allow members of their staffs to actively participate in answering poster questions will likely generate more goodwill than any pure advertising scheme. All of us have warm feelings for the Thai native speakers who answer questions on this site and I suspect that the teachers in the language schools would be no exception.

Furthermore, I suspect that the schools would benefit by having a site, like Thai Visa, where their own enrolled students would be encouraged to ask questions outside of the classroom setting. Asking such questions and receiving responses from teachers would have the double benefit of not having to interrupt class-time lessons with non-related questions and allowing students to ask questions as they arise in the real world, posted to this site. As such questions are asked and answered, non-current students would see the benefits of attending formal classes, especially if the responses were couched in terms of when and how such items are taught in the classroom setting.

Thanks again for the suggestion, Tod. Now, let's see if the schools in fact do respond positively by their participation.

[Tod Daniels]

Brilliant idea, Tod! <SORRY I SNIPPED YOU!> Thanks again for the suggestion.

Thanx for the thanx,

Being American "born and bred", I rarely "beat around the bush". Both owners of Language Express and the marketing director are all foreigners; so I had no reticence in offering my 'suggestions'. Like you said, "time will tell", but it is a really good idea!

NOT TO HI-JACK THIS THREAD BUT

Come to think of it, my BIGGEST problem in undertaking the Thai language has been my overly direct manner of speaking. It is just plain not polite to speak bluntly or to the point. I think if I had a baht every time a Thai friend said, พูดตรง (เกิน) ไปแบบนั่นทำไม (or something along those lines, as I’m paraphrasing), I’d be a millionaire!

Even with almost 6 years here under my belt, I still struggle with it every day when speaking Thai with Thais; especially in situations where I feel I’m the aggrieved party.

In the US if I'm dissatisfied; I want that person to know it in no uncertain terms. I'd make an angry face, convey the anger with my speech pattern and tone too. Possibly even pound my hand on the counter for emphasis, in case whoever I was talking to was a bit on the "thick" side. That just doesn’t “play well” here AT ALL.

The old stand by phrase; "ขอโทษครับ เป็นคนอเมริกัน พูดตรงไปตรงมาดีกว่าครับ" doesn't always let me get away with things I say or make Thais tell me the answer is in reality, NO and they can't help me.

I have found Thais much prefer the Thai way of พูดอ้อม ๆ (speaking in a circuitous manner) versus ANY in your face direct conversation(s), especially in a potentially confrontational or adversarial sort of situation. It has taken YEARS to learn to keep the emotion(s) off my face, speak politely in a normal volume here when dealing with Thais on things, but it HAS paid off "ïn spades"!

Still "DavidHouston"; thanx again for the thanx. .. This year I'm really working on being a kinder, gentler Tod Daniels, ("honest injun", I am!)

EDIT: sorry my writing style uses TONZ of idiomatic expressions, so I thought I'd put 'em in quotes so you all can keep 'em straight!

Edited February 4, 2011 by tod-daniels

[BlueTerrace]

wow, what a marketing strategy. I have seen you are doing all at your school.

IGCSE (whatever it is)

IELTS

TOEFL

GED

SAT

TU-GET

CU-TEP

CU-AAT

Copied from your website. You strike me as a highly specialized establishment. And on top of that all you are contending for the position of the best Thai language school. I take my hat off. Wow, really impressed.

Dont we all love those restaurants that at the same time do Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Thai, Malaysian etc food.

Must be a testimony to your effective business model. I have not heard of a school in Thailand and definitely not in Bangkok that offers a wider variety of courses than your almost brand new school.

McMouse should do a little research, they’re all connected to language testing…. one of the advantages in having a school run by education veterans.

[MacWalen]

Walen was always offering free demo lessons in all of our schools. It is good to see that other schools follow. Walen is the most successful Thai school so competitors do well following our example.

Walen School - the best known Thai language school

www.thaiwalen.com

Edited February 5, 2011 by macwalen

[desi]

Students learn in a fast, effective manner using the Step System which is based on the tried and tested Communicative Approach - with an emphasis on memorizing and using grammatical structures with practical vocabulary and correct pronunciation. A critical part of our lessons is the 'production' segment, where students practice speaking using the language they have just studied, while integrating it with other Thai they know. On the Thai Course you'll acquire solid skills that let you communicate with Thai people as fast as possible. You will literally be speaking right from your very first lesson, then building on this step by step.

From what I've read on their site and from Tod's glowing reviews, Language Express looks like one of the best Thai schools out there. Time will tell, but they are certainly heads above the schools I've heard about.

[Rikker]

Hi Jez, thanks for sharing the info about Language Express.

I have a couple of friends currently studying Thai at Language Express, and they've had good things to say. Sounds like you have a good thing going, and I wish you the best.

[kikenyoy]

Students learn in a fast, effective manner using the Step System which is based on the tried and tested Communicative Approach - with an emphasis on memorizing and using grammatical structures with practical vocabulary and correct pronunciation. A critical part of our lessons is the 'production' segment, where students practice speaking using the language they have just studied, while integrating it with other Thai they know. On the Thai Course you'll acquire solid skills that let you communicate with Thai people as fast as possible. You will literally be speaking right from your very first lesson, then building on this step by step.

From what I've read on their site and from Tod's glowing reviews, Language Express looks like one of the best Thai schools out there. Time will tell, but they are certainly heads above the schools I've heard about.

I agree with desi.

Jez,

Do you have plans to open a school in Pattaya? I haven't been too impressed with the schools I've seen here.

[languageexpress]

Hi Kikenyoy,

Thanks for the post. We do hope to expand this year but as yet we have not decided on a location - however my requests to start an open air school, outside under the shade of a beach side palm tree on a deserted island have so far fallen on deaf ears (actually not a bad idea! Any takers?).

I'll keep you posted when I have some more news.

All the best,

Jez

Edited February 6, 2011 by languageexpress

[Gaccha]

I am interested in a very specific activity:

I want a Thai chat on a topic of my choice for around 40 minutes a week. I don't want a teacher to choose the topic and I don't want them to chronically correct me. I want them to not intervene in the flow of the topic. I only want them to explain grammar or vocab or accent when asked. It would be one to one.

Can you deliver this? And how much?

I've tried with Thai friends but it doesn't work. They seem to always want to teach. They feel a need to follow the way they learnt. So I need to pay someone not to teach me.

Thanks in advance.

Edited February 7, 2011 by Gaccha

[languageexpress]

I am interested in a very specific activity:

I want a Thai chat on a topic of my choice for around 40 minutes a week. I don't want a teacher to choose the topic and I don't want them to chronically correct me. I want them to not intervene in the flow of the topic. I only want them to explain grammar or vocab or accent when asked. It would be one to one.

Can you deliver this? And how much?

I've tried with Thai friends but it doesn't work. They seem to always want to teach. They feel a need to follow the way they learnt. So I need to pay someone not to teach me.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Gaccha,

Thanks for the post. Yes we would be happy to deliver a one-to-one course tailored to your needs - please call - 02-675-3915 and we can discuss your requirements in more detail.

That being said I would still advise you try out at least one of our Step lessons (or indeed all 12 available with the week study voucher above) before you go down this route. The fact you desire a free flowing conversational lesson suggests you may be of quite a high level in Thai but I think you may still find benefit in taking part in a more structured lesson (unless the choice of conversation subject is paramount to your needs). I'll give you a rough outline of the steps you will progress through in one of our conversation classes (please bear in mind we do do other forms of lessons as well) as this may be of use while making your decision.

Vocabulary - The teacher works with the group chorusing the vocabulary that will be used during the lesson, this provides the teacher with the opportunity to identify any pronunciation issues that each student may need may need to focus on - something which is particularly important when learning the Thai language. The teacher will then use a number of tried and tested techniques to help correct the pronunciation (back-chaining, rhythm and stress based correction etc.). After that the teacher ensures that each student has a good comprehension of the language being used by using varying styles of concept checking questions. The vocabulary stage is actually one of the shortest parts of the lesson but it provides a solid foundation to build upon.

Dialogue – In this stage students are introduced to a set dialogue and once again corrected on any pronunciation issues they may have. The dialogue is then rehearsed with other members of group – the goal here and indeed throughout the lesson is to reduce teacher talking time as much as possible and get the students practicing the language and talking as much as possible, this ultimately improves fluency. The dialogue also serves to introduce new grammatical structures, these structures are then practiced with different vocabulary (a very simple example: John likes football / John loves football) – the teacher does not explicitly teach grammar; the teacher guides students through the natural acquisition of language through experience.

Production - The production element of the lesson is both focus and goal. Here students use the language they have practiced during the lesson and combine it with the language they already know to craft more complex conversations. As you the lesson progresses the teachers involvement changes, from structured correction at the start to gentle guidance towards the end - we do understand that there is a time and a place for highlighting and correcting mistakes and we train our teachers to recognise this.

This is only a general overview – I don’t want to give away all of our secrets . Although lets be honest they are hardly secrets. The structure and techniques that form the basis of this communicative approach to language acquisition have been researched and reviewed by education faculties in universities around the world and with great sucess. We have built upon this knowledge base and adapted it to suit the needs of students studying Thai and we’re confident you will find it is a method that works.

Ultimately your decision should come down to giving it a go and comparing it to what else is out there. If you would like any further information on either one-to-one open conversation study or our Step course please give us a call.

All the best,

Jez

Language Express

//e-mail removed as per forum rules// www.languageexpress.co.th

Edited February 8, 2011 by Tywais
e-mail removed

[MacWalen]

I am interested in a very specific activity:

I want a Thai chat on a topic of my choice for around 40 minutes a week. I don't want a teacher to choose the topic and I don't want them to chronically correct me. I want them to not intervene in the flow of the topic. I only want them to explain grammar or vocab or accent when asked. It would be one to one.

Can you deliver this? And how much?

I've tried with Thai friends but it doesn't work. They seem to always want to teach. They feel a need to follow the way they learnt. So I need to pay someone not to teach me.

Thanks in advance.

Walen has a lot of capable teachers, if you tell us what you need we can prepare the lessons to suit your requirements. Requirements from your post are not a problem, however we do not have 40 min lessons, our regular lesson is 50 min. You can also try lessons with different teachers and continue with the one you like best.

Walen School - Bangkok Sukhumvit, Bangkok Ladprao, Pattaya, Chiangmai, Phuket

www.thaiwalen.com

http://dcs.walenscho...x?code=1walenmd

[Tod Daniels]

I am interested in a very specific activity:

I want a Thai chat on a topic of my choice for around 40 minutes a week. I don't want a teacher to choose the topic and I don't want them to chronically correct me. I want them to not intervene in the flow of the topic. I only want them to explain grammar or vocab or accent when asked. It would be one to one.

Can you deliver this? And how much?

I've tried with Thai friends but it doesn't work. They seem to always want to teach. They feel a need to follow the way they learnt. So I need to pay someone not to teach me.

Thanks in advance.

WOW "Gaccha" those are some specific requirements!

Let me re-cap 'em and see if I got 'em right;

• topic of your choosing (not the teachers)
  
• lesson of about 40-50 minutes
  
• no chronic correction for speaking Thai with a foreign accent
  
• unless you're not completely understood, let the conversation flow
  
• answer grammar etc questions when asked only

You're totally right, it's gonna give you far more "bang-4-the-baht" taking private lessons given the curriculum you've outlined. Oh, BTW; what time of day or nite did you want to study?

Seeing as I don't know you from "Somchai" and ANY Thai language teacher worth their salt would also need to know the following things I'm gonna ask you, please don’t take my further queries the wrong way.

Just out of curiosity; what is your level of comprehension in reading of Thai, in speaking Thai & in understanding normally spoken Thai? Do you have solid 'working foundation' in those areas? How good of a handle do you have on your "mother language interference" (where your native language overrides your spoken Thai making you say things in Thai with the wrong word order)? If you, like most foreign Thai speakers, suffer from this, be prepared to get corrected. Also if mix up vowel duration and the falling and rising tones be ready to get corrected too. Nothing sends you "off script" faster than mixin' up those two tones and using incorrect vowel length.

While somehwat off-topic; I honestly think improper word order is easily the biggest reason foreigners are misunderstood here. Even mispronouncing some of the words tones or vowel length; if you get 'em in the correct Thai word order, you're more easily understood by Thai because they don't hafta re-order what you AND try to work it out too.

Are you going to provide written text which the lessons will be based on? Will it be more a 'free-style' type of thing where you provide the topic only, and go from there? Would you want to learn vocab about the specific topic or are you gonna wing it with what you know? Are you going to provide the next lessons topic a week early so the teacher can find specific vocab for you or again, do you just wanna wing it?

MANY topics (especially current events, historical stuff, etc) use specific vocab and if you don't know that vocab, you just plain can't talk about the subject in anything more than very rudimentary terms.

For example; if the topic is the on-going border dispute with Cambodia, and you can't talk about the two countries governments, the different protesting factions, the meaning of 'nationalism', the refugees forced from their homes on both sides of the border, the Phra Vihear temple complex, the process involved with the demarcation of joined land borders, the UN, UNESCO, etc; you're gonna be hard pressed to talk about that topic in anything but vague generalities.

I know this one from personal experience! I was WAY outta my league last nite chatting with the thais on my soi about this exact topic. As I didn't have the specific vocab to interact with them in a meaningful way; I had to stop them over and over to ask the meanings of terms they used which I didn't know.

I agree with you 100%; using native speaking Thai friends isn't always the best way to go. Seeing as when they were kids; they learned Thai by rote, no questions, just a "repeat after me", "that's how it is in the Thai language" sort of dealy, so they only know that method of teaching Thai.

I'd imagine that almost EVERY private Thai language school in the greater Bangkok area would adjust their private lessons to meet the needs you've outlined. Seeing as you're the only student in the class, they're not nearly so 'method bound' as they are in group classes where they follow the book. I see 'macwalen' already and Language Express weighed in. I also spoke with two other private schools who'd cater to your needs as well. So that is one possible option available.

FWIW: I know many private Thai teachers who can and would tailor lesson plans to your needs. These people are current and former Thai language teachers from several schools whose experience base is/was teaching Thai language to foreigners. I'm sure, they'd give you a 'free' lesson to gauge your ability and see if what you want is something they could deliver on, or if what you want is more trouble than it's worth to them.

Sorry this is a long post , and I apologize if I came across as overly blunt or to the point. However, the better someone understands what it is you want; the better they can tailor lessons to achieve your goals.

[Gaccha]

>snip<

Sorry this is a long post , and I apologize if I came across as overly blunt or to the point. However, the better someone understands what it is you want; the better they can tailor lessons to achieve your goals.

I think you've made lots o fgood and worthy points. The thing is, I know exactly what I am doing. I got to a very high level of Japanese by the method I outlined.

You're right, specialised topics require specialised vocabulary. That's why I'll know the vocab before I go for the chat.

I don't struggle with the word order. it is the hardest point of Japanese so something I was very alert to when I started the language study.

My weaknesses though are precisely what I am not worried about but precisely would become an issue if I did the standard classes. Let me engage you on this. The aim of the exams are to categorise you into a form of knowledge that the language school has about the nature of language ability. For their form of knowledge they must have a structuring of that knowledge, a way to derive that aquisition of knowledge. I have very limited writing ability with a pen or pencil. I can write with a computer. So in their system I may be quite weak, and be put into 'Basic' class, yet I can read newspaper articles on a ratification to a nuclear proliferation treaty. Where can they put me? It makes sense for them to get my writing level up. But I do not want it 'up'. There is no need for me at any moment to write in biro any Thai. i can only win on this point by controlling the tutoring.

Let me give you an example of epistemological flaw in the teaching at the acute level. I have a decent listening ability but my speaking lets me down owing to saying the wrong sound . Even though I know what is the right sound, a typical Thai speaker will say that I could not get the right sound. This is because of the knowledge framework they live in-- the episteme-- if you will. They are led to believe that farang will struggle with pronunciation, so a mistake on my part 'reveals' this gap. In fact, I can hear and copy the sounds, but a lack of repetition causes the word to come out wrong. They suffer from a bounded, canonical understanding of errors. To eliminate this error requires that I control the tutoring.

A further thing I have noticed is that a certain minority of Thais are painfully unable to pick up language where trivial tonal errors are made. I say the errors are trivial since all the other Thais will without effort understand the entire conversation. As an example, I was with a group of young Thais. The one Thai I spoke to, no matter how slowly and carefully, could not seemingly understand a word. The other 5 Thais listening, could understand at normal speed everything I said, and engage me in a routine conversation. They even expressed disbelief at their friend for not understanding. Comically, they repeated word for word what I was saying to her. But there is a further group that I will call 'educated parochial' Thais who are determined to not understand. They have pre-determined to not understand what you say. This is a Thai-specific 'language war'. Once you have absolute dominance of their language it fades away. I must reach lower-advanced level to pre-empt this language war.

My slow (for me) acquisition of Thai is not down to the language. The language is by some degree easier than Japanese. Thge problem are situational factors. These are to do with the learning and aquisition environment.

[Parvis]

Gaccha

To get to a higher "academically proficient" level in Thai (which you appear to aim for) - I feel you need to be able to read (and write) Thai (not just Newspapers). I understand how frustrating it can be to sit with students whose only aim is to speak rudimentary Thai - if that (typically on Level 1 only).

But the cost to you for one weeks tuition at L/E is - just your time. I would assume you will already feel comfortable in a higher level.

The most difficult with writing Thai - I found to be spelling Thai - which applies equally to writing and typing. To become proficient at that - I feel you will need a writing class (or self taught).

To get to a level all Thais are likely to understand you - again on an academicallly proficient level - I feel you need to concentrate on "diction" (pronounciation and elocution etc.).

To my knowledge there is only one private School available who also teach diction - as a seperate program - in Thai Language - on a "one on one" basis.

To learn proper diction you will also need to be able to spell Thai.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Parvis

[scottxxxxx]

Does anybody know if Language Express is on Holiday or closed? I sent an email last week and did not receive a reply. A few minutes ago I called the phone number listed i this thread and the website, and it rang continuously without going to voice mail.

[scottxxxxx]

Does anybody know if Language Express is on Holiday or closed? I sent an email last week and did not receive a reply. A few minutes ago I called the phone number listed i this thread and the website, and it rang continuously without going to voice mail.

Thought of deleting this post, but in case anybody else read it and wondered, they are open. I called back and reached a nice woman who helped me.

Regards,

Scott

[languageexpress]

Does anybody know if Language Express is on Holiday or closed? I sent an email last week and did not receive a reply. A few minutes ago I called the phone number listed i this thread and the website, and it rang continuously without going to voice mail.

Hi Scott,

Sincere apologies that we missed your call. If you would like any information on our courses or have any questions regarding our school please feel free to either email me directly at [email protected] or call 02-675-3915 alternatively PM me and I'd be happy to contact you. We are open 7 days a week and try very hard to answer every call that comes in. Unfortunately email via our website was down briefly last week as we launched our new website (www.languageexpress.co.th), everything should be working again now but if anyone is having any problems with this please let me know (by PM or phone) we genuinely appreciate the feedback.

Kind regards,

Jez

Sales and Marketing Manager

Language Express

[languageexpress]

On a side note we had a huge amount of success with the 1 week free trial campaign in February. So we are now offering this on an on going basis*.

The 1 week free trial entitles you to attend every available lesson during a 7 day period - that means potential students can participate in up to 16 hours of free lessons. We are confident that those who are serious about learning Thai will see during their trial week the academic value of studying with our method and our highly, trained professional teachers and will continue to study with us in the future - but if not you still get 16 hours FREE!

If anyone would like any further information please email: [email protected] or call 02-675-3915.

Thanks,

Jez

*Please be aware that we reserve the right to change this at some point in the future.

[scottxxxxx]

Jez,

It was nice meeting you, and I am looking forward to my second lesson today.

For anybody, who like me, has no previous experience with a Thai language class and has a very limited Thai vocab, or none at all. Here is my quick take;

The class was very energetic, and although I thought it would be difficult for me to mis-pronounce the Thai language in front of a group of strangers, after about 5 minutes I was fully participating, and did not give it a second thought. The teacher I had was very funny, and worked the room well, guaranteeing everybody participated equally.

I had been told that there were schools, with the intent and purpose of helping people get educational visa so they could stay in the country longer. If that is your goal, this is probably not the school for you. But if you want to learn in a friendly atmosphere and have fun and joke around a little bit, this is great place to check out. Everybody in my class was enthusiastic and excited to be there. It was very refreshing and creates an environment that is conducive to learning.

There is a cafe inside the school and many students hang out before and after the classes, which provides an opportunity to meet new people and practice what you learned.

On a side note we had a huge amount of success with the 1 week free trial campaign in February. So we are now offering this on an on going basis*.

The 1 week free trial entitles you to attend every available lesson during a 7 day period - that means potential students can participate in up to 16 hours of free lessons. We are confident that those who are serious about learning Thai will see during their trial week the academic value of studying with our method and our highly, trained professional teachers and will continue to study with us in the future - but if not you still get 16 hours FREE!

If anyone would like any further information please email: [email protected] or call 02-675-3915.

Thanks,

Jez

*Please be aware that we reserve the right to change this at some point in the future.

Edited April 27, 2011 by scottxxxxx

[Tod Daniels]

FWIW: I’d also like to recommend to anyone interested in learning the Thai language to head over to Language Express and at least check ‘em out.

Heck why not take a free lesson or three. I mean free means FREE, right?

You’re only investing your time and who knows you might learn some Thai too.

Really, IMHO; it’s a good school, with good materials, at an easy to get to location in Bangkok. You can't miss it looking at the south side of Sukhumvit Road from the Ploen Chit BTS station, as Language Express takes up the ENTIRE frontage on the ground floor of Mahatun Plaza.

As a previous poster mentioned; there’s a coffee shop inside the school with plenty of (foreigner sized) tables ‘n chairs in the student lounge area to kick back and chat with other Thai language learners before and after class.

Really, seeing as they’re doing the free offer again, I might even see if I can take ‘em up on it (again) I really enjoyed it the first time around .

I'd say; "Call NOW !! Operators are standing by to take your calls !!", but in reality the people that answer the phone sit; so that's not an appropriate catch phrase, lol.

[languageexpress]

Jez,

It was nice meeting you, and I am looking forward to my second lesson today.

For anybody, who like me, has no previous experience with a Thai language class and has a very limited Thai vocab, or none at all. Here is my quick take;

The class was very energetic, and although I thought it would be difficult for me to mis-pronounce the Thai language in front of a group of strangers, after about 5 minutes I was fully participating, and did not give it a second thought. The teacher I had was very funny, and worked the room well, guaranteeing everybody participated equally.

I had been told that there were schools, with the intent and purpose of helping people get educational visa so they could stay in the country longer. If that is your goal, this is probably not the school for you. But if you want to learn in a friendly atmosphere and have fun and joke around a little bit, this is great place to check out. Everybody in my class was enthusiastic and excited to be there. It was very refreshing and creates an environment that is conducive to learning.

There is a cafe inside the school and many students hang out before and after the classes, which provides an opportunity to meet new people and practice what you learned.

On a side note we had a huge amount of success with the 1 week free trial campaign in February. So we are now offering this on an on going basis*.

The 1 week free trial entitles you to attend every available lesson during a 7 day period - that means potential students can participate in up to 16 hours of free lessons. We are confident that those who are serious about learning Thai will see during their trial week the academic value of studying with our method and our highly, trained professional teachers and will continue to study with us in the future - but if not you still get 16 hours FREE!

If anyone would like any further information please email: [email protected] or call 02-675-3915.

Thanks,

Jez

*Please be aware that we reserve the right to change this at some point in the future.

It was nice to meet you too Scott, I'm glad you enjoyed the lesson and appreciate the feedback. See ya again soon!

Jez

www.languageexpress.co.th