What Level Of Speaking And Writing Thai Are You At?

[somtamguy]

3 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

Well it is far too fast for me. I heard สวนมะม่วง the second time as I said it sounded nothing like that to me first time round. and I didn't get ลูกสะใภ้ at all. Very little was spoken correctly so It's not surprising that many native speakers are none too particular about spelling.  
Did either of you need to "ask a friend"? 

Nope got it straight away.

[tgeezer]

Good, don't go away! 

[Orton Rd]

Started in 1994 and still beginner, can't hear the tones and fed up with the Mrs correcting all the time- she teaches Thai! So have given up, i'd rather learn Italian, but far too lazy. Cannot read or write a word of Thai.

[tgeezer]

15 hours ago, somtamguy said:

Pretty sure she said ลูกแม่น่าจะได้เป็นลูกสะใภ้เจ้าสัว not เจ้าสวน 

<They sound similar, and seeing as she talked about the mango farm just before this line you probably expected the word to be เจ้าสวน, but i'm fairly certain it's เจ้าสัว. >end if quote. 
 

This is rather odd coming from somtamguy, and begs the question, do we report what people say or what they mean?  Since สัว is not a word the meaning must be สวน. 

[somtamguy]

4 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

15 hours ago, somtamguy said:

Pretty sure she said ลูกแม่น่าจะได้เป็นลูกสะใภ้เจ้าสัว not เจ้าสวน 

<They sound similar, and seeing as she talked about the mango farm just before this line you probably expected the word to be เจ้าสวน, but i'm fairly certain it's เจ้าสัว. >end if quote. 
 

This is rather odd coming from somtamguy, and begs the question, do we report what people say or what they mean?  Since สัว is not a word the meaning must be สวน. 

tgeezer - เจ้าสัว is a word. Please type in the word เจ้าสัว into google and you will find out the meaning of the word.

Actually, I'll do the work for you. Check this link out and tell me if เจ้าสัว is not a word - https://www.thairath.co.th/tags/เจ้าสัว

[tgeezer]

Found it, thanks. คนที่มั่งมี  มั่งมี - มีเงินมาก มักหมายถึงเศรษฐีจีน

It fits better than เจ้าสวน doesn’t it? 

[Solinvictus]

I speak Thai quite well. Not as well as that farlang on TV though. As far reading goes, I'm sort of apathetic towards learning to read & write. Speaking is enough for me.

 

I'd like to learn French!

[tgeezer]

Next, how does she describe the way she is dressed ? I got จัดเต็ม and thought that I heard ผม . 
edit. That was the last question,  even when I know what is said its still to fast for me to hear it. 

[somtamguy]

28 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

Next, how does she describe the way she is dressed ? I got จัดเต็ม and thought that I heard ผม . 
edit. That was the last question,  even when I know what is said its still to fast for me to hear it. 

วันนี้หรอ

หนูก็จัดเต็มสิคะ 

ทั้งเสื้อผ้าหน้าผมเนี่ย 

ถ้าแม่ได้เห็นนะแม่ต้องร้องว้าวแน่เลยอ่ะ

[tgeezer]

Thank you very much. I heard ว้าว wow! Did not occur to me. 

[jackdd]

23 hours ago, tgeezer said:

Did either of you need to "ask a friend"? 

I can just watch this video and I understand it. But this doesn't mean I manage to get every single word in the first try or understand every single word.

Certain sections are just quite fast and I have to watch them more than once to get every word (the สวนมะม่วง was easy to understand for me though)

Then there are a handful of words or so left which I just didn't know yet and have to look up or ask somebody (or just guess what they mean from the context, which usually works)

[tgeezer]

18 hours ago, jackdd said:

I can just watch this video and I understand it. But this doesn't mean I manage to get every single word in the first try or understand every single word.q

That is about all we need. I think that there should be a table based on how Thais comment on your Thai language. พูดดี =  you're hopeless, effort appreciated. . พูดชัด = too slow, need to get out more. No comment= perfect!  Lots of scope there for people to add. 

[somtamguy]

On 3/6/2021 at 10:56 AM, jackdd said:

Why don't you go ahead, since you picked an article? Then others might follow.

Ok, I just recorded my attempt at reading the article. I still make heaps of mistakes and still have a long way to go. I only lived in Thailand for approximately 12 months back in 2014/2015, so I'm hoping to get back there soon and do some more intensive classes. The reason I think it's better if we upload a clip of ourselves is because anyone can answer a few general questions about their language level, but the proof is in the pudding when we just show ourselves speaking/reading etc. If anyone else wants to read along or create a clip of themselves reading the article in the video like I have, here is the article below - 

 

'ศรีสุวรรณ' ชี้โทษ 'แอมมี่ เดอะบอตทอมบลูส์' ขั้นต่ำจำคุก 23 ปี สูงสุดประหารชีวิต ระบุเป็นเรื่องปกติที่ศาลจะไม่ให้ประกันตัว เนื่องจากมีอัตราโทษค่อนข้างสูง

ศรีสุวรรณ จรรยา เลขาธิการสมาคมองค์การพิทักษ์รัฐธรรมนูญไทย เปิดเผยว่า กรณี ศาลอาญา อนุมัติออกหมายจับ ไชยอมร แก้ววิบูลย์พันธุ์ หรือ 'แอมมี่ เดอะบอตทอมบลูส์' นักร้องชื่อดังและแนวร่วมกลุ่มราษฎร ในข้อหากระทำความผิดตามมาตรา 112, วางเพลิงเผาทรัพย์ผู้อื่น และ ความผิดตาม พ.ร.บ.คอมพิวเตอร์ และต่อมาเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจสามารถจับกุมตัว 'แอมมี่' ได้ ใกล้โรงพยาบาลแห่งหนึ่ง ในจังหวัดอยุธยา ล่าสุด เจ้าตัวได้โพสต์ข้อความสารภาพว่าเป็นผู้วางเพลิงจริง ตามที่ได้เสนอข่าวไปแล้วนั้น

ทั้งนี้ การกระทำของแอมมี่ถือว่าเป็นกรรมหนัก เข้าข่ายความผิดหลายข้อหา หลายฐานความผิดด้วยกัน เช่น ความผิดตาม ป,อ.มาตรา 112 “การหมิ่นประมาท ดูหมิ่น หรือแสดงความอาฆาตมาดร้ายพระมหากษัตริย์” มีอัตราโทษจำคุก 3 ปีถึง 15 ปี ความผิดตาม ป.อ.มาตรา 218 “การวางเพลิงเผาทรัพย์” มีอัตราโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่ 5 ปีถึง 20 ปี หรือจำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือประหารชีวิต ความผิดตาม ป.อ.มาตรา 360 “การทำลายทรัพย์สาธารณะ” มีอัตราโทษ จำคุกไม่เกิน 5 ปี ปรับไม่เกิน 1 หมื่นบาทหรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ ความผิดตาม ป.อ.มาตรา 365 “การบุกรุกสถานที่ราชการในเวลากลางคืน” มีอัตราโทษ จำคุกไม่เกิน 5 ปี ปรับไม่เกิน 1 หมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ

นอกจากนั้น การนำภาพที่ก่อเหตุมาโพสต์ในเฟซบุ๊กส่วนตัวก็ยังเข้าข่ายความผิดตาม พ.ร.บ.ความผิดเกี่ยวกับคอมพิวเตอร์ 2550 แก้ไขเพิ่มเติม 2560 ม.14(3) มีอัตราโทษจำคุกไม่เกิน 5 ปี ปรับไม่เกิน 1 แสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ เนื่องจากเป็นความผิดที่เกี่ยวกับความมั่นคงด้วยนั่นเอง รวมๆ อัตราโทษทั้งหมดทุกกระทงแล้วก็ไม่น่าจะต่ำกว่า 23 ปี สูงสุดก็ประหารชีวิต

[somtamguy]

Thought i'd fill in my answers to the questions the OP asked everyone -
 

1. What level are you at?
Somewhere between Intermediate/Advanced - but still have a long way to go until i'll be satisfied with my skill level. I'm always making mistakes and I am very, very aware of them. And i'm always wanting to improve everyday.

I listen to the news on Thai TV pretty much every day, and to make sure I get my daily reading practice in everyday I also make sure I skim over/read a few news articles, mainly political news, but also other general news (economic news from Thailand and/or abroad, murder cases, drama between two celebrities, neighbours fighting with each other etc.) 
Also have been in a relationship with my girlfriend for the past two years and we have never conducted the relationship in English ever since our first time meeting each other. Whole relationship is done in Thai, and sometimes I give her a bit of help with her English when she wants it - kind of the opposite situation to what most farangs experience where most of the relationship with their Thai partner is in English and every now and again she'll help them with a bit of Thai. 
 

2. Can you read and write Thai?
I can read and touch type Thai. I never write it, maybe because I don't live in Thailand and never have to fill out any paperwork for visas, rental leases etc. If I move to Thailand in the future i'm sure i'll find myself in situations where i'll need to do it. 
 

3. How long have you been learning for?

I've been learning for a little over 5 years. Out of the 5+ years, around 12/13 months were spent in Thailand, the other 4 or so years have been in spent self studying in Australia.
 

4. How did you learn?

98% of my learning has been self study - hundreds and hundreds of hours of listening and reading, and also a little bit of speaking as well. But mainly listening and reading on a daily basis.
I also did approximately 300 hours worth of classes at two different language schools in Bangkok. They were great experiences, and i'd love to go back because I enjoyed the learning environment, but to be honest, the vast majority of my growth and learning has occurred outside of the classroom and mainly when i've been by myself.
 

5. What other languages could you speak before Thai?

None - just my native language, English. 

[tgeezer]

Hello! I have read this page before, sorry if this lacks “polish”. 

[somtamguy]

30 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

Hello! I have read this page before, sorry if this lacks “polish”. 

63714248663__1D14E776-9592-4BC7-B796-56C4879410FA.MOV

Amazing job mate. I listened to the whole clip :D. Maybe some more people could share some clips too. 

[Graves]

By tgeezer. I have had to change my name because my iPad is a little old I think. There is no facility to download anything to the forum on my iPad apparently.  I have never tried listening to myself before it is quite fun. 

[tgeezer]

Forget that post I received a warning for opening another account. I am still tgeezer. 

[tgeezer]

Somtamguy. I am more than happy to share Thai with you but thai visa on an iPhone is inadequate as far as I am concerned. I chat on Line app with Thailand and think that we should get together in a more up to date form like that. I will send a message to you via this site with my email address.  

[KeeTua]

On 3/6/2021 at 8:43 PM, somtamguy said:

Pretty sure she said ลูกแม่น่าจะได้เป็นลูกสะใภ้เจ้าสัว not เจ้าสวน 

They sound similar, and seeing as she talked about the mango farm just before this line you probably expected the word to be เจ้าสวน, but i'm fairly certain it's เจ้าสัว

เจ้าสัว would make more sense. I thought that จะได้เป็นลูกสะใภ้เจ้าสวน  seemed a little strange as she is sort of bragging about her future prospects.

[KeeTua]

On 3/6/2021 at 9:36 PM, tgeezer said:

Did either of you need to "ask a friend"?

No help other than listening to it a few times. But it helps that the vocabulary she uses when talking to her mother is all quite familiar to me. Later when the drama with the guy begins I miss much of what she's saying probably because I don't have exposure to that kind of drama in my daily life nor do I watch TV. The guy is a lot easier to follow for me. Watching a Youtube video discussing mechanical repairs or farming related topics is much more my comfort zone.

[tgeezer]

Comment on your penultimate post KeeTua . 
There is a caption which appears momently across the top of the picture, I can't remember the words used but it shows that this is to be taken as a moral lesson.  What she hopes for is what her behavior has lost her. Without that phone call the homily loses much of its impact. 

[underthecounter]

On 3/8/2021 at 4:27 PM, somtamguy said:

Ok, I just recorded my attempt at reading the article. I still make heaps of mistakes and still have a long way to go. I only lived in Thailand for approximately 12 months back in 2014/2015, so I'm hoping to get back there soon and do some more intensive classes. The reason I think it's better if we upload a clip of ourselves is because anyone can answer a few general questions about their language level, but the proof is in the pudding when we just show ourselves speaking/reading etc. If anyone else wants to read along or create a clip of themselves reading the article in the video like I have, here is the article below - 

 

'ศรีสุวรรณ' ชี้โทษ 'แอมมี่ เดอะบอตทอมบลูส์' ขั้นต่ำจำคุก 23 ปี สูงสุดประหารชีวิต ระบุเป็นเรื่องปกติที่ศาลจะไม่ให้ประกันตัว เนื่องจากมีอัตราโทษค่อนข้างสูง

ศรีสุวรรณ จรรยา เลขาธิการสมาคมองค์การพิทักษ์รัฐธรรมนูญไทย เปิดเผยว่า กรณี ศาลอาญา อนุมัติออกหมายจับ ไชยอมร แก้ววิบูลย์พันธุ์ หรือ 'แอมมี่ เดอะบอตทอมบลูส์' นักร้องชื่อดังและแนวร่วมกลุ่มราษฎร ในข้อหากระทำความผิดตามมาตรา 112, วางเพลิงเผาทรัพย์ผู้อื่น และ ความผิดตาม พ.ร.บ.คอมพิวเตอร์ และต่อมาเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจสามารถจับกุมตัว 'แอมมี่' ได้ ใกล้โรงพยาบาลแห่งหนึ่ง ในจังหวัดอยุธยา ล่าสุด เจ้าตัวได้โพสต์ข้อความสารภาพว่าเป็นผู้วางเพลิงจริง ตามที่ได้เสนอข่าวไปแล้วนั้น

ทั้งนี้ การกระทำของแอมมี่ถือว่าเป็นกรรมหนัก เข้าข่ายความผิดหลายข้อหา หลายฐานความผิดด้วยกัน เช่น ความผิดตาม ป,อ.มาตรา 112 “การหมิ่นประมาท ดูหมิ่น หรือแสดงความอาฆาตมาดร้ายพระมหากษัตริย์” มีอัตราโทษจำคุก 3 ปีถึง 15 ปี ความผิดตาม ป.อ.มาตรา 218 “การวางเพลิงเผาทรัพย์” มีอัตราโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่ 5 ปีถึง 20 ปี หรือจำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือประหารชีวิต ความผิดตาม ป.อ.มาตรา 360 “การทำลายทรัพย์สาธารณะ” มีอัตราโทษ จำคุกไม่เกิน 5 ปี ปรับไม่เกิน 1 หมื่นบาทหรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ ความผิดตาม ป.อ.มาตรา 365 “การบุกรุกสถานที่ราชการในเวลากลางคืน” มีอัตราโทษ จำคุกไม่เกิน 5 ปี ปรับไม่เกิน 1 หมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ

นอกจากนั้น การนำภาพที่ก่อเหตุมาโพสต์ในเฟซบุ๊กส่วนตัวก็ยังเข้าข่ายความผิดตาม พ.ร.บ.ความผิดเกี่ยวกับคอมพิวเตอร์ 2550 แก้ไขเพิ่มเติม 2560 ม.14(3) มีอัตราโทษจำคุกไม่เกิน 5 ปี ปรับไม่เกิน 1 แสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ เนื่องจากเป็นความผิดที่เกี่ยวกับความมั่นคงด้วยนั่นเอง รวมๆ อัตราโทษทั้งหมดทุกกระทงแล้วก็ไม่น่าจะต่ำกว่า 23 ปี สูงสุดก็ประหารชีวิต

    Dude, you are killing it!!!!! My wife says you sound 95% Thai.

    My marriage has been in Thai for the last year or so. It is a great way to start your learning, but it is quite easy to fall in the "wife trap": your wife understands you, but just because she is used to your pronunciation and intonation. Out of this, other Thai people has troubles understanding you, but your wife, God bless her, says that they pretend not to just out of pride, so you go back to speaking with her, perpetuating the vicious circle. I have embarrassed myself in front of so many Thais that I don't feel it anymore and keep trying... 

    It is very inspiring that you can get to this level by self study, well done! 

[somtamguy]

5 hours ago, underthecounter said:

    Dude, you are killing it!!!!! My wife says you sound 95% Thai.

    My marriage has been in Thai for the last year or so. It is a great way to start your learning, but it is quite easy to fall in the "wife trap": your wife understands you, but just because she is used to your pronunciation and intonation. Out of this, other Thai people has troubles understanding you, but your wife, God bless her, says that they pretend not to just out of pride, so you go back to speaking with her, perpetuating the vicious circle. I have embarrassed myself in front of so many Thais that I don't feel it anymore and keep trying... 

    It is very inspiring that you can get to this level by self study, well done! 

Haha thanks mate. But definitely still got a long way to go. 

I totally understand that feeling where your partner understands you but no other people understand you, lol. The best way to fix this is to try and start practicing talking with a wider range of native speakers. This will take you out of your comfort zone, and you'll get the reality check from the random natives that you need. I sure as hell got it when it happened to me, lol. It is also a good thing. Because it kind of shows you how much you need to improve, and how much more work there still is to do. I never really listen to what my GF tells me. The only way to gauge how i'm going is when i'm interacting with random native speakers who have no connection to me. That's where the real work begins! 

And it's also inspiring that you are trying to talk to your wife exclusively in Thai. Well done to get to that level! Usually we see the opposite with foreigners where they speak mainly in English with their partners. 

[elliss]

On 3/5/2021 at 1:47 PM, EricTh said:

 

Actually, there are roughly six levels in learning any language.

 

 

A1 (Beginner) - You can manage simple words and very simple sentence like 'Where are you from', 'what is your name', 'I like to eat fish', 'Have you eaten yet', 'telling time' etc. This is what beginner Thai teach.

 

A2 (Basic) - You can manage more complicated sentences like 'because', 'if', 'whenever' that join two sentences.

 

B1 (Lower intermediate) - You can manage multiple sentences in a short paragraph without knowing technical terms and only knowing common words. At this level , some grammar mistakes are allowed. Flow of conversation is more natural and smoother.

 

B2 (Upper intermediate) - You can manage several paragraphs in a single breath without knowing technical terms. At this level, he shouldn't have any grammar mistakes.

 

Most foreigners I have seen can only manage A1 or A2 level. They tend to use English grammar instead of real Thai grammar.

 

 

    Cant see me being in Thailand , for much longer .

    Immi hoops,  etc ..

   Know,  I am Learning to speak , Vietnamese ..  

[EricTh]

3 hours ago, elliss said:

 

    Cant see me being in Thailand , for much longer .

    Immi hoops,  etc ..

   Know,  I am Learning to speak , Vietnamese ..  

Vietnamese is an equally tough language to speak although the writing is much simpler because it uses latin characters.

Thai characters gives headaches to foreigners especially since they don't separate the words into spaces.

It can be a nightmare figuring out which word start and end.

 

 

 

 

[EricTh]

9 hours ago, underthecounter said:

        My marriage has been in Thai for the last year or so. It is a great way to start your learning, but it is quite easy to fall in the "wife trap": your wife understands you, but just because she is used to your pronunciation and intonation. Out of this, other Thai people has troubles understanding you, but your wife, God bless her, says that they pretend not to just out of pride, so you go back to speaking with her, perpetuating the vicious circle. I have embarrassed myself in front of so many Thais that I don't feel it anymore and keep trying... 

    It is very inspiring that you can get to this level by self study, well done! 

I'm glad you are aware of this. Just because your wife understand you doesn't mean your Thai is good. That's because she already know what you are trying to say even if your grammar and pronunciation are off.

It's just like an average Thai guy saying "I no like fit' which is grammatically wrong. The proper way is to say 'I don't like fish'.

Most English speakers won't be able to understand 'I no like fit' but your wife could.

[talahtnut]

20 years ago I went into a shop and rabbited on a bit in Thai,

the shop assistant replied, 'You speak very good Thai, but we

do not understand you'.  Makes you want to give up doesn't it?

[vogie]

I agree with the poster and the case of wives not correcting bad Thai, I learned the word for the little pick up buses which in English translates as 'two seater' (songtow) but I was saying 'two breasts', it was one of her friends that corrected me. 

But this guy seems very good and he learned in months and not years, he reckons that it is better to learn in sentenses rather than single words, anyhow interesting to watch and always amazes me to hear a foreigner speak Thai so fluently, to my ears anyway. 

 

[EricTh]

14 hours ago, vogie said:

I agree with the poster and the case of wives not correcting bad Thai, I learned the word for the little pick up buses which in English translates as 'two seater' (songtow) but I was saying 'two breasts', it was one of her friends that corrected me. 

But this guy seems very good and he learned in months and not years, he reckons that it is better to learn in sentenses rather than single words, anyhow interesting to watch and always amazes me to hear a foreigner speak Thai so fluently, to my ears anyway. 

 

I really doubt he learned fluent Thai in a classroom for only a few months. I have seen many farang who still can't speak intermediate Thai after 10 years let alone a few months

Most Thai teachers teach mainly vocabulary but with very few examples.

He must have practiced a lot by speaking with Thai friends outside of classroom and asking his Thai friends to teach him. Alas, we don't have the luxury.

In his videos, we can see he has many Thai friends so he is misleading us by saying that one can speak Thai in only a few months by learning in a classroom.

If we have many Thai friends, then we can learn Thai from our Thai friends and they become our 'teacher'.

In the video, he doesn't know what is 'knife' called in Thai, so he asked his friend. That is his learning experience. So it was probably years of learning from his friends after his basic classroom learning.

Classroom teaching is too formal and most Thai teachers just don't know how to teach.