On 11/3/2016 at 11:24 AM, kimchibogan said:

Hey guys, what would be the best way to learn Thai? I am a lazy guy.

Get a boy/girl friend that only speaks Thai.

On 8/14/2017 at 2:01 AM, DjSilver said:

Well usuly if some expat really wants to learn thai they will be able to pass the thai goverment 6th grade test only after 1 year of studing. And then usuly be better in correct thai then the uneducated thais them self. Haha

rubbish

On 3/18/2021 at 9:09 AM, EricTh said:

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.

 

I have seen a couple people who were "90 day wonders" and developed amazing Thai language skill in less than a year.  Me not so much.  But with about 60 days training and being dumped up in Loei 43 years ago, I had to speak or stay silent.  There weren't more than a dozen English speakers that I knew of, and I might encounter one or another for a few minutes once a month.

 

I used to walk around Loei town after dinner and greet the shopkeepers sitting out front.  Day after day I would speak a few words and move on to the next one.  My "clientele" for my work were Isaan farmers who used a Lao dialect, some of whom were munching Betel nut.  Not the best of teachers. But one was a blacksmith who made knives.  I do know how to say knife, and how.  I probably have a hundred collected over 43 years.  I've helped bang out a few.  Hard work.

 

  

 

On 11/17/2018 at 9:44 PM, HampiK said:

เพราะว่าคนเยอะพูดมากแต่ทำไม่ได้

Not sure my Thai is worded in a good manner, but I would translate this to

because many person like to tell you a lot but can't do it!

Yeah good point. It's going to come out with the style/accent of where you learnt it (even in written form if we're directly typing Thai letters as we would speak them). I often am told I speak Isan Thai, and that it is amusing. In reality it is not Isan Thai at all, it is standard Thai, but the 'accent' I got came from those who I learnt from, most of whom hailed from Isan. Also, it's easy to mean well but come across impolite; such as the other day when I was explaining how my mother almost died from a vaccine complication but she recovered (or is in process of recovering rather). I said "Mear glai dtai tii room-baya-barn". Which was the message I wanted to get across, that my mother nearly died in the hospital, but I was informed later, by my daughter, that it was a rude way to say it, and that instead, the 'dtai' (die) part should have been 'sia chee-wit' (lose life).

On 3/24/2021 at 8:20 PM, Neeranam said:

rubbish

There are adults who need to really concentrate to read here in LOS especially in the rural parts. Once I was impatient (with previous Thai mother-in-law) and jokingly asked my then wife (while laughing and not thinking) "Can your Mum read?"  That was a bad move - since it was true she struggled to read. But that was in the past - in days of regrettable ignorance.  

Just now, OishiRefill said:

There are adults who need to really concentrate to read here in LOS especially in the rural parts. Once I was impatient (with previous Thai mother-in-law) and jokingly asked my then wife (while laughing and not thinking) "Can your Mum read?"  That was a bad move - since it was true she struggled to read. But that was in the past - in days of regrettable ignorance.  

Saying this, I have met adults in the UK (they did not have formal schooling since they were Romany Gypsies) who could not read or write. Nothing against them (goes without saying of course), but people do exist in their home countries who cannot read or write their 1st language.

1. What level are you at?

I don't know my level but understand everything, tv - conversation etc.

Also Thai people who meet me for the first time often mention that I speak Thai clearly and fluently.

I don't have to look for words in a conversation, my native language is Dutch and when I speak Thai it feels natural and easy as my native language.

2. Can you read and write Thai?

 yes, very well. 

3. How long have you been learning for?

Studied for 3 years, worked in Thailand for 10 years. Also did some translation in Hospitals and Police Stations.

4. How did you learn?

2 hours a week private lessons for 3 years.

5. What other languages could you speak before Thai?

Dutch, German, English and Spanish.

On 12/24/2021 at 11:30 AM, OishiRefill said:

Yeah good point. It's going to come out with the style/accent of where you learnt it (even in written form if we're directly typing Thai letters as we would speak them). I often am told I speak Isan Thai, and that it is amusing. In reality it is not Isan Thai at all, it is standard Thai, but the 'accent' I got came from those who I learnt from, most of whom hailed from Isan. Also, it's easy to mean well but come across impolite; such as the other day when I was explaining how my mother almost died from a vaccine complication but she recovered (or is in process of recovering rather). I said "Mear glai dtai tii room-baya-barn". Which was the message I wanted to get across, that my mother nearly died in the hospital, but I was informed later, by my daughter, that it was a rude way to say it, and that instead, the 'dtai' (die) part should have been 'sia chee-wit' (lose life).

เพราะว่าคนเยอะพูดมากแต่ทำไม่ได้

Not sure my Thai is worded in a good manner, but I would translate this to

because many person like to tell you a lot but can't do it!

 

I think the exact translation is "because a lot of people talk a lot but can't do it."

Mine is pretty fluent and functional, but for most Westerners including me, learning Thai is like learning French.

 

It's almost impossible to pronounce it like a local because the language sounds like flowing water, whether it's Thai or French. The vowels are really tricky if you want to sound native.

 

You say a word or sentence. Many Thais can understand but some can't. Then they correct you with something extremely nasal-sounding or something from way in the back of the throat.

 

That's like French. You thought you said it exactly as it's supposed to be. But no, the "on" and "r" sounds are supposed to be extremely nasal and uvular for you to be understood and sound like a native.

 

Level: almost native according to thai people, when I add khmer and lao, big smiles and laughter all around. Totally worth the effort.

 

Took 7 years learned by myself 1999-2005 as expat with a new wife with zero english.

Not much else to do in isaan.

 

Read write: No.

Wish I had taken the time to learn it

On 4/3/2011 at 2:29 PM, Tod Daniels said:

I STRONGLY URGE anyone who wants to learn Thai to get the consonant class and tone rules down right outta the gate!!

 

Hi @Tod Daniels - based on your post I am in a similar stage with Thai language as you were when you wrote this post in 2011. 

 

I agree with the quoted sentiment, and I have looked into learning the class and tone rules. However, I found it incredibly tedious and ineffective. I spent hours trying to internalize those rules and I felt I was getting nowhere. The consonant classes alone would probably be manageable, but when you add the tone marks that modify the tones in what appears to be a completely chaotic manner, it seems like an insurmountable task to remember all that!

 

Schoolchildren in Thai schools go through years of reciting the tables with all of the combinations of the tones, so it makes sense that it becomes second nature to them. 

 

So, here is my question (to everyone, not just Tod Daniels) - what approach and method do you recommend to master the consonant classes, tones, and tone marks? 

On 4/3/2011 at 9:36 AM, KunMatt said:

1. What level are you at?

2. Can you read and write Thai?

3. How long have you been learning for?

4. How did you learn?

5. What other languages could you speak before Thai?

1. คิดว่ารู้ประมาณ30%แล้ว

2. อ่านได้ เขียนได้ 

3 ประมาณหนึ่งปีแล้ว

4.ฝึกทุกวัน

5.ภาษาอังฤิษและภาษาฝรั่งเศส