Workshop In Chiangmai: Learn To Read Thai In 4 Afternoons

[RapidMethod]

Learn to Read Thai in only 16 hours

Using quirky – and obscene! – stories and visual associations

you will learn to recognize all the Thai letters (no memorization!)

and sound out words using the correct pronunciation and tones.

The most effective way to speak & understand Thai is through reading.

It's worth every บาท.

Location: Coffee Wish, Nimman Haemin Rd (opp. soi 11)

Dates: four Saturday afternoons, July 9, 16, 23, 30 (1-5pm)

Price: 14,000 baht. Discounts for teachers/students and members of CEC

For more information and to sign up for a free starter course please visit www.LearnThaiOnline.com or call Gary 08 5909 9174

[rakchaingmai]

When i see the word Nimmanhaemin road what comes to my mind 'expensive' but you could learn it on your own with a book in 16 hours of hard studying .

[keo]

แพงไปอ่ะ!

1000B/hr, I'd be surprised if there were many people willing to pay that kind of money.

[jdinasia]

แพงไปอ่ะ!

1000B/hr, I'd be surprised if there were many people willing to pay that kind of money.

I agree.

Too expensive and over the long run unrealistic expectations. IF you can remember the alphabet AND the extras AND the tone rules And Kham Pen Kam Taay AND AND AND ......

You still won't be able to read because you won't have the vocabulary. Speaking will be out because of grammar and listening will be totally out of the question.

If someone really has got a solid vocabulary in speaking and can hold a conversation (able to listen well too) it might be worth it to learn to read in a simplified way like this. I already see issues with the flashcard system even though it contains a nemonic, it is the wrong nemonic.

Normally I wouldn't bother responding to a sponsor's advertisement in the negative but .... he asked.

(With an open poll it just seemed easier to be direct and not answer the poll)

(I consider Chula's Intensive Thai Language program expensive --- 1000 baht a day and 25 days in a session ... but they come out at 250 baht/classroom hour and in a year you are approaching true fluency.

[OlafStapleton]

Or do it properly in 60 hours of lessons at the YMCA for 4,000bht

[NancyL]

Wow, I can't believe the price for this class! Every teacher at the YMCA would be willing to give you private lessons for a third the price. And, you'd be learning things like "Gaw, gai, chicken", Khaw, khai, egg" -- the same word associations that are used by Thai children and seem to be standardized all over the country. Those word associations are used by adults when reading auto license plate numbers, spelling out a word, etc.

While the "obscene" references are cute, they won't help you much if you plan to live long-term in Thailand. Better to use the word and letter associations learned by Thai schoolchildren.

Plus, I totally agree with the comments that merely having the ability to "read" Thai doesn't help if you don't have the vocabulary. Hubby has had a few courses at AUA and can sound out just about anything in Thai script, given enough time, but he doesn't understand the meaning, most of the time. I've been taking lessons in reading and writing Thai for nearly three years and have tested at the 5th grade level. I can just about follow the subtitles on the movies, provided the characters aren't speaking too fast. I wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't have a good vocabulary and enough experience with reading that I can skip over all the useless, filler words used in any language.

[jdinasia]

Wow, I can't believe the price for this class! Every teacher at the YMCA would be willing to give you private lessons for a third the price. And, you'd be learning things like "Gaw, gai, chicken", Khaw, khai, egg" -- the same word associations that are used by Thai children and seem to be standardized all over the country. Those word associations are used by adults when reading auto license plate numbers, spelling out a word, etc.

While the "obscene" references are cute, they won't help you much if you plan to live long-term in Thailand. Better to use the word and letter associations learned by Thai schoolchildren.

Plus, I totally agree with the comments that merely having the ability to "read" Thai doesn't help if you don't have the vocabulary. Hubby has had a few courses at AUA and can sound out just about anything in Thai script, given enough time, but he doesn't understand the meaning, most of the time. I've been taking lessons in reading and writing Thai for nearly three years and have tested at the 5th grade level. I can just about follow the subtitles on the movies, provided the characters aren't speaking too fast. I wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't have a good vocabulary and enough experience with reading that I can skip over all the useless, filler words used in any language.

Either I am mellowing out ...... or there really are things we can see eye:eye on regularly !! I am at the point where subtitles on movies actually help me expand my vocabulary since I understand almost everything I read and the context gives me the missing words, but I still ask one of my peers at work about it to verify (for nuance etc!)

[wolf5370]

I agree too expensive - but I disagree that vocab has to come before reading - reading isd a great help to learning Thai vocab - no need for transliteration etc as mostly Thai spelling tells you the tone (some exceptions of course) - much easier to pick up new vocab reading kids books and moving up and reading movie subtitles etc (or music lyrics) - although written grammar differs from spoken etc, its still is better than learning with tansliteration and relearning again when one wants to move on to reading.

I did the advanced reading course with YMCA last year - there were 6 in the class (1 Chinese, 2 Koreans, 2 Japanese and me) - I think it was 7,000 for about 30 hours (advanced class is more expensive than the basic and intermediate classes) - I also did private lessons with my kids (3 of us) that included writing/reading and spoken which was 10k for mthe 3 of us for 20 hours. Books are extra, but very cheap (I think 60 baht each or so).

[SiangDeeMahk]

Lookit, folks: No one can learn Thai (especially to read it) in 4 days. This is not just an utter Thai Language Scam, but the most outragous one I've seen on TV.com, so far. (and yes, I've seen a few).

I mean, really, does anyone here think they're going to be able to correctly recall 44(+32) cartoonesque proprietary nemonics that no Thai person, or Thai-speaking foreigner will ever understand, recognize, or be able to help you with (remember now, you're not going to be seeing those nemonics while you're looking at Thai script, you'll have to recall them from memory, and also recall what sound they make), and then corralate how the Thai letters they represent affect each other in terms of pronounciation (and tones), after only studying the nemonics for 16 hours??

Utter rubbish...!!! At ANY price. It can't be done... ไม่ได้สำหรับสองบาทหรือหนึ่งหมื่นสี่พันบาทหรือหนึ่งล้านบาท (lets not even get into the problem of how you would know where one word ended, and another began, without a substantial vocabulary to identify the words from)

Even the poster's assertion of "no memorization!" is rubbish. They cleverly wrote the word "recognize", but as we all know, the only way to recognize something is to be able to recall it from a previous time that you saw (and then memorized) it... so "no memorization", my ตูด!! For instance: would you be able to "recognize" someone who you had no "memory" of meeting before? Right.

It's pretty shameless to tout something so completely bogus. Simply shameless. Even more shameless, at the massive price they're asking for. I dont care if they ARE a sponser; They posted in a public forum (not an ad panel), so I'm gonna call it like I see it. In fact, if it weren't a sponser, I'd have instantly thought "Troll" and just moved on.

Just hit hte "back" button on your browser, and find something else to look at, people.. Seriously.

[amexpat]

Excellent post. You are in good voice today, SiangDeeMahk.

One proper use of this forum is to help others avoid wasting time and money.

[NancyL]

I agree too expensive - but I disagree that vocab has to come before reading - reading isd a great help to learning Thai vocab - no need for transliteration etc as mostly Thai spelling tells you the tone (some exceptions of course) - much easier to pick up new vocab reading kids books and moving up and reading movie subtitles etc (or music lyrics) - although written grammar differs from spoken etc, its still is better than learning with tansliteration and relearning again when one wants to move on to reading.

I did the advanced reading course with YMCA last year - there were 6 in the class (1 Chinese, 2 Koreans, 2 Japanese and me) - I think it was 7,000 for about 30 hours (advanced class is more expensive than the basic and intermediate classes) - I also did private lessons with my kids (3 of us) that included writing/reading and spoken which was 10k for mthe 3 of us for 20 hours. Books are extra, but very cheap (I think 60 baht each or so).

Actually, the fee at the YMCA is more like 2000 baht for each 30 hr course. A bit more for the lower levels, a bit more for the higher, but never more than 2100 baht with a hundred or so for the books (depending upon what books the teacher decides to use.) This works out to less than 100 baht per hour of instruction.

[RapidMethod]

Wow, I wasn't expecting such outright condemnation. It took me two years to overcome this kind of skepticism and negativity in Bangkok. It looks like I'm going to have to start anew in Chiang Mai…

I've run this course successfully many times in Bangkok as well as Phuket and once, last year, in Chiang Mai. Several participants have invited me to repeat the course for their friends and colleagues. The head of Samui International School attended in Phuket and is organizing a repeat at his school in October. And I recently ran a course for the Eastern Seaboard directors in Chonburi. One director said that he's starting to notice what goes on in the side streets that he wasn't even aware of before, simply because he can now read.

Although initially skeptical, the responses were always very enthusiastic:

I wanted to thank you for an excellent weekend. I asked my Thai teacher today if she thought it possible for someone with no prior knowledge to learn to read Thai in two days. She said no. When I read some Thai to her she said, "It's a miracle!" This morning I was behind a minibus and was able to read that its route was Krungthep to Baan Beung! I was still smiling when I arrived in Pattaya, so many thanks. Simon Gunn, Managing Director, Channah Thailand

[it] was excellent; I learnt and retained more information [in one day] than I had in the previous 3 months by conventional teaching methods. Mark Pirie, Triumph Motorcyles

I was [astounded] at how I absorbed your material and was able to apply it. […] Well done mate - your depraved teaching methods really work. Jeff Lafaro, Uhde Shedden

I've lived here for 14 years and couldn't read or understand my own children. Now I'm making real progress. Tom Atkins

It was like taking down the shutters from the windows and being able to see out for the first time. Colette Baily

And this is what the Bangkok Post wrote after they attended one of my weekend workshops.

Yes, it's expensive (if you compare it with regular Thai classes, not a typical 'western' workshop). It depends on what you value in life. If you can't afford the workshop fee then you can follow the entire course online by yourself for only 2,750 baht (or PM me to request a discount).

The problem is that you are comparing quantity with efficiency. What's the point of a mountain of material and months of classes - no matter how cheap - if it requires so much time and effort, and you still struggle at the end of it all? And if you add up the coffees and travelling costs, it probably works out the same...

After seven years research and two years in development, I designed this course to address the problem of many expats who have already spent (or don't wish to spend) 100's of hours at a conventional Thai language school and still haven't achieved much. The 'Rapid' less-is-more approach is designed to fit into your busy lifestyle by absorbing the language from your environment and only studying a little bit every day at your own convenience.

My workshops and courses are backed up with a 100% satisfaction money-back guarantee. A few people have requested refunds for the online course, but so far no-one has requested a refund after attending a workshop.

But there's always a first time. If you are genuinely interested but unsure then please start by trying out the online material and then come to the workshop. If it still doesn't work for you then I'll refund you; you have nothing to lose except a few Saturday afternoons.

What you will achieve from the Rapid Read Thai course

This is a reading course, not speaking or writing. At the end of the course, you will be able to recognize all the letters without having to memorize them or the various reading rules.

Nevertheless, you will also be able to sound them out correctly using the correct tones. You will not necessarily be able to understand – yet – what you are reading. That comes with exposure to signs and notices, and practice.

I will show also you how to enunciate correctly in Thai and say the tones correctly, using sounds and tones we already say naturally in English.

You will find that some words you come across may be ambiguous until such time as your vocabulary develops. Being able to read will develop your vocabulary (even it's only by exposure to the 'Living Dictionary' that surrounds you). The better your vocabulary the quicker and easier it is to read, which in turn builds up your vocabulary even further. This course will jump-start that process.

We will also pick up some Thai vocabulary along the way, focusing on the kind of Thai you will encounter in restaurants, while shopping and while travelling. You will soon be able to read and understand menus, pricing information, traffic signs and destinations.

At the end, I will discuss a strategy for becoming conversant in Thai relatively quickly, using your newfound literacy as a foundation.

It's mentally exhausting but a lot of fun!

More about the Course

1. In the first half-day session, I will introduce the basic concepts of reading and pronunciation and you will start to learn the most common Thai letters.

2. The second session will cover all but the more obscure letters, and we will introduce the concept of reading tones in Thai and how to say the tones naturally.

By this stage, you will be able to remember and recognize about 80% of the Thai writing system.

3. The third session will be reading practice: signs and a typical menu, consolidation of the tones, and completing the rest of the letters. You will also learn to recognize the stylish modern fonts used commonly in advertising and magazines, and also in handwriting.

4. The fourth session will be lots of guided reading practice, and the first step to being able to speak and understand Thai confidently.

Where do you go from here?

It's your choice how far you want to go. It's like golf or salsa or playing piano or guitar. You can decide you simply want to speak/play at an enjoyable, sociable level and so spend only a little time learning and practicing the basics. Or you might want to enjoy a certain degree of mastery, in which case you need to 'do the time'.

Knowing how to use your time effectively is often what makes the difference between rapid, enjoyable progress vs. becoming despondent at your painstakingly slow pace.

Becoming a competent speaker. After reviewing the material online, you should now be at the stage when you will learn very effectively with the help of a Thai teacher. I strongly recommend following the course Everyday Thai for Beginners. It's normally a one-year course, but using the 'Rapid' principles, it shouldn't take you more than four months, studying 3 hours per week.

Becoming fluent in Thai. After completing the Everyday course, you can start on my 'Rapid' Fluency course online, which consists of 50 weekly lessons plus 15-minute-a-day exercises. It's entirely based on a book called Sydney Remember, about a Thai girl who goes to stay with her cousin in Sydney. It's our story in reverse: she's an expat, finding a place to live, sorting out visas, looking for a job, making friends, finding love, etc. It's written in a delightfully straight-forward style, with a mixture of only slightly formal writing and plenty of conversational slang. By the time you've read and understood the book, you will be relatively fluent in Thai – partly because of the use of typical, everyday language, but also because it covers the sorts of topics we talk about and need to deal with, living in Thailand as expats. And all wrapped up in a humorous romantic story!

[hml367]

RapidLL,

I found your free introductory lesson online interesting. I will not be attending the workshop for personal reasons. However, I may look into the online lessons.

I also believe that learning the Thai alphabet and pronunciation may be helpful in learning to speak Thai. Maybe everyone does not learn the same as the posters with negative comments would lead someone to believe. (meta programming...)

MSPain

[keo]

Never really felt the need to use visual associations when learning the Thai or Lanna scripts. In my mind it would just add unnecessary complexity and clutter. Just looking at your visual associations for for บาท, surely the man peeing could be mistaken for ท? I would disagree that บ looks anything like a boat, and to further confuse things it seems that your visual association here is a snake looking out from a submarine. I find it hard to believe that you could come up with visual associations that are meaningfully related to every consonant and vowel, without at some point resorting to clutching at straws. You state that you teach people how to read "without memorization", but surely you have to commit the visual associations to memory?

I made flashcards to help me learn the scripts. 30 mins a day over a week or two is all it took. I guess everyone learns differently though, and I'm sure your method is useful to those whom it is suited, both pedagogically and financially.

I do agree though that reading Thai is ultimately beneficial to the learning process, and opens up a whole new world of language opportunities.

โชคดี!

[Semper]

Lookit, folks: No one can learn Thai (especially to read it) in 4 days. This is not just an utter Thai Language Scam, but the most outragous one I've seen on TV.com, so far. (and yes, I've seen a few).

I mean, really, does anyone here think they're going to be able to correctly recall 44(+32) cartoonesque proprietary nemonics that no Thai person, or Thai-speaking foreigner will ever understand, recognize, or be able to help you with (remember now, you're not going to be seeing those nemonics while you're looking at Thai script, you'll have to recall them from memory, and also recall what sound they make), and then corralate how the Thai letters they represent affect each other in terms of pronounciation (and tones), after only studying the nemonics for 16 hours??

Utter rubbish...!!! At ANY price. It can't be done... ไม่ได้สำหรับสองบาทหรือหนึ่งหมื่นสี่พันบาทหรือหนึ่งล้านบาท (lets not even get into the problem of how you would know where one word ended, and another began, without a substantial vocabulary to identify the words from)

Even the poster's assertion of "no memorization!" is rubbish. They cleverly wrote the word "recognize", but as we all know, the only way to recognize something is to be able to recall it from a previous time that you saw (and then memorized) it... so "no memorization", my ตูด!! For instance: would you be able to "recognize" someone who you had no "memory" of meeting before? Right.

It's pretty shameless to tout something so completely bogus. Simply shameless. Even more shameless, at the massive price they're asking for. I dont care if they ARE a sponser; They posted in a public forum (not an ad panel), so I'm gonna call it like I see it. In fact, if it weren't a sponser, I'd have instantly thought "Troll" and just moved on.

Just hit hte "back" button on your browser, and find something else to look at, people.. Seriously.

[RapidMethod]

Never really felt the need to use visual associations when learning the Thai... I made flashcards to help me learn the scripts. 30 mins a day over a week or two is all it took.

Keo, you are right. Visual learning is not for everybody. Some people (usually the studious types) do prefer focused repetition the brute force way.

The 'Rapid' approach is for the rest of us. Most people find it much easier to remember images than facts, especially if they are related together by a story of some kind. It's not just recognizing the individual letters, it's also about being able to recognize whole words and how to say the tones right. Sometimes more complex isn't necessarily more complicated. In fact, using a richly woven story - whatever you are learning - usually makes things simple.

Methinks you are nitpicking when you say the visual associations don't always work. Sure, not all of them work for everybody. Maybe บ could look like a bucket. If that works better for you then go for it. I focused on the "U" shape, because that's how it's often written.

The 'Rapid' approach is flexible enough to adapt to personal tastes.

The more obscure letters took a lot of thinking about, but I found a way to fit them into the overall scheme of things. Some people come to my course, already able to read, but wishing to clarify the rarer letters, the vowel combinations and the whole issue about tones.

[hellodolly]

RapidLL,

I found your free introductory lesson online interesting. I will not be attending the workshop for personal reasons. However, I may look into the online lessons.

I also believe that learning the Thai alphabet and pronunciation may be helpful in learning to speak Thai. Maybe everyone does not learn the same as the posters with negative comments would lead someone to believe. (meta programming...)

MSPain

I agree learning to read Thai from all I have been told by people who learned to read Thai it was a great help in learning to speak it. That was there opinion based on there own experience. Others may have different experiences.

I do not subscribe to the school of thought that says you must understand it to read it. I could read in the second grade but most of what I could read was way over my head. How ever when I came to the point where I could understand it I did not have to learn to read it after the fact.

The cost well that is another matter. Every one has different financial abilities and different levels of desire.

From what I can see it is just another tool in learning to understand Thai.

[naboo]

14000B? Seriously? I paid less than that hourly rate for 1 on 1 classes in England. Never.

[PlanetX]

I have been very impressed with the Learn Thai Rapid Reading system but the workshop is unfortunately priced way beyond my means..

I would have loved to attend because I thoroughly enjoyed the intro video and the free email course but 14,000 Baht seems almost insulting

[SiangDeeMahk]

Never really felt the need to use visual associations when learning the Thai or Lanna scripts. In my mind it would just add unnecessary complexity and clutter. Just looking at your visual associations for for บาท, surely the man peeing could be mistaken for ท? I would disagree that บ looks anything like a boat, and to further confuse things it seems that your visual association here is a snake looking out from a submarine. I find it hard to believe that you could come up with visual associations that are meaningfully related to every consonant and vowel, without at some point resorting to clutching at straws. You state that you teach people how to read "without memorization", but surely you have to commit the visual associations to memory?

I made flashcards to help me learn the scripts. 30 mins a day over a week or two is all it took. I guess everyone learns differently though, and I'm sure your method is useful to those whom it is suited, both pedagogically and financially.

I do agree though that reading Thai is ultimately beneficial to the learning process, and opens up a whole new world of language opportunities.

โชคดี!

Now.. you sir, get 10 gold stars. You 'get' it. Because, of COURSE you have to commit the associations to memory! If you didn't, you'd just be standing there looking at Thai script, with no reference to what you were supposed to do with it.

This learning "technique" that's supposed to minimize that which you have to learn, actually requires you to learn TWO alphabets; the real Thai one, and this cartoony one consisting of pissing guys and who-knows-what-else. As far as I can see, that doubles the workload, not reduces it. And he still doesnt directly address how snakes and pissing help you to understand the phonetic rules that shape the tones in particular words.

See, it seems a very roundabout way to learn how to read Thai, especially when there's already a perfectly good "visually oriented" learning guide available. It's called THE THAI ALPHABET, and it handily represents and indicates (per word), ALL of the tone rules you'll need; it's one set of letters, it only has to be memorized once, and it's stadardized nemonics are known country-wide, and used often, when spelling a word (which you will find yourself and other people doing, more often than you think). Trust me.. you dont want to try telling a Thai official how to spell something by making references to urination, or submarines. It wont go over well. Trust me.

Another poster mentioned that he'd gotten on pretty well, in 2nd grade, reading sentences phonetically, before he knew the meanings of the words. I'm assuming he meant English. Well, Thai is NOT like English.

Please read the sentence below:

"Iwouldliketoseeyoufindmeasecondgraderanywhereintheworldthatcouldreadasentenceorevenproperlysoundoutthewordsinitthatwaswritteninthethaistyleofwritingwithnospacesbetweenthewords."

Now, although there are no spaces between the words, most English-speakers can muddle through reading that sentence (and some of us can actually rip right through it, at full speed), because we have the vocabulary to so so. We (almost instantly) are able to recognize the words that we already know.

But what if I broke it up into not-easy-to-recognize parts (which is how confusing it would look to someone without the vocabulary, like a second-grader):

"Iwo uldli ketose eyouf indme asec ondgrad eranywher einth eworl dthatco uldre adasent enceorev enpro perlyso undoutt hewor dsinit thatwa swrit teninth etha isty leofwri ting wit hnos pace sbet weenth ew ords."

Ok.. same sentence, same letters, but now? Absolute nonsensical sounds, right? So basically, this is you (or anyone without the needed vocalulary), "reading Thai" phonetically, from memorized cartoons. And remember, as badly as I was able to scramble this up in English, it would be even more so, with Thai, and it's associated tones added into the equation.

The sentence is RUBBISH. So is learning to read Thai in 16 hours. And anyone who tries to take money from you (especially 14KBt) and tell you that you'll sound any better than this, from learning Thai for 16 hours, is SCAMMING you. Period.

You want a good idea for something that will help you to learn (some) Thai in 16 hours? Thai schoolchildren are taught a song, with the nationally known alphabet nemonics built into it. Get a hold of this song (even transliterated, if need be) and a big glossy poster of the Thai Alphabet with all it's nemonics shown, and learn to sing the song. Even if you dont know what the sounds mean, learn it phonetically (as you associate the sounds with the letters and their nemonics) and it will lay the groundwork for memorizing the Thai letters. But sorry, no.. you wont be able to waste 14,000 baht on this excercise, even if you flew all the way to Phuket to listen to the song.

I know that not every TV reader's first language is English, so just to be fair, I'll just write the sentence one more time, properly, so you can follow it without your head exploding:

"I would like to see you find me a second grader anywhere in the world, that could read a sentence (or even properly sound out the words in it) that was written in the thai style of writing, with no spaces between the words."

By the way, anyone who is curious (and would enjoy a laugh), may try copying and pasting the hacked up version of the sentence into this rather excellent online "text-to-speech" converter, to get a better idea of just how important vocabulary is, when reading Thai Language: http://www2.research...eb/tts/demo.php

Enjoy!

And to imagine that some people told me that they didn't believe there was any more snakeoil in the world. Humph.

[engrin]

I bought this guy's computer program (or was it an ebook?) a few years ago that had a money back guarantee. I didn't like the method the program used to teach the letters of the Thai alphabet and tried to email my comments/concerns bu they kept bouncing back with "email box full" or something like that. That was 3-4 years ago so the details are foggy. I cant remember how much I paid or anything like that. I guess I can't have my money back, can I?

[jdinasia]

RapidLL

You asked and got your answers. Several of us are rather advanced readers/speakers of Thai. I stand by my comments above that the 'system' and claims in the original post are unrealistic and the nemonics used are a simply bad idea.

Using English concept pictures with the Thai alphabet isn't what I would do and the lack of vocabulary means that what is learned in the classes is next to useless. I can see it as a possible way of learning something new and useful for expats that had been here long enough to have Thai speaking and listening skills but the price makes it extremely unattractive.

[CMSteve]

I would like to see the difference between two new readers using this system and another for comparison(even a 20B coloring book). I have to think that with 16Hrs of instructions, along with "at home" study time between the weekly instructions, the results will not be very different. But the price difference would be at least 10000B.

[OlafStapleton]

For 24,000bht Walen will give you reading and writing lessons for 1 year.

AND an Educational VISA entitlement.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I've actually had some exposure to the course, and it's certainly entertaining and different.

I also believe it works; some of the more outrageous visualizations really burn deep into your brain. ( )

So.. don't knock it until you've tried it. Is 14K spendy: yes, probably.

As for the associations being non-standard Thai school fare of Chicken - Egg - Bottle - : sure, but you can learn that later. You don't need that to be able to read Thai. And being able to read indeed doesn't mean you actually comprehend the words (vocabulary), but there are so many cases where you really only need a couple words, like on signs, restaurant menus and so on.

The point is that if you have a good grasp of how it's written, this will make subsequent study of Thai vocabulary and grammar a lot easier, as you don't need to deal with very imperfect (and useless) transliteration schemes.

And everyone can sleep easier knowing that it's not a scam. It's a novel, outrageous and probably effective way to introduce a very different script to adults. Our brains aren't like those of children anymore, who magically sponge up everything they come in contact with. Older people need a rusty, blood-stained axe to hammer it in. That's what this course provides.

[Contractor]

This reminds me of the Magic Memory system promoted by a well known TV magician many years ago. Cartoons were used to describe the make-up of words, thereby helping students to remember them.

It may be an interesting and fun way to learn words and perhaps it can help, but what is advertised here does seem expensive and I cannot see it getting a student to be reading Thai in the time it claims.

[ThaiPauly]

Maybe he would be prepared to offer a discount to TV Members, everybody else seems to

[PlanetX]

I've actually had some exposure to the course, and it's certainly entertaining and different.

I also believe it works; some of the more outrageous visualizations really burn deep into your brain. ( )

So.. don't knock it until you've tried it. Is 14K spendy: yes, probably.

As for the associations being non-standard Thai school fare of Chicken - Egg - Bottle - : sure, but you can learn that later. You don't need that to be able to read Thai. And being able to read indeed doesn't mean you actually comprehend the words (vocabulary), but there are so many cases where you really only need a couple words, like on signs, restaurant menus and so on.

The point is that if you have a good grasp of how it's written, this will make subsequent study of Thai vocabulary and grammar a lot easier, as you don't need to deal with very imperfect (and useless) transliteration schemes.

And everyone can sleep easier knowing that it's not a scam. It's a novel, outrageous and probably effective way to introduce a very different script to adults. Our brains aren't like those of children anymore, who magically sponge up everything they come in contact with. Older people need a rusty, blood-stained axe to hammer it in. That's what this course provides.

I completely agree that it works and its fun. I read my first street sign a few hours after the free youtube video with a short demo and I was very excited. Months later without any further study I still remember the pictures and their meanings.

I just think 14K is insane --- its a great system, doesnt take much to teach, and can be done basically anywhere with meeting space so where is this need to take people to the cleaners

It would also seem that the market for learning to read thai would be dominated by western expats that live here - which means we view 14K as a 2 month house payment or 280 beers.

[SwaziBird]

About 3 years ago I purchased the on-line course with RLL, pursued it for a short time then decided not to proceed further.

Have to say that, without ever referring back to the instructions, what I did learn remains today as firmly embedded in my mind as then. I still visualise things precisely as I learned them as well as their pronunciation.

Quite amazing really and I do believe that if the rest of the course is as memorable as the first part then one could hardly not succeed.

Cost-wise ? - I don't know. But if it works, probably worth it.

[RapidMethod]

This reminds me of the Magic Memory system

Harry Lorayne's Magic Memory Aid - I'd say half of learning a language is all about memory; the other half is a kind of 'mental muscle training', like learning to dance or play a musical instrument or sport. A good book to get is Barry Farber's How to Learn Any Language.

I've drawn from a variety of sources such as memory, psychology, neuroscience, hypnosis/NLP, education, mathematics, music, sport and, yes, even some linguistics to find the most effective way to learn a language. I'm not sure it works for everyone yet. But I think when it doesn't work, it's usually down to plain stubbornness (a kind of studied ignorance), rather than due to any fault in the method itself.

Even though the techniques I use work almost instantaneously, I recommend that you "take it slow". Harry can remember the names of over 1,000 people in an hour, but he's been training his memory - like a muscle - all his life.

I used to do this course in 8 hours, but I found that most people have 'flabby' brains. Now my workshops are kind of like mental workouts and, just like physical exercise, if you don't keep it up regularly, you might lose it.

You will be able to read after the course is over! But it's only a first step. If you accept this - rather than being blinded by the unrealistic expectations of the naysayers - then you will find that you can immediately launch into intermediate-level study of Thai (e.g. Everyday Thai for Beginners) and your progress will be rapid... especially if you follow the same principles of using visual story associations and 'spaced repetition' memorization for the vocabulary.

With the 'Rapid' approach, it will take four months, studying 10 minutes a day, to acquire a vocabulary of 1,200 words, which (combined with 2 hours a week following the Everyday course) will be enough for you to converse fairly competently in everyday matters.

The price is comparitavely expensive because it's a sophisticated workshop that is expensive to organize. And yet it's quite cheap! About the same price as a typical business-level workshop in Thailand (7,000 baht per day) and a fraction of the cost of the equivalent kind of training elsewhere in the world with a world-class trainer (me). I've trained politicians, CEOs, engineers, secretaries and teachers. My rate in the UK and Europe is £450 ($720) per person per day for public seminars or ten times this amount for in-house training.

This 'Rapid' course will get you communicating competently in Thai with comparitively little effort and in a fraction of the time of attending conventional classes. Many people have already spent 10,000's of baht and countless hours trying to learn Thai and can barely communicate. Those who do Walen's courses (if they're not doing it for the ED Visa) tend to repeat the same book three times over 18 months (and 36,000 baht) before moving on to the next level.

Of course you can get qualified Thai teachers to teach you for 200 baht an hour. But can you get the chairman of Siam Cement, say, to sit with you and advise you on establishing a business in Thailand at the same rate? And if you want to rent a bike you can get a Honda Wave for only 200 baht a day. But would you expect to rent a Harley for the same price?

But it's still too expensive, you cry! Well, there's no need to attend the workshop at all...

You can do the same course online by yourself at your own convenience for only 2,750 baht. You just need to be a bit self-disciplined and you can save a lot of money...