I Can'T Learn Thai: What Should I Do Next?

[Learned]

I've been in Thailand for a few years now and have tried to learn Thai a few times by taking lessons and self-study (books, audio).

I learn a bit from the lessons I've taken but not really half of what is actually taught, at least not in a few weeks after the lesson as I have forgotten what was previously covered as I try to learn the next set of words and topics.

I am having lessons at the moment and I do ok in the lessons but when it comes to speaking Thai out in the real world I am pretty much hopeless: Thai people don't seem to understand me (unless they speak English) and if they do understand me, when they reply I don't know what they are saying or if I do know what they are saying I have no answer due to lack of relevant vocab.

I don't have much time to spare, maybe 1 hour a day plus a few hours of lessons a week but most of my time is spent learning the language for the current lesson I will be doing. Then once that has passed I move onto the next set of vocab and tend to forget the stuff I've already learnt a few weeks and months ago.

I feel like I'd rather spend a few weeks or even months getting good at a couple of topics rather than trying to cover lots of topics over the same amount of time.

Plus I hardly ever get to speak Thai in the real world partly because I live in a farang area and partly because I lack confidence in my skills and also because I don't have the knowledge to ask questions related to what I am doing.

My main problem is the tones: I can remember a word but 9 times out of 10 I don't remember the tone correctly so come unstuck there. (I know the tone is part of the word and not knowing the tone means I don't know the word but I hope you know what I mean.)

I can read Thai (but don't really understand what I am reading!) so am not a complete dunce!

Lots of excuses I know!

So what should I do?

Quit the lessons and get a private tutor to just go over the stuff I want to know?

Find all the relevant words for the topics I want to know and just learn those?

High Speed Thai sounds good from the reviews here, should I try something like that?

I have no real need to learn Thai but its something I want to do and occasionally I do get into a situation where it would come in handy.

The areas I want to be good at are: ordering food, asking about food etc in restaurants, doing directions in taxis beyond liiaw sai and liiaw kwaa and just a bit of general chat.

Thanks.

[ripstanley]

If you are serious about learning Thai move to a city where there are not many tourists.If you have a girlfriend get her to speak thai to you and travel to her homeland. If you are younger then most of us and really desire to learn the language then keep on with your studies. Good luck

[harrry]

If you are serious about learning Thai move to a city where there are not many tourists.If you have a girlfriend get her to speak thai to you and travel to her homeland. If you are younger then most of us and really desire to learn the language then keep on with your studies. Good luck

If you can live in Central Thailand where people speak as per the book. This will help you reinforce your learning. If you live in Issan or THe North people generally use their own dialects and even when they don't they will speak Bankock thai differently to those in the centre.

[Sydneycraig]

Don't bother and just get the itranslate app for iPhone !! Works a treat

[Learned]

Thanks for the replies. I live in Bangkok and cannot move at the present time.

[bino]

Get some children's books, the kind with the pictures and the "trace over the letters". Things will happen faster for you once you have learned the Thai alphabet and all of the tone characters. Lots of opportunity to practice reading. The car was my classroom- reading licence numbers and provinces, as well as signage all over the place. also very useful for driving- most of the Expressway and major road signs are in two languages, but the "shortcut signs" that navigate you through sois are Thai only.

[bytebuster]

First off, 1 hour a day is a lot!

Secondly, studying a language (in fact, any language) is certainly possible. It's all about time spent and motivation.

Based on your description, it is hard to tell your primary means of language perception. A good teacher will always notice that about their students and provide with individual way of material taught.

Many teachers, including Pimsleur, insist that primary perception for languages is always listening, not writing or whatever. Take a look

to get the main idea. This ia how I started my Thai study, even before I came to Thailand.

If I was starting from scratch, I would push away anything related to writing and focus on listening and speaking.

As per tones. Have you ever thought why "th" in "this" and "thin" are read differently? No, you just remember it. You will learn tones (maybe even against your will! ) if you listen and speak enough.

Location is not important, I think. You're buying food? Okay, ask how much in Thai. They answered fast? Ask them to speak slowly. Thai people tend to assume if you know ten words in Thai, you must speak fluently. Just tell them to speak slowly.

As soon as you start understanding a little bit, it would be a great motivation to you.

I remember how motivating was to me when I figured out how to say a word that I've never heard before. If you wonder, the word was "more". I've been taught about the words "late"/"later" and "much", but never knew how to say "more". Haha, I've been ordering tequila and asked more lime!

Trust me, it works.

[brit1984]

Have you tried the Walen school?

I have heard good things about them

Certainly don't give up

[harrry]

Thanks for the replies. I live in Bangkok and cannot move at the present time.

Bangkok is the best place to be. You can hear standard Thai every day all day.

[LarryBird]

Resources : Try using Anki. This is great for Vocab. It sounds like you're actually quite motivated. I say keep at it. If it was really easy, it wouldn't be much fun.

I'll spend some time learning something new, then use it in a conversation, and people have no idea what i'm saying. So, it's not easy for me, either. I've actually found some people are much better at understanding me then others.. obviously, try spending more time with them.

To be honest, i think there's just something different about the way thai people communicate.. One time, I called up a restaurant to order some muu-yaang.. The guy on the phone said to me 'arai na- arai na - arai na - arai na- arai na' before I had a chance to try to say it again.. I'll never understand that.

So.....ordering food.. not that easy..

giving directions.. not easy at all.

Bytebuster gave you some good advice. I think pimsleur is amazing, it's just too bad they only have like 20 lessons.

anyway, some typical advice that people give on here.. you tell people you just want to use it casually, and people are telling you to submerse yourself in some village in the middle of nowhere.. lol..

[TommoPhysicist]

anyway, some typical advice that people give on here.. you tell people you just want to use it casually, and people are telling you to submerse yourself in some village in the middle of nowhere.. lol..

Funny thing about that, best Thai speaking foreigner I ever met, learned all his Thai during a one year stay at the Bangkok Hilton.

[bytebuster]

I think pimsleur is amazing, it's just too bad they only have like 20 lessons.

Thirty.

[poanoi]

Primary problem is the incompetence of nearly all teachers in Thailand, they just can't explain,

and then schools typically also discourage teachers from explaining, as it waste time, & time = money.

I think you should build up vocabulary and try to catch the rythm of the language, like in what order should the words be placed,

i can't recommend any school in Bkk so check out students in Bkk recommendations

[Pinot]

Thai is one of top 5 (if not THE) most difficult languages in the world to learn. Why bother? I do a number of things well, learning languages isn't one of them.

[Singlebarrel]

First off, 1 hour a day is a lot!

Secondly, studying a language (in fact, any language) is certainly possible. It's all about time spent and motivation.

Based on your description, it is hard to tell your primary means of language perception. A good teacher will always notice that about their students and provide with individual way of material taught.

Many teachers, including Pimsleur, insist that primary perception for languages is always listening, not writing or whatever. Take a look

to get the main idea. This ia how I started my Thai study, even before I came to Thailand.

If I was starting from scratch, I would push away anything related to writing and focus on listening and speaking.

As per tones. Have you ever thought why "th" in "this" and "thin" are read differently? No, you just remember it. You will learn tones (maybe even against your will! ) if you listen and speak enough.

Location is not important, I think. You're buying food? Okay, ask how much in Thai. They answered fast? Ask them to speak slowly. Thai people tend to assume if you know ten words in Thai, you must speak fluently. Just tell them to speak slowly.

As soon as you start understanding a little bit, it would be a great motivation to you.

I remember how motivating was to me when I figured out how to say a word that I've never heard before. If you wonder, the word was "more". I've been taught about the words "late"/"later" and "much", but never knew how to say "more". Haha, I've been ordering tequila and asked more lime!

Trust me, it works.

Went to the site and they do not offer Thai...

[jamles]

If you’re having difficulty remembering word tones then your reading ability should be very helpful. One of the great things about the Thai language is if you can spell a word in Thai there is normally no doubt about how to pronounce it, including tone. You just need to remember how to spell it.

I have not tried Pimsleur for Thai but I went through Volumes 1 and 2 (30+ CDs) for Mandarin. I found that some important nuances of language are very difficult to pick by ear only, for instance distinctions between consonants ด ต ท บ ป นง. This may be easier for others but I often had to look up words in a dictionary to determine the correct pronunciation.

[bytebuster]

Went to the site and they do not offer Thai...

There's a link in answer #12 in this topic.

[Sateev]

Agree mostly with Bytebuster - you have to find the learning modality that best suits you. Since tones seem to be your biggest problem, I would, a) increase listening, and, b ) find a teacher who can help you recognize the sounds of the different tones, and help you reproduce them. Saying the vowel sounds with each of the five tones will help you begin to discern them. I would forget about vocabulary for now, and concentrate on hearing and comprehension. Pick a few useful phrases, and concentrate on the 'song' that is sung by the tones when the phrase is properly voiced.

It sounds a lot more difficult than it is.

For your type of roadblock, I think the courses at AUA would be very helpful, since they encourage you to listen, and learn like a child might, and hve no set time requirement or homework. Just show up, listen/watch two teachers doing a skit/pantomime/cartoon-drawing, and it will begin to sink in.

Believe me, you can do it.

Edited June 10, 2012 by Sateev

[silent]

Went to the site and they do not offer Thai...

There's a link in answer #12 in this topic.

Yes they do. It's just not listed in their short list of the $19.99 simple languages.

[TommoPhysicist]

Agree mostly with Bytebuster - you have to find the learning modality that best suits you. Since tones seem to be your biggest problem, I would, a) increase listening, and, b ) find a teacher who can help you recognize the sounds of the different tones, and help you reproduce them. Saying the vowel sounds with each of the five tones will help you begin to discern them. I would forget about vocabulary for now, and concentrate on hearing and comprehension. Pick a few useful phrases, and concentrate on the 'song' that is sung by the tones when the phrase is properly voiced.

It sounds a lot more difficult than it is.

For your type of roadblock, I think the courses at AUA would be very helpful, since they encourage you to listen, and learn like a child might, and hve no set time requirement or homework. Just show up, listen/watch two teachers doing a skit/pantomime/cartoon-drawing, and it will begin to sink in.

Believe me, you can do it.

It's funny how two people can give completely opposite advice.

I would say forget tones and increase vocab, learning sets of useful sentences, practice each sentence until a Thai can understand.

As for schools, AUA must be the worst choice ever, try YMCA or Payap, anyone but AUA.

[Learned]

Things will happen faster for you once you have learned the Thai alphabet and all of the tone characters. Lots of opportunity to practice reading.

I've learnt to read Thai already as I thought it would help out with speaking. It does a bit but not sure if it was worth it. Also when it comes to practising reading it can be hard as you don't know if you are reading signs and things like that correctly as you have no way to check.

Based on your description, it is hard to tell your primary means of language perception.

You're buying food? Okay, ask how much in Thai. They answered fast? Ask them to speak slowly.

As soon as you start understanding a little bit, it would be a great motivation to you.

I've no idea what my primary means of language perception is. Never heard a teacher mention it or refer to it.

I can do the basics like talk about numbers, small personal details, etc

It just seems a hardly ever actually use them so never progress.

[Learned]

Bangkok is the best place to be. You can hear standard Thai every day all day.

Yes I would agree with that, due to the number of people you are never that far away from a Thai speaker. I don't often hear Thai speakers everyday but I could if I had to find them.

Resources : Try using Anki.

Bytebuster gave you some good advice. I think pimsleur is amazing, it's just too bad they only have like 20 lessons.

Yes I agree with Anki. I use it to learn the new vocab for my lessons each week. Then the next week and the next one...

The Pimsleur audio series was my first Thai learning material when I got here and I still listen back to it now from time to time as its quite easy to follow.

If you’re having difficulty remembering word tones then your reading ability should be very helpful. One of the great things about the Thai language is if you can spell a word in Thai there is normally no doubt about how to pronounce it, including tone. You just need to remember how to spell it.

That is what I thought and what motivated me to learn to read single words. But I find it hard to remember the spelling as its another thing to remember (along with the meaning). But its better than nothing.

[Rsquared]

I also have a mental brick-wall that seems to inhibit any recall at all.

I live in the sticks and am constantly surrounded by Thai speakers (Ratchaburi area) with my wife the only english speaker that I can talk with.

I try and listen to what everyone is saying hoping somehow that my subconscience will work its magic and absorb and process all these strange sounds into some sort of understandable language....but alas no...all I here are strange sounds with maybe 1 out of 30 words spoken I will recognise.

I have also tried many self learn programs books/audio but to no avail...I have the same problem mentioned by Learned.

I have now purchased "High Speed Thai" and so far it looks the best I have tried so far.....now my problem is forcing myself to sit down and spend time on it without distractions..........as there is always something happening at our place. I am thinking of buying a good set of headphones that will block out all surrounding noises.

I do really need to learn Thai, for some reason I can't find the motivation, I am easily embarrassed when I try some new words and get it totally wrong.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.....thanks in advance guys.

p.s. apologies to Learned for jumping on your post, but saves repetition. Cheers.

[NBD]

Practice all the time at every opportunity.

Moving to another area is sound advice but all that does is force you to practice more. Go to shops where people don't speak English, there are still plenty in Bangkok. Practice simply transactions again and again until you get that right, then develop them. Bottle of water, packet of cigarettes, whatever it is.

Find Thais who want to learn English and talk to them in mixed language.

Learning to read also helps. Signs, numberplates, packets are a good start.

Stop telling yourself you can't learn it.

Outside the extremes of brain damage or being a naturally gifted polyglot (if indeed there is such thing) it's mostly application and practice IMO, and I've known 50 year olds pick up a new language just as quickly as 20 year olds if the application is there.

An hour a day is quite a lot in the classroom, but it's as nothing compared to the amount of time an infant spends exposed to language when learning for the first time. I've been here 3 years and can hold a reasonable conversation. Don't claim to be fluent and I can get out of my depth, but I'm pretty good for a 3 year old!

[wrevelate]

You have to want it so bad it hurts.

If it doesnt hurt, work on that, until it does hurt.

then begin logging hours, many, many hours, hour after hour, every single day.

[cooked]

I learnt two and a half languages (one was a dialect) on top of my English, no problem, but I was 24 at the time. My kids grew up tri- and-half lingual. Our dinner dinner tables when we had guests invited were amazing.

However now at the age of 64 although I can get myself a beer and find the toilets in Thailand I don't have many illusions about ever being able to speak Thai correctly although I have managed to read bits and pieces sometimes (beer Chiang for example, for some reason later on in the evening I couldn't read it any more).

Surely just being able to understand would be a worthwhile ambition, after a certain period of inhibition you may find yourself chipping in with a few bits of gibberish. That's the way I plan to go anyway, especially after I lied to a group of village trollops once and saw their faces fall when they thought that I had been following their conversation. My wife agrees that just understanding would be very important.

[Somtamnication]

I have given up speaking it correctly. Seriously, when my 6 year old corrects my tones (just did so a few minutes ago), I realize I am way too old to learn a new language. I use Thai every day at work and going around town. Never need a dictionary. That just about is enough for me.

I speak fluent Spanish as well. But I learnt that when I was a small brat. Only time really when you can learn languages, is under 10 years of age.

[Learned]

p.s. apologies to Learned for jumping on your post, but saves repetition. Cheers.

No problem, replies to your post will be of help to me too.

[ChristianPFC]

Thai is one of top 5 (if not THE) most difficult languages in the world to learn. Why bother? I do a number of things well, learning languages isn't one of them.

Incorrect, according to material found on the web and to personal experiences (I am good at learning languages).

Only time really when you can learn languages, is under 10 years of age.

Incorrect. Give me just one more year in France and I will be fluent in French.

But back to the op's question. That's a difficult one. You live in Thailand and could have full-time immersion in Thai (if you were living in a Thai area and had daily contact with Thais in Thai), the reason your progress is so slow is because you don't need Thai for your daily life. You forget the words you learnt last week simply because you don't need them!

Edited June 21, 2012 by ChristianPFC

[cooked]

Thai is one of top 5 (if not THE) most difficult languages in the world to learn. Why bother? I do a number of things well, learning languages isn't one of them.

Incorrect, according to material found on the web and to personal experiences (I am good at learning languages).

Only time really when you can learn languages, is under 10 years of age.

Incorrect. Give me just one more year in France and I will be fluent in French.

But back to the op's question. That's a difficult one. You live in Thailand and could have full-time immersion in Thai (if you were living in a Thai area and had daily contact with Thais in Thai), the reason your progress is so slow is because you don't need Thai for your daily life. You forget the words you learnt last week simply because you don't need them!

yes. I'm afraid that this is true, Even going on an intensive immersion course is no good if you then go out in the evening with fellow sufferers and revert to English. You have to suffer. Well that's what worked for me any way.