Still Waiting For The Click!

[chippie]

Now then, I have two friends back in the UK who are bi-lingual, one speaks spanish the other dutch. They both told me that as you learn a language it seems hard then, easy then hard and so on untill one day it just 'clicks' and then you're off running. Did that happen to anyone learning thai? it seems a constant struggle to me, i'm learning well and am quite proud i've made good progress but as yet no 'click'.

Any thoughts?

[Bobcat]

I've been learning for about 6 years and still do not feel the "click". I'm hoping I'll hear it by year 8 or 9 if I keep up with the study!

[thaipro_pattaya]

I speak Thai extremely well, I taught myself

[Jack Jones]

No click for me, an ongoing process as far as I'm concerned. As with English, I still find words that I don't understand and have to look up

[buadhai]

No click here. Ten years and I still can't figure out how to tell someone my phone number....

[jdinasia]

I got "the click" when I got the written language down ... makes a huge difference knowing exactly how to pronounce something you read! OR to look something up! ... that being said ... the "click" for me is just an on and off again thing.

[Rikker]

I learned Thai by immersion, basically, but with intensive personal study. I don't remember a "click" moment, but I was conversational to a small degree after a month. I started learning to read right away, and I finished my first book in Thai (a few hundred pages) after six months of reading/deciphering. I underlined all the words I didn't know in red and wrote their meanings above them. I did that every time I saw that word I didn't know until I remembered it. I used the Mary Haas dictionary to make sure I knew the pronunciation of the words I was reading, and I tried to incorporate them into speech as much as possible. The first time I got asked if I was born in Thailand, or if I was a luuk khrung was about three months after I arrived. Maybe that was my "click."

For me, I'd say literacy was the key to fluency. The two were basically inseparable for me. I started reading as soon as I started speaking.

It's now been four years (though two years since I left Thailand), and I read as much as possible, including academic publications, translations of popular novels into Thai, Thai literature, etc.

The poetry of Thai is still very opaque to me, so that's an area I'd like to conquer at some point, but I never feel like I know everything. I still underline words I don't know in Thai books, although nowadays that's less and less frequent. I'll never know everything about the language, or even as much as any native speaker, but I absolutely love the pursuit.

I guess the other key for me was to mimic the Thais. Not always *what* they say, since I've had embarassing experiences using impolite words that I didn't know were impolite, but mimic the cadence, rhythm, and sounds of their speech as exactly as you can. If the spelling looks like a long vowel, but Thais say in short, say it short. If the way Thais say a tone on a certain word seems a bit funny, say it like they do. Be as observant as possible. Be a sponge.

To everyone: Keep up the good work!

Edited February 28, 2006 by Rikker

[Bobcat]

I agree about the sponge part. Perhaps the click comes at different times for each of us and much depends on our own expectations. I have passed the Bor 6 exam and still don't feel the click. My click will only come, I think, when I feel that I am fluent in the language. I can read and write and speak without much difficulty, but there are always some situations that I am thrown back into self-doubt when, for example, I hear a conversation/TV program etc and I have great difficulty following what is being said. The best advice is to just soldier on, regardless, and enjoy the learning process.

[meadish_sweetball]

There never was a click for me either - I have three years' of Thai at university and four years of living in Thailand behind me - I definitely do get by in everyday life without any problems, but similar to what Bobcat is describing, a simple TV show can be too difficult, as are most newspaper articles. I still have a long way to go, and I am confident that the only way towards real fluency is hard, continuous work.

[falangaman]

As with any language, the only real way to get to grips with it is to immerse yourself within it. Then its a case of having to learn it... and fast!!

A recent trip to Isaan improved my Thai tenfold.

As for a click though, no, not yet.

Edited March 1, 2006 by falangaman

[Neeranam]

I got the click after about 5 years - that's when I walked into a shop, had a conversation and didn't think about what I was saying. That's when I started understanding people without having to try and translate.

Edited March 2, 2006 by Neeranam

[sbk]

No click for me either, I'm afraid. I have never studied formally and have just learned by asking questions and listening.

That said, I am constantly mistaken for a Thai on the phone, my tones are excellent and I have no difficulty in people understanding me where I live. I speak colloquial Southern Thai.

I don't consider myself fluent. I feel I have a lot to learn and misunderstand alot. But, most of the Thai people I know think I am fluent.

Perhaps the click is self confidence kicking in?

[sabaijai]

Interesting question. This 'click' would be a bit nebulous to quantify wouldn't it? At any rate I'd go along with what other members are saying about literacy giving one's spoken Thai a huge boost.

The first year I was in Thailand I piddled around with the script, memorised the alphabet but didn't really dig into how it all went together with the tones, and couldn't really read anything but restaurant menus and other heavily contextualised material. The second year didn't see any further effort on the alphabet but I was doing OK, conversation-wise.

Then I returned to my home country and studied Thai intensively at university at a post-graduate (graduate to Americans) level. Most of the friendships I cultivated that year were with Thais living abroad, plus I taught English to Thais in my spare time and worked as a translator to earn extra money, so I still had plenty of opportunity to practice spoken Thai. Still my main focus was reading and writing at that point.

In the second year of my MA program I received a grant to do field studies in Thailand (translating books by a famous monk, in relation to research on Thai communism). At that point I'd hadn't been here in about 18 months. The experience of riding in a taxi from Don Muang to the city, and being able to read, quite readily, all the signs and billboards along the highway into town was an experience that almost brought me to tears (guess that could be called a 'click'). I found right off the bat that all the conversations I was having in Thailand were noticeably more sophisiticated - - and fun -- than they had been the previous year.

Since then (that was 25 years ago) I've seen a more gradual improvement in my Thai, and yes I'm still learning.

Formal instruction was crucial for laying a strong foundation, for me. Relying on my own devices, I wouldn't have got very far. I can read classical Thai poetry now only because I had to read and translate it at university to get my degree, ditto for Thai newspapers and Thai short stories. I would definitely have avoided poetry and newspapers if not forced to acclimate. I might have got into Thai fiction on my own.

I've managed to teach myself reasonable Lao, both written and spoken, but that's only because I could use Thai as a base and just make a host of substitutions (plus it's easier than Thai). I don't see myself as 'good' at languages. Other than English the only language I know well is Thai. If I had to teach myself Cambodian or Italian I'd be a terminal 2 (on the FSI proficiency scale) at best.

[siamesekitty]

I've heard that when you start dreaming in a foreign language then you can consider yourself fluent!

[sbk]

I have dreams where I am speaking with Thai people or they are speaking with me, but I don't know if that would qualify as "dreaming in Thai" would it?

Sometimes I wish I had more formal training in Thai but then other times I am very glad that I speak the local language. I travel to Bangkok once a year so speaking the Central dialect would be quite useless to me here.

I'd love to have the time (and teacher!) to learn how to read but running this business, which literally takes up my every waking hour, gives me very little time to spend alone and the concentration I would need to learn to read.

Sometimes I think it would be better to go away to school and learn but 1) they would try to pound my "unsophisticated" thai out of me and 2) my husband would miss me too much to be gone for long

[Rikker]

I talk in my sleep in Thai, I'm told.

[britmaveric]

I've heard that when you start dreaming in a foreign language then you can consider yourself fluent!

Funny enough had a dream in all thai....

Basically visiting my Gf(s) family and we were all conversing in thai w/no English. Twas rather pleasant dream and no subtitles were found in sight.

[sabaijai]

I've heard that when you start dreaming in a foreign language then you can consider yourself fluent!

It's hard to say with certainty, but most of the dreams I can remember are in Thai ...

[rcm]

Seems like the "Click" doesn't really come to anyone....

Maybe Chang or Sansom helps for finding the "Click"?

[siamesekitty]

Seems like the "Click" doesn't really come to anyone....

Maybe Chang or Sansom helps for finding the "Click"?

"Click", not sure... "Crash" more like it?

[Neeranam]

Seems like the "Click" doesn't really come to anyone....

Maybe Chang or Sansom helps for finding the "Click"?

drunk.gif

I think for some people, drinking helps to learn a language - well it made me more confident. The only problem was I could never remember any of the new words I had heard. Sub-consciously I think they registered. Now that I don't drink, I don't socialise so much with Thais and that is not good for improving my language skills.