Strategy to learn how to write in Thai at intermediate level

[danphuket]

I study Thai on my own at the moment. There is no question about reading, speaking or listening, it is pretty straightforward - read more, speak more and listen a lot. However the same doesn't apply to writing in Thai as you need someone to rely own to check spelling and grammatical mistakes. My question is how are you learning this aspect of the language?

Any good offline spell checkers, applications, programs that you found helpful? How do you learn?

[rgs2001uk]

The simple truth is for me, I gave up on it.

The only Thai writing I have done in the last 5 years is my name and address.

Too many spellings to me that dont make sense, my biggest problem is always with names.

Many times I have watched Thais hand over their ID card for the other person to write the name, too many options.

I dont know if its Thai/loanwords/imports from Sanskrit, but look at some of the spellings for places such as, Surin, Than(ya)buri etc etc.

As you say, keep on reading and memorising, for me it was one aspect of the language I could see no sense (for me) in pursuing, even my mrs has problems with some spellings.

[CaptHaddock]

You must have a knowledgeable Thai teacher correct your writing. Computer programs cannot do it. Same for speaking. There is no other way.

[AyG]

I think there are three aspects here: vocabulary, spelling and structure.

Vocabulary develops as you read more. No problem.

Spelling can be helped by using flashcards, writing down the word (or typing it) before you turn over the card. Also if you can type in Thai you can type a paragraph and then get it spell checked. If you can't type Thai you could learn using an application such as http://thai-notes.com/typing/typingtrainers.shtml?trainer=TTT. That site also has a dictionary "bulk lookup" facility that can act as a spell checker if you paste text into it http://thai-notes.com/tools/predictionary.shtml.

Structure is the real problem (at least for me). Anything much beyond a simple subject-verb-object sentence is a minefield. Only a real, live native speaker can help here.

[danphuket]

I think there are three aspects here: vocabulary, spelling and structure.

Vocabulary develops as you read more. No problem.

Spelling can be helped by using flashcards, writing down the word (or typing it) before you turn over the card. Also if you can type in Thai you can type a paragraph and then get it spell checked. If you can't type Thai you could learn using an application such as http://thai-notes.com/typing/typingtrainers.shtml?trainer=TTT. That site also has a dictionary "bulk lookup" facility that can act as a spell checker if you paste text into it http://thai-notes.com/tools/predictionary.shtml.

Structure is the real problem (at least for me). Anything much beyond a simple subject-verb-object sentence is a minefield. Only a real, live native speaker can help here.

Which spell checkers are good in your opinion? Are there any available for phone use as well (while you 'lining' for example)?

[Richard W]

Which spell checkers are good in your opinion? Are there any available for phone use as well (while you 'lining' for example)?

Unless your Thai vocabulary is extensive, a spell checker insensitive to grammar will let far too many spelling errors through, because the misspelling of the word is actually the same as the correct spelling of a different Thai word. What you need is a system that limits you to the vocabulary you know.

With some spell checkers, such as that for LibreOffice on Linux, you can, on a machine you control, replace the installed Thai vocabulary by the subset that you know.

[kriswillems]

For me the following 5 things helped to improve my writing:

- reading

- chatting/texting

- learning how to use fixed grammatical structures

- dictation exercises

- story writing

The last 3 I learnt in school or I had a teacher checking my writing.

There's a lot to remember when you write Thai, if you don't maintain it, your writing might become worse very quickly.

I make mistakes, but I can write a story that is understandable for most Thai people, but they can immediately see that the story was not written by a Thai.

You could be aware that the language used in chatting is talking language and that most Thai people don't use correct spelling for this. Nevertheless, I think it's a tool to learn the language.

Edited December 27, 2013 by kriswillems

[Ajaan]

I agree, texting is an excellent way to improve your Thai writing, especially spelling. This is really how I learned to spell in Thai, writing simple telephone SMSs starting about 9 years ago. First I would need a dictionary at my side all the time, then it just made sense to learn to spell the words I was typing most frequently...over time, that led to a pretty sizable spelling vocabulary. Of course, now there's Facebook, which wasn't around then, so real-time chatting can be a great writing practice tool as well.

One of the most important things about this method is that you're doing real-life interaction/communication when you do it. And hopefully your correspondents will give you feedback on your grammar...some people are better than others at this, of course!