As a Farang, how did you learn to speak, read and write Thai?

[Mascot]

Good day all,

I was just wondering if anyone would like to share their experiences in regards to learning the Thai language? I'm at a beginner level and moving to BKK in a few months and I wanted to get some suggestions of what area/method seemed to be an effective way to begin or what you found to be some helpful ways are.

ie: Writing, Reading then Speaking or Reading, Speaking then Writing ect. What did you find the best or most effective way that worked for you? Any tips?

I know everyone learns a little differently, but I just thought to get some advice from more experienced learners for the rest of us out there either beginning or still continuing to learning.

Thanks TV Folks and hope everyone is doing good throughout this upcoming holiday season.

Matt

[GotR1GHT]

I learn mostly by myself,although school is helpful and gave me the basics.But the reason why i'm in advance class(even though i think i'm somewhere in the middle of beginner and intermediate) is because i learn in my free time.How do i learn? I found the 5,000 most common thai words on internet(i put it in attachments if want to check out) and basically write word by word and learn that way.For example:

หมา - maa - R(rising tone) - dog

ไข้ - kai - F(falling tone) - fever

ไข่ - kai - L(low tone) - egg

I don't practise much writing,but i just remember the "smaller common words" like ไม้ ใหม่ ไม่ ไหม้ ไหม or เสื่อ,เสื้อ,เสือ and similar just to know difference between them when i see it.For other words,ตลาด,ป้องกัน i don't have to remember how word looks like because there's no words that is written similar. Also good thing is to learn tone rules,just in case you'll need it someday(it's also in attachments).

But most important thing is try to talk every day,thai is tonal language and it's very hard,practise makes perfect.Very few farangs who live in thai can talk thai properly(who actually have vocabulary of at least 5000words),most expats start to learn and give up when they come to the point that they have survival thai basics

freq-5000.xls

Edited December 13, 2013 by GotR1GHT

[recom273]

I studied at UTL in Asoke a long while ago.

4 Hours a day, 5 days a week. Start with the easy stuff for 2 months to get your head back into the routine. Then 3rd month they hit you with the 1/2 the morning vocab, 1/2 morning reading and writing. The 3rd month was when 3/4 of the class dropped out.

4th month short vowels, I had to drop out then, but I wish I could have continued.

My head was hurting after every session, having to do dictation exercise, getting your handwriting/spelling ripped apart .. i didnt really learn much about pronounciation tho' but lots of grammar terminology that my wife wasnt even aware of.

AUA was also pretty good, although they have changed their format. It was good to hear the lecturers talk about basic politics, religion, culture, I always picked up a few words every hour that i would never get from a Thai on the street.

If you want to really learn then look to a FT university program, to say you can teach yourself, you could, but you really need some structure and some good teachers to get beyond the real basics. Its a good feeling being pushed into learning and getting results.

After you have a good grasp, its just practice, practice, practice through every way imaginable.

Edited December 13, 2013 by recom273

[danphuket]

I started to learn how to read and write late, focusing more on speaking and pronunciation.

As of reading - a lot of people scared of the alphabet, but actually it is not that difficult. Rules to form tones depending on combination of consonants and vowels are easy as well. It took me around 1.5 months to be able to read. I mean of course you will not be able to understand most of the time but you would know how it sounds like, considering that you set your tones right from the beginning.

Here is advice from my experience:

1) Get your pronunciation right. Pimsluer is good. That will help with reading later

2) Get private tutor and learn alphabet and rules. Go through Becker's Basic and Intermediate books with teacher or on your own to polish your understanding

3) After you can handwrite like a first grader, start to learn how to type as soon as possible. That will give you access to excellent programs to learn thai. Besides typing is much more practical these days

4) Use anki flash card program. Adjust it to type in Thai every time you are translating the word from your mother tongue

5) If you are on android, use Paiboon Publishing Talking Thai dictionary. Every word has audio; logically sound and neat classification of words. There is a cool feature of breaking down a word to its components and then each is translated

6) Read texts online with audio recordings. Use this program to initially translate it: http://thai-notes.com/tools/predictionary.shtml Copy the text and paste it into bulk translation window. Then hover over any word and you will see its meaning in english. After that copy new words to anki. Concentrate on those that you feel are more frequently used. For instance if you read an article and find 40 new words, learn 20 most useful. That way your retention rate will greatly improve

Listen audio recordings of the texts that you have read as much as you can. Every time you listen new vocab is reinforced

7) Read some text every day that interests you. Don't try to learn all the words. Maximum 20 is enough per day

8) Learn mnemonics. I associate every Thai word with a similar sounding word in Russian (since it is my mother tongue) and than imagine some funny picture. SAT vocab mnemonics book shows you how to use that technique

9) As for writing aspect, I have recently posted this questions. What I understand is there is no other way to than to have a tutor to help you correct your mistakes. By mistakes I mean grammar mistakes. Spelling can be learnt using anki and spell checker programs (which I am currently struggling to find to tell the truth)

The process for me wasn't as smooth as I described, but in approximately that sequence. The above is how I would approach learning how to read if I have started over again.

The most important and difficult thing in my opinion is to keep your motivation up. This language is not easy and does take a lot of practice. I found it helps to set specific time-framed goals and to track your performance

Hope that helps

[kurnell]

Bar girls. I like the real Thai.

[danphuket]

Bar girls. I like the real Thai.

Might be useful for speaking in the beginning. But then again there is no need to limit yourself to bar girls. Talk in Thai whenever you have an opportunity.

However you will not learn how to speak properly without learning how to read and write. You might be good at day to day conversations, but your vocabulary will be severely limited

[kurnell]

Bar girls. I like the real Thai.

Might be useful for speaking in the beginning. But then again there is no need to limit yourself to bar girls. Talk in Thai whenever you have an opportunity.

However you will not learn how to speak properly without learning how to read and write. You might be good at day to day conversations, but your vocabulary will be severely limited

Horse hockey. There are many Thais that can barely read or write Thai that have been educated in international schools, but are obviously fluent.

[kriswillems]

It's easy too say which farang learnt Thai in a bar. I can recognize them within one minute talking.... and most Thai people can too....

Go to a school or university: UTL, AAA, Piammitr, Chula, any place that teaches a least 10 hours per week and has at least 5 levels and 5 course books (1 level = 1 month)will do.

[GotR1GHT]

It's easy too say which farang learnt Thai in a bar. I can recognize them within one minute talking.... and most Thai people can too....

Go to a school or university: UTL, AAA, Piammitr, Chula, any place that teaches a least 10 hours per week and has at least 5 levels and 5 course books (1 level = 1 month)will do.

He was probably joking,but if he didn't then i really don't know what to say..

[danphuket]

It's easy too say which farang learnt Thai in a bar. I can recognize them within one minute talking.... and most Thai people can too....

Go to a school or university: UTL, AAA, Piammitr, Chula, any place that teaches a least 10 hours per week and has at least 5 levels and 5 course books (1 level = 1 month)will do.

He was probably joking,but if he didn't then i really don't know what to say..

Although I disagree that any course will do, UTL and Chula must be good. At least reviews are proving that.

If I lived in Bangkok I would probably go for UTL privatet lessons

[danphuket]

Bar girls. I like the real Thai.

Might be useful for speaking in the beginning. But then again there is no need to limit yourself to bar girls. Talk in Thai whenever you have an opportunity.

However you will not learn how to speak properly without learning how to read and write. You might be good at day to day conversations, but your vocabulary will be severely limited

Horse hockey. There are many Thais that can barely read or write Thai that have been educated in international schools, but are obviously fluent.

Hmm... You can be fluent to the point that you will be able to talk about general topics. But then how efficient is that approach?

Those Thais that studied in international schools here had an advantage of learning this language from their parents. It doesn't work for 'farangs'

When you read you learn 10-20 words each day. If you are consistent and learn 6 days per week it means 312 days in a year. Using anki, retention rate should be around 70-80 percent or 2200 words+ per year. Taking into account lack of motivation, vacation, sickness or whatever, even less. If you are learning by talking you would learn 3-10 times less during the same period

To be relatively proficient or 'fluent' you will need at least 5000 words. To be considered educated probably 3 times more. Now, how would you ever learn the language without reading?

Of course it all depends on how you define 'fluency'. But for me fluency in English, for example, means, that I can take 'Bangkok Post' newspaper, 'Economist', read them through and understand 95% without dictionary or be able to talk about anything that you talk about in your native language for an hour

In short, reading and writing are essential. Learning the language as children do is not efficient for those who are 5 years +

[Neeranam]

Bar girls. I like the real Thai.

Might be useful for speaking in the beginning. But then again there is no need to limit yourself to bar girls. Talk in Thai whenever you have an opportunity.

However you will not learn how to speak properly without learning how to read and write. You might be good at day to day conversations, but your vocabulary will be severely limited

Learning to read is much easier after you can speak.

I learned by having Thai friends who couldn't speak English.

The immersion method. If you are looking for a teacher, it's possibly better if they can't speak English.

[asiaexpat]

There are many examples of Thai lessons on YouTube that will help you get started. Get Beckers Beginners book and self study each day until you can read all the texts. Then find a good school, one that teaches writing/reading at the same time they teach speaking/listening. I also used (and still do) on-line programs for flash cards. My iPhone has Anki and I do flash cards whenever I can. But the key is practice and more practice with Thais.

[painai2]

Bar girls. I like the real Thai.

If you learn to speak Thai, talking with bar girls is part of the benefits. I started by studying Becker's books on my own, and also used several other series, tryng to memorize and absorb as much as I could. I then had a private teacher guide me through the Thai readers, ending up at a sixth grade level. She had me read the readers to her and she gave me dictation, vocabulary lists to memorize from the lessons, etc. I now read Thai newspapers every day, including 3 times a week with my Thai teacher. My favorite is the Thai newspaper "Daily News". I read the articles to my teacher, discuss the articles, and look for new vocabulary that way. I also watch Thai TV nearly exclusively. It's all good, even soap operas. Just listening to Thai all day is good practice. I especially enjoy channel 5. Becoming fluent in a new language takes time. I'm starting to feel pretty confident in speaking Thai, and I'm usually understood. Whatever works, but really learning Thai takes a lot of work. Learning how to read the language for me was essential for gettting the correct pronunciation, the major problem Farangs have speaking Thai.

Edited December 15, 2013 by painai2

[Sloopydee]

As a Farang, how did you learn to speak, read and write Thai?

Practice.

[Mascot]

Well I just wanted to say thanks to all who contributed to this post and I'm hoping that there are more people than just myself that will benefit from all the links, site, methods and suggestions that were given here.

I asked my girlfriend what she thought about me learning Thai from bar girls.... haha...J/K but I'd rather learn with her anyways.

Hopefully with a lot of practice (ect) I will at least have learnt a few things by February and continue on from there....

Thanks again TV Folks!

[Aforek]

What about bar girls ? They don't speak the same thai than their families, let say in Issan ? I have traveled several times in Thailand with girls who worked with farangs , and , among other thai people, I have learnt very much from them

To answer the OP, I have learnt the language ( speak, read , I am not very interrested in writing, but I can if needed with the help of my dictionary ) by myself, in speaking with people ( many "normal" people and 3 our 4 "bar girls" as said above, and reading books for grammar, basis of language and reading. Never go to school or with teacher.

Now I improve my reading with this site http://www.selfstudythai.com/

[danphuket]

What about bar girls ? They don't speak the same thai than their families, let say in Issan ? I have traveled several times in Thailand with girls who worked with farangs , and , among other thai people, I have learnt very much from them

To answer the OP, I have learnt the language ( speak, read , I am not very interrested in writing, but I can if needed with the help of my dictionary ) by myself, in speaking with people ( many "normal" people and 3 our 4 "bar girls" as said above, and reading books for grammar, basis of language and reading. Never go to school or with teacher.

Now I improve my reading with this site http://www.selfstudythai.com/

Very good resource!

[kevindorian]

I did a combination of going to school in the city and also a podcast program when I was not in the city or just as an extra option

Check out the Learn Thai Podcast Review on this link, pretty cool little site this guy has set up think its rather new but i like it, I emailed him said he will be doing a few more reviews soon as well, I am not fluent by far but like to think i am above average in all 3 areas

Edited December 17, 2013 by kevindorian