Schools for learning intermediate/advanced spoken Thai

[torals]

Hi

I have been learning thai for a few years. I can read and write to a high level, get by in most situations. can talk about lots of subjects. I want to go to school to learn to increase my spoken thai, as I tend to be stuck using the same patterns when speaking without progressing much.

Some people have recommended Chulalongkorn, but others have said this is very academic and will only reinforce my use of words that are not appropriate when using spoken thai.

Does anyone know any good schools, who teach without the karaoke and could help me break through this problem

Thanks

[kriswillems]

How many years are you in Thailand?

Do you speak Thai at home or at work?

Do you watch Thai TV or listen to the radio?

I think Chula nor any other language school can help you if you already know the basic structures of Thai.

You're right. The language you learn in these school is academic.

You need to build vocabulary.

I think only an intensive form of total immersion can help you.

You should avoid using any other language than Thai. If you need to look for something, look only at 100% Thai websites, books and newspaper.

Watch only Thai TV and listen only to Thai radio channels.

I think you've about the same problem as me.

After a while you get the feeling you don't progress anymore, but if you would see a video of yourself from 3 years ago, you can see you got better.

[torals]

How many years are you in Thailand?

Do you speak Thai at home or at work?

Do you watch Thai TV or listen to the radio?

I think Chula nor any other language school can help you if you already know the basic structures of Thai.

You're right. The language you learn in these school is academic.

You need to build vocabulary.

I think only an intensive form of total immersion can help you.

You should avoid using any other language than Thai. If you need to look for something, look only at 100% Thai websites, books and newspaper.

Watch only Thai TV and listen only to Thai radio channels.

I think you've about the same problem as me.

After a while you get the feeling you don't progress anymore, but if you would see a video of yourself from 3 years ago, you can see you got better.

Hi, vocab is probably 3000+ I am not sure.

I watch thai tv a lot, movies too. My problem is not in knowing the words. It is actually speaking. When a thai person speaks I know what they are saying and can follow the news on the television enough to know what they are talking about. I just can't reproduce it and when I do speak I use the same patterns.

Many days I will only speak thai, but it's all the same. I have become stuck and need pushing out of my comfort zone.

[kriswillems]

Something that helps for me (I have a Thai wife) is the following:

- I pick up the phone at home and answer phone calls in Thai. Or I call in Thai whenever we need to arrange something. Before I let my wife do this. It's a way to push we out of the comfort zone.

- Whenever we need to go somewhere to arrange something important (police, city hall, salesmen) I do the talking. I am less good at it than my wife, but it's again pushing me.

[somsrioutout]

You can talk to me In thai... somsrioutout at outloot dot com .. skyp ..if u wanna learn more thai... no charge , just talk...

[recom273]

AUA used to have a modular system for medium / advanced learners. I used to enjoy going for an hour and listening to teachers talking about subjects that you woud never touch on in everyday life.

I dont think its the same these days, but i can see where you are coming from. Reading a newspaper is good but you need someone to talk through the difficult words then discuss the story you just read.

Maybe you need a good teacher, someone who can listen to a small group, then intro some new vocab so you can all enjoy a discussion .. A study group.

[benjiro]

As counterintuitive as it sounds, speaking results from listening. If your speaking is not where it should be, you need to increase the amount of listening you do. Television, radio, and/or the AUA classes in Bangkok would be my recommendations.

[farangdude84]

ผมแนะนำว่าไปเที่ยวคุยกับเพื่อนคนไทยทุกวันถ้าเป็นไปได้

โขคดีครับ

The best school is living the language.

[fire69water]

My idea of immersion is to watch Thai movies. Unfortunately, very few Thai movies has Thai subtitles. The ones that have are Northeastern makes. I plan to ask some native Thai transcribe my favourite Thai movies for me. I am thinking of paying by the hour of 75 baht per hour, but I will double the duration of each movie. Say a movie takes an hour. I will count as two, i.e., 150 Baht per hour. Think it's fair?

[painai2]

I don't think watching Thai movies with sub tiltles is a good idea at all if you goal is to help you learn Thai. If you watch without the subtitles, you are forced to pay attention to the speakers. When the screen has subtitles it's easier just to read the translation and not pay close attention to the Thai being spoken.

[Lara Alex]

Try to watch 'modern Thai movies and copy what the actors say'!

Learning new Thai phrases from movies is fun and lively. You can also speak what you learn with Thai friends in order to sharpen your Thai.

Alright, i'll give you a Thai slang--'ฟิน'!

[starrdog]

Unfortunately, very few Thai movies has Thai subtitles.

Though there are quite a few that don't, I was surprised at the number of Thai movies that have Thai subtitles. Mole posted a huge list in this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/617486-thai-dvd-movies-with-thai-subtitles/

Plus there are many English subtitles (srt files) for Thai movies that you can download as well, and use them with Thai movies that you've copied to your computer. Many of the good ones have "SeeingMole" in the title, so if those are from you Mole, thanks! They're the first ones I try downloading.

[fire69water]

When Thai movie DVDs comes with Thai subtitle, they are probably Isaan movies. Bought a couple of them, regretting afterwards.

[Groongthep]

If you can afford it hire a tutor. Speak all you want and he or she can help correct your pronunciation or select the correct word(s) to be used in spoken Thai.

Make sure you hire someone with teaching experience and a degree. You will get much better results from someone trained in teaching Thai to foreigners. Lots of people have tried learning from their spouses with little success.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Groongthep