Serious Language School in Bangkok ... Where?

[JThai]

I'm an American. I currently reside in the Philipines but I've spent some time in Thailand and I'm really enjoying it. The one thing that is frustrating is how hard it can be to communicate. I feel like I'm missing out on a lot by not being able to read and speak Thai.

Honestly, besides making everyday life a little eaiser here I really want to be able to talk to Thai girls. Can you blame me?

I want to invest the time and money in to attending a serious learning program at the very entry level and see how if I want to proceed after that. I'm willing to spend 15-20 hours a week in class and the money is not too important. What is important is a true program that will deliver real results. I don't want to learn things wrong way.

The Chula program looks agressive. Is this a good school? Are there any other schools at this level I should consider? I don't want to go to a ED visa mill. I'm near Asoke btw.

Look forward to your suggestions. Thank!

[AyG]

Near Asoke, then the perfect school for you would be UTL. Morning classes are 20 hours/week, afternoon classes, 15.

The method is rigorous (if a little old fashioned), and the teachers very good.

** link removed **

I studied there for a total of about 15 months in total and was very happy with the experience apart from the fact that some of the high level courses are only available infrequently for lack of enough interested students to fill a class.

[JThai]

Thanks, I will check in to it. So how well do you think you can read and speak Thai now after attending?

Near Asoke, then the perfect school for you would be UTL. Morning classes are 20 hours/week, afternoon classes, 15.

The method is rigorous (if a little old fashioned), and the teachers very good.

** link removed **

I studied there for a total of about 15 months in total and was very happy with the experience apart from the fact that some of the high level courses are only available infrequently for lack of enough interested students to fill a class.

[AyG]

Thanks, I will check in to it. So how well do you think you can read and speak Thai now after attending?

I'm probably half way to fluency. I can read a newspaper, albeit fairly slowly, and I quite often have to look up words. I can hold a conversation on general topics, but lack a lot of specialised vocabulary. I make a lot of spelling mistakes when I write. In total I studied around about 2,000 hours in the classroom and probably did around 700 hours of homework. I think around 4,000 hours of study will bring me where I'd like to be in terms of proficiency.

I'd add that I don't have a lot of exposure to spoken Thai outside the classroom - my friends prefer to practise their English with me than let me speak Thai - so my speaking/listening skills are probably a bit behind where they should be.

[AyG]

Just one other thought: the 4 hours morning courses give more opportunity for conversation practice (about an hour more) than the 3 hours afternoon ones, which really only have enough time to cover that day's lesson.

[JThai]

Just one other thought: the 4 hours morning courses give more opportunity for conversation practice (about an hour more) than the 3 hours afternoon ones, which really only have enough time to cover that day's lesson.

Read some complaints (although old) that the UTL has an acient curriculum that likely hasn't been updated since they first started teaching missionaries decades ago. Any comments on that?

Also do you have any idea on the cost?

[AyG]

Just one other thought: the 4 hours morning courses give more opportunity for conversation practice (about an hour more) than the 3 hours afternoon ones, which really only have enough time to cover that day's lesson.

Read some complaints (although old) that the UTL has an acient curriculum that likely hasn't been updated since they first started teaching missionaries decades ago. Any comments on that?

Also do you have any idea on the cost?

The curriculum is indeed rather old, as is the style of teaching. However, the lessons have been slightly updated to reflect changes such as the new Bangkok airport (at least at UTL - can't speak for Union, Piammitr and the others that use the same curriculum). Apart from Chulalongkorn, I don't think there's any other curriculum that comes close in terms of structure and thoroughness. Whilst there are places out there that use more up-to-date curricula and styles of teaching, none AFAIK equals the Union and Chula curricula in terms of being able to take you from beginner to advanced. Ask any school you consider how many students they have that take a P6 exam preparation course with them every year. (I know that at Walen it's zero. Most farang-oriented schools will say the same.)

It may seem slightly perverse, but one of the good things about UTL is that most farang drop out after a couple of months or so; the Japanese and Korean students are far more serious and dedicated than the typical westerner, so one ends up studying alongside people committed to learning, and who speak little English, so all chatting outside the classroom is done in Thai (or, for me, occasionally Japanese).

(Another plus is that there are very few missionaries studying here. I can only remember studying with two from my time there. Union, I understand, is a rather different story.)

The costs are, I believe, given on the website which I linked to previously.

[SlyAnimal]

I'm currently studying at Chula, I started studying at level 3 and am now in level 4.

If you're pretty serious about learning Thai, then studying at Chula is a good option. It's more expensive than most of the other courses, although when you look at it on 1h vs 1h, it's not much more than most other courses (Most ppl just say "OMG 27,000 for 2 months! I can study for 1 year at x school for that much!!" without realising that Chula is 15h each week).

Also it forces you to do a fair amount of study outside of class as well, since there is a lot of work involved (e.g. You can't study "part-time", well unless you're Japanese lol, I had a Japanese guy during lvl 3 who was studying Thai + English + managing his own business, dunno how he did it lol). I probably do around 10+ hours each week of additional study/homework outside of class, some of the others probably do 15-20h (I'm a bit lazier than they are, although since I have a Thai wife I probably speak in Thai at home more than some of the others).

Chula also has a bit of an advantage over anywhere else because of the prestige associated with it e.g. If you tell someone that you're studying Thai at x school, they probably won't know it, but if you mention Chula they'll definitely know it.

AUA is also pretty good, and right next to Chula, I've been to a few classes there and really enjoy going to class there. The classes are more just listening based, and I feel that you learn significantly slower at AUA, but it's really laid back and flexible. I go to AUA classes during my holidays from Chula, just for a bit of something different.

Walen is also meant to be alright, although I've never been there myself. From what I gather, it's kinda a middle ground between the relaxed AUA and fully intensive Chula course (A similar thing could probably be said about most of the other language schools actually).

Anyway, if you're interested in knowing anything else about these, just post any questions you have and I can give you more info.

[SlyAnimal]

Also I have removed a link & fixed some formatting lol, as commercial links aren't allowed unless it's to a sponsor of the forums.

[SlyAnimal]

Also since I started posting, there was another reply:

From what I've read, I've heard the same thing as AyG in regards to most of the text books etc being quite old. As many of them are essentially the same text books that they used from 20-30 years ago, with just slight revisions (if that). I guess they take the perspective that "If it ain't broke, why fix it" lol.

Also studying with Asian students is definitely an advantage, in my class at Chula there are 4x western guys, last term we only had 2, and all of the others in the class are Asian students. As a result, you're forced into interactions with them in Thai when outside of class, which is good practice (Although sometimes can be frustrating due to pronounciation / poor memory lol). Although most of the Asian students do speak a decent amount of English as well.

Also you'll find that most schools offer 1x hour free, so that you can see if you like the style of the class etc before you purchase hours. So it's probably worthwhile to pop around to a few different schools and check out 1h at each, and see which ones you like the style/teachers at, since regardless of the methodology at the school, simply having a good (or bad) teacher can sometimes completely change the experience (Which is one of the reasons I like the flexibility of the AUA classes lol, you can pick and choose the classes you want, so that you get the teachers you enjoy having classes with lol).

[JThai]

Thanks guys. I really do like the idea of studying with asians more and I'd like to make Japanese and Korean friends.

I like the idea of going with the best with Chula but it looks to be a bit of commute/walking from Asoke compared to UTL. I suppose I could look for a place closer to Chula though.

What kind of work is required outside of class? I'm able to give the 15-20 hours a week but I still need to work 40 hours (flexiable time, online, corporate digital nomad) it might be tough. But I really want to give level one a try and make it work.

[AyG]

What kind of work is required outside of class? I'm able to give the 15-20 hours a week but I still need to work 40 hours (flexiable time, online, corporate digital nomad) it might be tough. But I really want to give level one a try and make it work.

With UTL the homework is pretty trivial at first, until you start to write "essays" (really just a hundred words or so at first). Initially that took me a couple of hours a night. After a few months it became easier, perhaps only taking one hour a night. However, some of the not so diligent students wrote less. There's no real definition of how much you have to write, but the more you write, the more feedback you get from the teacher.

[SlyAnimal]

From Asoke to Chula isn't far to commute, since you can take the MRT to the Silom or Sam yarn (Cham Churi Square) MRT stations, from the BTS Siam station it's not far either. From any of the 3x stations you'd probably only be around a 10 minute walk from where the school is on campus. I used to walk from Silom each day myself, and have walked from class to ChamChuri Square or Siam quite a few times after class (Although take my motorbike now, since I got lazy lol).

I don't know what the workload is like in level 1, but based on levels 3 and 4, I'd say it'd be difficult to do 40h of work as well as the class time + study each week. But it depends on how motivated you are + how efficiently you can study. As I know some people can do 3h or 4h a day, yet retain less information than others might from 1h or 2h of study.

For myself, in the cycle which we have in Thai 4, I usually do 0h - 1h study one day (before we start a new topic), 1-2h of study the next day (to review vocab learnt the previous day before spelling/comprehension tests), 3h-5h the next (As I need to write+ rehearse my presentation). Both Thai 3 and 4 follow a similar format, and it's the presentations which make up most of my homework. (Although the presentations are more frequent in Thai 4, and you have more time to learn vocab in Thai 3 before being tested on it).

[JThai]

Thanks. Good info. I'm fairly motivated and I have a good memory (I'm near 30) and it's flexable I can work more on the weekend if I need to, but the bottom line is, I don't really have a life right now. I just got here so eating, working, studying and a couple massages a week should be fine for now.

[kriswillems]

There seems to be a school in the Trendy plaza building that has updated books but still uses the union method: Duke language school.

I went to Piammitr in the same building and their books are identical to the UTL books.

But if you can handle the pressure of Chula, it's the best choice.

[jarrcbb]

I can also recommend Rak Thai. A bunch of my teachers from UTL started it after I had finished studying at UTL. It also appears they updated their materials a bit, but you'll need to go check for yourself.

[romain22]

You will find your school and all the info you need on the Thailand Schools Directory You have about 1000 schools and the internal search engine works like Googles' (that is you can search by the name, using "QUERY" or without and search using the first letters of the school, a location, area, radius, keyword... and more)

[JThai]

So here are my current thoughts:

1. 1st choice I want to go to Chula for the very best in education but it seems like it will be too intense for me being I have to work 40 hours.

2. 2nd choice would be UTL because it's the closest to me but I'm turned off by the acient curiculium but it's walking distance.

3. 3rd choice RTL - This school seems to be very good with good teachers and updated materials (from what I've read around the net and from Tod Daniels). They are former UTL teachers.

I'm leaning towards RTL at this point. What's everyone think ?

[SlyAnimal]

Is Duke on the cards for you aswell at all? I went to a seminar a month or so ago which StuJay Raj was holding promoting his methods and someone from Duke was there aswell.

The main thing he was promoting about Duke was their new textbook. I didn't see it close up, but it looked to be a similar style to the good text text books I've used when teaching English (e.g. Includes pictures and stuff, rather than just walls of text).

Since you are specifically concerned about the text book, they might be worthwhile checking out (assuming they're close to you).

So that'd maybe be a 4th option to consider.

[JThai]

Is Duke on the cards for you aswell at all? I went to a seminar a month or so ago which StuJay Raj was holding promoting his methods and someone from Duke was there aswell.

The main thing he was promoting about Duke was their new textbook. I didn't see it close up, but it looked to be a similar style to the good text text books I've used when teaching English (e.g. Includes pictures and stuff, rather than just walls of text).

Since you are specifically concerned about the text book, they might be worthwhile checking out (assuming they're close to you).

So that'd maybe be a 4th option to consider.

Wow thanks! After reading Tod Daneils review on Duke. I think I'm sold. It's a Union school with a modern rewrite. This is exactly what I need! They can't do ED visa yet but I don't really need it and courses are only a month long anyway.

Funny he says this about the original union Thai :

The materials have an archaic, too formal a version of syrupy sweet over the top Thai. I am of the mind that back in the day, the objective of the original Union material was to teach foreigners to speak Thai so that the would never be identified as near-native speakers of the language.

That is exactly what I don't want and he says Duke has solved that.

[Zooheekock]

You could try Sumaa. I don't think I can post a link but a web search will reveal their website. The head teacher/part-owner used to work at Chula but left to set up a private school a few years ago and they've built up a fairly respectable client list, including the British Ambassador and, I think, the American Embassy along with a bunch of corporate clients.

[Sweetpii]

Well, I've been trained at Sumaa as Thai language Teacher and would like to get the experience of teaching out of the class. If you don't mind being my pilot student , maybe, we can meet and study together. If you're interested ,pls contact me. (e-mail removed)

[Baa_Mango]

I think the curriculums @ UTL and PIAMMITR etc (is missionary style) is a great way to BREAK into Thai language. The price is good and the intensity is fairy good. I think it would be more laid back than say Chula. So to get your feet wet, those classes would work well. I would say after six months of studying (thats 3 hours a day, the intense courses would obviously be faster) you would be decent at speaking/understanding and have basic reading and writing. Obviously rome cant be built in a day and time, effort, dedication on your part will be required. Serious learners should seek to integrate, as just shacking up with a girl can be quite anti productive when it comes to successfully learning.

[bhthai]

I am a student at Duke.

As I don't work here and am in Thailand with the priority being to study Thai. I looked into a lot of options.

At first I was very interested in Chula because it's definitely the most promoted as an "Intensive course" which is what I was looking for. Living on very limited savings, the price was something I didn't want to jump into straight away without looking into other options.

I attended the seminar mentioned above and was very impressed by the speaker representing Duke language however, I didn't look into attending their school straight away.

I was also ready to enrol into the Chula course, however at that time the course had already started and there was a long wait into the next one...

I read tods danials review of Duke and I remembered being impressed at Stuart Jay''s seminar. From there I emailed Duke and arranged an interview. When I got there I was very impressed. I didn't actual attend any of the classes, but just did a quick assessment with the teachers and I felt really comfortable. I started the next week.

To give you a comparison I have taken the 30,000 baht package which is 360 hours. Compare that to Chulas 27,000 (or is it 30,000?) for 100 hours.

I was doing 2 courses at once in my first month at Duke. 9am-12 /1pm - 4pm. While based on what I read about Chula, I certainly don't have the same homework commitments, but I think it's fair to say being at a Thai language school for 7 hours a day is considered "intensive"

Basically how I feel at Duke it's very friendly and relaxed environment. We do a lot of discussion ON RELEVANT SUBJECTS, one thing I think lacks in a lot of Thai schools. You learn the same bull shit text book copy and paste, that has no use and is not similar to how Thai's use their language. If we want to learn about something in particular, we learn it. Slang, swearing, colloquial speech; speech that is used by Native Thai people.

My only criticism on Duke that being a new school, for the "advanced members" it's not quite as structured. I am in the class "Advanced" and we don't currently use a text book as the development is under way. I don't mind this, but I think some people prefer more structure. That being said, for the beginner stages, while I have not participated in those classes, I do get the impression they offer not only a good, but unique course.

From reading the reviews on Chula, I everyone seems to agree that while there was certainly things that it needed (such as updates), however in the end...it's effective. Not to say I will never go to Chula, but to me, I would go for what it specilises in....teaching to a further level than the other schools. I see little reason to go to such a school as a beginner when the same can be learnt from other schools, at a much lower price. However, as I said; I've never attended their school so it's just my opinion based on reviews.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.