How difficult is it to get to a medium level of spoken Thai?

I am quite good at langauges but all the ones I know are European (Eng, French, Italian and some Dutch). How long would it take to get some decent spoken Thai and can anyone suggest courses/material in the UK (preferably in the London area)?

Thanks

Rosetta Stone works well. However if you can do a thai course or two that prob work wonders.

Sorry should be making head or tail not head or toe...dohhh

Not sure about the language thing but your avatar has a totally hypnotic effect.

In London the only place i know of offering courses is the school of oriental and african studies in russel square - quite pricey though!

In London the only place i know of offering courses is the school of oriental and african studies in russel square - quite pricey though!

any idae on prices and duration??

In London the only place i know of offering courses is the school of oriental and african studies in russel square - quite pricey though!

any idae on prices and duration??

http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/other/thai.html

There is a book you can get from any bookazine store titled 'Practical Thai'. I bought this in 2004 it was the 15th edition it may have been up-dated it is yellow in colour with black and white writing on the front very good to get you started with every day phrases.

Also THai for Beginers with CD's written by Benjawan Poomsan Becker. This is very good to to listen to the CD's on your desk top and follow book at same time.

macb

In London the only place i know of offering courses is the school of oriental and african studies in russel square - quite pricey though!

any idae on prices and duration??

http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/other/thai.html

I highly recommend SOAS. I attended a 2 week intensive evening course last year before coming to Thailand. It was worth every penny. Learnt more in those 2 weeks than I have in nearly 18months here......still yet to find a decent Thai teacher here......I don't seem to have progressed much more than what I learnt in London, and its not for lack of trying!

before i moved to jomtien i went to a thai resturant in hawaii and found an intellegent person that spoke both thai and english well. made a deal for some lessons and it worked out well. wish she were here

before i moved to jomtien i went to a thai resturant in hawaii and found an intellegent person that spoke both thai and english well. made a deal for some lessons and it worked out well. wish she were here

I learned by hanging out with unintelligent Thai people who couldn't speak a word of English.

Immersion is the best way. Many people ask me if I know a Thai teacher who can speak English well, which IMHO is not good.

It would take a few months if you were immersed and had to learn.

How difficult is it to get to a medium level of spoken Thai?

I am quite good at langauges but all the ones I know are European (Eng, French, Italian and some Dutch). How long would it take to get some decent spoken Thai and can anyone suggest courses/material in the UK (preferably in the London area)?

Thanks

My god! Do you live near shore? You better run coz I think a huge tsunami is coming your way!

How difficult is it to get to a medium level of spoken Thai?

I am quite good at langauges but all the ones I know are European (Eng, French, Italian and some Dutch). How long would it take to get some decent spoken Thai and can anyone suggest courses/material in the UK (preferably in the London area)?

Thanks

My god! Do you live near shore? You better run coz I think a huge tsunami is coming your way!

Sorry. Relevence?

How difficult is it to get to a medium level of spoken Thai?

I am quite good at langauges but all the ones I know are European (Eng, French, Italian and some Dutch). How long would it take to get some decent spoken Thai and can anyone suggest courses/material in the UK (preferably in the London area)?

Thanks

My god! Do you live near shore? You better run coz I think a huge tsunami is coming your way!

Sorry. Relevence?

Did you not see things shaking vigorously? Shit, maybe it's my eyes!

How difficult is it to get to a medium level of spoken Thai?

I am quite good at langauges but all the ones I know are European (Eng, French, Italian and some Dutch). How long would it take to get some decent spoken Thai and can anyone suggest courses/material in the UK (preferably in the London area)?

Thanks

If you already have a good knowledge and pronunciation of a few European languages, you will be able to get to a decent level of spoken Thai within one to two years, given you study and practice every day.

My general tips would be to start off with a professionally taught course such as the ones SOAS arrange. There are a number of very important disctinctions between mainly analytic, tonal languages such as Thai, and largely synthetic languages such as English, Dutch, French and Italian.

Learning these distinctions properly in a formal setting with a linguistically aware teacher will ensure your pronunciation is more likely to be correct from the start, and will help you avoid making mistakes it will be difficult to remedy later once cemented.

Once you have a basic orientation of the sound system and the basic structure of the languages, you will probably be able to continue on your own, and it could be a good opportunity to try immersion by going to Thailand and avoiding to speak English. It is easy to be daunted the first times, as the Thai spoken in the street will not sound much like the textbook Thai you learn, but you will be able to suss out the differences within a few months.

One good way to practice at this stage is to memorize entire dialogues which are likely to occur when you come to Thailand as a recently arrived expat or tourist. Such dialogues you can find in David Smyth's book Teach yourself Thai. The dialogues are very authentic and will help you a lot with expressing your thoughts around your learning situation (all Thais will ask you why you study Thai, where you picked it up, if it is difficult or not, and compliment you on your speaking.)

Other obvious dialogues which are handy to learn are haggling, asking for directions and discussing your own and others likes and dislikes. All of these can be found in Smyth's book.

If you want to get really good at the language, you should consider learning to read and write the alphabet as well, as this will give you a fast track to proper pronunciation of new words. People who cannot ask for the spelling of new words will often mispronounce their tones, not hear the final consonants properly (Thai pronunciation means p/b, t/d, k/g sounds in syllable final position are 'swallowed', and it can be difficult to hear what sound is intended there unless you can ask how it is spelt.

There is no standard method of transcribing Thai with Roman letters, and the vast majority of Thai have never heard of the International Phonetic Alphabet, so without the Thai script you are left with imperfect attempts to convey Thai words with English spelling, which leave out critical information such as vowel length, tone pitch, and confuse the pronunciation of most consonants and vowels.

Good luck with your studies!