Learning Thai

[Siam_Sam]

I've been coming to Thailand for nearly ten years and although I speak basic Thai and know more than nearly everyone I know I think it is time I made a concerted effort to learn Thai properly. I've been in Thailand for the last few months but will probably be going home in a month or so which means I can't have any lessons over here as I don't have enough time left. In England there is nowhere I can learn Thai in my home town and the wife doesn't have the patience to teach me because we have already tried. I was in a shopping mall in Bangkok recently and I saw a book accompanied with two DVDs for about 1800 baht which looked very useful, I can't remember the name of the company that publish it though. Is their anyone that can recommend a good book that has a DVD to accompany it as I feel this would be the best way for me to learn the language, or failing that a CD? I think learning from a book isn't as good as learning in this was because you don't get to hear how the words are pronounced in a book.

[thaichalina]

Thai reference grammar is a great one,and it's a must have for grammar. http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Reference-Grammar-James-Higbie/dp/9748304965

Thai for beginner,intermediate and advance are mostly used and easy to find,they're also great.

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Advanced-Readers-CD-Set/dp/1887521089/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Beginners-Benjawan-Poomsan-Becker/dp/1887521003/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Learners-Benjawan-Poomsan-Becker/dp/1887521011/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

(they cost like 200-300baht in a shop)

Other than that,thai language is so fcking hard and it takes years to learn on every day basis,huge dedication and motivation,learning tones(you need to learn each tone for every word),reading books(it's a good way to remember tones),vowels,tone rules,grammar...etc.

In the end,is it worth it? Hell yeah. Been learning for 3 years and my life has changed dramatically.I'm seeing country on a whole other level,culturally and socially speaking,and i'm only an intermediate level speaker.Good luck

Edited February 3, 2015 by thaichalina

[CaptHaddock]

No one learns Thai to the level of fluency from books and tapes. For one thing, you don't get corrected for errors in pronunciation, grammar, and usage. Yet for some reason posters continue to believe that that method must work somehow. Beats me why people think that.

Better for the OP to do lessons by skype with a competent teacher, if he can find one.

[Siam_Sam]

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Thai reference grammar is a great one,and it's a must have for grammar. http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Reference-Grammar-James-Higbie/dp/9748304965

Thai for beginner,intermediate and advance are mostly used and easy to find,they're also great.

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Advanced-Readers-CD-Set/dp/1887521089/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Beginners-Benjawan-Poomsan-Becker/dp/1887521003/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Learners-Benjawan-Poomsan-Becker/dp/1887521011/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

(they cost like 200-300baht in a shop)

Other than that,thai language is so fcking hard and it takes years to learn on every day basis,huge dedication and motivation,learning tones(you need to learn each tone for every word),reading books(it's a good way to remember tones),vowels,tone rules,grammar...etc.

In the end,is it worth it? Hell yeah. Been learning for 3 years and my life has changed dramatically.I'm seeing country on a whole other level,culturally and socially speaking,and i'm only an intermediate level speaker.Good luck

Thank you for that. I am very determined because I know that it will open a whole new world to me, I am going to be moving here permanently at some point in the future so I know that this is something I have to do.

No one learns Thai to the level of fluency from books and tapes. For one thing, you don't get corrected for errors in pronunciation, grammar, and usage. Yet for some reason posters continue to believe that that method must work somehow. Beats me why people think that.

Better for the OP to do lessons by skype with a competent teacher, if he can find one.

I am fully aware that there is no substitute for learning around Thai people. I want to get the ball rolling though and I know that if I show some willing and start my studies now, by the time I move to Thailand permanently I will already be in a good position. I'm sure that once I get to a certain level my wife will be a great advantage to me and help me to learn more.

[SlyAnimal]

Try to speak Thai with your wife, or rather get her to speak with you. Not everything, just start with some basic things at first, like "can you put this in the fridge", or "can you buy some strawberries?". This, combined with any self study which you do, will help you a lot, since there's only so much you can learn from books.

It's not ideal (compared to tutors), as your wife will get used to how you say things, and understand you even if Thai people wouldn't necessarily understand, but it'll help a huge amount.

However, what you'll really need to focus on though, is listening to her when she speaks, and ask her to just speak at a normal speed in Thai to you, and to not slow it down, otherwise when people speak to you normally, you won't be able to catch what they're saying. Also listen to how she phrases sentences, and how she pronounces words, if she phrases something in a slightly different way to how you do, then say it the same way as she does.

As you'll find that you'll automatically want to say things in Thai, the same way that we speak in English e.g. Can you look after my bag, you might say "Faak Gra-pow dai mai" when "Faak Gra-pow Noi Krab" is how a Thai person would say it.

This is what my wife and I usually do, just for basic stuff since we use English if we want to discuss the latest news headlines etc, but it's helped my Thai a lot.

Also LearnThaiStyle has tutors in the UK I think, and their course material is pretty decent as well, even if you just got your wife to help you with it (Their tutors in the UK are quite expensive, although maybe not so bad when you're earning GBP).

[asiaexpat]

The internet and applications like Skype make it easy to get tutoring from a Thai tutor reagrdless of your location. The cost ranges from 300 TB to well over 1000 TB an hour so a little research using YouTube may help you decide. Also,LearnThaiStyle offers online tutors. I do recommend using a real native Thai speaker rather than one of the non-Thai tutors available online to get the most for your money.

[Thaijack2014]

I just downloaded a load of books and language courses which might help, though what was mentioned, the best way of learning is in direct contact with a teacher...but anyway, maybe it can help (and save money): http://torrentz.eu/search?f=learning+thai

[cooked]

Recommending EITHER a teacher OR learning from books or internet seems flawed to me. I use: place signs and traffic instructions when driving; making an effort at reading the subtitles to English films (the morning prayers have subtitles, takes you a step further as they go pretty slowly); two different books; rocky conversations in Thai with the wife, family and especially the granddaughter who at 8 years old speaks excellent English; making an effort to read product labels; keeping my ears open. Unfortunately I live in a mainly Lao speaking village and Buriram where I go every day is often Cambodian speaking. I use Google translate on my phone a lot, trying to pronounce the words correctly before listening to the spoken translation.

I must admit that years ago I learnt German after paying for an expensive course that I was determined to make worth my while.

teaching English in an expensive language school convinced me that language schools were not the solution for me. You have to go at the speed of the slowest learner and asking specific questions is time consuming.