Good language school in Udon Thani?

[kimequa]

BACKGROUND: When my dad lived in Udorn and Ubon (back in the late '60s), he learned to speak what he called "hillbilly Thai" or "country Thai" because it was spoken by hilltribesmen and Thais in more rural/mountainous areas. I'm pretty sure this was just the Isaan language, as he said it was similar to Lao, and he was able to communicate with northeastern Thais really well and Laotians decently, but he struggled to communicate in big cities like Bangkok.

I'll be moving to Udon Thani this fall, and staying for 1-2 years. My main goal is to learn to be as fluent as possible in Thai/Isaan/Lao in that short amount of time. My original goal was to focus on learning Isaan, as I plan on traveling mostly within the Udorn/Ubon areas of Thailand, as well as Vientaine and possibly Pak-Lay, Laos. I thought Isaan would "hit the most birds with one stone," as it would allow me to communicate with both northeastern Thais and northwestern Laotians. However, a lot of people have advised me to learn Thai instead, as "everyone" speaks Thai. They tell me that everyone in Isan knows formal Thai, and many people in the bordering areas of Laos do as well, from Thai television....... Is this true?? Even if THEY understand ME, will I have trouble understanding Thais in Isan if I am being trained in "formal" Thai? (Is that a dumb question? Sorry--I'm a bit clueless!)

I've started researching online for language schools, but have heard that a lot of language schools are used more for visa-churning than language-learning. Preferably, I'd like to find an intensive language program. I did run across a program that looks perfect----but it's in Bangkok!! I'm sure there are plenty of language schools in Udon as well, but I just don't know which to look into. I e-mailed a few ("go enrol," "let's talk," "aua," and even UDRU) but have had some trouble finding reviews.

Would it be better to just move to Thailand using a tourist visa, then convert it to a student visa once I find the right language school? At this point, it seems like that would be the only way to at least check them out before sending them a year's worth of advance tuition! Any thoughts?

Thank you!!!

[thierryviteau]

Plenty in Udon ? Not so sure...

[SlyAnimal]

Yeah you'll need to initially come over on a tourist visa and then you can look into changing it once you find a school that you like.

I'm not sure about what's available in Ubon/Udon, but from the sounds you're quite motivated to learn Thai, and so you'll learn pretty quickly.

[FlakeyFoont]

^{The only school in Udon that will qualify you for a education-visa is Rajabaht University.}

^{www.udru.ac.th}

^{There are no schools that I'm aware of that teach "Issan".}