How much time took you to learn Thai?

[Om85]

Hi, guys for those of you that can speak, read and write in Thai I would like to ask you how much time it took you to learn to speak, write and read the language fluently. I needed six months to be able to communicate and understand my teachers at Ramkhamhaeng Uni. and I perfected my Thai with another additional year of studies(by myself,never had a Thai language teacher), now I am fluent, I did my studies in Thai and have read some of the Thai classics, I don't think that Thai is a difficult language to learn, but maybe that is because I speak Chinese that is pretty close to Thai in the sense that is a tonal language and the grammar is very similar too, that's why I would like to get some feedback from you guys.

Thanks in advance.

[LarryBird]

Give yourself a pat on the back, boss.

Have you found that you can have really meaningful conversations and better relationships with people now?

[kannot]

Everyones different, not everyone can play the piano even with training, Im rubbish at languages , have a memory like a sieve, have a friend who speaks/writes/reads it he has ben learning it for about10 years, he is fluent Im just abysmal after years of trying, even simple words I still get the "what the heck are you saying look"

I wish it was different but it isn't, I am what I am.

[lovelomsak]

I havenot learnt it yet. But depend on memorized conversations.

[buhi]

Everyones different, not everyone can play the piano even with training, Im rubbish at languages , have a memory like a sieve, have a friend who speaks/writes/reads it he has ben learning it for about10 years, he is fluent Im just abysmal after years of trying, even simple words I still get the "what the heck are you saying look"

I wish it was different but it isn't, I am what I am.

Absolutely, the only people who can understand my Thai are my wife and son and even they sometimes look nonplussed.

It is the tones that are difficult for me , a native English speaker. I know most basic words and can follow a conversation spoken by Thai, but open my mouth and I might as well be speaking Celtic ! I do not speak Celtic either.

My French is passable.

Ask in a restaurant I visit at least once a week for moo sen yai, Kap and a blank stare. OK let's use English, the usual please!

[kannot]

Everyones different, not everyone can play the piano even with training, Im rubbish at languages , have a memory like a sieve, have a friend who speaks/writes/reads it he has ben learning it for about10 years, he is fluent Im just abysmal after years of trying, even simple words I still get the "what the heck are you saying look"

I wish it was different but it isn't, I am what I am.

Absolutely, the only people who can understand my Thai are my wife and son and even they sometimes look nonplussed.

It is the tones that are difficult for me , a native English speaker. I know most basic words and can follow a conversation spoken by Thai, but open my mouth and I might as well be speaking Celtic ! I do not speak Celtic either.

My French is passable.

Ask in a restaurant I visit at least once a week for moo sen yai, Kap and a blank stare. OK let's use English, the usual please!

get the same at the gas station, wind down window "deeeeeeesel pan nung" blank look off some, others are ok or they will say it as deeeeeeeeeeesel nung pan, either way I still get a vacant look at times.

Once theyve been horsewhipped it all becomes clearer, pls note I have to add this last bit as apparently Im a colonial bwana ass type something or other??

[JLCrab]

How much time took you to learn Thai? Longer time me took English learn.

[ubonjoe]

Removed a post by the grammar police and a reply to it.

Moved to the Thai language forum.

[sipi]

29 years and still counting.

[tartempion]

I read, write and speak French, German, Dutch and English, brabbel some Portuguese and Spanish.

Thai simply takes forever.

[Gecko123]

OP:

I remember this Chinese guy in my begining Thai class who picked up Thai lightning fast. It was very demoralizing.

For English speakers, Thai is much, much harder.

After first year , I was comfortable with alphabet, could read, write, comprehend and speak at a basic "phrase book" level, and that was with very dedicated study.

[cooked]

Yeah, I learnt the alphabet in a week, 2 thousand words in the two weeks following and I now write for Thai newspapers. All this at the same time as building a house and an existence here in Isaan. Not bad for a 67 year old, right?

No, after three years, I am understanding bits of some conversations, not helped by people mostly speaking Isaan around here, can read most road signs and stuff in the supermarkets. can get food in a restaurant. I don't think I'll get much further than that. I learnt three languages at once when I moved to Switzerland but that was 40 years ago.

[msealey]

I needed five and a half months to be able to communicate and understand my teachers at the monastery. and I perfected my Thai with another additional 11 months and two weeks of studies in a room alone with no books, television or internet as I was also practicing abstinence, now I am fluent. I've also read some of the Thai classics, the king and I, the crazy wolfs black teeth etc. Thai was pretty easy for me too but as a world travelling historian and adventure I've had to learn many ancient dialects and writing systems.

Edited May 23, 2015 by msealey

[keestha]

How well your Thai is understood, also depends on the person you are speaking to. Your handicap is that you look like a Westerner. I definitely speak better Thai than French, though I can effortlessly conduct a conversation in French, constantly finding ways around the words I cannot find. I am European so the French speakers will be completely open minded about how well I master their language, though sometimes being slightly surprised because French has become less common as a second (?third etc.) language. But Thai is a different matter. Sometimes Thai people see your face and immediately assume they will not understand you, you speak Thai but the person might not even register that, he keeps looking at you like you are speaking John the Baptist's native language. You run into surprises, maybe the woman working in a tourist area gets a big problem expression on her face as soon as you start speaking Thai to her, whilst you effortlessly have a chat with the Isaan rice farmer you run across in the fields.

[Seastallion]

I needed five and a half months to be able to communicate and understand my teachers at the monastery. and I perfected my Thai with another additional 11 months and two weeks of studies in a room alone with no books, television or internet as I was also practicing abstinence, now I am fluent. I've also read some of the Thai classics, the king and I, the crazy wolfs black teeth etc. Thai was pretty easy for me too but as a world travelling historian and adventure I've had to learn many ancient dialects and writing systems.

I went a slightly different route but with similarities to yours.

Having learnt 4 diverse languages elsewhere during my childhood, I then went on to learn English at school...I consider myself fluent.

When I decided to learn Thai, I went to the Himalayas and learnt Sanskrit from a hermit monk...that took 5 months to get proficient. I then went back to my old university and used their library to teach myself Pali in 3 months. I also studied Khmer.

With my Sanskrit and Pali background, Thai only took 2 months to become passably conversational. A further 2 months in Thailand and I'm now a registered translator.

I hope nobody believes my BS!

[msealey]

I needed five and a half months to be able to communicate and understand my teachers at the monastery. and I perfected my Thai with another additional 11 months and two weeks of studies in a room alone with no books, television or internet as I was also practicing abstinence, now I am fluent. I've also read some of the Thai classics, the king and I, the crazy wolfs black teeth etc. Thai was pretty easy for me too but as a world travelling historian and adventure I've had to learn many ancient dialects and writing systems.

I went a slightly different route but with similarities to yours.

Having learnt 4 diverse languages elsewhere during my childhood, I then went on to learn English at school...I consider myself fluent.

When I decided to learn Thai, I went to the Himalayas and learnt Sanskrit from a hermit monk...that took 5 months to get proficient. I then went back to my old university and used their library to teach myself Pali in 3 months. I also studied Khmer.

With my Sanskrit and Pali background, Thai only took 2 months to become passably conversational. A further 2 months in Thailand and I'm now a registered translator.

I hope nobody believes my BS!

Pretty darn impressive stuff, Not knocking your achievements at all, but I think one of the main reasons you learnt Thai marginally faster than me is that during my studies I took a short Hiatus to eradicate hunger in several small third world states. A Google search of my real name, which I'm not willing to share publicly on this forum show I've been nominated and awarded now for several nobel prizes and other humanitarian feathers to stick in my cap.

[Seastallion]

I needed five and a half months to be able to communicate and understand my teachers at the monastery. and I perfected my Thai with another additional 11 months and two weeks of studies in a room alone with no books, television or internet as I was also practicing abstinence, now I am fluent. I've also read some of the Thai classics, the king and I, the crazy wolfs black teeth etc. Thai was pretty easy for me too but as a world travelling historian and adventure I've had to learn many ancient dialects and writing systems.

I went a slightly different route but with similarities to yours.

Having learnt 4 diverse languages elsewhere during my childhood, I then went on to learn English at school...I consider myself fluent.

When I decided to learn Thai, I went to the Himalayas and learnt Sanskrit from a hermit monk...that took 5 months to get proficient. I then went back to my old university and used their library to teach myself Pali in 3 months. I also studied Khmer.

With my Sanskrit and Pali background, Thai only took 2 months to become passably conversational. A further 2 months in Thailand and I'm now a registered translator.

I hope nobody believes my BS!

Pretty darn impressive stuff, Not knocking your achievements at all, but I think one of the main reasons you learnt Thai marginally faster than me is that during my studies I took a short Hiatus to eradicate hunger in several small third world states. A Google search of my real name, which I'm not willing to share publicly on this forum show I've been nominated and awarded now for several nobel prizes and other humanitarian feathers to stick in my cap.

Well done and good on you. I wanted to do the same but since I'm a quadriplegic with 8 orphaned children to raise, I just didn't have the time.

[msealey]

I needed five and a half months to be able to communicate and understand my teachers at the monastery. and I perfected my Thai with another additional 11 months and two weeks of studies in a room alone with no books, television or internet as I was also practicing abstinence, now I am fluent. I've also read some of the Thai classics, the king and I, the crazy wolfs black teeth etc. Thai was pretty easy for me too but as a world travelling historian and adventure I've had to learn many ancient dialects and writing systems.

I went a slightly different route but with similarities to yours.

Having learnt 4 diverse languages elsewhere during my childhood, I then went on to learn English at school...I consider myself fluent.

When I decided to learn Thai, I went to the Himalayas and learnt Sanskrit from a hermit monk...that took 5 months to get proficient. I then went back to my old university and used their library to teach myself Pali in 3 months. I also studied Khmer.

With my Sanskrit and Pali background, Thai only took 2 months to become passably conversational. A further 2 months in Thailand and I'm now a registered translator.

I hope nobody believes my BS!

Pretty darn impressive stuff, Not knocking your achievements at all, but I think one of the main reasons you learnt Thai marginally faster than me is that during my studies I took a short Hiatus to eradicate hunger in several small third world states. A Google search of my real name, which I'm not willing to share publicly on this forum show I've been nominated and awarded now for several nobel prizes and other humanitarian feathers to stick in my cap.

Well done and good on you. I wanted to do the same but since I'm a quadriplegic with 8 orphaned children to raise, I just didn't have the time.

Kudos to you, just as well this isn't a pissing contest though... what with your quadriplegia. I can both stand upright and have been told by my urineocologist I have an exceptionally strong bladder.

[keestha]

One reason farangs are often poorly understood is pronunciation, subtle differences they are not aware of.

Example from the European languages: In English, French, Dutch etc in the word hotel, the emphasis is on the vocal e. In German on the other hand, the emphasis is on the o. Though my German is so fluent that Swiss and Austrians sometimes think I am German, I have had misunderstandings with Germans pronouncing the word hotel like in all other languages, instead of saying hotel.

And then, try to pronounce Thai correctly, the muscles in these peoples' jaws developed in a different way. Speaking a European language other than your own, you have a foreign accent, but speaking Thai you have an accent like you come from another planet.

[Seastallion]

Actually, joking exaggerations aside...I do in fact speak a few diverse languages passably and often pick up words and phrases of other languages. I have found that the best way to be understood is to pretend you are Peter Sellers acting and putting on an accent while speaking English. Some of you may picture him in The Party being an Indian, and of course there's inspector Cloiseau.

Imagine you are trying to mimic a Thai speaking English...copy that accent when you speak Thai, and you will sound just like a Thai.

[JLCrab]

To me it's simple: If I go into a non-English speaking Thai restaurant and -- without pointing at a menu or dishes on another's plate -- order a ham sandwich, and 5 minutes later out comes a ham sandwich, then I can presume that the waiter understood my order.

Edited May 24, 2015 by JLCrab

[jauggy]

Everyones different, not everyone can play the piano even with training, Im rubbish at languages , have a memory like a sieve, have a friend who speaks/writes/reads it he has ben learning it for about10 years, he is fluent Im just abysmal after years of trying, even simple words I still get the "what the heck are you saying look"

I wish it was different but it isn't, I am what I am.

Absolutely, the only people who can understand my Thai are my wife and son and even they sometimes look nonplussed.

It is the tones that are difficult for me , a native English speaker. I know most basic words and can follow a conversation spoken by Thai, but open my mouth and I might as well be speaking Celtic ! I do not speak Celtic either.

My French is passable.

Ask in a restaurant I visit at least once a week for moo sen yai, Kap and a blank stare. OK let's use English, the usual please!

Do you learn to speak Thai from your wife? I am wondering if you are learning from reading stuff written in the Roman alphabet like ' moo sen yai, Kap'. Because this doesn't tell you the correct tones. I think you will get more progress if you copy your wife's pronunciation exactly, rather than reading the words in a book.

[stoneyboy]

Everyones different, not everyone can play the piano even with training, Im rubbish at languages , have a memory like a sieve, have a friend who speaks/writes/reads it he has ben learning it for about10 years, he is fluent Im just abysmal after years of trying, even simple words I still get the "what the heck are you saying look"

I wish it was different but it isn't, I am what I am.

Absolutely, the only people who can understand my Thai are my wife and son and even they sometimes look nonplussed.

It is the tones that are difficult for me , a native English speaker. I know most basic words and can follow a conversation spoken by Thai, but open my mouth and I might as well be speaking Celtic ! I do not speak Celtic either.

My French is passable.

Ask in a restaurant I visit at least once a week for moo sen yai, Kap and a blank stare. OK let's use English, the usual please!

Do you learn to speak Thai from your wife? I am wondering if you are learning from reading stuff written in the Roman alphabet like ' moo sen yai, Kap'. Because this doesn't tell you the correct tones. I think you will get more progress if you copy your wife's pronunciation exactly, rather than reading the words in a book.

All my spoken Thai is learnt from listening to family and friends,it must have worked because a friend of mines wife says I have an accent from the village she and my wife come from ha ha.

[Gecko123]

Maybe the OP really does have an extraordinary gift for languages, but I've personally never met anyone who mastered Thai in anywhere near that short of a period of time. I doubt any of the heavy-hitter Thai experts on this forum will report that level of mastery after their early years of study either.

I have studied Thai diligently for 21 years and have a deep love for the language, but I don't think I will ever describe my Thai as "perfected," and only after around 12-14 years of study did I even begin to regard myself as "fluent." And that's with a "life's work" approach and dedication to learning the language.

At about the 3-4 year mark, I began to feel comfortable enough to travel without a dictionary on my person.

I'm only recounting this for those curious about a real life example.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Gecko123

[LarryBird]

That's a great post, Gecko, thank you for sharing!

[Seastallion]

Maybe the OP really does have an extraordinary gift for languages, but I've personally never met anyone who mastered Thai in anywhere near that short of a period of time. I doubt any of the heavy-hitter Thai experts on this forum will report that level of mastery after their early years of study either.

I have studied Thai diligently for 21 years and have a deep love for the language, but I don't think I will ever describe my Thai as "perfected," and only after around 12-14 years of study did I even begin to regard myself as "fluent." And that's with a "life's work" approach and dedication to learning the language.

At about the 3-4 year mark, I began to feel comfortable enough to travel without a dictionary on my person.

I'm only recounting this for those curious about a real life example.

Andrew Biggs seemed to do pretty well.

I learn from Thai2English plus my wife.

I guess I'm lucky, because she insists on "proper" Thai...so much so that sometimes the local .... manual labourer-types...don't know the words

She also insists on formal pronunciation...always pronounce the "r" as an "r" not an "l"...eg roo not loo, and krap, not kap.

Most people remark "put chart" or "put gaeng" and are surprised when I answer their question of how long I've been in Thailand.

[northernjohn]

Everyones different, not everyone can play the piano even with training, Im rubbish at languages , have a memory like a sieve, have a friend who speaks/writes/reads it he has ben learning it for about10 years, he is fluent Im just abysmal after years of trying, even simple words I still get the "what the heck are you saying look"

I wish it was different but it isn't, I am what I am.

Yes every one has different abilities in learning languages. I took a beginners class and they were trying to teach me grammar for a language I couldn't speak. I had a hard time with grammar when I was in School it was my hardest subject.

Also the fact that it is tonal can be a very big problem for some of us who have hearing problems. I have a friend who self taught himself. He speaks it pretty darn good in my opinion. But he doesn't use the tomes and I have seen him many times confuse the people he is talking with. I suspect he has got the grammar wrong also.

Some just have a natural ability for it some don't. I am in the later case. Big Time.

Edit

I just remembered a friend of mine who spoke 5 different languages.

He said you would never be fluent in a language unless you understood the culture.

That let's a lot of Thai Visa posters out. Including me. I just muddle through as best I can with my very limited vocabulary and signs. works good enough for me.

Some times I think it works better than the people who claim they can speak it but don't use the tones or know the culture. I never make a scene of it if there is a problem I accept the blame and walk away.

Edited May 24, 2015 by northernjohn

[Om85]

Maybe the OP really does have an extraordinary gift for languages, but I've personally never met anyone who mastered Thai in anywhere near that short of a period of time. I doubt any of the heavy-hitter Thai experts on this forum will report that level of mastery after their early years of study either.

I have studied Thai diligently for 21 years and have a deep love for the language, but I don't think I will ever describe my Thai as "perfected," and only after around 12-14 years of study did I even begin to regard myself as "fluent." And that's with a "life's work" approach and dedication to learning the language.

At about the 3-4 year mark, I began to feel comfortable enough to travel without a dictionary on my person.

I'm only recounting this for those curious about a real life example.

Well, my Thai is far from perfect but I know that I speak well enough since the Thais get what I say without effort, I also work doing marketing so most of my clients are Thai and we do all the talking, contracts etc in Thai, I think that the reason why I got it so fast is because I am fluent in Chinese and that helps a lot. my mother language is Spanish, another factor is the age, I came here when I was 23, now I m 29 and after my first week here I knew that if I wanted to live here I must to be able to learn the language and the culture, so I put a lot of time and effort in learning it.

[kitteung]

Your OP says you perfected Thai in an additional year of self study. Now you say it's far from perfect.

Most non thais I come across think I speak thai fluently but that's not the case. Fooling some of the people and fooling all of the people is very different.

[keestha]

Most non thais I come across think I speak thai fluently but that's not the case. Fooling some of the people and fooling all of the people is very different.

Exactly the same in my case. I have run across farangs stating they speak Thai fluently, but apart from rare exceptions I think this statement would sound ridiculous to Thai people who have heard them speaking Thai.