Best way to become functional in the Thais language

[makio67]

I have been living in the Pattaya area for the last 2 1/2 years.

1) My attempts (school "65 hours", private tutor, girlfriend) to learn some Thais has been unsuccessful.

2) Would doing multiple two months Homestays (complete immersion) improve my Thais language skills?

3) More importantly, how do I find the right family???

4) Would the corridor from Bangkok to Chiang Mai be the place to look for the right home or community?

5) It has to be proper Thais as opposed to Issan, or other dielec.

6) Would offering 15,000 Baht/month with additional 10,000 Baht bonus if my skills improve would be reasonable?

7) If not enough $$, how much would be reasonable?

8) Any other suggestions at become functional (that is my goal) would be appreciated.

[kannot]

Well..........not everybody can play the piano either although immersed in it form birth and being young would help.I have no solution except "not everybody can play the piano"

[maderaroja]

I tried, like you, and did not succeed. I cannot make the proper sounds for the various words. Thais do not understand me. I gave up and stick with English speaking people.

[Baerboxer]

Speaking another language is easy for some, hard for others. Nothing to do with intelligence. I know some very clever people who couldn't get on with learning another language, no matter how hard they tried. And some multi lingual people who are average at other things.

Don't despair. Learn what you can, keep trying and enjoy the successes.

[timmyp]

Go to a PROPER school with a proper qualified teacher every day for at least 1 hour, M-F. Spend 30-60 minutes on the homework everyday. You don't have to kill yourself studying, but you do have to put in some effort with attending class and reviewing.

Unless you really know how to learn a language, private tutors and the girlfriend/boyfriend routes are not going to work.

It's not going to magically sink into your brain, you have to make an effort to get it in there. People who did not succeed in learning to speak/read/write Thai didn't go to a proper school with a qualified teacher, and didn't spend any real time studying. It's alot easier to say, "Oh, I tried, but I'm just no good at languages" than it is to do the work. Some folks just choose the easier route. It's really not that hard to learn quite a bit and impress yourself, but that little bit of effort is too much for some people.

Edited August 18, 2015 by timmyp

[maderaroja]

Go to a PROPER school with a proper qualified teacher every day for at least 1 hour, M-F. Spend 30-60 minutes on the homework everyday. You don't have to kill yourself studying, but you do have to put in some effort with attending class and reviewing.

Unless you really know how to learn a language, private tutors and the girlfriend/boyfriend routes are not going to work.

It's not going to magically sink into your brain, you have to make an effort to get it in there. People who did not succeed in learning to speak/read/write Thai didn't go to a proper school with a qualified teacher, and didn't spend any real time studying. It's alot easier to say, "Oh, I tried, but I'm just no good at languages" than it is to do the work. Some folks just choose the easier route. It's really not that hard to learn quite a bit and impress yourself, but that little bit of effort is too much for some people.

You are pretty harsh with in your criticism. It must be tough to be so perfect and have to live with the rest of us.

[oxo1947]

5) It has to be proper Thais as opposed to Issan, or other dielec.-----------OP

Why...... you do realise that "Proper Thai" as you so quaintly put it, is a minority language in Thailand.

At the last censor's --spoken by 20 million Thai's (out of the 68 million) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language,

"Proper Thai"---is pushed onto farangs (IMO) as a more high so thing. Tell your Thai teacher you would like to learn Lao/Issan & she will be shocked & horrified....

I have had many friends who switch from "Proper Thai" to Lao/Issan........ the benefits according to them is that --it is a lot easier to learn as their is only about 1 third of the words the Thai language has. ......you will also be understood all over Lao and they tell me they have had no problems anywhere in Thailand-----when I ask them about being in BKK.....they say about 98% of the taxi drivers speak? & understand it most all the working people do ---& about 110% of the bar girls. (not only speak it , but are delighted you do)

Grab a Issan book & have a look---Any Thai that was brought up speaking "Proper Thai" will understand you.......in fact its now considered quite in the vogue for the high so's to throw a few words of Lao in the conversation ---as it was for them to drop a few English words a few years back.

Try it your self...next time instead of Mai-pan rai.....say Bob-an-yang-dock......watch the big smile break out on their face.

I understand that I will get a few brickbats from the farangs who have worked hard to learn "Proper Thai"--- I think they have done a great job on persevering ---this post in just an opinion of someone who lived 7 years Pattaya 10 years issan. Certainly not trying to diminish what you have achieved.

"Proper Thai" is spoken in this area ---- Dark blue...(but so is Issan) so don't go looking for a family to help you out in some of the areas you mentioned.

Of course people will understand you speaking "Proper Thai"----Television has made sure of that----its just that you wont understand a lot of what they have to say.

Edited August 18, 2015 by oxo1947

[NickJ]

Learn as many words as possible.Then start with simple sentences...that put the words together.....learning whole phrases at one time did not work for me at least....i

[chrissables]

My experience after trying at two schools and wasting many hours was to buy High Speed Thai.

This course explains how to read, write and speak Thai. You must learn the alphabet and tone rules before moving forward to vocabulary and sentences.

I am now using Glossika Thai lessons (which are also very good), but without the knowledge gained from High Speed Thai too difficult.

The two schools i went to here in Pattaya had no idea how to teach the Thai alphabet and tone rules. In my opinion that is the way to go. But having said that some people i know can speak better (a lot) than me, but can't read and write at all.

[stoneyboy]

Try it your self...next time instead of Mai-pan rai.....say Bob-an-yang-dock......watch the big smile break out on their face.

Bob an Yang sounds like a thai / farang husband and wife team.

I was under the impression it was more like Bor ben yang.

Like sa bai dee bor.

[timmyp]

Go to a PROPER school with a proper qualified teacher every day for at least 1 hour, M-F. Spend 30-60 minutes on the homework everyday. You don't have to kill yourself studying, but you do have to put in some effort with attending class and reviewing.

Unless you really know how to learn a language, private tutors and the girlfriend/boyfriend routes are not going to work.

It's not going to magically sink into your brain, you have to make an effort to get it in there. People who did not succeed in learning to speak/read/write Thai didn't go to a proper school with a qualified teacher, and didn't spend any real time studying. It's alot easier to say, "Oh, I tried, but I'm just no good at languages" than it is to do the work. Some folks just choose the easier route. It's really not that hard to learn quite a bit and impress yourself, but that little bit of effort is too much for some people.

You are pretty harsh with in your criticism. It must be tough to be so perfect and have to live with the rest of us.

I'm sorry to have called you out on your lack of desire to put minimal effort into learning Thai, while you were claiming that the problem is your inability to make the required sounds.

I fully empathize with your challenges learning to make the sounds. But you can learn if you go to a real Thai language school with a qualified teacher and put in a bit of effort. Otherwise, it's a case of "I don't really feel like trying. I already tried and studied for 10 minutes, this isn't my thing."

If you really hear that as being overly critical, then I'm sorry to have made you feel guilty for your lack of effort.

[GlobalCtzn]

My recommendation would be to go back to school and become proficient in both reading and writing Thai. This will teach you the tones and how they work from a whole new perspective that you do not get from learning conversation. By the time your reading and writing are fairly decent your understanding of Thai language will be on a whole different level than now. If you still want to do a home stay immersion after that I think you would be getting a lot more out of it by then. Good luck!

[oxo1947]

Try it your self...next time instead of Mai-pan rai.....say Bob-an-yang-dock......watch the big smile break out on their face.

Bob an Yang sounds like a thai / farang husband and wife team.

I was under the impression it was more like Bor ben yang.

Like sa bai dee bor.

It probably is --Stoneyboy---- I just write phonetically ......if it sounds like that to my thick old ear....then that's how I write it in the text book......but I am sure your right.

-----------------------------------------

Sometimes there is more to be read in the meaning of the message than in peoples grammar.........

Edited August 18, 2015 by oxo1947

[KamalaRider]

5) It has to be proper Thais as opposed to Issan, or other dielec.-----------OP

Why...... you do realise that "Proper Thai" as you so quaintly put it, is a minority language in Thailand.

At the last censor's --spoken by 20 million Thai's (out of the 68 million) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language,

"Proper Thai"---is pushed onto farangs (IMO) as a more high so thing. Tell your Thai teacher you would like to learn Lao/Issan & she will be shocked & horrified....

I have had many friends who switch from "Proper Thai" to Lao/Issan........ the benefits according to them is that --it is a lot easier to learn as their is only about 1 third of the words the Thai language has. ......you will also be understood all over Lao and they tell me they have had no problems anywhere in Thailand-----when I ask them about being in BKK.....they say about 98% of the taxi drivers speak? & understand it most all the working people do ---& about 110% of the bar girls. (not only speak it , but are delighted you do)

Grab a Issan book & have a look---Any Thai that was brought up speaking "Proper Thai" will understand you.......in fact its now considered quite in the vogue for the high so's to throw a few words of Lao in the conversation ---as it was for them to drop a few English words a few years back.

Try it your self...next time instead of Mai-pan rai.....say Bob-an-yang-dock......watch the big smile break out on their face.

I understand that I will get a few brickbats from the farangs who have worked hard to learn "Proper Thai"--- I think they have done a great job on persevering ---this post in just an opinion of someone who lived 7 years Pattaya 10 years issan. Certainly not trying to diminish what you have achieved.

"Proper Thai" is spoken in this area ---- Dark blue...(but so is Issan) so don't go looking for a family to help you out in some of the areas you mentioned.

Of course people will understand you speaking "Proper Thai"----Television has made sure of that----its just that you wont understand a lot of what they have to say.

Well this post was interesting, so you are saying that kids in school don't learn proper Thai and that 100% +-0.5& of Thailand,south, west, north and east don't know how to speak Thai?

What about the TV shows here, they speak isarn?

Or are you saying that proper Thai is high Thai?

Rhetorical, religious, and royal Thai are taught in schools as the national curriculum.

Edited August 18, 2015 by KamalaRider

[oxo1947]

5) It has to be proper Thais as opposed to Issan, or other dielec.-----------OP

Why...... you do realise that "Proper Thai" as you so quaintly put it, is a minority language in Thailand.

At the last censor's --spoken by 20 million Thai's (out of the 68 million) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language,

"Proper Thai"---is pushed onto farangs (IMO) as a more high so thing. Tell your Thai teacher you would like to learn Lao/Issan & she will be shocked & horrified....

I have had many friends who switch from "Proper Thai" to Lao/Issan........ the benefits according to them is that --it is a lot easier to learn as their is only about 1 third of the words the Thai language has. ......you will also be understood all over Lao and they tell me they have had no problems anywhere in Thailand-----when I ask them about being in BKK.....they say about 98% of the taxi drivers speak? & understand it most all the working people do ---& about 110% of the bar girls. (not only speak it , but are delighted you do)

Grab a Issan book & have a look---Any Thai that was brought up speaking "Proper Thai" will understand you.......in fact its now considered quite in the vogue for the high so's to throw a few words of Lao in the conversation ---as it was for them to drop a few English words a few years back.

Try it your self...next time instead of Mai-pan rai.....say Bob-an-yang-dock......watch the big smile break out on their face.

I understand that I will get a few brickbats from the farangs who have worked hard to learn "Proper Thai"--- I think they have done a great job on persevering ---this post in just an opinion of someone who lived 7 years Pattaya 10 years issan. Certainly not trying to diminish what you have achieved.

"Proper Thai" is spoken in this area ---- Dark blue...(but so is Issan) so don't go looking for a family to help you out in some of the areas you mentioned.

Of course people will understand you speaking "Proper Thai"----Television has made sure of that----its just that you wont understand a lot of what they have to say.

Well this post was interesting, so you are saying that kids in school don't learn proper Thai and that 100% +-0.5& of Thailand,south, west, north and east don't know how to speak Thai?

What about the TV shows here, they speak isarn?

Or are you saying that proper Thai is high Thai?

Rhetorical, religious, and royal Thai are taught in schools as the national curriculum.

I didn't quite say that KR....but I did provide the Wiki link that stated last censors figures were 20 million people put down (what we shall call Proper Thai) as there first language,

Rhetorical, religious, and royal Thai are taught in schools as the national curriculum.-----KR

I was taught French in school in the 50s in the UK it was the standard foreign language to be taught. I dont remember any of it----because I never use it, outside of school the children speak what the adults speak, I can only tell you of my short time in Issan (10 years) you do not hear "Proper Thai" spoken amongst adults---other than on TV.

Edited August 18, 2015 by oxo1947

[aronp1]

You mention about a corridor between Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Not everybody or every region speaks the same Thai There are different dialects of Thai. There's also formal and informal. The Thai language of the Royals and of the monks.

It's not only learning Thai words but speakino them grammaticaly correct. Speaking how common Thai's speak will only be learned from a girlfriend / wife.

[seancbk]

Go to a PROPER school with a proper qualified teacher every day for at least 1 hour, M-F. Spend 30-60 minutes on the homework everyday. You don't have to kill yourself studying, but you do have to put in some effort with attending class and reviewing.

Unless you really know how to learn a language, private tutors and the girlfriend/boyfriend routes are not going to work.

It's not going to magically sink into your brain, you have to make an effort to get it in there. People who did not succeed in learning to speak/read/write Thai didn't go to a proper school with a qualified teacher, and didn't spend any real time studying. It's alot easier to say, "Oh, I tried, but I'm just no good at languages" than it is to do the work. Some folks just choose the easier route. It's really not that hard to learn quite a bit and impress yourself, but that little bit of effort is too much for some people.

Good advice.

It amazes me when I watch and hear some people trying to repeat a Thai phrase. The Thai person says it then the farang says something that doesn't even sound remotely like what the Thai said.

I think there is a major difference in the way some farangs hear and process sounds.

I'm a Brit and my fellow Englishmen (typically from North England) seem incapable of saying 'baht' which should be like 'bart' instead they insist of saying 'bat'

If you can't mimic the sounds exactly then you haven't really got much hope of being understood in Thai.

[aboctok]

Go to a PROPER school with a proper qualified teacher every day for at least 1 hour, M-F. Spend 30-60 minutes on the homework everyday. You don't have to kill yourself studying, but you do have to put in some effort with attending class and reviewing.

Unless you really know how to learn a language, private tutors and the girlfriend/boyfriend routes are not going to work.

It's not going to magically sink into your brain, you have to make an effort to get it in there. People who did not succeed in learning to speak/read/write Thai didn't go to a proper school with a qualified teacher, and didn't spend any real time studying. It's alot easier to say, "Oh, I tried, but I'm just no good at languages" than it is to do the work. Some folks just choose the easier route. It's really not that hard to learn quite a bit and impress yourself, but that little bit of effort is too much for some people.

You are pretty harsh with in your criticism. It must be tough to be so perfect and have to live with the rest of us.

I'm sorry to have called you out on your lack of desire to put minimal effort into learning Thai, while you were claiming that the problem is your inability to make the required sounds.

I fully empathize with your challenges learning to make the sounds. But you can learn if you go to a real Thai language school with a qualified teacher and put in a bit of effort. Otherwise, it's a case of "I don't really feel like trying. I already tried and studied for 10 minutes, this isn't my thing."

If you really hear that as being overly critical, then I'm sorry to have made you feel guilty for your lack of effort.

Perfect people like you will never understand. I didn't just try for 10 minutes; it was a very long 10 minutes. Long and boring, and at the end of it, I hadn't really learnt much Thai, so how could I stay invested in a fruitless effort like that? You don't know what you're talking about. At least I gave it a go.

[1FinickyOne]

Not really sure how far you have come and what your definition of unsuccessful might be - - not too many of us retain 100% of what we learn on any given day/month -

If you are retaining near nothing after your intensive labor, then this might not be the thing for you. It might be a waste of time if you do not have the ear or retention or as someone said above, natural facility with languages, which is not a reflection of intelligence.

All that said, we all learn differently. I prefer learning through talking and what you might call immersion as I do not enjoy classroom settings but I think probably most important is having the desire to learn and speak. Find what works for you.

[timmyp]

If you can't mimic the sounds exactly then you haven't really got much hope of being understood in Thai.

I fully believe that everyone is fully capable of correct pronunciation. I think everyone has full hope of being understood and pronouncing things correctly. Most people need to be taught explicitly how to make the sounds. It doesn't take that much effort, but it takes guidance and some effort.

[timmyp]

I'm a Brit and my fellow Englishmen (typically from North England) seem incapable of saying 'baht' which should be like 'bart' instead they insist of saying 'bat'

By the way, using an "r" to indicate a long vowel bugs the bejesus out of me.

I works great for you, seancbk, or anyone else from England or Australia, because y'all don't pronounce that "r". But I pronounce syllable-final "r", along with anyone from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, the U.S., etc.

Lots of Thai folks like to use "r" in transliteration to indicate a long vowel sound, so you end up with American saying "Thong LoR" for the train station, pronouncing a big fat R at the end instead of making it sound just like the English word "law" (as in 'attorney at law').

Writing the "r" for the long vowel only works if you speak an English dialect that doesn't pronounce syllable-final r.

[petedk]

I always get similar questions from Thais. How can I speak English naturally and fluently?

The ONLY way to speak a language well is to get out and practice as much as possible. Have lesons from a good school and go out and use what you have learnt. This is the same way that kids learn their own native language.

The other question I get is: "How long will it take me to learn to speak fluent or perfect English?" My answer is: "Forever. It really depends on how much effort you put into learning the language, but you will always learn something new."

Sure you will make mistakes and people won't understand you at first, but don't give up.

I can speak 4 languages (2 fluently and the other 2 quite well) and yes I have had problems.

I took a very very intensive course in one of the languages and after six months I could speak well enough to take a business course at the local university.

[fred Kubasa]

Just learn how to say " How Much " and " toilet " and you wll do fine !

[Johpa]

I would suggest moving out of Pattaya and away from all the poor Thai spoken there by both the local ex-pat community and the locals who use the same poor Thai, actually simplified Thai in that situation, to speak to the ex-pats who imagine they speak Thai and want their egos, and other appendages, stroked all the time.

As for "proper Thai", that is more correctly referred to as Central Thai, and that is indeed the language you want to learn. It is the language of Bangkok and thus the "official" language of the Kingdom. Most everyone in Thailand under the age of 60 speaks Central Thai. If you move to a region outside the Central Plains then you can also pick up some phrases and vocabulary in the regional languages.

[Farang99]

A "sleeping dictionary" - preferably one who speaks little or no English. Then, with the aid of a couple of dictionaries - Thai-English and English-Thai - you can hold friendly conversations and absorb Thai in a relatively painless way.

[Briggsy]

Been here 2 and a half years. Not a functional user. Sorry, you have missed the window of opportunity. You are now firmly in the habit of using English to communicate in Thailand. Almost impossible to learn now.

[elgenon]

I asked some Thai friends to pronounce the film title "Thor". I remind them when they laugh at my Thai. 5555

[seancbk]

I'm a Brit and my fellow Englishmen (typically from North England) seem incapable of saying 'baht' which should be like 'bart' instead they insist of saying 'bat'

By the way, using an "r" to indicate a long vowel bugs the bejesus out of me.

I works great for you, seancbk, or anyone else from England or Australia, because y'all don't pronounce that "r". But I pronounce syllable-final "r", along with anyone from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, the U.S., etc.

Lots of Thai folks like to use "r" in transliteration to indicate a long vowel sound, so you end up with American saying "Thong LoR" for the train station, pronouncing a big fat R at the end instead of making it sound just like the English word "law" (as in 'attorney at law').

Writing the "r" for the long vowel only works if you speak an English dialect that doesn't pronounce syllable-final r.

I used the word Bart to indicate the correct pronunciation of baht because Bart is 'Baaaarrrrt' the A is stretched like a sheep going Baa and the R is pronounced clearly before the final T

Then again maybe the 'Baaaa' sound followed by T doesn't have any R sound when you say it.... it does when I do. Like Baar T

[seancbk]

Been here 2 and a half years. Not a functional user. Sorry, you have missed the window of opportunity. You are now firmly in the habit of using English to communicate in Thailand. Almost impossible to learn now.

You can learn at any time. I've been here 7 years and will start having lessons sometime in 2016.

At the moment I'm just too busy to devote any time to lessons. But I've identified a few good private tutors so I'll have them come to my office 3 or 4 times a week to give me intensive lessons until I get it.

[bearpolar]

just want to give my input on proper thai.

Watch those videos of farang with amazing thai on thai social media. They almost all speak with an issaan accent. fck those damn R's