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

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

2) Would doing 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 10,000 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.

Moved to the Thai language forum.

When you are ready go to a real school in Bangkok or elsewhere. There are many serious to teach you Thai, but you must be serious to learn and to attend.

I would avoid schools in large foreign beach areas altogether,

Bangkok based schools have been there for years, have retired employees from the Ministry of Education and guarantee your Ed. Visa and documentation.

When you are serious to learn Thai you will.

I am not sure if Homestay really works to pick up Thai language unless there is a person that can explain things about Thai language in English (or any language you are familiar with). You need somebody who can explain things about Thai language in a language you understand (when you have questions while advancing with your knowledge about Thai) and you need Thais to practice your Thai language skills. As your language skills are limited in the beginning you can use almost any Thai you meet (regularly) for practicing: Coffee shops, restaurants, salespeople, offices … For your (same) questions/statements you may get different answers/reactions as they don’t always understand exactly what you say/mean but they wouldn’t ask to clarify.

It may help if you move (for a while) to a (smaller) place where English is not as frequently used as in Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin but it will take a while until people are familiar with you and your intention to learn Thai which is appreciated. But you may feel lonely as you won’t meet that many foreigners or English speaking Thais you can communicate with. This should become an incentive to study more and harder but it still will take a long time until your Thai is good enough to satisfy all your social needs.

How many threads on this subject do you need?