Duke Language School

[DUS]

Hi everybody,

First post on thai-visa so please don´t be too harsh on me if I am posting/asking something that I shouldn´t have been asking in the first place.

I will be moving to BKK next year and am currently looking into finding a language school that will take me to an intermediate/advanced level of speaking as well as reading and writing Thai. After reviewing some alternatives, Duke Language School seems to be a good fit for me. However, there´s one question I have to those who have studied there already. I spent the last 3 months in BKK and realised that I sometimes struggle with the correct pronunciation of the more "complex vowels". As such, I need a school where teachers put a HUGE emphasis on teaching correct pronunciation. Do teachers at Duke pay a lot of attention on this?

Thank you!

DUS

Edited December 28, 2015 by DUS

[alexius89]

Hi There,

I have studied at Duke about 6 months and I'm pretty satisfied with their overall performance. Especially in reading writing courses the focus is on correct pronunciation and fast process, however they will take also their time if sounds need to be repeated and trained to speak it properly. Hope I could help you with this. They have a free session as well. Just have a look there and see how it goes.

Cheers

[DUS]

Thank you! Your feedback´s greatly appreciated!

DUS

[Feldbach]

Hi,

I am currently studying at Duke and can assure that pronunciation is taught thoroughly. Teachers will also take into account you individual needs, so you can just tell them to foreground this part in your case.

Btw., don't worry, pronunciation is probably the biggest challenge for all of us trying to learn Thai

Best of luck and see you at Duke!

[DUS]

Hi,

I am currently studying at Duke and can assure that pronunciation is taught thoroughly. Teachers will also take into account you individual needs, so you can just tell them to foreground this part in your case.

Btw., don't worry, pronunciation is probably the biggest challenge for all of us trying to learn Thai

Best of luck and see you at Duke!

Thank you!

Did you apply for an ED visa for your studies at Duke? If so, would you mind sharing your experience with Duke and the whole process from booking the course(s), payment and all the paperwork etc? I am currently still in the UK but plan to come to TH this spring and immediately start studying/learning the language at Duke´s. I am now wondering if I should apply for the ED visa here in London or come to TH first on a visa exempt for 30 - 60 days and do everything that´s needed for the ED visa whilst on the ground in BKK (before going to Laos or somewhere else) to apply for the ED visa there, then. Any thoughts on the latter and what´s best?

[DUS]

Has anyone used 1-on-1 private lessons at DLS? What was it like? Is it worth doing it in terms of learning faster compared to the group lessons?

I am considering starting a course next month and am still undecided if I shall go for the group or private lessons. I have already some very basic Thai skills both in terms of speaking as well as reading (albeit at a piss-poor level) and thought that doing a high intensive private course at DLS, i.e. 2 hrs a day, 5 days a week over the course of 4 weeks, so 40 hrs in total. I am prepared to invest a lot of time into this and once I have laid the foundation I would then potentially move into one of their group lessons (for the higher fun factor that those seem to offer).

Hence, I would be very interested to hear from anyone who had private lessons at DLS. Thank you!

DUS

[DUS]

I thought after asking so many questions about DLS a few weeks and months ago, it would only be fair to provide some feedback based on personal experience at Duke LS. It might be of interest to a select few who will consider attending a language school in the future.

So, I joined DLS about 3 weeks ago and for "Journey 1" (that is their first book for absolute beginners), I opted for private lessons which are still ongoing till the end of this month (3 days per week, 2 hrs per day). I am very happy with both the school in general, the location and the class rooms, the quality of their teaching material but the best are the teachers themselves who come across as very passionate and dedicated teachers. It´s fun even in private lessons and you often hear lots of laughter coming out of the other class rooms. In terms of progress: I think it is too early to make a call on this since what can you expect after just 3 weeks!? But what I can say is that I am gaining in confidence every single day and I´ve already been able to practice the few basic things I´ve learnt such as asking for specific bus routes which would get me to my desired destination, asking for directions in general and/or ordering food from the many street food vendors on Sukhumvit Road. So that´s nice but obviously only the beginning of a loooooooooooooong journey.

But the key point I´d like to make for others who in the future might consider DLS as their school for learning Thai: only join if you are fully dedicated and prepared to invest an awful lot of hours into learning the language. I had a look at all the teaching material and the amount of new words and grammar expecting me in "Journey 2" is frightening. If you then take into consideration that this amount of information will be taught within just 4 weeks or so (5 days a week, 3 hours a day) it means (imho!) that you will also have to spend anywhere between 1-3 hrs every day at home to review the lessons, learn the words, the new grammar etc. So DLS is not the kind of "walk in whenever you feel to learn a new word or phrase" language school but it is at the other end of the spectrum where they challenge you to acquire a very decent command of the Thai language in a very short period of time.

I will join "Journey 2" at the end of July and, if I don´t forget to do so, will report back on my experience once Journey 2 finishes at the end of August.

DUS

Edited July 13, 2016 by DUS

[Rob13]

Thanks, I was looking into studying there; sounds too intensive for me, definitely not for me.

[DUS]

Thanks, I was looking into studying there; sounds too intensive for me, definitely not for me.

Hi Rob,

At the end of the day, it is "up to you" how intensive you want it to be. But yes, this school´s not a walk in the park.

I have been enjoying the private lessons since I could pick and chose how often I would like to come in and the teacher could fully concentrate on what I wanted to learn and spend more time on areas where I struggled. At the end of the month I´ll be joining group lessons but I don´t think I´ll manage to attend 5 days a week and to invest the out-of-school hours to practice on what was taught during the morning. As a consequence, in all likelihood I will attend "Journey 2" twice for repetition and learning what I missed the previous month.

But anyways, I hope you´ll enjoy learning Thai at what ever school that might be in the end.

Cheers

DUS

[DUS]

With 2 weeks into the second course at DLS I thought I give a quick update on my experience with this school.

 

The last 2 weeks confirmed what I said in my previous posts. DLS isn´t for those who want to have an easy and slow-paced introduction to the Thai language. DLS teaches at a speed which requires you to invest, I would say, at least 5 hours a day. That´s 3 hrs in the class room and at least 2 more hours at home. I am aware that claiming "you need to invest x amount of hours" is a generalisation on my part since some students will learn very, very fast and will automatically remember everything that´s been said in the class room without the need for repetition. Unfortunately, I am not one of those. :-) 

 

Just to give one example: Whilst you obviously do not have to learn and remember every single word you read in their books and the additional words that get written on the board during the course, there are still plenty of words to learn. In their first 2 books there are a total of 1,366 new words. So with the additional words learnt/discussed during class, this number will have easily surpassed the 1,500 figure. That´s 1,500 words for 40 days at school (over a 2 months period). So if you only want to study Mon - Fri and relax during the weekend, that´s (statistically) 37,5 words per day. A huge amount of vocabulary. Add to this the grammar and other language or sentence structures you learn every single day at their school and you can easily see that this program is not for the "faint-hearted" ... ;-))

 

But despite the workload it is still great fun (at least most of the time, lol) and the teachers are really, really good (imho). And most importantly, if you DO invest the time and remain dedicated and committed to learning the language, you´ll make good progress in a relatively short period of time. Over the course of my life I´ve learnt a few languages but I don´t think I´ve ever learnt so much in just 6 weeks. It remains to be seen if I can keep up with this speed. The key will be to actually actively USE the language outside rather than just sitting in class and at home. But so far, I am very happy with the progress I´ve made in just 6 weeks at DLS. Given that I needed years and literally decades to fluently speak other languages, I am under no illusion that learning Thai will keep me "busy and entertained" for many, many years to come. But DLS has so far provided a great intro to that journey.

 

 

 

 

[DUS]

Quick update after 3 weeks into their second course (Journey 2):

 

Journey 2 is the most rushed language course I´ve ever attended. And I am talking countless language courses that I´ve attended over the course of the last 25 - 30 years. The amount of words and grammar could and I dare say should be taught over a period of 2 or even better 3 months. To force it through within 20 days is, imho, totally unproductive for all but the most talented and most dedicated learner. We had been warned at the beginning that their "Journey 2" course would be challenging and probably the most difficult of all the available courses at DLS. But it is not the content that is difficult. They are making it difficult because they don´t allow enough time to practice everything and to recap on previous lessons etc. Every day it is just more new words, more new structures, more grammar etc. My impression is that most students forget within 48 hrs what was taught before because they are overwhelmed by the daily flood of new things to learn. 

 

 

[DUS]

Just a quick follow-up on my previous comments on DLS:

 

Have attended the following classes at DLS so far: Journey 1, Journey 2, Explore 1, Explore 2 and am attending Journey 3 at the moment. 

 

I think their reading and writing courses are very good.

 

Journey 3 is a very good mix of learning about Thai culture and rituals while learning more about the language at the same time. So far, Journey 3 is the course with the biggest "sanuk" factor.

 

Looking back at the last 3 months or so at DLS, I repeat my main concern about their program and that is that they put way too much content into a single course. The content they teach during the Journey 1-3 courses (taught over a period of 12 weeks at the moment) could and, I say, should be taught over 6 months (or more). This would allow for more review and practice sessions. At the moment the program is way too rushed and students drop out because they cannot keep up with the pace. 

 

I spoke to somebody in my group who is way more fluent than I will be in the foreseeable future. He´s been living in TH for many years and has a Thai family, so he´s exposed to the Thai language 24/7. But even he told me that he has to spend 3 hours plus every single day outside class just to review and prepare the next chapter etc. This clearly shows to me that it is not only "beginners" like myself who are not coping well with the amount of material they teach. It feels like studying at Chula University ... 

 

I´ll take a break soon and re-join in December but I will repeat either Journey 2 or 3 on my return. 

Edited October 7, 2016 by DUS

[flipside555]

That's a useful set of posts. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Could you say a bit about the extent to which they use karaoke versus Thai script in the Journey courses? There doesn't seem to be much on their website, but I notice in one of the pictures the teacher is writing on the blackboard using karaoke. 

 

Also, you mentioned that you did Journey 1 and opted for private 2 hour lessons 3 times a week. Do you mean that you did those lessons in addition to the Journey 1 group course, or that the private tutor taught you the Journey 1 course? If the latter, how does the price of doing the course with a private tutor compare to doing it with a group.

 

Thanks.

[DUS]

34 minutes ago, flipside555 said:

That's a useful set of posts. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Could you say a bit about the extent to which they use karaoke versus Thai script in the Journey courses? There doesn't seem to be much on their website, but I notice in one of the pictures the teacher is writing on the blackboard using karaoke. 

 

Also, you mentioned that you did Journey 1 and opted for private 2 hour lessons 3 times a week. Do you mean that you did those lessons in addition to the Journey 1 group course, or that the private tutor taught you the Journey 1 course? If the latter, how does the price of doing the course with a private tutor compare to doing it with a group.

 

Thanks.

 

Officially, they use "karaoke" throughout their Journey 1-3 courses but during Journey 3 (at least in my course) the teacher added writing most words in Thai script since quite a few students can read Thai script. Also, in their Journey 1-3 books you find ALL texts in both karaoke and Thai script so if you can read Thai script you can do so during Journey 1-3.

 

As for the private lessons for Journey 1: I did J1 in private lessons only because I had started learning a bit Thai whilst still living in Europe so I didn´t want to start with "Hello, what is your name" etc. In terms of a cost comparison, difficult to say really since it depends on how many private sessions you will need to effectively study a course (e.g. Journey 1). If memory serves me right, I did it in 7 2-hr sessions, so that would have been 7k Baht which is exactly what I would have paid for the 20 days group sessions. For me, it was more of a time saving exercise than anything else. I did the same with Explore 1+2, their first of 3 reading and writing courses.

 

 

[flipside555]

Great thanks for the info. Personally, I'd prefer more emphasis on teaching Thai script, but I guess there is no perfect school. I am looking for an intensive course, and from what I've read the Duke materials are among the better ones around. I'll do some more digging.

[DUS]

Just now, flipside555 said:

Great thanks for the info. Personally, I'd prefer more emphasis on teaching Thai script, but I guess there is no perfect school. I am looking for an intensive course, and from what I've read the Duke materials are among the better ones around. I'll do some more digging.

 

Well, you could of course start with the Explore 1 - 3 series of reading and writing courses. Nobody is forcing you to follow their script of doing J1 - J3 and the E1 - E3, even though the strongly recommend to speak some Thai first before starting their reading and writing courses.Mind you, they will not stop you from signing up for E1-E3 if that´s what you want......

[flipside555]

I feel that reading and writing is something I can start to learn before I go. It strikes me that it's easier to pick that up from books than it is to learn speaking from books. Ideally, when I get there, I'd like a speaking course which combines speaking with Thai script, thereby reinforcing and improving my written Thai. It seems a shame to do the Explore reading/writing courses, and then move to a speaking course which is largely based on karaoke. 

Edited October 12, 2016 by flipside555