High Speed Thai online Thai language course

[Ganador]

 

Hi folks. I would like to improve my Thai language skills,  but its not possible for me to go to classes.

I have seen several "online" Thai language courses advertised.

 

I was thinking about buying the High Speed Thai course. Any feedback from forum members

who have studied this course... or other online course recommendations?

Edited August 10, 2016 by Ganador
typo in headline

[CaptHaddock]

Did you ever meet anyone who learned Thai successfully using that method?  I didn't think so.  Then why do you think it will work?

[Ganador]

26 minutes ago, CaptHaddock said:

Did you ever meet anyone who learned Thai successfully using that method?

 

Thats why I started this topic. i am looking for comments from farangs who have purchased this course... or something similar. Thanks.

 

[CaptHaddock]

Here's the short summary.  You won't succeed at learning Thai from books, tapes, websites, etc. although these might be useful as adjuncts.  No one learns Thai well that way despite the endless discussion and comparison of such products on TV.  Occasionally, someone does claim to have succeeded with those methods, but their self-evaluation is suspect.  You have to study with a competent teacher in a school or university.  Hard to find, however.

[Ganador]

12 minutes ago, CaptHaddock said:

Hard to find, however.

 

Exactly right. I do NOT live in Thailand and there are no Thai language schools and tutors in my province that I know of... so that doesnt leave a lot of options.

[CaptHaddock]

2 hours ago, Ganador said:

 

Exactly right. I do NOT live in Thailand and there are no Thai language schools and tutors in my province that I know of... so that doesnt leave a lot of options.

 

Since you have internet access, you could do skype lessons with a qualified Thai here, couldn't you?  And probably at a price much lower than you would pay in your country, if such a teacher were available.

[CaptHaddock]

If you are serious, you can do skype sessions with sumaa.net who are really the only game in town.  If you are not serious, anyone will do.

[Seraphina]

I disagree with you CaptHaddock. I think you CAN learn a language on-line, even if not used as an adjunct. However, while such a method will allow you to speak, it may limit one's comprehension skills unless you back it up with listening to podcasts as I did. You simply need repetition, repetition and more repetition which multi-media nowadays affords you - often for free.

 

The role of this type of learning, I would venture to say, is to give the learner awareness and confidence. I am certified to speak French, German and Arabic. I used my first couple of months in France to learn French from youtube - I started with nouns. I would now be considered advanced (C1 or C2 level: expression and nuances) though it's fair to say, I still occasionally get masculine and feminine nouns mixed up.

 

I don't WORK in French and I don't listen to French radio or TV and I rarely speak to real French people. Nevertheless, I do have access to French podcasts and articles - my written French is advanced. I still have problems when people speak fast over the phone ...though I don't think this is unusual. I often don't understand tannoys even in English which has been my mother tongue since I could speak.

 

As far as I can see, the main complication in learning Thai will be learning the different tones and how to write. Nevertheless, there are ample on-line videos about these. If you have learned any other oriental language such as Arabic, Mandarin/Cantonese, etc, this shouldn't pose you a huge problem. Including there are four tones plus the 'shedda' in Arabic whereas Cantonese has six, some argue eight.

 

When I learned Arabic, I learned how to write before I learned to speak. This was a choice because I know from experience that few can ever reproduce anything they write in phonetics unless you know their phonemic alphabet by heart. Furthermore, all schools who transliterate use different phonetic alphabets. I just felt it would be easier to learn how to write Arabic words if I could already write in Arabic.

 

If you have access to radio or podcasts, try repeating the end of sentences in the target language until you can process whole sentences. This will help with your tones and accent.

 

It's unrealistic to expect to speak a language like a native. Idioms, for example, are usually too difficult for non-native speakers - even for bilinguals.

 

When starting out, your objective need only be to make yourself understood. I hear lots of French spoken with a very bad accent such as an Indian accent, but the speakers are normally understood. 

 

The last thing in your effort to learn Thai is just to come here and speak to anyone and everyone, especially taxi drivers. You can prepare for this by learning  fixed phrases or 'chunks' of language.

 

In my opinion, you need at least B1 or B2 in your target language to have skype lessons unless your teacher is extremely well-organised. When learning English, you start at level A1 which is pure phonetics. You can do this part in on-line.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2016 by Seraphina

[Ganador]

Thanks for your alternative viewpoint Seraphina. I think that an online course is the best option for me at the moment... although I do appreciate the Captains suggestions also...

[futsukayoi]

On 8/11/2016 at 8:18 AM, CaptHaddock said:

Here's the short summary.  You won't succeed at learning Thai from books, tapes, websites, etc. although these might be useful as adjuncts.  No one learns Thai well that way despite the endless discussion and comparison of such products on TV.  Occasionally, someone does claim to have succeeded with those methods, but their self-evaluation is suspect.  You have to study with a competent teacher in a school or university.  Hard to find, however.

 

In fact most of the people I know who speak very good Thai started off with books and tapes and then supplemented it with taking every opportunity to speak Thai in restaurants, taxis, bars and with friends or colleagues.  Most are living with Thai partners, but I think that the main factors are they didn't mind making mistakes and being an attentive listener rather than talking.

 

 

[cooperspale]

I bought  the high speed thai programme  just over a week ago and still can't get the files to download, which i was warned, only after i bought it, may be an issue. I specifically stated when talking to the guy that i wanted something i could use on my iPad   and he said was not a problem but again, only after i bought it he suggests i might not be able to download the files using wifi and have to plug the modem directly into the PC which i have done and still no luck. Have had a few backwards and forwards emails with the guy who sold it but am getting no where. I have suggested just issuing me with a refund , which its states on the website will be given if not completely satisfied, but the guy keeps dodging the issue and tries to find other solutions which also don't work. I have just sent another email saying telling him i give up and want a refund so will be interesting to hear what he comes back with. Fortunately i paid with paypal so even if he refuses they should be able to enforce it once they see our email trails.

[Ganador]

Hi cooperspale,

Thanks for your comment about the course. As yet, I have not purchased it... as I was seeking some reviews. I hope you are successful to download the course files... or get your refund. But I would not rely to much on Paypal unless you have paid with a credit card like Visa or Mastercard.

[mercurial]

It worked for me; my thai is enough to get by, even upcountry. But its not high speed by any means. It took me over a year to get through the course, but it is effective in getting the material on the course into your brain. I spent a couple of monotonous months on the tone drills alone. And I would recommend, if you are someone like me who was terrible with tones not to skimp time on this section, it pays dividends in the long run.

 

I can't tell you about the reading section, as by the time I did the course I could read, but my spoken thai was very limited and often thais could not understand my attempts to use what I had learnt, so was very discouraged. I now occasionally get the 'thai chat' compliment, and at the very least the vast majority of thais understand me.

[Aforek]

On 13/08/2016 at 8:45 AM, futsukayoi said:

 

In fact most of the people I know who speak very good Thai started off with books and tapes and then supplemented it with taking every opportunity to speak Thai in restaurants, taxis, bars and with friends or colleagues.  Most are living with Thai partners, but I think that the main factors are they didn't mind making mistakes and being an attentive listener rather than talking.

 

 

You are right, it's exactly my case, no need a teacher ; books for grammar and alphabet,  reading, and Thai people ( included GF ) outside to improve ( vocabulary and pronounciation ) ;

[Fookhaht]

Here are 13 iPhone apps for learning Thai.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Genericnic]

@OP, your ability to read written Thai will move your learning along faster than just about anything. As @Seriphina noted above, transliteration is hard without a full knowledge of the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). I started learning spoken Thai first before learning to read and write (Payap University program - very good and highly recommended) and it was a slow process. Once I learned to read and write, the process speeded up considerably. There is a very good online course for learning to read and properly pronounce Thai. It is called Learn Thai From a White Guy. You can try the first 4 lessons for free to see if it works for you. While it is very good, I feel that it is currently seriously overpriced at US$147 (currently discounted to UD$97). It comes with an Anki deck that has flash cards for the various chapters of the program. If you do the whole program, you will be able to read and properly pronounce 99% of the Thai words you come across. I really wish I had done this program before I started the spoken language study.

 

As for learning proper writing skills, there is a set of YouTube videos that will step you through the process of learning to write the Thai consonants. They are here. They don't seem to have a section on writing the vowels but I don't think it should be a problem to see how they work just by looking at various words. 

 

Good luck with the learning.

 

David

 

p.s. I have the High Speed Thai course and if I had it to do over again, I would use the money on the Learn Thai From a White Guy course instead of High Speed Thai. 

 

Edited January 8, 2017 by Genericnic