Thai-English Exchange Ad

[Phaethon]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to build a sign for my apartment block to find someone willing to help me with my Thai in exchange for help with their English.

The result of my efforts so far is at the bottom but what i actually want it to say is along the lines of:

Native English-speaker/teacher willing to exchange lessons in spoken/written English language for equal time practicing Thai language with well-spoken native Thai-speaker.

Contact...

คน เจ้าของภาษาอังกฤษยินดีที่จะแลกเปลี่ยนบทเรียนในการพ ูด/เขียนภาษาอังกฤษกับเวลาเท่ากันการฝึกภาษาไทยกับเจ้าข องภาษาไทย

ติดต่อ...

Just how far off is my translation..? The important parts are equal exchange and not to get six months down the line and find I've been learning Laos.

TIA

K.

[Mole]

You know what, in this case, you might as well write your sign in English, because obviously the people you are seeking must already have some preliminary skills in English.

If they're unable to comprehend your sign in that simple English, then they're really not gonna be much help for you.

Also, that looks like google translated and it's pretty bad. Just write it in English.

[Neverna]

^ On the other hand, if the Thai is too good, people might think he doesn't need any help.

[BaitongBoy]

Mole, are you here to spy on activities?...

-Toad

[toddaniels]

Personally I wouldn't waste the time it'd take to put up a sign like that especially written in thai !!

Face it, just because someone's a native speaker of a language that doesn't mean they're qualified to teach it.

This is oh-so evident by the plethora of alleged qualified "engrish teachers" in thailand, most who have no business hawkin' engrish to these people.

Factor in that the way thaiz learned thai was by rote learning; by that I mean they had thai beaten into their heads a word at a time. I think you'd be tryin' to push a rope getting a thai to explain the "whyz-in-thai" as far as why thai is this or that way.

Now I am of the mind that as adult learners of this language we need to STOP asking why the thai language is like this or like that; just accept it's quirky and squirrelly and go from there.

Still I think you're gonna be giving FAR more than you're getting as far as tradin' out engrish for thai.

I will agree with other posters who advocated writing the advert in engrish. If a thai can't make it thru a pretty basic sign like "willing to trade engrish lessons for thai lessons hour by hour", the thai you get in return might have less than any value..

[Thormaturge]

Just ask the Thais on reception. They may be able to mention it to a few other residents. There's a guy in my block who spends most evenings exchanging English/Thai with the people on reception who would be bored silly otherwise. He now speaks Thai phrases like a parrot but it's a start.

[cyrille]

Erm...why not just get a girlfriend?

[Thormaturge]

^
What have you got against the OP?

Signing up for a full course at Walen or Berlitz would be cheaper.

[toddaniels]

Truth be told "cyrille"; I know more foreigners here than I care to count who have thai significant others yet can't string 3 thai words together into a semi coherent sentence so that another thai would understand it.

So no, having a thai g/f doesn't mean you're gonna be speakin' in tongues, err in thai anytime soon.

In fact I've found it almost the exact opposite; foreigners with thai significant others (or thai (in)significant others) almost to the person suck so badly at thai that they're unintelligible. The foreigners thai wife or g/f has learned to understand the piss poor version of thai that flows out of their husband or b/f's mouth. Ususally they have to translate to any "real thai" as far as what the foreigner is tryin' to say.

As I already said, just because someone's a native speaker of a language they aren't automatically qualified to teach it to non-native speakers. It don't work like that..

"Thormaturge"; given the fact that for the most part (as in until you really know a thai quite well) these people are about as dimensional as one side of a piece of paper, I can only imagine the torture that guy learning to parrot thai phrases is putting those thaiz thru.. It must totally suck to be them <-the thaiz I mean!

Also as cheap as "dictionary aps" are there's NO need to EVER have the long-haired live version following you around, hangin about the house underfoot all the time.

[cyrille]

So no, having a thai g/f doesn't mean you're gonna be speakin' in tongues, err in thai anytime soon.

Well no, it's not inevitable of course.

It would be rather strange if someone with no interest in learning Thai were to do so merely because they have a Thai girlfriend.

As I already said, just because someone's a native speaker of a language they aren't automatically qualified to teach it to non-native speakers. It don't work like that..

Another statement of the err blindingly obvious that could equally apply to the 'advert in the lobby' approach, "tod".

[cyrille]

Also as cheap as "dictionary aps" are there's NO need to EVER have the long-haired live version following you around, hangin about the house underfoot all the time.

It is possible to get a girlfriend who won't be 'following you around' and 'hangin about the house' y'know tod.

Anyway, do tell us more about this app from which you learned fluent spoken and written Thai...

[toddaniels]

"Cyrille":
I don't believe there's a single post I've ever made out there in internet land on ANY forum where I wrote I learned fluent spoken and written thai.

I go outta my way to tell people I speak thai in an "effluent" manner and that my thai ain't all that good. Granted I can read/comprehend thai like no one's business, I touch type pretty well, write like a child, and speak thai with a mid-western amerian hillbilly accent. Dunno where you got on about the fact I imagine myself as fluent.

Here's an unashamed plug for myself of an article I wrote called "What does "fluent in Thai" mean to you?"

And even one more called "The "I'm Good Enough at Thai to Know I Suck" stage"

Now no where in any of those do I profess to be fluent, I mean it just ain't so..

I still say, you need someone who's got experience teaching thai to non-native adult speakers IF you're gonna get any "bang-4-the-baht" learning this language. It takes quite a fair base line vocabulary to hit the Soi, hang with the thaiz and actually learn any thai to speak of.

NOTE-2_MODZ: if posting links to my stuff contravenes forum rules (because I couldn't be bothered to check first), please delete the linx.. Sorry.