#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Learn Thai Language >  >  How did you manage to learn the Thai language?

## Property

How did you manage to learn the Thai language? Perhaps you haven't yet. 

Images came to mind of my time spent wandering around my Thai condo in Bangkok, a Linguaphone cassette-player dangling around my neck and a set of flash-cards in my back pocket. 

Sure, I might now be able to ask the way to the train station, or where the tourist information office is, but to have learn sufficient Thai to deal with the government officials & scammers is momentarily beyond me. And anyway, why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me.  :Smile:

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## friscofrankie

> why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me.


Could say the same of any language  :Smile: 
If you're gonna live here learn the language.  We speak Thai in the home about 80&#37; of the time. When the ol lady pisses me off or I get frustrated I'll slip into English, but, I'm learning; it's only been a few years  :Smile:  .  Lose the cassettes & flash cards or leave 'em at home.  You learn the language by using it.

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## mackayae

> why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me.


That's what Marcel Marceau said.

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## chitown

> . And anyway, why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me.


So why would an intelligent, sophisticated scholar like you lower yourself to live in Thailand with all of these dumbasses???

I hate to hear people make statements like that, yet choose to live here.

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## Megahorn

Surely that's part of why we choose to live here. Living among complete and utter imbeciles really makes me feel great - just laugh at them, you'll have the time of yer life.

OP, ^^ 


> You learn the language by using it.


Correct. Keep on using what you know, build new vocab every day, use it at every chance you get and you'll be fine. Also doing a lacguage course can be useful. 

But practice practice practice.

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## Texpat

Enroll in Thai language classes. Take it seriously, practice all the time. Learn to read and write as you learn to speak. Don't play the transliteration game, it's more confusing and it's like learning a third language. Try to read everything you see, roadsigns, shampoo bottles, newspaper headlines, magazine covers. At the beginning, you can't understand 99&#37; of it, but when you knuckle out your first words outta-the-blue, it's almost orgasmic. Write in Thai as much as possible. English is a crutch best thrown away early. Take notes in Thai to the extent you can. If you can write it, you can read it.

To improve your vocab, use yellow stick-it notes. Put one on the lamp, on the fridge, on the desk, on the mirror, on the computer, on the fan... etc. Write them in Thai. Everytime you pass an item, say it out loud. If you can't remember, read the sitck-it note. When you can remember how to say it, and spell it, remove the note.

Tones are tough, but Thais make them seem tougher than they are. 

If you walked into a western store and asked for a ham and chise sandwich, the staff wouldn't bat an eye.

If you walked into a Thai store and asked for khao niao and sam tom, they'll all stand around scratching their heads wondering what this daft farang wanted.

If you listen carefully to Thais speak, they scream over tones like a fighter at the treetops. The clues are in the context.

Have fun and don't be shy.

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## ChalkyDee

> Originally Posted by Property
> 
> 
>  . And anyway, why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me. 
> 
> 
> So why would an intelligent, sophisticated scholar like you lower yourself to live in Thailand with all of these dumbasses???
> 
> I hate to hear people make statements like that, yet choose to live here.


They can speak the language, you can't!

Reminds me of the story of the traveller who is lost and asks a farmer working in the fields, "what is the name of the nearest town?", to which the farmer replies, "I don't know". "Then, where does this road go to"?, "I don't know". You're a real idiot aren't you? "You're the one who's lost".

I learned to communicate in Thai by hanging out in bars/snooker halls and having girlfriends that couldn't speak English.

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## Marmite the Dog

> If you listen carefully to Thais speak, they scream over tones like a fighter at the treetops. The clues are in the context.


Exactly. When you try to overdo the tones, that's when the confusion starts. If you make an effort to speak confidently, and don't over emphasise the tones, you will be understood a lot better.

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## keda

> Originally Posted by Property
> 
> 
>  why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me. 
> 
> 
> That's what Marcel Marceau said.


     Descartes speculated that Monkeys have the capacity for human speech, but choose to remain silent in order to avoid having to converse with Man.


  There are some things we may never discover. :Sad:

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## keda

> Surely that's part of why we choose to live here. Living among complete and utter imbeciles really makes me feel great - just laugh at them, you'll have the time of yer life....


Hopefully that was meant in the right vein, otherwise make sure you don't happen to laugh at the wrong one in a wrong way.

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## Ivor Biggun

As much as my wife tries to teach me I'm fcuked. I've a memory like a sieve. Have trouble remembering peoples names as well.

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## Dalton

I had no choice but to learn it due to our workers poorly English-skills, I never took a class or any lesson, picked it up by listen and use it on daily basis. Its tough in the beginning, but dont give up.

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## Marmite the Dog

> poorly English-skills


Have you thought about taking them to the doctor's?

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## Dalton

^ Arent we funny todays... :Smile:

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## Norton

First I concluded living in a country and not knowing the language would make life very difficult and frustrating.  From there listening, asking and practicing was the key.  Trust me, I am half deaf and far from a cunning linguist so if I can do it so can you. :Smile:

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## chinthee

^W.C. Fields and Mae West.  I know I nailed that one - Avatar game for those who don't know.

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## Norton

> ^W.C. Fields and Mae West. I know I nailed that one - Avatar game for those who don't know.


Yes, My Little Chickadee.  Not you the movie! :Smile:   New one coming soon.

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## Property

> Originally Posted by Property
> 
> 
>  . And anyway, why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me. 
> 
> 
> So why would an intelligent, sophisticated scholar like you lower yourself to live in Thailand with all of these dumbasses???


I only have to live with one of them, fortunately.  :Wink:

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## Dalton

> I hate to hear people make statements like that, yet choose to live here.


Yep, not very intelligent at all... :lam:

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## chitown

> Originally Posted by chitown
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by Property
> ...


 
But you do live in Thailand.......right??  :Confused:

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## ChiangMai noon

^
lives in his own little world i think.

one where he doesn't need to speak to the imaginary little brown people he sees every day.

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## Thormaturge

Had some formal lessons at Union Language School in Surriwongse road, which  Ihave recommended to countless people.  Learned more from watching films in Thai and following Thai news programmes.  Learned the numbers from the Thai lottery coverage on TV.

I was determined not to wind up with an Isan farmer's accent.

Nowhere near perfect but I know enough to get by and understand what the little people are talking about much of the time.

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## Texpat

> I was determined not to wind up with an Isan farmer's accent.


Who understand and can speak far more than practically all farangs. 

I'm amused at the recent bashings of Issan on other threads. Great entertainment.

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## chinthee

Well, what's the test?  I speak Thai to almost all the Thais I come in contact with.  We have no problem understanding each other.

What else am I supposed to know?

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## chitown

> Had some formal lessons at Union Language School in Surriwongse road, which Ihave recommended to countless people. Learned more from watching films in Thai and following Thai news programmes. Learned the numbers from the Thai lottery coverage on TV.
> 
> I was determined not to wind up with an Isan farmer's accent.
> 
> Nowhere near perfect but I know enough to get by and understand what the little people are talking about much of the time.


 
I did not know you spoke Thai. 

How long did you go to that school?

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## WhiteLotusLane

My approach to learning Thai was three-pronged.

1. Get books. Books teach you writing and grammar, both of which don't really require anyone else, you can learn by yourself.  This is also by far the best start for people beginning to learn outside of Thailand and/or with little access to Thai people.

2. Couple times a week chatted with some Thai friends smart enough to be able to teach / explain something.  In my case they were Education faculty students at CMU.   

3. Talk to absolutely everyone with enough time on their hands to listen, or otherwise unable to run away.  :Smile:    Keep pen and notebook nearby to make notes of any new words or constructions, to then ask the 'proper' teachers under point 2. above.

That's about it.  Main thing though is to realize that this is not a language you 'just pick up' the way you could pick up a more similar language like French.  It requires a lot of study, and at least 3 months of feeling like you're getting nowhere.  After that it gets easier.

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## tsicar

i had no choice but to learn. i was stuck in a little village in isaan, broke, and there was not a sole within a 30km radius who spoke english. 
i bought english/thai phrasebooks, set aside an hour per day, and did one page per day, revising the previous page each day and marking the phrases i had had difficulty with, then kept going back to them 'till i had them off pat, crossing  them off as i got them right. two phrasebooks later, i was walking around making a **** of myself, speaking thai to everybody. they would correct me and eventualy i started getting the hang of it.
you reach a stage where everything starts falling into place, and then you progress very fast.
the grammar is very simple and easy, but you have to remember that almost every word has up to five different meanings, depending on the accent or tone placed on it. i found that if i ignored the bloody tones, concentrated on vocabulary, then spent a lot of time listening to people, trying it out, and forcing myself to watch thai tv, i could get the gist of a conversation, then got to the point where i could do business, or at least make myself understood.
i don't think i will ever get the tones completely right, but i have one hell of a vocab. and get by to the point where the locals come to me for translations, etc.
you just have to keep at it, and discipline yourself. 
good luck

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## Marmite the Dog

I really need to have some formal lessons now. My vocab is too small and I've not learnt more complex sentence structures.

My ears are pretty good though, so I think that is a bonus.

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## Norton

> forcing myself to watch thai tv


Wow, the ultimate sacrifice. :Smile:   I find the Thai soap operas to be best for learning.  They, like soap operas around the world are so dumbed down to serve their viewers they make wonderful training for beginners.

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## Butterfly

I think we went through that discussion already in another thread, and the consensus was that speaking monkey was fine as long as it was superficial like asking directions or paying a barfine.

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## Texpat

> speaking monkey was fine as long as it was superficial like asking directions or paying a barfine.


Clearly misinformed. Nobody will give you directions here no matter how politely and correctly you ask.  :Smile:

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## Thormaturge

> I did not know you spoke Thai. 
> How long did you go to that school?


It would be better to say I speak some Thai.

I've sone two stints at ULS each for one month.  I also did six months with AUA.  

Having been here almost five years it would be pretty dumb of me not to pick up some of the lingo.  It used to drive me nuts figuring out why sometimes I would get taken to soi 31 and other times to soi 38 when I used the same intonation and pronunciation.... but listening to Thais it is clear they don't all pronounce the language the same anyway.  Now I just tell them where  I want to go and then sit back and see where we end up.

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## Texpat

Try it in Lao: "Pha khoy pai orm muang."  :Smile:

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## Dalton

> My vocab is too small and I've not learnt more complex sentence structures.


Yeah its inbarrasing...cant ever ask a girl for her phone-number...How you manage to get laid is a mystery to me... :Smile:

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## Fabian

> I was determined not to wind up with an Isan farmer's accent.
> 			
> 		
> 
> Who understand and can speak far more than practically all farangs. 
> 
> I'm amused at the recent bashings of Issan on other threads. Great entertainment.


Really tempting but I won't comment on that one.

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## chinthee

The damn massage girls said "hello Uncle" to me today and made me really depressed for the holidays.  Yeah, I'm getting old but Christ...

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## Dalton

> Really tempting but I won't comment on that one.


Dont hold back, you want to say it so much, then get it out ! ! ! Tell us all what you think of Isaan...

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## Dalton

> Yeah, I'm getting old but Christ...


Next it will be "gran-pa'".. :Very Happy:

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## jizzybloke

> I think we went through that discussion already in another thread, and the consensus was that speaking monkey was fine as long as it was superficial like asking directions or paying a barfine.


 
I'd rather learn Thai (monkey) than French, much more useful.

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## Thormaturge

Actually you don't need to learn Thai for taxi drivers, as I was reminded yesterday.  They know instinctively where Farangs want to go.

Motorsai driver dropped me off at the end of the soi and commented, "you go Patpong now" (We're in Rangsit at 10.00am) and proceeded to stop a taxi for me.

Then around 5.30pm my assistant and I get into a taxi and ask for soi 18.  Taxi driver knows exactly where we are going because I am a Farang and she is Thai so we whistle past Soi 18 en route to some bladdy shopping centre.... even though she had clearly stated soi 18.

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## Bubba

I lived for two and a half years in Trang when I first came here.  Not many farangs about and no one spoke English, so if I wanted to have a social life had to learn.  Picked up the basics of coversation in Yah Dong bars waving my arms around a lot.

Eventually worked out _why_ what I was saying made sense by consulting grammar books after using the langauge for a while.

Taught myself how to read and write basic Thai with a book called 'easy thai' when I had a skint couple of weeks and a bit of time on my hands.

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## lozillionaire

I initially learnt it when i was a pro fighter in Bangkok. I was at a very good gym and they didnt have any foriegn guys there so i had to learn pretty quickly. Initially i was taught the very basics and then swear words. After a few months my Thai improved and then i starte dating students who also helped. My missus teaches me some words each day and we speak Thai around the house so i dont forget them. I am trying to learn to read and write Thai at the moment; very difficult.

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## ChiangMai noon

> I am trying to learn to read and write Thai at the moment; very difficult.


honestly, it isn't...really.
if i can manage.

i think the worst thing you can do is to try to remember all the letters and vowels before you start reading stuff.

far better to look at full words and work it out from there, sort of site reading.

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## BobbyTits

> Originally Posted by lozillionaire
> 
> I am trying to learn to read and write Thai at the moment; very difficult.
> 
> 
> honestly, it isn't...really.
> if i can manage.
> 
> i think the worst thing you can do is to try to remember all the letters and vowels before you start reading stuff.
> ...


Then how would you know what sounds the Thai letters make ?

How could you possibly even try to sound a word out w/o knowing the intended sound?

I speak Thai like a champ but still am baffled at reading it.

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## MrG

Anybody had any success with a language learning system called Rosetta Stone? Supposed to be what all the diplomats and govt. workers use to learn foreign languages fast. It's not bad...total immersion, but it would have been useless to me were it not for my wife translating the words/phrases from pictures and recordings. After a few months of daily at it I started to develop a decent vocabulary,  then stopped after we visited Thailand. 

I also hear (and now believe) that learning the alphabet and language at the same time is the only way to go.

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## ChiangMai noon

> Then how would you know what sounds the Thai letters make ?


i said all the letters.

there's no need.

if you can speak it then you can start to decipher it.

you know that a hotel is a hotel because it looks like one.
you will also know the Thai word for a hotel is Rong rem.
from there you can work out the consonants used and so on and so forth.

gives you something to do when you are walking around town or stuck at traffic lights and really doesn't take very long at all.

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## Texpat

^ agree, but learning the alphabet won't hurt and isn't that difficult.

I used index cards with Thai character on one side and the English pronunciation on the other. Ran through them once or twice a night until I could get them all. Once I knew a character without fail, I removed it from the deck. Took a few weeks. Then, when you start to read things, you realize many of the characters aren't used much.

I look at Thai letters as musical sounds that are bent, like a guitar note, by modifying with emphasis from the right, left, above and below. It's far less straightforward than English. 

Once you can look at a sign and recognize the consonants, you begin to realize how the vowels bend the sound to make the word.

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## ChiangMai noon

> agree, but learning the alphabet won't hurt and isn't that difficult.


maybe not.

for me though after giving up on learning vowel sounds in isolation it was a lot easier to learn in context, especially since a large number of consonants are rarely used anyway.

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## chinthee

> Anybody had any success with a language learning system called Rosetta Stone? Supposed to be what all the diplomats and govt. workers use to learn foreign languages fast. It's not bad...total immersion, but it would have been useless to me were it not for my wife translating the words/phrases from pictures and recordings. After a few months of daily at it I started to develop a decent vocabulary,  then stopped after we visited Thailand. 
> 
> I also hear (and now believe) that learning the alphabet and language at the same time is the only way to go.


Years ago, when I knew I would move full time to Thailand but was still outside the country, I bought the Rosetta Stone course, studied every day and thought I was the dogs bollocks.  After moving to Thailand it turned out to be relatively useless.  Same problem as a lot of static language courses - useless phrases, etc..

But it at least is a start.  Nothing can beat living in Thailand and using the language slowly building up.

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## Silent Ninja

> Anybody had any success with a language learning system called Rosetta Stone? Supposed to be what all the diplomats and govt. workers use to learn foreign languages fast. It's not bad...total immersion, but it would have been useless to me were it not for my wife translating the words/phrases from pictures and recordings. After a few months of daily at it I started to develop a decent vocabulary,  then stopped after we visited Thailand. 
> 
> I also hear (and now believe) that learning the alphabet and language at the same time is the only way to go.


I used Rosetta Stone at one point and found it quite useful. You can guess what everything means if you start from the very beginning and slowly make your way through it all.

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## buad hai

> far better to look at full words and work it out from there, sort of site reading.


Ah, er, you mean "sight" reading, but you're right, IMHO.




> How could you possibly even try to sound a word out w/o knowing the intended sound?


The same way the Chinese manage. Their written language has no phonetic component, yet they learn to read.




> you reach a stage where everything starts falling into place


After how many decades?

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## The Gentleman Scamp

It was just a case of _'How do I say this? How do I say that?'_ but I tired of it early 2005.

Should have continued, I'd be fluent now.

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## ChiangMai noon

^
I doubt that.

I reckon I'm about 5 years and a lot of hard work off fluency.

I'd put myself at an intermediate level at the moment.

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## NickA

I actually agree with CMN on this one, it's better to learn how to read words that you already know how to say, than to try and decypher a new word by reading it. 

Reading road signs and other things around you also helps as well as reading the Thai transliterations of foreign shops and places. I've heard people trying to learn the myriad of tone and pronunciation rules and getting bogged down by it all. 

Once you have the basics you can pick up childrens books which have both Thai and English. Cover up the English, then try to read the Thai with the help of a Thai-English dictionary, then check your translation against the one in the book. Before long you'll be reading Kafka and Dickens. :Smile:

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## cali kid

> Learned more from watching films in Thai and following Thai news programmes.


Fuck me....... You learned from news?? Shit, one thing I dont mind bosting about a bit is my Thai and I bet I can speak it better than at least 99.9&#37; of expats but I have a really difficult time understanding the news. Words jump out quite often and I can understand every word said in some sentences but they just speak too damn fast.. You have TIVO or something?




> you can learn by yourself.


 Yeah right.... As long as nobody but yourself needs to understand what the hell you're talking about...  I would strongly recommend that you dont practice Thai by yourself as it is very highly unlikely that you would be able to read the phonetically spelled word and then repeat it in a manner that would be understood by Thais. Then when you realize that you have been saying it wrong all this time it becomes a pain in the ass to remember to say correctly. 




> Quote: Originally Posted by tsicar you reach a stage where everything starts falling into place


 


> After how many decades?


About a quarter decade given you are diligent.



> It was just a case of 'How do I say this? How do I say that?' but I tired of it early 2005.  Should have continued, I'd be fluent now.


Absolutely... 



> ^ I doubt that.  I reckon I'm about 5 years and a lot of hard work off fluency.


 I have been here for six and dont know if I would be considered a fluent speaker, probably not, but am not far off.

And how many different Thais in the course of a day do you ask how to say something? ( I say different because there are always different ways or opinions.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.. 
Questions questions questions questions questions questions questions.....

Ask questions, ask everybody questions, the taxi, bus, boat driver, waiter, waitress, bartender, cashier, that guy standing next to you, anybody. Its not like you're nagging the same person over and over again, unless we are speaking of the bartender.
Hear it from a Thai if you want to know. Then repeat it to them 2 or 3 times to check. They will smile and nod there head and may even throw in a extra, but thats usually just confusing anyway.

Speak speak speak speak speak speak speak speak speak...

As soon as you learn something, use it. Even if it doesnt make much sense in the situation, when you are corrected it will just carve it deeper into your memory (I did this constantly just so that I could be corrected because I realized it really helped and it was a good laugh sometimes)..

You got to get out and be exposed to the language in its everyday use. I am sure that classes, more than books, would be good preparation for speaking Thai outside and would greatly aid you if and only if you did in fact get out and use it daily.




> How did you manage to learn the Thai language?


See above.....
But the first thing I needed was a reason that I would be reminded of everyday.. (It came in the form of black skirts and white shirts)..

I have never taken any classes, listen to any CDs or read any books.. I was lucky enough to be thrown in to a uni where I was the only foreigner and the first American to ever attend.. (Ramkhamhaeng Uni. Intl prgm.) Yes that is a unique situation but it only gave me the opportunity to ask more questions, which you can do anywhere in Thailand where there are people as long as you dont mind.

And seriously, use new words in the wrong situations and be corrected to see how easily you will remember the word next time..


Oh yeah, and i cant read a single word of Thai, or even write my own name so i dont know anything about that.

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## The Gentleman Scamp

Another reason I stopped is that I don't have a Thai Mrs and never really did and though a little Thai is useful for taxi driver smalltalk, you don't really get any thanks for it.

Enough to let the con artists know you are savvy is sufficient.

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## cali kid

^^ Are you serious? Is that all the use you see for Thai? Well thats ok... If you did speak Thai very well as you might if you hadnt stopped asking those questions you would see many more huge doors opening. And smaller ones on the front of the non English speaking Uni. girl's apartments.

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## cali kid

> I stopped is that I don't have a Thai Mrs and never really did


I rest my case...............

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## Ban Saray

I found it profoundly difficult to learn and speak, mainly becuse i have about 70-80% hearing loss in both ears thanks to my service days.
I am proficient now, but unless Thai's know my accent they cannot understand me well - my tonal speech is crap.
My daughter shamed me into learning to read and write, I went really well and it was a lot easier to pick up once i put my head down. But like all things i lost my motivation once i could read most of the alphabet and write my name, there seemed little challenge left.
My wife was absolutley no help whatsoever, she has no patience with a near deaf student.
My daughter is a gem, we converse more than my wife and I do in Thai.

It is compulsory to be able to speak it to get your Residency Book, and I managed that OK, plus a basic written test. The only ambition would be to go for citizenship, but that would be like getting a diploma in being stupid, pigheaded and just plain lazy. :rofl: 

Don't see the point in that! :nerner:

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## buad hai

> Speak speak speak speak speak speak speak speak speak...


I'm just too shy. I have problems speaking English to Americans. How can I ever work up the courage to use Thai? I'm just plain terrified of people.

Sorry.

That said, I'm making a lot of progress reading.....

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## dirtydog

> I'm just too shy. I have problems speaking English to Americans


Don't blame you, I wouldn't talk to the nasty buggers given the choice  :Smile:

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## terry57

This is my # 1 priority when i move to Thailand is to learn the speak.

I'm going to enroll in language classes as i feel if your serious about living here and interacting with the Thai you must know the lingo.

Ive got a few mates that natter away like the locals so its not impossible if your serious about it and give it a good crack.

It makes me laugh when i read on this forum that the thais are stupid or this and that but im sure that if the farang could speak proper thai most of the problems would disappear. 

Anyway,

I'll give it my best shot as i wont be wasting my time working for a foking living.  :Smile:

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## BosseO

> This is my # 1 priority when i move to Thailand 
> Anyway, I'll give it my best shot as i wont be wasting my time working for a foking living.


Agree, but # 1 will be a toss up between getting my house ready and buying some wheels.

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## cali kid

> Originally Posted by cali kid
> 
> Speak speak speak speak speak speak speak speak speak...
> 
> 
> I'm just too shy. I have problems speaking English to Americans. How can I ever work up the courage to use Thai? I'm just plain terrified of people.
> 
> Sorry.
> 
> That said, I'm making a lot of progress reading.....


Put the book down. Take some of the time you spend learning to read and start speaking. Sure you are shy but that is just the first hump to get over.. The more you do it, the less self conscious you will become.. At least that is the case with most things, isnt it? 
Before you know it the Thais around you will become shy to use their English around you as your Thai is so good.

Dont give up...

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## tsicar

> This is my # 1 priority when i move to Thailand is to learn the speak.
> 
> It makes me laugh when i read on this forum that the thais are stupid or this and that but im sure that if the farang could speak proper thai most of the problems would disappear.


it is only when you can speak thai, and have spent enough time speaking to the locals that you start to understand what they are all about.
very, very scary......................

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## buad hai

> Dont give up...


I haven't. I've just adjusted to the reality that being shy probably makes it unlikely that I'll ever be conversant in Thai. Get over it? Sorry, I'm 58 and still afraid to answer the telephone.

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## k1klass

> I have problems speaking English to Americans


I'm with you there, i have problems speaking English to the English, i got 3 words down right now

Little, fat and cheers - see a pattern  :Sad:

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## Curious George

> Enroll in Thai language classes. Take it seriously, practice all the time. Learn to read and write as you learn to speak. Don't play the transliteration game, it's more confusing and it's like learning a third language. Try to read everything you see, roadsigns, shampoo bottles, newspaper headlines, magazine covers. At the beginning, you can't understand 99% of it, but when you knuckle out your first words outta-the-blue, it's almost orgasmic. Write in Thai as much as possible. English is a crutch best thrown away early. Take notes in Thai to the extent you can. If you can write it, you can read it.
> 
> To improve your vocab, use yellow stick-it notes. Put one on the lamp, on the fridge, on the desk, on the mirror, on the computer, on the fan... etc. Write them in Thai. Everytime you pass an item, say it out loud. If you can't remember, read the sitck-it note. When you can remember how to say it, and spell it, remove the note.
> 
> Tones are tough, but Thais make them seem tougher than they are. 
> 
> If you walked into a western store and asked for a ham and chise sandwich, the staff wouldn't bat an eye.
> 
> If you walked into a Thai store and asked for khao niao and sam tom, they'll all stand around scratching their heads wondering what this daft farang wanted.
> ...


This is one of the best comprehensive responses I've seen from you, IMO. Believe me, I'm not belittling you, it is just that I totally agree with what you've said.




> As much as my wife tries to teach me I'm fcuked. I've a memory like a sieve. Have trouble remembering peoples names as well.


This is me also!!!!!!!!!!




> i think the worst thing you can do is to try to remember all the letters and vowels before you start reading stuff.
> 
> far better to look at full words and work it out from there, sort of site reading.


My wife tried to have me learn all consonants and vowels, as in preschool. It didn't work for me.

----------


## jizzybloke

Not tried this, i have just seen it.

60 Minutes to Learn the Thai Alphabet 1 - Home & Education - Language - Downloads - CNET.com.au

Anyone tried it?

----------


## buad hai

> Anyone tried it?


Yeah, it has a very bizarre (IMHO) method of assigning mnemonics to the alphabet. I found it confusing. 

I made my own flash card deck of the Thai alphabet which was easier. That said, I've never really learned it all....

Look for Thai Characters on this page:

Flashcard Suite Decks

----------


## peterpan

> It makes me laugh when i read on this forum that the thais are stupid or this and that but im sure that if the farang could speak proper thai most of the problems would disappear.


 Not in my experience Terry, when you can understand what they are saying it appears many are more stupid than I first thought. 
Doesn't make them any less likeable, but the average conversation, is childlike in its range of topics.

----------


## Dalton

> Get over it? Sorry, I'm 58 and still afraid to answer the telephone.


Bladdy hell... :Smile:

----------


## Zenman

> How did you manage to learn the Thai language? Perhaps you haven't yet. 
> 
> Images came to mind of my time spent wandering around my Thai condo in Bangkok, a Linguaphone cassette-player dangling around my neck and a set of flash-cards in my back pocket. 
> 
> Sure, I might now be able to ask the way to the train station, or where the tourist information office is, but to have learn sufficient Thai to deal with the government officials & scammers is momentarily beyond me. And anyway, why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me.


Then obiously you are hanging out with the wrong crowd

----------


## Bluecat

I'm learning with my son.
He is 2 but well ahead of me.
Trying to catch up... :Damnit:

----------


## Claus31000

Unfortunatly i can not yet read or write....but i speak the language at a fair level i should mean....
How did i learn to speak....by listening to my old GF...unfortunatly i had met her in Denmark and she spoke that language .....so most of the time we took the easy road and spoke...well a pretty good mixup of thai/danish/english
So only a little learned there.....At a point we split up and i moved to live alone,thats when i really started to learn to listen to and speak thai.....where i lived only very few thais that i met could speak english (Buriram)....My wife now don't speak english,or at least she pretend so....so here at home conversations are on thai all the time...



Claus

----------


## Thormaturge

Did a few classes, after which it was listening to radio and TV. Watched a few films I know well, but with Thai soundtrack. In the past year or so it has been from listening to the locals speak and asking questions when I hear something I'm not sure about.

Usually add something new to my vocab every second day. It also helps if you can read the language, which isn't as difficult as it may seem.

----------


## Jack10

I've been staying in Thailand for approximatively a year, working for a french company. I don't speak any Thai and i can still survive. However, it looks like if you can actually speak Thai, people accept you more and are less reluctant to communicate. Moreover, it brings much more opportunities in terms of work.

Also, i can't exactly see how some people manage to learn Thai by themselves, without a private tutor or a school support.
I study Japanese before and looks like as for Thai, it is important to "crack" the grammar and learn as much vocabulary as possible. Regarding pronunciation, just one solution: talk to Thai as much as you can (same for Japanese), whatever your mistakes are.

So i've  decided to join a Thai School.

ps: Thormaturge, nice picture. Bryan Ferry forever.

----------


## Nabeel

Also doing a lacguage course can be useful. 

Is he doing car resprays or what - lacguage - something to do with the final :kma:  finish

----------


## Lorenzo

> Sure, I might now be able to ask the way to the train station, or where the tourist information office is


That should be plenty, you really do not need to know an extensive amount of thai to get by.

----------


## bourbonstreet

> Originally Posted by Property
> 
> why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me.
> 
> 
> Could say the same of any language 
> If you're gonna live here learn the language.  We speak Thai in the home about 80% of the time. When the ol lady pisses me off or I get frustrated I'll slip into English, but, I'm learning; it's only been a few years  .  Lose the cassettes & flash cards or leave 'em at home.  You learn the language by using it.



BINGO! Frisco nails it on the head. learning a language requires speaking it everyday in a cultural context. language and culture go hand in hand. you can spend hours in a practice room practicing the piano, guitar, what have you. but until you're in a real situation with other musicians, you'll never understand how your instrument really works. same goes for learning to speak any foreign language. just gotta get out there and do it.

Bourbon.

----------


## somtamslap

Live in the sticks for 6 months if its practical.  If u meet a lass in one of the tourist hotspots take a sabatical in her village.  Unless u wanna sit in silence then u have to get out that and chat with the natives, drink the local brew with them and help with the farming.  You will be fluent in the language of Thai cuisine within weeks.

----------


## robuzo

I couldn't imagine living here without getting up to speed with Thai to at least survival/low-level conversational ability, but given the investment in time and effort involved, I am not sure that it is really necessary for most farangs to become really fluent- in fact, I am not even sure that there is much payoff in terms of quality of life, unless a strong knowledge of Thai is useful in one's profession.  Of course one should be able to order food, ask directions, barter prices, say the right things to the cops, and tell the ambulance attendant where it hurts, but while it is enjoyable to engage in chit-chat with taxi drivers, masseuses, and the full spectrum of waitresses, do I really need to be able to explain my political views or investment strategy in detail in Thai?  Or more importantly, is it worth it to attempt to bring my Thai to that level when the majority of people with a degree of education allowing them to understand my take on topics ranging from the Cambodia border crisis to the collected works of David Foster Wallace will by and large already speak English better than a farang learner in his 40's can ever hope to speak Thai? 

Moreover, I find that a lot of Thais with even a modicum of English study look forward to the opportunity to speak English with farangs; in fact, for some Thais their ability to speak English is a part of their job description, and the farang who insists on speaking Thai with them is liable to be resented as one treading on their usefulness at their job.  As to reading, while it is useful to be able decipher Thai script so as to read a road sign, the kind of diligent study required to get to the level of reading a daily newspaper does not strike me as worth the effort unless it really brings one joy, Thailand not having produced too many hard-hitting investigative journalists, let alone Dostoevskys or Kawabatas, so far as I know.  Just by way of pointing out that my position is not based on my being a lazy git, I speak, read and write two of the "hard" languages fluently- Russian and Japanese.  A major difference between Thai and those languages is that the rewards of attaining fluency are demonstrably greater; in my case, Russian because it opens the door to one of the world's great literatures and cultures, and Japanese largely because the professional opportunities it avails.  I do know some guys here fluent in Thai and making a lot of money, but there is a grain of truth in this amusing Not the Nation article: "Scientists Discover Inverse Relationship Between Expats Income and Thai Fluency" Not The Nation.Com :: The Website you can trust ::

I don't intend to disparage the achievements of those farangs who have mastered Thai (although I do find amusing the delusionary pride some guys seem to have in their ability to engage in broad Thai conversation with bar girls), but for most of us I think that in learning Thai the law of diminishing returns kicks in at a certain point.  Curious to know what others think.

----------


## johnbkk

I learned some Thai my first year here.  Tuned in, and tuned right back out.

Self-sufficiency Thai for urban living shouldn't take more than a book, a CD, and about 4-6 weeks.

Living in the sticks or going bamboo takes a bit more effort (maybe).

For the fully incorporated entrepreneur types with Thai employees / suppliers etc you probably want to learn as much as you can. 

Don't go to a school to learn days of the week, numbers, etc.  You can learn that at home with a laptop and headphones.

Be aware that your ability to tune out junk will gradually disappear.

----------


## johnbkk

> the majority of people with a degree of education allowing them to understand my take on topics ranging from the Cambodia border crisis to the collected works of David Foster Wallace will by and large already speak English


Spot on.  A friend who completed a 6-month intensive course (20 hours of class time a week) commented that for most purposes taking your Thai to a stratospheric level is basically useless.  You'll be having those convos in English, if you have them at all.

----------


## Spin

> Curious to know what others think.


Aside from your post being the best I've read on teakdoor for many moons I cound'nt possibly agree any more on everything you said.

----------


## crocadile

I am glad to here i am not the only one finding it hard to speak and understand thai.  :Confused:

----------


## robuzo

> I am glad to here i am not the only one finding it hard to speak and understand thai.


 Don't feel bad- according to this website Language Learning Difficulty forÂ[at]English Speakers , the Foreign Service Institute of the US Department of State classifies Thai in "Category II: Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English" in which 44 weeks (1100 class hours) are required on average to reach "General Professional Proficiency" in speaking and reading.  The website notes the following:

"It must be kept in mind that that students at FSI are almost 40 years old, are native speakers of English. and have a good aptitude for formal language study, plus knowledge of several other foreign languages. They study in small classes of no more than 6. Their schedule calls for 25 hours of class per week with 3-4 hours per day of directed self-study."

That is some hard-core intensive study- I have done such courses in Japanese and Russian, and in both cases the attrition rate was high for merely a 3-month course; in the Japanese course I took at the Monterey Institute nearly half the students dropped out.  I can't imagine trying to do it for 44 weeks!

One odd thing I noticed on the list of languages at that page is that Japanese is listed as a Category 3 language, twice again as difficult as Thai (or Russian) in terms of gaining general proficiency.  This is misleading- Japanese is much easier than Thai when it comes to reaching survival/basic conversation proficiency, because Thai is a tonal language.  I was able to engage effectively in conversation in Japanese after the 3-month intensive, but studied/worked (in Japanese companies) another 7 years in Japan before I could read well enough to pass Level 1 of the Japanese Proficiency Test (permitting university matriculation).  As to conversational Thai, after living here for three years my passive understanding is pretty good, but effective language production requires some, shall we say, flexibility and imagination on the part of the listener. 

And by the way, flexibility and imagination seem to be in fairly short supply around here, I'm afraid; it's funny how some Thais seem to understand me (and when they can't are often at least try to help), some just can't get around the accent and/or are unable to piece things together in context (which is my problem, not theirs!), while some don't seem to want to. . .it never ceases to amaze me when a I hear a farang say something in perfectly reasonable Thai, and I understand them while the Thai listener doesn't- or one of the Thais listening does while another doesn't, etc.  This could be due to a number of factors- not being able to deal with hearing Thai come out of a farang's mouth, passive/aggressive attempts to get the farang to speak English, or general obtuseness.  I dealt with such things so long in Japan that it really doesn't phase me here, but I have seen a some of my Thai-speaking farang mates get quite put out in such cases.  If it is any consolation, the Japanese are a lot less receptive to fluent non-native speakers than Thais, at least when it comes to your average Thai; don't even bother trying to speak Thai to the kind of "hi-so" (the descriptor itself makes me cringe) apt to spead English amongst themselves, unless you want the cold shoulder.  I don't really see the point of trying to force the locals to speak Thai if they don't want to, because if their English is sufficient the conversation proceeds without obstacle, while if they need to slip into Thai and I am able to fill in the gaps I get brownie points of a sort.  I'm perfectly willing to let Thais think I don't understand anything- there are advantages to that, actually, as Thais aren't the only ones who can benefit from playing dumb.

There are a lot of systems that claim to have shortcuts to language learning, but in the end the Russians are correct: Повторение- мать учения (repetition is the mother of learning).  This doesn't mean it has to be dull, in fact some of the better "revolutionary" methods are really just ways of livening up the repetition.  Most importantly, new vocabulary and phrases must be used in order to commit them to long-term memory.  You really must go out of your way to use whatever new vocab you pick up- one of my old Russian profs had a theory that if you actually use a word six times in conversation you have a good chance of remembering it.  I reckon that's a good start.

----------


## Marmite the Dog

> it never ceases to amaze me when a I hear a farang say something in perfectly reasonable Thai, and I understand them while the Thai listener doesn't


Had the same the other day with some girls I know. 2 were from Udon and one from Kanchanaburi. I could understand what the two Udonites were saying but the Kan girl couldn't. She was embarrassed that I could, too.

----------


## Texpat

Or a Bangkok bargirl that can live and work with Issan women for years and still claim to not understand very basic Lao.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

It's merely unwillingness to listen and learn.

----------


## Marmite the Dog

^ I fink we're talking about the same peeps mate.  :Smile:

----------


## benlovesnuk

ROBUZO - thats an interesting take and though it would generally fit to most here, there are of course as always a few exceptions. For me Written language is an art form, English when written is one of the most mundane maybe because of its familiarity to me, but other more exotic scripts are indeed spell bounding and hold the secret to their function in my life!!!!!!!  (A SHORT INFILL)

I would add that if you speak english, french, spanish, then a large proportion of people in the western world will be able to communicate to you and you back (including australia, africa, america and europe) which is important in its own right. Many english speakers find french a difficult language to comprehend and use, however forgetting that the two are pretty much indistinguishable, and that if you have french you are in part half of the way into spanish! not so far away at all it would seem and  I would say this is important of course to those that speak english rely heavily on the greater community of the world to also speak english by way of being understood.

 This to me is what makes me cringe, when something so important as language and the understanding of what is being said and of how to reply to the most everyday same casual topics, are lost because of the dependency and unimportance placed on this very taboo itself! I agree that when i speak thai (in my limited ability) some people are turned off, they are muted by disbelieving i can actually mutter a few words strung together! But all the same i would still rather use such a device to allow me the opportunity to make use as and when i please. To fish out what others might think of me, whats going on day to day and here is why? At the moment i am very aware that because i am largely integrated into a thai only family, i feel somewhat left out and isolated. i cannot watch tv together with my family for the not knowing of whats going on, i cannot partake in a discussion with my family because i havent got a clue what's going on, i cannot help the concerns of my family because i cannot infer to a situation that might take place in thai that they to i would not otherwise heed. so in just a few instances of day to day living to understand is important (maybe not so in the list you mentioned and that being the reason of their own unimportance to you) so i would say under those situations it is my need and benefit that i should learn thai for my ease into the country i will probably die in, and hopefully long before that become a much greater integrated figure in all things because of learning thai.

(RIGHT BACK TO MY POINT)
Arabic, japanese (kanji, hirigana, katakana) Thai and chinese present challenges to me that are my own personal hurdles in life to master. This is two fold, for instance as an art form they give me greater knowledge and skill, and for learning they influence my ability to think and understand to conceive of different and conceptual ideas for both art and language! 

If you take arabic calligraphs they represent some of the most outstanding poetic art ive ever seen, both aesthetic in beauty and meaning. Japanese calligraphy in its many forms also inherits this but with a somewhat greater ideology in a more pragmatic form. I find japanese in speaking easier, (as you had mentioned) than thai because i have great problems with tone, which is not the case with japanese speaking. i find that i can adjust my self to japanese easier then to thai for this very reason, my ear is more intone to hearing japanese than thai and so my comprehension greater there-in (although in both it is still very poor). The one thing that pulls me threw all of this is that there is a reward at the end of it, which ever language you get to learn and how ever far along you get. A world of more knowledge and greater understanding is better then one of naive frustration or misunderstanding!

I hope one day to be a master of many languages for the purpose of socializing and engrossing myself in others and for my own inherent need to become a better artist, i hope that this goal is realized and that this would make me in myself feel an accomplishment!  :Smile: 

Sorry i think ive had too much 7 up!!!!!!!!

----------


## Rural Surin

years of exposure and interaction

----------


## Ramseth

I'm a relatively new forummer here, but please allow me to share my 2-cents worth, or 2-baht worth. For those farangs in the Bangkok megalopolis or in south Thailand, you should notice, a large number of foreigners, usually ethnic Chinese from Malaysia or Singapore, who seems to pick up speaking Thai like fish takes to water.

The trick is in the tones. Get the tones right. Chinese also have a tonal tongue, and even more strictly tonal and monosyllabic than Thai cause there's no Pali or Sanskrit direct loanwords in Chinese. They get the idea and the rhythm very quickly and naturally. For Japanese and farangs, take some effort, I'm afraid, but it's manageable.

----------


## Boone

I want to learn thai as well. I started learn Korean recently and all went pretty good, but i'm thinking switch to thai

----------


## aging one

Boone congrats for you. But did you have to drag up an 8 year old thread to announce that? :Confused:

----------


## crackerjack101

> But did you have to drag up an 8 year old thread to announce that?


I think Boone's on a mission to resurrect the past.  :Confused:

----------


## Mr Earl

This is actually a pretty good thread with some excellent tips and  advice.
Good bump me thinks. :France:

----------


## Seekingasylum

Quite amusing to read a Texpat post that was helpful and intelligently written by a person then thoroughly grounded in sound common sense.
When did he have his psychotic episode?

----------


## kmart

^The Thai word for "Brittle" is "khrop" (เปราะ)  :Smile:

----------


## thaimeme

> ^The Thai word for "Brittle" is "khrop" (เปราะ)


Appreciated the twisted play on words - literally - breakable, fragile, delicate [in Thai]. Heh.... :Smile: 

Though, I don't believe the content in which Texxy uses the American derogatory slangish term, _Brittle,_ [one that comes from Britain] can be properly translated into non-English languages.


A Texpatism - sort to speak.

 :Wink:

----------


## Neverna

> ^The Thai word for "Brittle" is "khrop" (เปราะ)


The Thai text you posted doesn't match the transliteration you provided.

Presumably you meant to post: กรอบ - grorp.

----------


## Seekingasylum

If frogs could speak and write I should imagine it would be like this.

----------


## Mr Earl

Frog is ghob  

"frog" in Thai | Lingopolo

----------


## Iceman123

> If frogs could speak and write I should imagine it would be like this.


I thought they spoke French!
Are you drunk?
Har har

----------


## TheDukeofNewcastle

> [one that comes from Britain]


The term may be derived from the word British, but it does not emanate from that country.
Your poor understanding of your mother tongue, even the bastardised American version, serves to support my theory that you are dumb hick, and mot the faux intelligentsia you purport to be.

----------


## CaptainNemo

> How did you manage to learn the Thai language? Perhaps you haven't yet. 
> 
> Images came to mind of my time spent wandering around my Thai condo in Bangkok, a Linguaphone cassette-player dangling around my neck and a set of flash-cards in my back pocket. 
> 
> Sure, I might now be able to ask the way to the train station, or where the tourist information office is, but to have learn sufficient Thai to deal with the government officials & scammers is momentarily beyond me. And anyway, why should I waste my time talking to people who are clearly less intelligent than me.


I'll give you my take as a serial language learner.

1. Get a phrase book... for Thai, the one by David Smyth is good
2. Go to a part of Thailand where there are few English speakers, and not much internet
3. Talk to them every day for a few weeks and copy the sounds they make - don't worry about the grammar or spelling; make notes of things they say in a little book, and build up your own list of sentences (not words) you find useful
4. Focus on learning the "joiny bits" of language - not just lists of vocab... deploy them in conversations about every day things, and reel off a few set phrases like "can you pass me the one you're not using" and "do you think I can fit that in there?" and "ooh, I'm not used to this", etc...
5. Once you've reached a level of confidence, start learning the alphabet... I wish I'd had the time to go to one of those Thai typing schools you find in small towns
6. Find a coursebook to read... those Benjawan Poomsan Becker ones are alright... the old TY Thai lets you practice reading by covering the phonetics... you need to read a bit and then hide it and try and write it from memory little and often... 

If you are able to do this in a small town in Thailand for 3 months or more, you should find you make some progress... avoid Thais who speak English, they won't really help you learn much... and don't waste your time on a course unless you really want a certificate... all there is is iGCSE as a first language and modules at a handful of unis like SOAS or Leeds or a couple in America... there is a uni in Thailand that was doing some kind of course a bit like the HSK for Chinese or JPLT for Japanese, but that's for later... like maybe a year or two after you've got on top of it.
http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/...rn-university/
http://learnthaicmu.com/

I'm intending to apply this approach to Burmese... I've muddled through a few other oriental languages, and tried most things, and this is just my approach based on my own experience since I was a kid. Enjoy it... and make some fun friends :-)

----------


## thaimeme

> Originally Posted by thaimeme
> 
> [one that comes from Britain]
> 
> 
> The term may be derived from the word British, but it does not emanate from that country.
> Your poor understanding of your mother tongue, even the bastardised American version, serves to support my theory that you are dumb hick, and mot the faux intelligentsia you purport to be.


 
ทักษะของคุณภาษาไทยชาร์ลส์...??

จดจำหัวข้อของด้าย


มีเล่ห์เหลี่ยมหี

Heh...

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## TheDukeofNewcastle

> ทักษะของคุณภาษาไทยชาร์ลส์...??
> 
> จดจำหัวข้อของด้าย
> 
> 
> มีเล่ห์เหลี่ยมหี
> 
> Heh...


My Thai is fine thanks. I learned the same way most farang learn. By living here and having a Thai partner. 
Now you can fuck off Geoff.

Your lack of wisdom is always noted.

----------


## TheDukeofNewcastle

> Originally Posted by thaimeme
> 
> ทักษะของคุณภาษาไทยชาร์ลส์...??
> 
> จดจำหัวข้อของด้าย
> 
> 
> มีเล่ห์เหลี่ยมหี
> 
> ...


Thanks for the red geoff. It just shows what a weak kneed, feeble minded cockwomble you are.

----------


## Dragonfly94

Here since 94 can't speak it and never will

----------


## Vettronics

Thai is not hard if you have a Thai partner willing to help. My wife helped me from the beginning because I wanted to learn. You won't learn if you don't really want it. I figured I will be here for the long haul so might as well understand as much as possible.

----------


## John Lennon

_There is no one way. I learnt from a pocket dictionary (the best I could). In those days, there were few schools. Now there is a plethora of opportunities.
Do what suits you at the pace that suits you and the level that suits you. As I now live in Isaan, all my previous study has been decimated. One thing I have discovered is that if you give it a fair try, you will at least earn respect. The locals don't seem to go out of their way to learn English._

----------


## hick

> you are dumb hick


    ^  :Smile: 



I can speak....ok.

Have picked up (and put down) reading and writing many times but I'm pretty focused now and am reading Thai Basic readers with relative ease.

I've got the flashcards, read and write daily, been through the cluster consonants, special marks, 300 most common words and quite a bit more.  I'm definitely feeling some progress. 

Too bad Rosetta Stone didn't continue in Thai.
The English version may look a little rote at times but is definitely useful.

I keep seeing these adverts 'Read Thai blindingly Fast!' etc.  There's one on this page.  Meh - I'm in no hurry.

----------


## astasinim

The more I learn, The less I want to. Most Conversations bore the living shit out of me. The only person I find remotely interesting is my Sil husband. Hes educated to college level and has a decent grasp on world affairs and is far more worldly than most of the so called "educated" village inhabitants. 

Theres not a chance on this green earth, that I would even begin to learn reading and writing (to a decent degree) a redundant language that has nothing to offer me. Ive already spent enough time learning the language that the lowest Essex trollop would find beneath them, so why waste more.

If I lived there full time, then maybe I would put more effort in, although I doubt it, because, even the so called educated are basically morons.
You only have to read half the inhabitants of this board to realise they've gone either native or lost the plot completely.

In answer to the original question though, I guess I learned by osmosis. Necessity is mother of all fookups and all that fashizzle.

----------


## Chico

^^^ hehe 

I've never wanted to learn either,firstly because I'd have to listen to people constantly repeating themselves,then again I haven't mastered the English language yet. :Smile:

----------


## Vettronics

You just have to keep at and it will come to you. Most don't really want to learn though as I am seeing now.

----------


## Passing Through

> The more I learn, The less I want to. Most Conversations bore the living shit out of me.


That's  simply a reflection of who you associate with. Imagine judging the  utility of speaking English based solely on what one read on Teakdoor  and Thaivisa. You'd think that all English-speakers were irredeemably  stupid and that there was absolutely nothing to be gained from bothering  to learn the language. 




> village inhabitants


are,  by-and-large, excruciatingly dull and stupid everywhere in the world. Go to some  dreary village in fucking Yorkshire and you'll experience exactly the  same thing as you will in some dreary village in Buriram.

Anyway,  to answer the question, through exposure to a lot of language. Read a  lot and listen to a lot. At first, you'll just have to brute-force your  way through with a dictionary, a little intelligence, and a lot of  determination but it gets easier.

----------


## Neverna

I enjoy listening to people near me who think I don't understand Thai. It's very amusing at times. 








* But not as amusing as Teakdoor, obviously.  :Biggrin:

----------


## astasinim

> village inhabitants
> 			
> 		
> 
> are,  by-and-large, excruciatingly dull and stupid everywhere in the world. Go to some  dreary village in fucking Yorkshire and you'll experience exactly the  same thing as you will in some dreary village in Buriram.


If thats the case, then you`d think I`d have something in common with them.




> I enjoy listening to people near me who think I don't understand Thai. It's very amusing at times.


I must admit, I do quite enjoy playing that game. It certainly shows people for who they are.

----------


## Passing Through

> If thats the case, then you`d think I`d have something in common with them.


If you all live in dreary villages, then you certainly do have something in common.

I always find it odd that so many men marry peasants half their age, move to shitty little backwaters in a country with a radically different culture and then complain that the people there aren't very interesting. I wonder what these men expected. Presumably not a weekly reading group working its way through Proust. And then to take what is often a very, very partial and incomplete view even of life in Shitsticksnowhere as some kind of evidence that it's impossible to speak to anybody anywhere in Thai and have a rewarding conversation is totally bizarre.

----------


## thaimeme

> If thats the case, then you`d think I`d have something in common with them.
> 			
> 		
> 
> If you all live in dreary villages, then you certainly do have something in common.
> 
> I always find it odd that so many men marry peasants half their age, move to shitty little backwaters in a country with a radically different culture and then complain that the people there aren't very interesting. I wonder what these men expected. Presumably not a weekly reading group working its way through Proust. And then to take what is often a very, very partial and incomplete view even of life in Shitsticksnowhere as some kind of evidence that it's impossible to speak to anybody anywhere in Thai and have a rewarding conversation is totally bizarre.


....until one falls upon the handful [more than you might consider] of everyday village savants that are quite connected and knowledgeable - less, the usual and candid stereotypes that might apply and expected for those who haven't a clue - a self-indulging world view.

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## astasinim

> If thats the case, then you`d think I`d have something in common with them.
> 			
> 		
> 
> If you all live in dreary villages, then you certainly do have something in common.
> 
> I always find it odd that so many men marry peasants half their age, move to shitty little backwaters in a country with a radically different culture and then complain that the people there aren't very interesting. I wonder what these men expected. Presumably not a weekly reading group working its way through Proust. And then to take what is often a very, very partial and incomplete view even of life in Shitsticksnowhere as some kind of evidence that it's impossible to speak to anybody anywhere in Thai and have a rewarding conversation is totally bizarre.


I agree. I do find it somewhat "Odd" too. Which is why Im married to a woman who is slightly older than me, and neither of us live in a shitty little backwater in Thailand. We manage that quite well in semi rural Yorkshire, with a vast array of people from varying backgrounds, finances and education, which makes for a reasonably well rounded group of people. Tbh, I dont really find the culture that drastically different when you drill it down to its basic level. Its when people make their own interpretation (on either culture)for their own gains that things become muddy and potentially impossible. Basically, short sighted, greedy, selfish and narrow minded people are the ones who make life difficult. Almost like half the TD membership eh.

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## bluecowry

I started with the alphabet and more importantly pronouncing them correctly.
Then I just got random learn Thai books to start understanding some of the cultural and ways in which Thais use their language.
I also spent about 6 months at a School (language express at pluenChit)
Now that I'm intermediate I feel it's much harder to continue, meaning it takes alot more time for learning new phrases and vocab all while trying to work and take care of family.

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