How Am I Ever Going to Learn?

**buadhai** · 06-07-2006, 11:37 AM

I've been studying Thai for at least ten years and have lived here for 15 months now and I still have no success speaking or understanding Thai. Yesterday I went to 7/11 and tried to buy a phone card (Koh baht torasap D-TAC) and the guy looked at me as if I'd ordered a Mercedes Benz. I finally showed him my phone and he got the picture.

I've pretty much "mastered" the Rosetta stone CD. I can score nearly 100% on all the aural and reading comprehension tests. (Yes, I can read....)

I've gone through Becker's beginner's book and the accompanying CD and I've used her "Improving Your Thai Pronunciation" book and CD.

I can read simple kid's books and have little trouble with road signs and the like.

But when it comes to speaking my success rate is close to zero and when it comes to understanding what people say to me, even simple stuff, it is absolutely zero.

So, what now? No Thai language courses here in Korat and I've had no luck finding a teacher. Ms. B seems unwilling to do much to help.

I'm at the point of deep depression over my failure. I've met some great people here and it would be wonderful to be able to talk to them.

**Boon Mee** · 06-07-2006, 11:49 AM

Move to Mexico?
I hear Spanish is easier...

**ChiangMai noon** · 06-07-2006, 11:56 AM

^
That's a constructive answer Boon Mee.

Buadhai, keep working on it, don't give up.

Koh baht torasap D-TAC

Always fid "Ao DTAC Loi Hasip" does the trick in those situations, though in CM, they may be more used to speaking with jonny foreigner and not close their minds to the possibility of understanding you from the outset.
Koh sounds very stilted to me and I rarely hear it used.

Watch Academy fantasy and Big brother, believe it or not it really helped me.

keep a vocabulary bag, with litle slips of paper, the Thai on one side and the English on the other, take out a slip randomly and translate whichever side comes out into English or thai, this really helps your vocabulary range.

**Marmite the Dog** · 06-07-2006, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

Always fid "Ao DTAC Loi Hasip" does the trick in those situations

Agreed. Thai is a very simple language, so it amazes me how they manage to simplify it even further!

Also, try speaking like a katoey. This is a good accent aparently, unless GoW is winding me up...

**NickA** · 06-07-2006, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

keep a vocabulary bag, with litle slips of paper, the Thai on one side and the English on the other, take out a slip randomly and translate whichever side comes out into English or thai, this really helps your vocabulary range.

Wow, great idea!!! You could market Ajarn CMN's vocabulary bum-bags with the help of DD.

**Marmite the Dog** · 06-07-2006, 01:12 PM

CMN is a 'language consultant' not an Ajarn.

**friscofrankie** · 06-07-2006, 01:31 PM

"Baht Dem ngun" "Card fill money" The biggest problem most of us have is trying to communicate too much complexity. Dumb it down man! English is a complex language and when we try to relate all the nuances an subtleties we normally communicate in day-to-day conversation in our native language it just get's fuckin' lost.
This is the most difficult aspect of communicating in Thai (for me)
May I use the bathroom? "Khao horng Naam?" Add Dai mai? and then maybe your asking if that person can use it, Cut it short. Verb, noun; that's it. Sometimes just "Noun" is all that is expected. I never ask, "May I have a 500 Baht, 1-2 call, calling card please?" Or, "I'd like a..." Walk in and state "calling card, 1-2 call, 500 baht" in english this may be overly curt and even considered rude, in Thai? Thais will wonder at your command of the language.
Transliterating between the two just ain't gonna work. And those books, CDs, etc. tend to leave that idea out of the mix.
i've been here for a bit over four years now and I am no way fluent. But I only now getting by, understanding and being understood. Some times though I just want to kill somebody I get so fuckin frustrated. Don't give up. Get even when the mood strikes. refuse to speak Thai for a day.

**stroller** · 06-07-2006, 01:42 PM

You can read Thai? I can't, after 8 years here.
The advice to use short, simple sentences is good, "I am going to go to the market now" simply translates to "pai talad" in everyday communication. The lack of precision doesn't seem to be a problem.

It took me 2 years to get a very basic grip on speaking and understanding, it's something you learn slowly while in the country. I hope your partner doesn't speak English very well, that usually helps. lol

**danbo** · 06-07-2006, 01:48 PM

I usually ask 'Ao gart torasap hah roi baht kup' - whilst at the same time showing them the old card - Somehow the combination of the two works wonders. Practise, practise would be my advice. I often have 'conversations' with me speaking Thai and the Thai person speaking perfectly good English. I also take every opportunity to talk about the weather, my favourite food, whatever - this could be with taxi-drivers, barbers, or animals at the zoo.

Don't be disheartened - Sometimes you will encounter someone who just fails to understand a single word that you say - This often happens to me.....and I'm living in the UK.

**aging one** · 06-07-2006, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Also, try speaking like a katoey. This is a good accent aparently, unless GoW is winding me up... __________________

Marmers she is spot on. But remember to stand and gesticulate as a katoey as well. Have her take you shopping you need some polyester, and your shirts should fit tighter.

**poolcleaner** · 06-07-2006, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by buadhai

I've been studying Thai for at least ten years and have lived here for 15 months now and I still have no success speaking or understanding Thai. Yesterday I went to 7/11 and tried to buy a phone card (Koh baht torasap D-TAC) and the guy looked at me as if I'd ordered a Mercedes Benz. I finally showed him my phone and he got the picture.

I've pretty much "mastered" the Rosetta stone CD. I can score nearly 100% on all the aural and reading comprehension tests. (Yes, I can read....)

I've gone through Becker's beginner's book and the accompanying CD and I've used her "Improving Your Thai Pronunciation" book and CD.

I can read simple kid's books and have little trouble with road signs and the like.

But when it comes to speaking my success rate is close to zero and when it comes to understanding what people say to me, even simple stuff, it is absolutely zero.

So, what now? No Thai language courses here in Korat and I've had no luck finding a teacher. Ms. B seems unwilling to do much to help.

I'm at the point of deep depression over my failure. I've met some great people here and it would be wonderful to be able to talk to them.

Alcohol.

My Thai improves tenfold when I'm pissed.

The other side is that if you're pissed you don't mind that those interesting people can't converse or understand. You just keep shouting, pointing and laughing and everything's fine!

**Boon Mee** · 06-07-2006, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by aging one

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Also, try speaking like a katoey. This is a good accent aparently, unless GoW is winding me up... __________________

Marmers she is spot on. But remember to stand and gesticulate as a katoey as well. Have her take you shopping you need some polyester, and your shirts should fit tighter.

Excellent advice!
Get one of those leisure suits like John Ravolta wore in Saturday Night Fever and you'll be puut phassa Thai like a native in no time!

**Skulldigger** · 06-07-2006, 06:00 PM

I find the more effeminate you sound, the more successful the communication will be. In fact, adding 'kah' and 'jah' to the end of some sentences can be good to soften the speech up.

I dont know what you sound like in real life, but Finnish and Danish are pretty harsh languages, and if speak Thai in the same tone as I would Finnish, the Thais would run and hide.

So if you put your voice at near falsetto pitch, speak through your nose and flutter your eyebrows, you will see how everyone suddenly lights up and understands you. It's like a miracle.

And they never teach you that in Thai class.

**lom** · 06-07-2006, 06:05 PM

As Frankie said, make it simple.
Deetaekk haaloy did it for me a few hours ago.

**Dougal** · 06-07-2006, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by Skulldigger

flutter your eyebrows,

How the hell do you do that?

**Boon Mee** · 06-07-2006, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Dougal

Originally Posted by Skulldigger

flutter your eyebrows,

How the hell do you do that?

Butterfly does it all the time with his crew of ladyboys!

**Skulldigger** · 06-07-2006, 09:32 PM

You obviously have never seen my eyebrows.

**LesBonsTemps** · 06-07-2006, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by danbo

...Practise, practise would be my advice. I often have 'conversations' with me speaking Thai and the Thai person speaking perfectly good English.

Great advice -- this works for us.

We are in the U.S. helping our new daughter-in-law perfect her English (university education, can understand spoken English and read it, but couldn't speak it when she got here last January). My husband especially tends to speak Thai to her, while she replies in English.

Also, the point about the extent of English vocabulary versus Thai is important. English has more words to express meaning than almost any other language in the world -- you simply cannot get a literal and precise translation most of the time, and that's not just for Thai.

**Goddess of Whatever** · 06-07-2006, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by buadhai

15 months

Someone here has been here almost 5 years but his Thai is still shite so.. no worries!

**Marmite the Dog** · 06-07-2006, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by Goddess of Whatever

Someone here has been here almost 5 years but his Thai is still shite so.. no worries!

**buadhai** · 07-07-2006, 04:44 PM

I suppose one of the problems from learning from Rosetta Stone (and maybe many other similar packages) is that they teach you a kind of formal thai that no one every uses. Ms. B cracks up whenever she hears RS and does a wonderful job of imitating their stilted Thai: Dek-dek-lao-nii-kam-lang-ki-jakrayan-kan-yu.

And, yeah, I just get discouraged now and then and a little on-line rant followed by a few Gin and Tonics seems to help....

**buadhai** · 07-07-2006, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by stroller

You can read Thai? I can't, after 8 years here.

Turns out that being able to read is useful even if your spoken language skills are as piss poor as mine.

I think the phonics-oriented method taught in most language books (and in the Courage software?) is not very helpful: learn the alphabet, memorize the consonant classes, learn all the tone rules. Nobody really reads that way.

I think the Rosetta Stone approach (at least for reading) is much better. You just keep hearing Thai sentences over and over again with the written equivalent in front of your face. You never learn the alphabet or memorize any tone rules. Eventually, it just comes.

Still today I can't recite the alphabet or tell you any of the rules, but I can read simple stuff like menus and street signs and kids books.

Try asking some of your adult Thai friends to tell you what class the various consonants are in and what tone rules apply. Chances are that unless they teach elementary school they won't be able to do it. You really don't need to know any of that to read.

Now, if only my meager brain could do with the spoken language what it can do with the written....

**Shrinking Violet** · 07-07-2006, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by buadhai

I can read simple kid's books and have little trouble with road signs and the like.

Do you ever find yourself disagreeing with street signs? I do, often disagree with the English translation.

I spent a year learning Thai, particularly reading before I lived there. Read all of Becker's books and some other crappy books. Wife no help at all, everything I've learnt has been thru books.

**Shrinking Violet** · 07-07-2006, 07:31 PM

The book I started out with was excellent, can't remember the name or publishing house. Author's surname was Smyth and it was published in england

**buadhai** · 07-07-2006, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by Shrinking Violet

Do you ever find yourself disagreeing with street signs? I do, often disagree with the English translation.

Of course. The "official" transliteration system is awful. You don't have to go any further than "Suvarnabhumi" to know that.

And, yeah, Ms. B hasn't been much help. Her English is excellent and she studies all the time and is loathe to stoop to Thai to accommodate me!

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