Thread: Anyone Here Speak Fluent Thai

Originally Posted by dirtydog

^Some of us have been here a hell of a lot longer than you.

And some of those people can't speak a lick of Thai , mainly becuase they never try.

Originally Posted by dirtydog

^Some of us have been here a hell of a lot longer than you.

Oh no, he's an expert. So back off short timer.

I meet a danish guy once he spoke thai and laos like a native took him well over 10 years

I never formally studied the language so picked it up from speaking with Thai people working in a "manufacturing" environment .

So I hear and use the language daily, if I were to start all over then I'd consider learning via a proper school where you build from the foundations of reading and writing as it will make it easier later on.

The problem with any language is trying to adapt the stuff you learn in the classroom into the lingo that is spoken on the street.
Ive a load of books,CDs, etc and i thought i could speak basic Thai reasonably well. My Thai wife thought i was okay give or take the wrong tone yet when i try to speak to her family up north none of them seem to have a clue what im talking about.
Its the same when my wife meets my Scottish mates. She once asked me why they were not speaking English.

We employed a farang who could read, write and speak Thai fluently and before he even visited Thailand.

2 years at Uni in Melbourne and a lot of study still left him not being able to communicate with Isarn people though.

I have been told you will not become fluent in Thai until you learn to read and write the language but having said that I know a lot of Thais that cannot read or write Thai.

I have also met one farang who claimed he could speak the language within 3 months but in that time he learned to read and write it as well. After speaking to a few Thais they agreed that his pronunciation was perfect so I guess it is possible and if you are serious about the language.

Originally Posted by Wayne Kerr

One of the long term Thai language schools in Bangkok claims to be able to push you through the Thai Government language proficiency exams in 6 months. 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, but they also expect at least 4 hours homework a day

For the committed students this is indeed true. I just wish that I was one of them. The school is ULC.

Originally Posted by MeMock

Originally Posted by Wayne Kerr

One of the long term Thai language schools in Bangkok claims to be able to push you through the Thai Government language proficiency exams in 6 months. 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, but they also expect at least 4 hours homework a day

For the committed students this is indeed true. I just wish that I was one of them. The school is ULC.

You must of gotten some out of 3 months.
I'm half way into the second month. It's indeed quite tough. I feel like my brains have been scrambled at the end of class most days.

Originally Posted by MeMock

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

You must of gotten some out of 3 months.
I'm half way into the second month. It's indeed quite tough. I feel like my brains have been scrambled at the end of class most days.

Scrambled indeed. Sometimes I would walk the 5kms home from school just to try and unscramble them before starting homework!
I did get a lot out of it for sure and still recommend the place. I can read Thai okay (although slow) and I understand and talk a fair bit but I know I make so many mistakes. It was worth it. Just wish I stuck it out for a further 3 - 5 months.

I think it takes the time to embed some of the grammar. As westerners we simply are unable intellectualize the language structure.
I took a university class on child development way back. Apparently a baby learns much of his/her grammatical language structure from the belly of the mother.

I'm thinking Thai is perhaps especially like this.
Putting us hapless westerners struggling to learn this language at a severe disadvantage.
I shooting to putting 4 months break for a month and another 2 or 3.
I wanna be able to begin to be able to read a newspaper and watch a news cast with some comprehension.

I've lived here for 11 years and my conversational Thai is not too bad. I still make mistakes but am understood and can make myself understood. I have a reasonably good vocabulary. I regret never having learned to read and write. I think that is the most important component. Also, Thais construct their utterances differently than we do in English so you will never be able to transliterate from English. You have to think and speak like a Thai to be understood, IMO.

I have been here on and off for 7 years, I would say my language is lower intermediate. My advice would be to take an active interest in learning, I don't believe at an older age it would come naturally, as it would a child. Not to become fluent.

The reason I stopped is through sheer laziness, I studied for a couple of years and gave in. I can hold conversations on a number of topics now but not really in-deph with a greater vocabulary. I know the alphabet, consonants and the vowels and my reading is child-like at best. My grammar and structure is just about there (according to my missus who is a teacher) but like I said, I'm too lazy to learn any more.

Good luck in learning!

GF speaks enough English to ask for money. I will not discuss the matter in any other language. This is her incentive. When I wish to communicate with her, I force myself to learn the probable conversation before I attempt anything. Also I listen very carefully to the conversations around me, unfortunately they tend to be held in Laotian.

Originally Posted by tsicar

only farang i ever met who i would consider to be totally fluent in the language was texpat. ask him to translate ANY bloody thing you like, and he will say it correctly, write itin thai, translate into japanese and write it in bloody japanese, too!

But, he doesn't understand all of what he is saying or writing.

Learning alphabet seems to be key, seen it with 2 foreigners handling language quite well...

So read and write is the way to go if you intend to be fluent...

^^ No better than me, then!! And I only speak English!