Thai Language classes in Bangkok

[cameroncat]

I'm going to be in Bangkok for 2 1/2 months this winter, with lots of spare time during the day. I might as well take some Thai Language courses. Anyone have a recommendations or experience with any Thai Language classes/courses?

Thanks!

[netrix]

a thai friend of mine teaches for Walen (http://www.thaiwalen.com/). i haven't taken the classes but he's
taught me some lessons privately and it's a very good method.
(i've taught him a thing or two as well. )

[christianpfc]

There is a lot of discussion on Thaivisa Thai Language. I can recommend from my own experience: Don't study in classes, get a private tutor. It will be more expensive, but you his/her full attention and don't have to listen to other classmate's wrong Thai. Learn the Thai alphabet from the beginning (i.e. no romanization at all).

I studied at Thai Language Solution Phaya Thai branch (and made the mistake to start with a group course with romanization), but they provide individual lessons and reading/writing from the beginning as well. Even though I didn't do their Rapid Reading Course from the beginning, I made a lateral entry and it looked quite good to me and I believe it is possible to learn to read and write Thai in a week or two.

[cdnmatt]

Learn the Thai alphabet from the beginning (i.e. no romanization at all).

Ditto to that. Learn the Thai alphabet first, before worrying about anything else. Just like you're a 4yo kid in school, learning your abc's (except here it's 'gor gai', 'mor maa', etc.). Then spend time one-on-one with a native Thai pronouncing each character over, and over, and over. Thai is a very "exact" language, far moreso than English, so spend time on learning the alphabet, and pronouncing the characters & combinations the best you can. It can get frustrating when people tell you it's not heng-dtee-dtua, it's heeNG-dtee-dtua. Oh fuck, same thing, type of thing you'll think.

Ohhh, I can highly recommend the Benjamin Poosam Becker series of books. They're excellent. They have beginner, intermediate & advanced books, and definitely helped me at least. Wouldn't worry about the advanced book, but if you get through your beginner and intermediate ones, you're off to a good start.

[Dboy]

I believe it is possible to learn to read and write Thai in a week or two.

You can learn the alphabet in a week or two. Unless you are Rain Man you won't learn to read/write Thai in that time! I really hate the romanized alphabet techniques that many schools teach (most of those systems are based/stolen from Becker). Working with romanized Thai is a total waste of time, because it's...not Thai. Get away from that asap.

[ChelseaNY]

I've studied online and in person in Bangkok with Thai Language Hut. They're good.