Learning Thai

[anakot]

Some resources I have used and could be useful

1. CD - Learning Thai Script - Produced by the Multimedia Interactive Learning Lab at Australian National Uni.
I have found this to be very good when learning all the consonants and vowels. There are some great interactive tests and a focus on commonly confused characters to help you to distinguish them like some of the 'tor' consonants ถ ธ and ฐ

2. CD - Talk Now - Study Thai Language Produced by Eurotalk
A useful extra CD.

3. CD - Pim พิมพ์ 2001 - This is a typing program so you can learn to type in Thai. A bit of fun for the adventurous.

4. Book Thai for Intermediate Learners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker

5. Book Thai for Advanced Readers by B Becker as above
I have found both these books really great. The Advanced Reader comes with a beautiful clear largish Thai font, a written translation and CD's so you can listen to the pieces when you are out and about with your MP3

There are tons of other things I have used over the years but these are some resources you could use to familiarise yourself. The CD's are available at Pantip and the books in any Bookazine.

If you get carried away and want to type you can get colour matching stickers for your keyboard keys for each combined English/Thai character and it is easy to switch between Thai and English.

Best of luck in this worthy project.

Anakot

[anakot]

Forgot to mention the talking dic, and i don't mean the OETS. I got a Thai Talking Dic in 2002 and it has been ab fab when it comes to being compact and comprehensive. I am sure the models are much better now with colourful screens so I would recommend you get one if you want to communicate better. Dictionaries are usually more comprehensive than the books and you can give it to BS to input in paasaa Thai for you to read output in paasaa angrit. Can't remember what I paid for this may be about 10000 baht but I am sure they would be cheaper now.

[PeterUK]

To the books mentioned I would add David Smyth's 'Thai: An Essential Grammar', which is well-organised and gives plenty of examples to illustrate the grammatical points.

My Thai saying seems to have foxed everyone. It translates as 'In a town where people wink, you must also wink'. More amusing than our rather leaden 'When in Rome...', don't you think?

[sglad]

Putting "learning Thai" into the search function threw up quite a few threads on the subject but this one had the most interesting and eloquent opening post by someone who seemed very dedicated at learning the language. Is he still around I wonder? It would be nice to engage with him and others who have made similar attempts at learning Thai.

[christianpfc]

I did and posted my experiences here:
http://gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2998
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/...success-story/

[fountainhall]

Well now! Isn't this interesting? Not the thread, although that does indeed have an interest for some. No, I mean the dredging up of threads that have been dormant for many years. And in this case, it really is MANY years! There was only one other poster in the history of this Board and the gaythailand board who ever trolled through old posts to dredge them up and reactivate them with some relatively meaningless short post. That poster's name was Beachlover! Old habits etc. . . !

Are there not enough Thais in your circle of friends, Mr. Singapore student (mostly Thai, as you told us earlier), to help with the language?

[cdnmatt]

I can recommend the Benjamin Poosam Becker series as well, including the beginner book. Those books are how I began learning at least, and they did a good job.I've noticed, my Thai has regressed a fair bit in the past while. For one, reading and writing is now out the window, whereas I was getting pretty decent before. All I get from screen reader is "Thai eletter b25 Thai letter b18 Thai letter b41", etc. I'm assuming brail annotation, and I don't know the Thai alphabet in brail, and have no desire to learn. Then writing is out as I don't have the Thai keyboard layout memorized, and searching for a certain key isn't happening.

Then for the last good while I've pretty much just gung out at home with the dogs. Majority of times I speak Thai are at the stores, mall, etc.... so generally always the same words and phrases are used. Oh well, not that big of a deal.

[Marsilius]

The country's [Thailand's] education system has an unenviable bad reputation. Anyone can put up a shingle and call themselves a Thai language teacher, even if their only qualification is that they are Thai. And even though they may seem competent enough, a farang has no way of knowing whether they're being taught well, let alone correctly. You wouldn't want to be taught English by some of the supposed native speakers on this board !

You are absolutely correct - but, of course, your point cuts both ways.

Someone I have met several times teaches English at a Thai university. He freely admits that his paper qualifications - a UK university "degree" and a postgraduate TEFL certificate - are complete forgeries produced by a Thai printer (he says that that is easily and commonly done). In reality he has no academic qualifications whatsoever. Moreover, although he is a native English speaker his pronunciation, grasp of grammar and ability to communicate his ideas - such as they are - are all notably defective. Nonetheless, he has been in post undetected for something like a decade.

This guy has observed to me that many of his students are actually not as concerned to learn English as they are to get the final piece of paper certifying that they have completed his classes. He has told me that amassing a collection of such magic documents is the be-all and end-all of much of Thai education.

As as you point out, however, there are probably many, many Thai "teachers of Thai language" carrying out exactly the same sort of scam on farang with similarly acquired, if not outright falsified, "qualifications", minimal ability other than to act the part convincingly and no aptitude for teaching at all.

[werner]

Very interesting discussion! Thanks!

If I decide to work/retire in Thailand, I will certainly work hard on [unintentional pun??] learning Thai...

At almost 70, learning a new language will not be easy, even though I am quite fluent in five or so languages. Will it ever be possible to master Thai at an old age??

Please provide more information: There are a lot of suggestions here about textbooks and other materials. What schools would you suggest for arranging good teachers for private lessons?

Of course, learning a language is a life-time project. I continue to learn much about my native language, French. For example, French slang, especially that of young people, is very different say in Canada, Senegal, and Paris, than in my native Switzerland.

[a447]

Check out Kruu Wee on YouTube.

If you were straight you'd be jacking off as you watch her. Language porn at its best.