Posted by exacto on 10/2/2021 at 02:54

I agree with amnicoll about starting small with basic everyday phrases then building from there. Learning any foreign language is difficult, and to get to a conversational level takes years of effort and either living in the country or having constant contact with native speakers.

The up side about Thai is that the grammar is simple and straightforward. The writing system is actually straightforward too in that it is an alphabet.

The difficult side is that (as amnicoll says) Thai has tones, which tends to be difficult for native English speakers to master. 

Also, in English, we tend to emphasize getting the consonant right but can tolerate variations with vowels. In my experience, Thai is the opposite, where the vowel needs to be exactly correct for a native Thai speaker to understand, but the consonant can vary. It doesn't help that Thai has long and short vowels on top of the tones, which can completely chance the meaning of a word, or that Thai has several vowel sounds that we just don't have in English.

Thais are usually appreciative when you at least try to speak their language, very complimentary, and quite forgiving when I have butchered their language too.

Some of my best learning experiences have been chatting up bar staff or massage people or taxi drivers, where I have a bit of a chance to practice and try new words and phrases, then get feedback.

I don't know that any of that helps, but I hope it encourages. Speaking Thai with the locals can be a lot of fun and it will definitely open up a side of Thailand you wouldn't get to see otherwise. Cheers.

#3 exacto has been a member since 12/2/2006. Location: United States. Posts: 2,816

Posted by Hardgrafter on 10/2/2021 at 14:40

I'm what I would consider intermediate level. I have a knack for languages. I have been living in Thailand for 2 1/2 years. I studied 6 hours per week at Thai language school for the best part of 1 year.

As previously mentioned, the challenge of the 5 tones more than make up for the lack of complex grammar. 

For a complete beginner by far the most efficient way to learn is face to face with a teacher. They can correct mistakes & get you on the track to learning. In my personal experience learning to read was also hugely beneficial but for a complete beginner is probably too intimidating.

#5 Hardgrafter has been a member since 14/11/2018. Posts: 1

Posted by cybervlad on 22/4/2021 at 15:48

Hi everyone,
Sorry for late reply.
I'd like to suggest online course in Thai language school. I know that the school where I have been studying Thai in 2013 now offer online courses (maybe other school also). They begin do it when pandemic begins, but even when school re-opened for normal classes, they kept online for people who are not in Thailand now.

As for conversation...
I have been studying Thai in 2012-2013 during 11 months in Bangkok (Mon-Fri, 6 hours at school and almost 7-8 hours homework). I selected accommodation in area where no foreigners, so from the very 1st day I must use Thai in everyday life. By now, I am already 9 years in Thailand and speak quite well.
In most cases Thais understand me well. But sometimes... It is not about my pronunciation. It is just about some "internal block". If someone tell himself "I will never understand this foreigner", you can speak as native, but they will not understand you. Sometimes I speak to Thai person, but he/she does not understand me. And then just another Thai people simply repeat after me (word-by-word), and only after that initial person understand :)

#7 cybervlad has been a member since 6/6/2007. Location: Thailand. Posts: 184

Posted by cybervlad on 26/4/2021 at 04:06

Exacto,

You did not miss, because I didn't mentioned name :)
I studied at Rak Thai Language School.
Not sure is it allowed to place link to school web-site here (it considered as commercial?), so URL is masked: replace (dot) with real dot.
www.rtl-school(dot)com

I like the teaching method in this school. They do not use English or any intermediate language. From the very first lesson they use only Thai. Teacher uses gestures, pictures etc to explain things. Teacher sometimes jokes: if you use English in class, must pay 20 THB for each word :)
But actually, teacher uses some English words sometimes. Book also contain explanations and dictionaries in English. Despite English is not my native language, for me this is not a problem at all. But students from some countries (mostly Japan, Korea and Russia) with "very beginnig" level of English rely only on teacher's explanation or must use dictionary English-TheirLanguage.
In addition to books, they also have audio files, where native Thai speakers are reading texts from the books. It very helpful to listen few times after classes.

#9 cybervlad has been a member since 6/6/2007. Location: Thailand. Posts: 184

Posted by exacto on 29/5/2021 at 02:44

I have been thinking about this more and asking my friends what they do to better communicate with locals, and I think something like Google translate may be the way to go. I just ran several common phrases from English to Thai on things you might say like "I need a taxi". The translations were accurate and provided in both Thai and phonetically. I don't know that the phonetic script would be that helpful for most of us, but the Thais would be able to read the Thai script easily enough and even help you with pronunciation. It could be a way to focus exactly on those phrases you want and to build a foundation of basic day-to-day sayings.

#11 exacto has been a member since 12/2/2006. Location: United States. Posts: 2,816