Learning and Speaking Thai

[parrot]

I'm not promoting one method over another, but here's what worked for me:

A combination of:
Benjawan Becker beginner book (http://www.thaiforbeginners.com/index.p ... &Itemid=28)

and

The Maani reading series available free with pdf and sound at http://www.seasite.niu.edu:85/thai/language/reading.htm

and

the local pharmacist who I traded English lessons for Thai lessons. While she wasn't a schooled-teacher, her mother was a primary school Thai teacher. Like mother, like daughter.

I tried a classroom setting, but it seemed like 10 different students wanted to learn 10 different things, and only one other was interested in learning how to read. It may work for others, but it didn't for me.

[KB_Texas]

Thanks for the input guys. We just got back from a 3 day trip, so I have not had an internet connection to keep up with the conversation.

What I think is that I need to learn Thai the way it is taught to children...learn the alphabet, the sounds, the words, etc. At that point, I am hoping that speaking it clearly will be easier, and if you can read and write it, you should be able to speak it. At least that is my present working theory.

I will give it a shot...fortunately, my wife is a teacher and has access to early workbooks for small children. I do not mind going back to kindergarten if the subject is one I wish to learn, and reading, writing and speaking Thai is such a subject.

KB

[Sateev]

The only skill you didn't mention is listening. It really is the most important, and will get you the best result, IMO.

Good luck, and don't give up.

[parrot]

For me, trying to learn the alphabet was akin to trying to learn hieroglyphics. By the time I got past A-B-C-D-E and tried to learn F, I forgot A or B. And then you'll encounter the dreaded characters that aren't used anymore but are still taught. So, if you want to recite your Thai ABCs, you have to learn them.....but adult minds beg the question, 'Why bother?'

I gave up on the alphabet. If you want to read, without learning the alphabet, try
http://www.seasite.niu.edu:85/thai/maan ... eaders.htm
The website is a bit dated, but the reading section is excellent. Download the first lesson....very short. There's a veeerry short story of 6 lines. Listen to the audio file.....practice writing the short story.....practice saying the story....don't worry about grammar rules or tones (at this point).....just focus on the 6 lines. There are a number of support files that will test you after you're done. When you think you understand, tell yourself, "I can read Thai!" You wouldn't be able to say the same thing after memorizing all the consonants and vowels of the alphabet.
It worked for me.....maybe not for everyone....but I like the gratification of being able to show something for my effort.

[Sateev]

Now, I AM perplexed. How can you possibly learn to read Thai without learning the alphabet? If you don't know what each letter sounds like, how can you ever expand your vocabulary?

For me, speaking and understanding a few words, and then using the alphabet to read signs that were obvious, made it possible to add words with similar spelling to my vocabulary, like school, hotel, and hospital, which all begin with โรง..

I guess everyone finds their own way.

[parrot]

"How can you possibly learn to read Thai without learning the alphabet? If you don't know what each letter sounds like, how can you ever expand your vocabulary?"

With Maani, in lesson 1, you learn the 5 consonants and two vowels introduced in that lesson. By the end of lesson 1, you can read (albeit only a total of about 10 words....but still!). Lesson 2 builds on lesson 1....and so on. By the time you're finished with 22 Maani lessons, you still don't know the alphabet (as in alphabetical order), but even in English, you don't learn to read by learning the alphabet.

But as you say, "everyone finds their own way"........or 'whatever works for you'.

[Sateev]

Ah, ok, I totally misunderstood. I can't even recite the alphabet in order, but I learned and know all 44 consonants and their sounds. And I mostly remember the consonant classes, but it's fuzzy.

If Manii teaches you the correct sounds, its probably a more natural way of learning than memorizing alphabetic order.

Good discussion.

[old-timer]

Speaking Thai is easy. First learn all the words. Then comes the tricky part which is putting them together to make sense. And don't forget those facial expressions that go with it, for instance if something is spicy you must start gurning with your mouth open wide and start flapping your hand in front of it. By the way, this wont make your mouth feel any less uncomfortable however it will make the person you are speaking to realise that your mouth is on fire.
What gets even more confusing is when our Isaan WFB's start throwing a bit of Laos dialect into the unfathomable Thai language. Everyone Knows that boar, or bore or however you spell it actually means no, and dong in isaan/thai means do. So to summarise if you get a boar whilst looking for a bit of bedroom romance with an Isaan WFB don't go steaming in like a wild beast, and if you think she meant that your intentions were a bore don't start trying to spice things up because the real answer was no. If she says dong without saying boar/bore immediately before that, go ahead with whatever you had in mind.

OT.................

[KHONDAHM]

OK, you guys have me psyched, goshdarnit!

I am going to DO (not try) the Maani series with the help of my little Precious. She's on lesson 10 of a 31 lesson 4th grade English spelling workbook and I am SURE she would love to get back at me as my Thai reading/writing tutor. =D

I'll periodically post my progress.

[kumphawapi]

I like the Manee and Friends book. I think the website at http://www.learningthai.com/books/manee/index.html is much better than the link given previously.

There is a wealth of other Thai learning materials on this website http://www.learningthai.com/

[parrot]

"I think the website at http://www.learningthai.com/books/manee/index.html is much better than the link given previously."

It's a good link, and there are others with the Maani reader series as well. For what it's worth, I got through the entire Maani series without worrying about the type of consonant (high, low, etc). I did concern myself, a bit, with short vowels versus long, only for pronunciation purposes.

Once I made my way through Maani, then learning the individual consonant groups clicked into place......and likewise tones became an easier code to decypher.

It's what worked for me with my pharmacist as a teacher.......and I realize it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

[jimboLV]

I went back and re-read this thread and it has inspired me also to get serious about reading and writing Thai. That and the fact that my 21 month old daughter now speaks more Thai than I do and its pretty sad when you can’t understand your own daughter. She also can recognize most of the letters in the Thai and English alphabet, thanks to Youtube. In fact she just started preschool and her teachers are amazed that she can do this and she now “helps” the teacher by saying the letters to the other kids.

That Manee series looks pretty good. In the first lesson I already FINALLY think I can tell the difference between DOR and DTOR. That’s been a source of confusion as my wife has two close friends, Dor and Dtor and I keep asking her which do you mean and I’m sure she thinks I’m incredibly stupid because I can’t tell the difference. But hearing them by clicking on them in Manee I am beginning to recognize them.

I started trying to learn Thai about six years ago when I started to get involved with Thai ladies and also joined a Thai/Lao Fellowship group in the US. I started with a phrase book but made no headway and I agree that you can’t learn to speak it from the Romanized text. So I procured a set of Cd's using the Pimsleur Method. It’s a pretty good method of learning but very slow and after 10 Cd's all I could do was invite someone to go to dinner with me. Then they got bogged down in the next three lessons and got into the arcane Thai time telling system and I lost interest. This 24 hour military time system gives me enough trouble.

So now I am re-energized and this time I’m going to make it, so once more UM members have performed a community service.

[parrot]

"So now I am re-energized and this time I’m going to make it"

A hint that may help:
I'd suggest you write out each lesson in Maani....write it out when you listen....that'll reinforce the sound/shape of the each letter.

As you drive down the highway, use license plates as a way to help you remember the letters you learn. When you see a familiar letter (ม for example), try to remember the word in the maani lesson that uses that word (มี for example) and then say it the way the word is spelled (ม maw อี ee มี mee)
Good luck with your studies.

[Ganapoes]

My Thai is slowly improving and still limited but one of the things that I find frustrating is when I do say something clearly and distinctly in Thai the local will repeat exactly what I've said back to me. I seem to get that a lot. Perhaps I'm not speaking as well as I think I am.

[Alexander355]

hi all,

i'll learn conversational thai from pimsleur method. with audio cd's to talk with my fiancee's mother.

alexander