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Learning Thai correctly..


mattwasp

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thai grammar is every bit as complex as the grammar of any other language...thai just doesn't happen to involve complexity in the verbs--i.e., as you observed, they don't change for tense, etc.

 

in thai the complexity comes more in word order and the proper use of particles. getting it all right in order to fully express oneself (and understand others) in a wide range of communicative situations is quite difficult and takes lots of determined study and--most of all--practice.

 

a very good reference is "Thai Reference Grammar" by Higbie and Thinsan, available in Asia Books and the like all around Bangkok.

 

preahko

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  • 1 month later...

Any one know a good part time Thai teacher? I have tried the getting the missus to teach me but it ends up in a argument!

 

Any words i learn off BG and have used she asks where I learnt them etc etc , always in the shit just the depth varies!

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I've been studying Thai with a private teacher for almost two years now.

There are four aspects to learning Thai correctly that have not yet been mentioned here:

 

First, most Thais that we foreigners meet here are in low-class, service jobs requiring little education: waitresses, hotel staff, taxi drivers, etc.

Those people are more likely to speak the Isaan/Lao dialect, not standard Thai.

There is a big difference in pronounciation.

(Anyone working a proper job in Thailand will have a different environment, of course.)

 

Second, even in standard Thai (or central Thai) there are four different levels.

Two of those are royal Thai and official Thai, which we don't need.

But the other two are important:

Most schools will teach "schoolbook" Thai, commonly called, "pha-sa-keeyaan".

That's what you need to read a newspaper or a book in Thai language, but it is not used for daily conversation.

For informal conversation, Thais use "pha-sa-poot".

 

Third, there are several levels of politeness.

From a bar girl, you are not likely to learn anything but the lowest, least-polite, level.

If you use these words and sounds, every Thai will know where you studied the language! :(

The middle-level is appropriate for a foreigner.

It depends on word choice, not just saying "krrap".

An example is the word for "eat".

"Gin" is very, very, informal, about like saying "You ready for some tucka, mate?" or "Hey, let's grab some grub".

Okay with friends, but not quite right in more polite company.

There you want to say, "taan" for "eat".

 

Number four: men and women speak Thai very differently.

If you're a man, learn from a Thai man.

If you learn from a bar girl, you will sound like a woman.

Many bargirls (not all, of course) are low-class, uneducated, girls from small, rural villages far up-country.

When you speak Thai, is that how you wish to sound?

 

Finally, about the AUA Thai course at their school in Rajadamri Road near Lumpini Park:

I thought their web site sounded great, and I was all eager to sign up for a year of intensive study.

Until I attended a sample class -- thankfully free.

What a waste of time that would have been.

It is a lot of chit-chat, some goofy games, and a few silly activities.

That's no way to learn a language.

So I've been asking around.

Of the people I've met so far who have spent any time at the AUA Thai course in Rafadamri Road (Bangkok), nobody has had anything good to say about it.

.

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Hi,

 

""Gin" is very, very, informal, about like saying "You ready for some tucka, mate?" or "Hey, let's grab some grub".

Okay with friends, but not quite right in more polite company.

There you want to say, "taan" for "eat"."

 

While I agree that using 'taan' (or if the company is really polite 'rap pa taan') in polite company is better, I do not agree that 'gin' is 'very, very informal'.

 

It is perfectly acceptable for everyday use, and far from the worst word you can use for eating. Me using 'daek' usually results in my wife hitting me :), and I have been told there are words more vulgar than that. My wife refuses to tell me though.

 

Sanuk!

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By far the best Thai are the missionairies. They usually study formally 4 hours a day at schools like Union or Unity and then submerge themselves in the provinces where English is not spoken. Most of the ones that I know are near fluent levels and my wife recons she can not tell the difference between them and native speakers as far as accent goes.

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Number four: men and women speak Thai very differently.

If you're a man, learn from a Thai man.

If you learn from a bar girl, you will sound like a woman.

Many bargirls (not all, of course) are low-class, uneducated, girls from small, rural villages far up-country.

When you speak Thai, is that how you wish to sound?

 

 

I always thought learning Thai, from a male, would be better. I studied at BIS, where they had no men teachers. I studied with private teachers, all female.

 

Thai male teachers are scarce. I only had one Thai man teacher, in NYC, at a school where Thai children, living in USA, learn Thai. He was very good, concentrating on the Thai alphabet and reading.

 

I don't hang out with poo yais, except for one, and he likes to speak English with me, so it's not my fault.

 

If I speak girly. low class and sound uneducated, so be it. At least I try and, with time. will learn manly Thai as opposed to lady boy Thai.

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Those people are more likely to speak the Isaan/Lao dialect, not standard Thai.

There is a big difference in pronounciation.

 

IMO This is urban legend. They will not speak isan/lao to a foreigner hence not much difference in pronounciation. Most are perfectly able to speak proper thai which they were taught in school, listen to every day in the media etc.

 

Let me give you a personal example, me missus left school in 6th grade. She is lao born and raised, never left Isan until she was 19 years old.

No thai let alone foreigners are able to tell that she is of isan original from her pronounciation, nor her speak pattern.

 

 

Third, there are several levels of politeness.

From a bar girl, you are not likely to learn anything but the lowest, least-polite, level.

If you use these words and sounds, every Thai will know where you studied the language!

 

More urban legend IMO. I`ll dare to say that any bg is very well aware of these subtleties, much more so than you as a foreigner.

When I am having a conversation in a bar in thai, I am replied to in central thai in a style that occasionally may be informal but always polite.

If I try out any street slang I usually find myself corrected.

If you listen to the talk between the girl, yes, you are likely to hear both lao and rude talk. But I don`t suspect that foreigners learn thai from listening to a conversation that is not aimed at them anyway.

Then of course there are the IME few BGs who take pride in using dirty low class thai on purpose.

 

The vast majority of thais - bgs included - appreciate foreigners talking a proper and decent thai, then why should they teach them anything else?

 

 

Cheers

hua nguu

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