Guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 Right, I am moving to LOS next month for work and will be in the Big Mango for a min. of 5 years.....Now, my Thai is very limited at this stage and I have a very serious intention to learn the Thai language (read/speak/write) properly......The reasons why I want to learn Thai: Communication with family / friends Personal objective Easier to "move around" on my own future work prospects in the LOS are increased Now, there seems to be 2 strategies I can see for a foreigner to learn Thai : 1> Do not learn the Thai script initially and look to increase your spoken skills through lessons and using english transliterations (?) or 2> Concentrate on the Thai script initially and have a good grasp of the Thai script and learn Thai using Thai characters vs translating to "english characters"....This should give better pronouciation.... The advantage of option 1 is a short term gain in communicating better with the locals, however, it maybe more difficult in the long term as bad habits may have crept in..... The advantage of option 2 is that I should get the correct pronouciations over the long term, however, it will take a lot longer to be able to communicate with the local people. Now given the above information, in your opinions which is the better strategy and why? Thanks SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 I chose to do (2) - let's see how it works out since I'm still a rank beginner... My motivation was that I'm not living in Thailand, so I will be able to study better on my own. If you are talking about five years in Thailand, I would bite the bullet now. I have heard many comments how frustrating the dozens of different 'phonetic' transcription systems are. Thai script is not such a big deal - it is phonetic and not ideograms as Chinese. If you put serious time into studying, e.g. 2x2 hours + home work each week, you should in a month or two be able to decode the script well enough to make use of it. Actually you cannot study only reading and writing, since you cannot read Thai properly without understanding what is written: many times the only way to figure out which rules apply is knowing which combinations produce real words... >Communication with family / friends > Presumably you can already communicate, since you have them... The amount of spoken Thai that you can acquire in two months hardly will make a difference in the relationships: knowing the everyday phrases in Thai are not going to make things much better. >Personal objective >Easier to "move around" on my own >future work prospects in the LOS are increased > The latter two should definitely benefit from being able to read (and write). Wagner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 WSV, I should have put increased communication with friends and family..... For me at the moment I am going with option 2, unless, someone comes up with a good argument why I shouldn't. Additionally, it is good to know what other peoples strategies are when learning the language. Thanks for the reply. SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 Hi Although I have no idea about your present level of thai, I`d say get a decent vocabulary first. That will also allow you to interact with friends, family, colleagues etc. on a basic level and during that process you will quickly pick up new words and have your pronounciation corrected if needed. The advantage of option 2 is that I should get the correct pronouciations over the long term, however, it will take a lot longer to be able to communicate with the local people. Some people do learn the correct pronounciation just by listening. I have a friend who never opened a book in his life, who has no clue of reading or writing (which I do) and still I`d say his thai is great. I`d say dive in it, learn as much as you can by immersion or whatever it takes before you commit yourself to more serious studies. It is very rewarding to have a basic grasp on the language when communicating to thai people and that will definitely inspire you to pursue more serious studies. Then again it also depends on how much time you can spend on your studies. Good luck. Cheers Hua Nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted February 4, 2003 Report Share Posted February 4, 2003 sanukboot, you are right. learning to read thai script is the only way to achieve correct pronounciation and tones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 4, 2003 Report Share Posted February 4, 2003 Hua Nguu, I see what your saying....I can communicate at a basic level now, but, will be attempting to improve the day-to-day items as I fit into the new environment.....At this stage I would not say I can communicate fluently on a day-to-day conversation basis... My language learning ability will not be as good as your friend where he didn't even open a book....I will need to sit down and really study through everything to have the confidence in the pronouciation and word selection.... At this stage I will be learning the Thai script from day 1, whilst, trying to pick up vocab on a day to day basis and if I have problems then I will ask my tutor for clarification on the pronounciation.... Thanks for your input, definitely given food for thought. SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted February 4, 2003 Report Share Posted February 4, 2003 Hi, "learning to read thai script is the only way to achieve correct pronounciation and tones!" Sorry, but I disagree. I did not study the script until I had been speaking Thai for about 3 years, and still can not read that well (I can manage signs, menus, etc. without much problem though). However, I often get complimented on my spoken Thai and have no problem to talk to Thais for long periods on many subjects. To this day I don't have a clue which tones I use or should use, but since I mimic what I hear I do produce the right ones. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 4, 2003 Report Share Posted February 4, 2003 Exactly right. Children can learn to speak by listening long before they learn to read and write. I think that it is a natural ability that humans have. If communicating quickly is your goal then concentrate on speaking first. You can learn the right tones this way too. Illiteracy in Thailand is still around 4-5% and was 20% not long ago. Correct pronunciation for them was/is still possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted February 4, 2003 Report Share Posted February 4, 2003 sure mimic is an excellent method to learn a language. the children use it and they learn a language the fastest and best way. however many adults loose this capability. it's great that you could keep it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted February 4, 2003 Report Share Posted February 4, 2003 Hi, I guess the fact that Thai was my 3rd foreign language (not counting French I had in highschool) likely made things easier for me. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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