gawguy Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 I have lot?s of strategies, but not enough result. I am really bad at learning languages, but have learned 1,000% more Thai than any other language. Something about getting to talk to girls is very motivating! 1) I try to work with as many media as possible. Tapes/CDs, computer programs, instruction books, signs (which I photograph and study later), music and girls. At the moment I feel overwhelmed by material. 2) Although the most fun, girls are the most unreliable source of knowledge. Most of the ones I know come from Issan and who knows what hillbilly slang they might be speaking? On the other hand, I have found one indicator of a good education - the ability to spell correctly. With approximately 90 letters, spelling is a lot harder than English, so if a girl spells out words for me and I feed them into my CD dictionary and they come up correct, I feel sure I am dealing with someone who is well educated. I know a couple of girls, even though they come from Issan, who never miss. They also coach me in proper phrasing and I feel pretty comfortable with their correctness. 3) One of the first things I read about Thailand was Stickman?s Guide in which he said you have to learn to read. I first bought the Matthew Courage software ($100 USD!!!) which was a really good intro to reading. I also bought Thai for Beginners which introduces writing. I am now into the Thai for Intermediate Learners, which has more Thai and less transliteration, and I?m doing fine with it. Love it! 4) I learn a lot more Thai when I am home in the USA than when I?m in Thailand because I have much less distraction here and more time alone to quietly sit and study. I?m a lot more organized in the USA, as opposed to being scattered in LOS. 5) Since Thai is built on a system of almost every syllable having a meaning, I use the Thaisoft dictionary to analyze the composition of words. You just point at a syllable and it tells you what it means. (did you know that khaw-toat - excuse me - is khaw=I request that + toat=injury or harm. So khaw-toat is literally ?Hurt me!? with ?I have transgressed? implied. ?I have transgressed. Please punish me!? 6) I attended a school in BKK - Thong Lo as it?s transliterated. That was very early on and I hardly got beyond ?Hello how are you? in the first 30 hours of tutoring. The book was all transliterated and when I look at it now, what I was learning looks kind of useless. It was also expensive. My independent study materials are much better. Other people might have completely different results from classes or might attend better classes. Don?t be discouraged by my experience. I?ve been at this with varying amounts of diligence for two years. I couldn?t do it if I didn?t enjoy it and I have been well rewarded in Thailand for the small results of my effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Seems you're on the right track! And it's of course always easier to learn when you enjoy it. I'm in a similiar situation where I find it to be a lot of fun...unfortunately, my self-learning is done in an undiciplined manner and I rather try to pick up the lingo like children do it, by imitation and improvising. A bit of school wouldn't be bad for me as my Thai, by any standard, is still pretty much crap but I do manage to read/write (on level with a seven year old). -- The ability to read was big leap forward I think, as I found it much easier to see the 'structure' of the language and memorise vocabulary from then on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwaimaisabai Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Hi straycat, I agree about writing - if you want to speak reasonable Thai then learning to read and write is a must. I think teachers can be very helpful, but it probably varies a lot. I had a teacher for two years and he was very good to start with but for the last three months or so it became a waste of time. I now rely on self study and may get this Courage interactive set - there is another thread about that. Unfortunately, I am a bit undisciplined and don't work as hard at it as I should. I keep making progress though and it is bound to take time unless you study intensively full time, which most of us can't do. Khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thai3 Posted January 17, 2004 Report Share Posted January 17, 2004 I have an ex somchart teacher who wakes my up in the hotel room for two hours of learning from the somchart book. Sometimes we stop to ring up singers or recording companies, I often call time out for breaks. She giggles a lot and we have fun. Come to think of it I have been trying to learn since 1995 but I am so lazy and hopeless with books and tapes. I need the teacher there to at least try to keep my mind on it, but I still try every trick in the book to avoid the hard work, and I'm paying for it.What really puts me off is when I try it out on thais and they have no idea what I'm on about.I'm sure I am the worst nakrian she has ever had,I wonder if I will ever get onto book two-peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted January 17, 2004 Report Share Posted January 17, 2004 Hi Kwai! I can recomend Courage software. I have a copy myself and I found it very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted January 17, 2004 Report Share Posted January 17, 2004 Hi GG, Just downloaded the thaisoft dic. Works just fine. If anybody else would be interested, it is available for download at: Thaisoft Dictionary and another one the Lexitron Dic. at: Lexitron cheers Hua Nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Hi well done . A lot of hard work and repetition and again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 I started studying at Somchart language school and did a 5 week course. Going to school was important for me because I am not really disciplined enough to study at home and its also more interesting if you have a teacher. At the end of the five weeks I took some time off from studying because it was quite a lot to absorb and taking time off also gave me the opportunity to practice what I had learned. I am now back at school and am preparing for the test at the end of book one. My learning was 3hrs x3times a week; 2 hours talking and 1 hour learning to read and write. I am now at the position of being able to read most things and albeit slowly I usually get the pronounciation correct. Learning to read and write Thai has helped my listening skills and while at times it was a pain in the ass the effort seems to be paying off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 Hi GG, Although the most fun, girls are the most unreliable source of knowledge. Most of the ones I know come from Issan and who knows what hillbilly slang they might be speaking? Well, when dealing with farangs who speak only a certain amount of thai they wouldn`t use any "hillbilly slang" that IMO is urban legend. Why would they? He wouldn`t understand anyway. Besides they are perfectly able to speak the central dialect. Certainly better than thai speaking farangs but a few. Actually, most BGs I have been talking to make an effort to speak correct central thai with me. I speak the Issarn dialect - to a certain degree anyway - and only when I address them in Lao they will start using it. They would never strike up a conversation in Lao/issarn with a farang. Only with their friends or if they want to speak privately... or if they wanna make fun of you :: Cheers Hua Nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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